New to E-Commerce, I need Affiliates to market my product.

by Hindmost

Posted: 5 years ago 11 replies

BEGINNERS AREA

I launched a Shopify store a few weeks ago selling homemade Soy Candles. I have the online store, plenty of inventory and raw materials... but no sales. I've never been in E-Commerce. I don't know where to begin with marketing or SEO. I don't want to pay for advertising, only conversions.

I want to use high quality affiliate marketing that won't cheapen my brand. I need a recommendation for a good Affiliate Program to manage Affiliates and compensation.

The Candles are $12 and up with free shipping over $50. I expect the average sale to be around $60. Other companies are selling TONS of similar expensive candles. My prices aren't the highest or lowest.

I'm willing to pay a HIGH commission. Please recommend a commission schedule and affiliate program that is compatible with Shopify. Any other advice will be appreciated.

#affiliates #ecommerce #market #product

dave_hermansen 5 years ago

Well, assuming you have a healthy markup, the first place I would advertise is Amazon and eBay. You don't pay per click on those platforms. You only pay for conversions. Yeah, they keep 10-15% for themselves, but that includes the payment processing so it's really a pretty good deal, assuming you have good margins.

If you are hell-bent on the affiliate thing, you can't really go wrong with Commission Junction (if you can afford the start-up costs). I have to add, though, that I don't see this is a great affiliate niche. Just my opinion.
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- Hindmost 5 years ago
  
  Thank you for your response and opinion on using affiliates. Thanks for the recommendation to use Commission Junction.
  
  When I have a way to manage Affiliates I will put my program into the Classifieds.
  
  I don't want to put my products on Amazon or Ebay because there are too many competing products.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  savidge4 5 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Hindmost
  
  I don't want to put my products on Amazon or Ebay because there are too many competing products.
  
  HUH? Why not? to many competing products? REALLY?!?! With eBay it literally COSTS YOU NOTHING to make a listing.
  
  Look up Paul Savage on YouTube, more specifically videos when he is talking about "differentiating products"
  
  And before you stick your nose up at the 10% fee.. how much traffic are you getting right now? you want FREE? Traffic isnt free, and the internet is not by any means a build it and they will come type environment. If you like it or not, right now, eBay is a really solid option. Once you start selling on eBay by all means include a card that has the URL in the boxes you are sending out - to promote repeat sales from people that are PROVEN to buy Soy Candles.
  
  So some numbers for you I just looked up "Soy Candles" on eBay there are 66,240 listings in total. Of that 66,240 - 7602 have sold in the last 90 days. So a 8% ( More + than - ) turn rate. Not the best.. BUT I will assume your candles are scented and people I will venture to say would search " <insert scent> Soy Candles " to a greater degree than just " Soy Candles "
  
  So looking up something like "Pine Scent Soy Candles" show 382 listings and 39 sold in the last 90 days bringing conversion rates up to 10% and its not even the holiday season yet.
  
  If for a second you doubt any of this go read this: https://www.warriorforum.com/warrior...days-ebay.html I will put myself on the spot right here. I will help you here, I will help you on that thread, or you can DM and I will help you directly
  
  YOU CAN SUCCEED on eBay - I will personally promise that.
  
  In the meantime.. your shopify store.. you need to watch Gary Vee's video on $1.80 Instagram Strategy and figure out how to make that work for you specifically.. because like eBay.. that DOES work.
  
  Best of Luck man
  
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- Iaroslav Lem 5 years ago
  
  Amazon and eBay. You don't pay per click on those platforms.
  
  Yes you do pay per click on Amazon platform.
  
  Thanks
  
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Hindmost

5 years ago

The numbers don't lie. 66,000+ listings is intimidating, but only 382 for "Pine Scent Soy Candles" is encouraging. My product line is already differentiated from the others in several ways. My product line will be on Ebay before the weekend is over. Thank you for your informative post.

I am very willing to pay high commissions for conversions, even double what Ebay charges, I just don't want to pay for fruitless advertisements.

I have an Instagram account set up with high quality pictures. Some of the Soy Candle category leaders get most of their traffic and sales though Instagram. I'll figure out an Instagram strategy.

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savidge4

5 years ago

Originally Posted by Hindmost

This is what I like to see haha. To be honest here.. I sell second hand stuff most of the time.. to have a "Product Line" is like a dream. You should crush it for sure.

Originally Posted by Hindmost

I am very willing to pay high commissions for conversions, even double what Ebay charges, I just don't want to pay for fruitless advertisements.

A little secret.. using eBay you get like 20% off the expense of postage. And over time that adds up. I would assume that for the most part you could be using FREE USPS packaging ( the assumption being that most of your orders will weigh more than 1 lb ) you can click here: https://store.usps.com/store/results...equestid=39259 to order FREE shipping boxes and envelopes

Originally Posted by Hindmost

I have an Instagram account set up with high quality pictures. Some of the Soy Candle category leaders get most of their traffic and sales though Instagram. I'll figure out an Instagram strategy.

In terms of getting Instagram to work for you.. just insert a photo here and there of say a seasonal collection of candles IE fall collection, Christmas Collection, Winter collection that would be be tagged on the photo with your website. Follow the Gary Vee Stratagy and as they come to your page they will see these inserted advert drops in your feed.

Look here: https://www.plannthat.com/how-to-fin...gram-hashtags/ to get a better grasp on hashtags and how to make them work for you. Read this: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/create-a-hashtag/ to get a better idea how to create a BRAND hashtag for yourself and your brand to help in the traffic process.

Thanks

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Yvon Boulianne 5 years ago

Business is taking risk, VERY difficult to win this game without risking anything...
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SEO Partner Team 5 years ago

For your shopify store, SEO is the most important channel of organic (not paid) traffic to your website. You can edit the website SEO, modify section named "search engine listing previews" for each of your products, well-written descriptions of your collections, it is time consuming but well worth it at the end.
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Hindmost 5 years ago

Before adjusting SEO settings and descriptions in Shopify I couldn't find my website in the first 10 pages of google even when searching my companies name. For some reason my facebook page would show near the top, and my logo would show up at the top of an image search.

I'll have quality blog content soon. I learned a LOT about candle making and I can share quality information. Much of the content that exists presently about candle making is bad info. I suspect that this disinformation comes from other candle makers that want new companies to fail, or suppliers that are stuck with bad otherwise unsaleable raw materials.
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Hindmost 5 years ago

Commission Junction is too expensive.
Are there any reputable low cost Affiliate programs?
Is there recommended low cost software for self managing Affiliates?
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- Alex Maxim 5 years ago
  
  Hey there Hindmost,
  I hope that this post finds you in excellent spirits, and that you are having a great day.
  
  Re: your question about reputable low-cost affiliate programs:
  
  1. ShareASale is a vibrant affiliate network (Alexa ranking at time of writing: 2,468) which has a one-off start up cost of US$650.00, plus monthly minimums of up to US$35:
  
  ShareASale
  
  2. clixGalore® is an ultra-cheap affiliate network (Alexa ranking: 121,911) which requires an account balance of just US$75.00 to get started:
  
  Affiliate Marketing USA, Start Affiliate Program, Affiliate Network, Business Advertising And Online Marketing, Affiliates Earn Big Commission With CPA Programs.
  
  A note of caution: successful affiliate marketing does require both patience and generosity. It can take weeks if not months to really get going, and unless you have an offer which is actually worth an affiliate's attention, then you could be waiting a long time to see any return on investment.
  
  Conversely, giving your affiliates great creatives and best-in-class commission is a way to kick-start things.
  
  With very best wishes,
  
  Alex Maxim
  
  Thanks
  
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New to E-Commerce, I need Affiliates to market my product.

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