Affiliate blog to a Ecommerce Store

6 replies
Hey

I am just looking for advice from anyone who may have an ecommerce business. I work in SEO and have started to branch into some of my own projects (as this is where all the FUN is). To test a few strategies and market, I set up a quick blog for a brand of runners. After only a little bit of work, couple of weeks, I have 3500 uniques per month. Not a lot I know but it's on the back of only two keywords. I haven't done much work on it. I really like sneakers + traffic so I am going to look into the possibility of setting up an ecommerce site for a couple of sneaker brands.

Is this worth it. As an affiliate site the commissions are crap plus most people will browse to a number of sites before making a decision. I really think if I could sell on my site, I would do a good job.

Just wondering is it possible to get this kind of setup going i.e. selling physical products via a store if I don't own a shop.

Any advice or places to get research on this would be great ...

Thanks
#affiliate #blog #ecommerce #store
  • Profile picture of the author derekwong28
    You can start with dropshipping first before proceeding to stock your own products and ship yourself. If you do not want to ship the products yourself, you can use a fulfillment house to do it for you.

    You will have to take payments yourself and deal with credit card fraud and shipment issues. One advantage of being a merchant is that because of the higher profit per sale, you can use PPC more effectively to increase your traffic.

    Here is a forum that can help you.

    ABestWeb Affiliate Marketing Forum - Becoming a merchant
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    Do not get between a wombat and a chocolate biscuit; you will regret it dearly!

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    • Profile picture of the author The Expert
      My recent experience with e-commerce is leading me to tell you to steer clear of e-commerce on this.

      I have a site setup right now that is #1 for it's targeted search term. It's getting 450-600 uniques p/day.

      Even with that level of traffic I only sell one item ever 2-3 days!

      Contrast that with an ebay affiliate site I just threw up at the end of last month which is getting 110 hits p/day and has already earned me $270 this month!

      I'm not alone on this either. I talked to some other e-commerce types and they said they are only converting one sale for every 1,000 unique visitors!

      If you can get an ebay affiliate ID, it's often easier and more profitable to setup an ebay "store" with phpBay than your own e-commerce site.

      I suggest you read this e-commerce thread for more stories from the trenches on this one:

      http://www.warriorforum.com/internet...blueprint.html
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      • Profile picture of the author fthomas137
        Originally Posted by The Expert View Post

        My recent experience with e-commerce is leading me to tell you to steer clear of e-commerce on this.

        I have a site setup right now that is #1 for it's targeted search term. It's getting 450-600 uniques p/day.

        Even with that level of traffic I only sell one item ever 2-3 days!

        Contrast that with an ebay affiliate site I just threw up at the end of last month which is getting 110 hits p/day and has already earned me $270 this month!

        I'm not alone on this either. I talked to some other e-commerce types and they said they are only converting one sale for every 1,000 unique visitors!

        If you can get an ebay affiliate ID, it's often easier and more profitable to setup an ebay "store" with phpBay than your own e-commerce site.

        I suggest you read this e-commerce thread for more stories from the trenches on this one:

        http://www.warriorforum.com/internet...blueprint.html
        Thanks for your comment, but I would like to ask how much in percentage, is your site dedicated to presenting good information that positions your site as an authority site and how much is selling product? I do believe that this is important to consider too. If I find an authority site that presents a lot of information that helps me educate to the sale, then I'm more apt to buy from that site than a information thin catalog site.

        Frank
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    • Profile picture of the author axleman
      I've owned an ecommerce site for a number of years and am just recently venturing into the affiliate blog arena. =P

      There are tradeoffs to either method. As mentioned, the profits are generally higher with ecommerce, but so is the time involved in running it. In addition to inventory issues (drop shipping, stocking, etc) and merchant account issues, you will have to actually provide customer service; answering phone calls, emails, tech questions, returns, etc. Also you have to have much stricter accounting in place. I'm not saying this is all bad; I've made my full time living doing it for several years. But it does require a lot bigger time commitment.

      Affiliate blogs on the other hand seem to be less demanding of time and it seems to be easier to "rinse and repeat" into other niches.
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      • Profile picture of the author fthomas137
        Originally Posted by axleman View Post

        I've owned an ecommerce site for a number of years and am just recently venturing into the affiliate blog arena. =P

        There are tradeoffs to either method. As mentioned, the profits are generally higher with ecommerce, but so is the time involved in running it. In addition to inventory issues (drop shipping, stocking, etc) and merchant account issues, you will have to actually provide customer service; answering phone calls, emails, tech questions, returns, etc. Also you have to have much stricter accounting in place. I'm not saying this is all bad; I've made my full time living doing it for several years. But it does require a lot bigger time commitment.

        Affiliate blogs on the other hand seem to be less demanding of time and it seems to be easier to "rinse and repeat" into other niches.
        All good points Axleman. But you mention the rinse/repeat idea. I think if you start to focus in on making an authority and products sales site, you shouldn't need too many sites to do very well.

        I will say that I don't have experience in this realm, so I'm talking out my hat.

        Frank
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  • Profile picture of the author CWDSteve
    ecommerce is a tough thing to really rock out...
    I wish I had the patience for it, I simply do not, im better at writing content and creating products, but thats the name of the game in IM isnt it, work what youre good at!
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