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Building My Store From The Ground Up

by kebertt
9 replies
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After reading all of the threads regarding new eCommerce sites, and how to generate sales/profits I decided it was time to post a thread that puts the everything on this forum into perspective. I have a strong design, and Internet Marketing background, but to make this more relatable to new eCommerce store owners, I'll stay away from SEO entirely.

Day 4 - eCommerce Website Selling Niche Apparel - Average 34 views a day

What I've done so far:
  1. Find Niche
  2. Find Supplier
  3. Build eCommerce Website
  4. Create Graphics (logo, ads, etc.)
  5. Create Twitter

I've decided to create a small niche store, with just over 10 items (I won't release my specific niche for obvious reasons). I have a supplier who sells my items for $4, and I have them listed on my website for $14.99 (industry average). I am buying my items wholesale, not drop-shipping. These items are in my physical possession, and I will be packaging and shipping them. I used Shopify to build my website and manage my inventory. Through some custom coding I created a nice custom design with appealing features.

With the actual store building out of the way, I will start focusing on the most difficult task: marketing, and getting sales.

Thus far I have started marketing on Twitter, and integrated my "Latest Tweets" into my website design to encourage social media interaction. I have been using the Twitter Search feature to find potential customers, and have been interacting with them. I purchased a small amount of Twitter followers, just to ensure my company looked like it has a following.

I have been updating a blog related to my niche, using some related keywords in my entries to try and rank for some long-tail keywords. This will help me gain some visibility online, and the consistent quality content will allow my customers to view my company as an authority site in this niche. This is the extent of SEO that I will do.

I'm offering free shipping on orders over $20 - this will encourage customers to purchase 2+ items instead of just one. My company will ship domestically, and internationally.

The Next Step - I'll be advertising on fashion blogs and other related websites to get more exposure. I will also continue with my social media to keep the consistent exposure it has gotten me thus far.

Any advice you can give me on how to market this website better? I'm open to any ideas, but like I said I'm trying to shy away from SEO. PPC seems to be a bit too pricey for my niche for me to profit, but I have the funds to invest in advertising - and I plan on using it.
#building #ground #store
  • Profile picture of the author alksense
    First of all; congratulations on getting started with your eCommerce business and best of luck to you.

    Two things you should start doing TODAY if you haven't already are:

    1) Install the RetailTower App on your Shopify store (it's free in the App Store)
    2) Use it to submit daily product feeds to Google Shopping, Bing Shopping & TheFind.

    You can have your products submitted daily for free to Bing Shopping and to TheFind. If you sell a popular product that has high search volume you will start seeing good traffic from day one and it will be traffic that converts.

    Google Shopping is now PPC BUT you can bid as low as .01/click. Even though Google Shopping is PPC you really have to try it. You will get a ton of traffic and if you have a quality website with fair pricing the traffic will convert for you.
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    • Profile picture of the author lastreporter
      Originally Posted by alksense View Post

      Two things you should start doing TODAY if you haven't already are:

      1) Install the RetailTower App on your Shopify store (it's free in the App Store)
      2) Use it to submit daily product feeds to Google Shopping, Bing Shopping & TheFind.

      You can have your products submitted daily for free to Bing Shopping and to TheFind. If you sell a popular product that has high search volume you will start seeing good traffic from day one and it will be traffic that converts.

      Google Shopping is now PPC BUT you can bid as low as .01/click. Even though Google Shopping is PPC you really have to try it. You will get a ton of traffic and if you have a quality website with fair pricing the traffic will convert for you.
      Good advice!

      I have used all of these including Amazon Product Ads, but I can honestly say that my conversion rate has been rather low. It depends a lot on the product you have. If you are the lowest price, yes -- you are going to have a higher conversion rate. If you product is in the middle range of pricing, your conversion rate will be lower.

      At least, that is my experience.

      The problem is that unless you have a really unique product most of these sites are used by those looking for the lowest price for a particular item.

      However, if your product is unique or you have a unique way of presenting it, you may fare better.

      That's my take.
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      • Profile picture of the author alksense
        Originally Posted by lastreporter View Post

        The problem is that unless you have a really unique product most of these sites are used by those looking for the lowest price for a particular item.
        I actually sell items that are being sold by dozens if not hundreds of other retailers (drop shippers) and I get the majority of traffic via Google Shopping, TheFind and Bing Shopping. The key (with drop shipping) is to only work with suppliers who have MAP policies in place (and who actually enforce them) so that you can't have people constantly undercutting you.

        In the OPs case he is stocking his inventory himself so I'm guessing he gets to set his own pricing. You do make a good point in this scenario... pricing has to be at least on par with the competition. Especially if they are selling the exact same items. However, if the item(s) are unique to any of the shopping networks I listed the OP can really make a killing. I own some drop ship sites that have NO COMPETITION on Google Shopping and I'm on the top of page one for all of these products that I'm literally paying .01 per click for... it's really unbelievable.
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        • Profile picture of the author lastreporter
          Originally Posted by alksense View Post

          I actually sell items that are being sold by dozens if not hundreds of other retailers (drop shippers) and I get the majority of traffic via Google Shopping, TheFind and Bing Shopping. The key (with drop shipping) is to only work with suppliers who have MAP policies in place (and who actually enforce them) so that you can't have people constantly undercutting you.

          In the OPs case he is stocking his inventory himself so I'm guessing he gets to set his own pricing. You do make a good point in this scenario... pricing has to be at least on par with the competition. Especially if they are selling the exact same items. However, if the item(s) are unique to any of the shopping networks I listed the OP can really make a killing. I own some drop ship sites that have NO COMPETITION on Google Shopping and I'm on the top of page one for all of these products that I'm literally paying .01 per click for... it's really unbelievable.
          I agree with everything you say.

          Especially true is suppliers who enforce MAP pricing. That has been a problem with some of my products, which are always undercut. In fact, I have stopped selling some of them for that reason.

          But I think the real essence of your post and "successful dropshipping" is finding the products that are "unique" as you have done.

          I can tell you it took me 6 months to find 2 products that fell into this category. In fact, they make up 97 percent of my sales today. But as you know, that can change tomorrow if others start selling them.

          So, it is imperative for any new or seasoned dropshipper to really do ongoing in depth research for such products.

          Your info is very helpful.

          Thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author lastreporter
    Originally Posted by kebertt View Post


    Any advice you can give me on how to market this website better? I'm open to any ideas, but like I said I'm trying to shy away from SEO. PPC seems to be a bit too pricey for my niche for me to profit, but I have the funds to invest in advertising - and I plan on using it.
    I do pretty well dropshipping, but it took me months to find several products that I could sell at a profit from dependable factories. I lost about $3,000 searching for these products by selling products that ended up having a high return rate and low margin.

    PPC is the only way to go, unless you have a year to write tons of SEO articles. Frankly, even then, there is no guarantee that the keywords you attract will convert.

    Plus, Google is always changing and is always looking to convert everyone to a paid ad.

    So, the problem for me and everyone selling goods online is to find keywords that sell through PPC.

    I don't have an answer. So far, I have been successful with an email list I have of customers, but it is becoming less effective.

    PPC has not been profitable for me. I have lost 50 cents on each dollar spent.

    The problem is the amount of competition for the same words and, of course, the huge number of competitors in each niche.

    Sorry, I have no advice for you. But I thought I'd give it to you straight.
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  • Profile picture of the author kebertt
    You guys brought up some great points, especially on advertising on shopping networks. This is clearly a huge gap in my marketing, and I'm taking the necessary steps to submit my product feeds to the shopping networks you provided.

    TheFind has been published, working on Bing now. Also, going to get my feet wet with PPC on Google Shopping. I have been testing Adwords the last few days and have had minimal results. My CPC are roughly $0.40, and even with a 2% conversion I would be paying about $20 per customer, which wouldn't be profitable for my niche.

    There's medium competition in my niche, about 6-7 direct competitors, many of which have terrible marketing and customer service, and higher prices. I do have the ability to lower my prices well below the industry average, and still make a decent profit - I'll give this a try once my feeds are all online.
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by kebertt View Post

      You guys brought up some great points, especially on advertising on shopping networks. This is clearly a huge gap in my marketing, and I'm taking the necessary steps to submit my product feeds to the shopping networks you provided.

      TheFind has been published, working on Bing now. Also, going to get my feet wet with PPC on Google Shopping. I have been testing Adwords the last few days and have had minimal results. My CPC are roughly $0.40, and even with a 2% conversion I would be paying about $20 per customer, which wouldn't be profitable for my niche.

      There's medium competition in my niche, about 6-7 direct competitors, many of which have terrible marketing and customer service, and higher prices. I do have the ability to lower my prices well below the industry average, and still make a decent profit - I'll give this a try once my feeds are all online.
      Glad our advice is helping!

      Regarding typical PPC advertising with Adwords; I would stay far, far away from that. I have literally spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to make it cost effective and I haven't figured it out. The only way to REALLY make it work is if a customer obtained through your ads will buy from you again and again. If it's a one time deal it's next to impossible to make money.

      Good work on getting your feeds to TheFind and Bing. Keep moving forward with Google Shopping and set your bids at $.01. You will be getting 40 clicks for the price that you're paying for one right now (.40 cents) and the clicks will be more valuable, they will convert higher.
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  • Profile picture of the author b4boy
    Give out review products to bloggers in that specific niche to review.

    We found that traffics that generate from other blogs do convert better than PPC.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jesse L
    Another trick is to set up and Ebay and Amazon store. It doesn't matter if you price your products higher on Ebay than on your website. It is probably a good thing to do. You can then make mention in your Ebay store that you have a website, where it is and that often times prices are lower there.

    For $15 per month and some listing fees it is well worth all of the eyes roaming around there. Amazon is simple enough also and you can also make mention of your website.
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    The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. – Vince Lambardi

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