Start your own E-Commerce Store: Follow my Progress

[JasonR]

Hey @JasonR what happened with this? Or have all the updates been on the INSIDERS Forum since?

Most are on the inside. There is some sensitive info out there I didn't want to link out.

But, this thread was really old when I attempted (and failed) to start an archery store.

I'm in a completely different vertical now, and kickin' a$$.

 

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[JasonR]

Ok, picked my host (Nexcess Hosting). Going with the cheap $25/month option to get the store up and running, tweaked, etc. I will have to scale up as traffic and sales increase. Magento really needs a dedicated host to run well.

 

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[JasonR]

Set up Google apps free for my business. You get up to 10 users free, tons of space, etc. I've been using Google Apps for a long time, and it's great. Syncs with all my Mail applications as well. Great, free resource for email, contacts, calendar, etc. Relatively easy to set up.

https://www.google.com/a/cpanel/standard/new3

 

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[JasonR]

James:
I thought Big Commerce was a cut above Shopify...mainly for SEO reasons. However, Big Commerce needs some tweaks right out of the box. I actually have a couple of links bookmarked on how to fix some of Big Commerce's SEO (on page stuff mainly). I can post them if you like.

Brander:
Thanks for the tip. I have the Adobe Suite (I primarily use Photoshop/Illustrator).

Wade1mil:
I thought about selling the domain (GunWarehouse.com) as I believe it's probably worth at least $2000-3000. I'd love to sell the design if I could...it fits into Magento perfectly, and I spent so many hours on it. I would also consider selling it as a package deal...just don't know where to sell it. And it's still kind of hard to let go of the idea after so much blood, sweat, and tears. Also, nearly all the gun websites out there suck, and their SEO is horrible. The problem with competing with them is that many of the sites have been around for years and have a lot of authority. For example, Buds Gun Shop outranks many popular brands of firearms. Not to mention the start up costs, regulatory bullshit, changing laws, etc.

Magento Community edition is free (that's just the software) which you need to host somewhere. I am only paying for hosting (currently $25/month, but popular sites can cost up to $250-400 a month and beyond as Magento is pretty resource intensive). Does that make sense?

Yes, eBay bought out Magento, which I wasn't happy to hear about. I dislike eBay and many of their policies. However, given the massive amount of people on Magento (including enterprise clients), I do not believe eBay is going to change Magento any time soon.

 

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[JasonR]

Here's a couple more screenshots of Gun Warehouse if anyone's interested in them.

http://i.imgur.com/nwNnG.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/uOig4.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/IQDbm.jpg

Sorry for the poor quality...Imgur optimizes the file when I upload them, but you get the picture.

 

[JasonR]

I believe Magento allows adult content.

You may just need to buckle down and learn Magento. Nothing worth doing is ever easy. If you're going to sell Adult Content you're most likely going to need to use a cart you host on your own (Magento, X-Cart etc.). None of them are "easy" to use, and all have a steep learning curve.

 

[JasonR]

A couple of weeks ago I had contacted suppliers in my industry, and found two drop-shipping distributors. Since I have little capital, I'll have to utilize drop shippers to get up and running. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get pricing or product lists without sending them my business license, resale cert, etc. That's on my to-do list for the next week.

However, I did go down to our local shop (selling the same goods I'll be selling) and grabbed every catalog they had on their shelves. I need to be an expert in the products I'll be selling. Also, I now realize I have a ton of content I'll need to write.

As I mentioned, there are some significant barriers to entry in this market. When I launch my site and share it here, I'll get more in depth into that.

I'm also researching a blog extension (it's free) for Magento. I'm hoping that will fit into the theme I choose. I'm also be attempting to install the theme today.

Keep in mind I have blocked Google/Bing/Yahoo (Bing and Yahoo have partnered and use the same search and ad network FYI) from indexing my site before it goes live.

 

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[AllenCrawley]

Do you just have one main umbrella account and make a company page for each one of your sites?

You can create multiple company pages. If by umbrella account you mean your own personal account then yes. Check out this page:

Company Pages - LinkedIn Learning Center

It's a very simple process and you can add products and services to the page as well.

 

[theag]

This is not a goal, this is a dream.

What do I mean by that?

This is the equivalent to the guys who write up the million year business plans. They don't really mean anything, because they have 0 idea where they'll be in X amount of years.

If you have $1500 to your name, you have a lot to learn about money. I don't mean that negatively- that's totally fine. Most people who became successful started with $1500 to their name at one point.

But... as you learn how to make money, maybe you'll learn that being in that space is not a great use of your time. Or maybe you'll find you'd have to do things like have 20 employees to be that size in that space, and wouldn't like that. Who knows.

My point is- it's a dream, because you have ZERO idea how to turn that into $5 million today.

So it's just a dream.

It's not a good goal unless you can say -- "I want to make X, and here's EXACTLY how I'm going to do it." Then you can break down certain benchmarks you're hitting to make sure that you hit your goal.

Not only do you not have that, it's not even possible at the point you're at right now.

Figure out how you can make $10k or whatever. Set up benchmarks that allow you to hit that goal.

A year from now as long as you don't quit like 99.99% of the other "DREAM" threads, you may have an entirely different idea as to where the best use of your time is, and how to hit a 6 or 7 figure target.

Right now, focus on your much smaller goal -- which is a great one by the way. Break down EXACTLY how much that is, and figure out how many items you'd have to sell per month to do that. Then, find out how much traffic you'd have to have based on estimated conversions to get THAT. Then, you're starting to have something you can work with.

Good luck.

great post, I love to read your stuff!

 

[JasonR]

Very good thread fella. I have a question for you. Are you using a specific software to build you ecommerce store? Or are you doing the programming crap by yourself. This is an area i'm very interested i'll be following along for sure.

I'm using Magento. I know some basic HTML/CSS, but I don't know PHP. I will be using a theme with Magento, so no programming necessary (yet). One of the first things I"ll be doing is dumping money (from sales) back into the website to build out a custom theme and customize Magento some.

 

[JasonR]

Ok - problem. I need to get "in" to this industry to become an expert. A couple of weeks ago I went down to see if I get a job or offer to help out for free in a local shop selling the same stuff. Basically, since I have a day job, my only availability was Saturday. Saturdays are slammed and I won't learn much.

Basically, some of the "widgets" I will be selling needs to be set up for customers (think stringing a tennis racquet- selecting the right string, setting the tension, and using a machine to string it). It's slightly more involved than that, but I need to learn how to do it with my product. Now, I can get away with selling accessories and other things surrounding the widgets, but I want to make a huge push and sell the main attraction - the widgets - set up just as if you were at a pro shop.

So, what do I do? I don't know any friends in the industry, and the only place around here selling the stuff I can't "help him out" for free (aka learn from him). Hmmm... (brainstorming).

 

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[JasonR]

Sounds like he needs to learn how to assemble his product before shipping it to the end customer and wants to learn this from the experienced guys in the B&M store.

Exactly. This is why my particular niche is under-served (in my research) online. It's easy to sell the ancillary products, but it's harder to sell the main product (the most expensive product, usually $300-1500 depending on the model and accessories). I may have to start with the ancillary products first.

I need to be trained on how to set up my particular "widget" a-la the tennis racquets. I told you there were some barriers to entry and some problems with this niche. Problems are good. I mean, if everyone could sell it then everyone would enter. Plus it's a very tight (in my opinion) niche with loads of potential, and only two real competitors online. There are lots of hurdles to overcome as I grow and become bigger (but I can't get a head of myself, I haven't started selling anything yet).

I don't need a job to learn how to set up my particular products, but I do need to know how to do it.

Edit: The set up won't "break", but if a customer is unhappy I'll happily return their product. I plan on offering a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

The niche itself is more complicated then, say, trolling motors or CB radios. But, it's not as complicated as other niches. Sorry, this will become clearer when I reveal the niche when I launch (or whenever I decide to). I'll probably post it on the INSIDERS forum first.

 

[JasonR]

Thought about selling airsoft - too saturated (easy entry). Keep guessing, and no, I'm not going to tell if you got it right (yet).

 

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[JamesS88]

Did you see my last question? I'm on an iPad and can't quote the entire post

 

[JasonR]

Why is that exactly? I've seen some other adult stores on shopify that look really nice.

Are you referring to this question?

If you can host adult stores on shopify, and have limited capital and knowledge of e-commerce, launch with shopify.

 

[JamesS88]

Yep, thanks. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. Just got my EIN and hooked up with my distributor, I'm excited

 

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[JasonR]

Jason can you download magento for free?

Yes:

Magento - Download Magento - eCommerce Software for Growth

But I recommend using a host which pre-installs Magento for you.

 

[Tiger]

I knew this post like this was coming.

Congrats.

You need to chill out son. I was giving you something to think about. I didn't say you couldn't succeed. I simply asked "Can this process be systemized and easily taught to others so they can do it once you scale up?". Obviously you feel it can be so good for you.

I simply pointed some things out that are worth considering. I took some time to offer you a little advice and you come back at me with some sort of attitude and being an a**hole. I even wished you good luck and said "I hope everything works out well for you."

It's obvious the points I brought up are a sore spot with you otherwise you wouldn't have come back at me like you did.

I'm in my 40's and don't have to work another day in my life. I rarely argue with people unless it's something I'm passionate about and I certainly don't with thankless internet strangers who I took some time out to try and help.

You obviously have all the answers and don't need any advice. Good luck.

 

[Lt.Dangle]

JasonR,

I too am a Cal Poly grad (2011). Just wanted to wish you luck as I follow you progress and learn from your experiences. Thanks for sharing!

 

[JasonR]

Magento's layered Nav is going to cause some problems with SEO (duplicate content). Luckily, Magento now has Canonical tags built in - however, I'll have to do more research on this later. I' deferring this task to later - getting up, running, and selling is a priority.

 

[ecommercefuel]

I linked to a great e-book in another thread, but here it is again:
link removed[/url] <-- Right Click > Save As

Hey Jason! Andrew, original author of the eCommerceFuel eBook here. Really appreciate you sharing my eBook, but can you please take down the hard-link to the PDF? I spent a TON of time writing the eBook as a quality incentive for people to join my blog / community, and while it's free I do ask for an email address for the download.

If you could please remove the hard-link and instead share the eBook landing page link (below), that'd be appreciated.

How to Create an Online Store That's Successful | eCommerceFuel

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[JasonR]

Hey Jason! Andrew, original author of the eCommerceFuel eBook here. Really appreciate you sharing my eBook, but can you please take down the hard-link to the PDF? I spent a TON of time writing the eBook as a quality incentive for people to join my blog / community, and while it's free I do ask for an email address for the download.

If you could please remove the hard-link and instead share the eBook landing page link (below), that'd be appreciated.

How to Create an Online Store That's Successful | eCommerceFuel

Thanks,

Andrew

Done! Thanks Andrew.

 

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[JasonR]

Thanks Patrick.

Sorry - I should clarify. I'm moving into one bedroom of a five bedroom house for $600/month. Not the whole house. I'm in Northern California at the moment.

I can't wait for the day I can own my own damn 5 bedroom house, and not treat it as a cash flowing asset (because it's not).

 

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[comment]

An update.

I'm moving into a 5 bedroom house to lower my cost of living. Currently, I rent an apartment for $800 a month. The new place will cost me under $600 a month, and I'll have less of a deposit. Plus - the space is bigger, close by, and I think I'll like living there more. Anyways.

Magento is a beast! I'm getting more and more familiar with the software, and it's exciting! However, sometimes changing a simple thing can be a huge task - especially for someone who only knows HTML/CSS. For example, the "Returns and Exchanges" link (or whatever it was called) was hard coded into the footer of Magento. It took me HOURs to get rid of it. Not to mention, I'm on the most current version of Magento - things written for earlier versions don't always work with Magento.

However, the flip side of this is that I'm learning how the software actually works. For example, I can overwrite many of the core Magento files without touching them by using my theme's folder instead (hard to explain). Like today, I wanted to get rid of my H1 tag around the logo on the home page - took me about 5 minutes to do it.

And here's another lesson learned. I spent an entire day on trying to figure out how I could have my Top Navigation links DIFFERENT than my Category Headings (h1s). For example, I wanted my top nav to say Widgets, but needed the Category heading to say "Awesome Widgets" (for SEO purposes). I spent all day trying to figure it out, googling, trying different things - nothing worked. Messed up my store and had to restore from a back up. Always keep a back up of modified files and your entire site, FYI. The only reason I am not doing this on a dev server is because my site is not "live" yet. You can visit it, but I have it blocked from Google, no traffic, etc. Anyways, I despite my best efforts, I couldn't figure the Top Nav/Category headings on my own. So I bid the job out on elance. Average bid - $35. Yup - lesson learned - don't waste too much time if you can get someone else to do it fairly cheap.

Anyways - moving on. I've been doing more keyword research for my categories, and figuring out which keywords to target on specific pages. I've got to set up Quickbooks 2009 today (2009 - yeah, lol). I'm also waiting to hear back from the city on business license requirements (slow process, meh). Then I can contact my two suppliers, get price lists, product lists, etc. and start loading product. I'd like to launch with at least 50-100 products.

As far as the product import goes - I'm hoping to be able to do this with excel. More on this later.

Be really careful with this whole thing. I was doing exactly what you are doing now, just different software. It was extremely difficult to learn how to use, and some days I spent upwards of 4 or 5 hours just to change the color of a link or figure out how to move/add/remove something. Every time I succeeded, it felt great, but before the website was finished I got totally burned out on it. It took me a month to get maybe 85% of the way through, and then I just stopped for a few weeks. I got so sick of opening up dreamweaver and scrolling through thousands of files and folders just so I could move a link 3 pixels to the left. I finished it eventually, but if I could do it over, I would have put all that time into simpler software and made it REALLY nice with add-ons or my own code, or whatever else. The huge upside is once you've learned magento, you have that knowledge and it will always be easier the second time around. Just dont get burned out.

Sometimes I think...can this work? Will this work? Will this be as successful as I want it to be? I guess the only way to know is to try and to carry on. Frustrating!

[video=youtube;KJyUydc1NtA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJyUydc1NtA[/video]

 

[JasonR]

Thanks for the input.

Magento, for me, was the right choice. I'm familiar with X-Cart, and that is also a fairly complicated piece of software. With BigCommerce, Volusion, etc. I didn't like the lack of control of software changes, platform changes, etc. I also knew of the steep learning with Magento, so I was prepared for it. If it was easy, everyone would do it.

It was easy for to get a theme up and running, but some of the SEO tweaks have been more difficult. Things like, what do you do about the layered NAV SEO issues, home page h1 tags, the Category headings, etc. These weren't things that were needed to get a store up and off the ground, but were big enough issues to get the fixed asap.

I've seen that video. Thanks again!

 

[JasonR]

Susanyang:

I am running it as a Sole Prop for now - can't afford the LLC expenses to start (about $1300 to file an LLC). Will file an LLC as soon as funds permit. I will reveal my niche once I have a few sales under my belt. However, I may choose to do so only on the INSIDERS forum (for the sake of anonymity in a public forum).

Patrick/Andviv: Thanks for your stories! I don't feel bad for myself, I actually don't have it bad at all. Just working full time plus working on a business leaves me with about 30 minutes a week for everything else, lol. It is what it is, I've accepted it.

 

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[JasonR]

How do you file LLC out of state? Will it be in Nevada? I am also in CA and pondering if I should do an LLC since the yearly cost is $800.

I don't know, yet.

I imagine all I need is an address in the state. I'm researching it.

 

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[andviv]

and then unleash the search engines on my site while I'm adding product.

In my experience, as soon as you post a new page/item to your site, tweet about it and the search engines will pick it up and index it rather quickly.

I don't know if that has change in the last year though.

 

[JasonR]

In my experience, as soon as you post a new page/item to your site, tweet about it and the search engines will pick it up and index it rather quickly.

I don't know if that has change in the last year though.

Hmm. Interesting idea. My only problem with it, is that simply tweeting new products isn't a very good way to engage your followers. However, as I have no followers yet, no big deal.

I don't think Google has a problem picking up new products.

 

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[PeteLife]

looking forward to the update