This is a guest post by Dennis Moons. Dennis is an experienced adwords marketer, and he has also written a really nice post on r/entrepreneur which you can see here. I really liked what Dennis had to say in the reddit post, so when he approached me for a guest post, I didn't hesitate at all. Enjoy! Increasing sales with an online advertising campaign can seem like a daunting task for online store owners. It is indeed challenging to create campaigns that work. Most companies spend a lot of … [Read more...]
How I Developed My First Ecommerce App
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Ecommerce has evolved from the simple cart-checkout of the 1990s to a booming ecosystem full of apps and addons that enhance your selling and your buyer's buying experience. When Fish Finder Source used to be an online store, it was running on Bigcommerce. I chose Bigcommerce for that particular store because I was going to carry a lot of inventory and needed many levels of categories and subcategories: a feature that is easily doable using Bigcommerce. The idea I carried lots of … [Read more...]
How To Validate Your Ecommerce Business Idea
This is a guest post by Travis Newton, the Commerce Dude When it comes to ecommerce or business in general people tend to think “Hey, I’ll come up with a kick ass business plan, research the market, put up my store and I’ll make money by the truck load.” Now I’m not saying not to do any market research; but one of the fastest most effective methods to see if you actually have a viable product is through validation. What is validation you ask? It’s getting your potential customers to pay for … [Read more...]
The Three Approaches To Online Businesses
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I've been at this for quite a while now. I think I've been working on building full-fledged ecommerce businesses for at least 3 years, and I've been documenting what I've learned and am learning for a little over a year. That and by following other thought leaders in the ecommerce and online business space, I've seen that there are a few approaches that you can take to building businesses online. There is no correct approach - it's a matter of what you want to do and the amount of time and … [Read more...]
Lessons In Conversion Optimization
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Back when Fish Finder Source was an online store, I had built the site to receive a pretty decent amount of traffic, but conversion rates were dismal at best. I tried almost everything to improve the conversion rate, including the standard fare of: Adding trust symbols such as SSL seals and PayPal verified seals Eliminating extra buttons and fields from the checkout Making it a one step checkout Making the site ridiculously easy to use Offering free shipping Displaying trust … [Read more...]
Preparing Your Shipping Strategy For The 2014 Holidays
Wow, it's September already - and in just a few short months, it will be November, and time for the holiday season - and we all know what that means for us ecommerce folk! The holiday season is the most important time of the year for sellers, and when you execute your strategy correctly, it can be the most profitable time of year, too. Did you know that Cyber Monday 2013 saw a growth of 18% over Cyber Monday 2012? It's highly likely that the trend will continue to rise, so it's key to be at … [Read more...]
Picking The Right Niche With Shopify Contest Winners Drones Etc.
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I hope you all are as excited about this post as I am! I had the privilege of interviewing Shopify's Build-A-Business contest winner Shawn Rowland of Drones Etc. Shawn and his partner Jonathan Baird have always wanted to start a business together. They tried three times before the fourth business - this one - took off. Shawn is a medical resident, and Jon used to work at a bank - but since the business has kicked off, Jon works full-time at Drones Etc. along with 6 employees. What really … [Read more...]
Turning My Online Store Into An Amazon Affiliate Site
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Big news: Last month(April), I turned my store into an Amazon Affiliates website. I'm no longer selling my own drop-shipped goods. Instead, I'm funneling traffic to Amazon.com using affiliate links, adapting the revenue model advocated by many such as Spencer Haws and Jon Haver. This post is going to be VERY transparent - I'll be sharing Analytics and revenues, with screenshots. I was mulling over this decision for a very long time. I think it must have been for about 3-4 months before I … [Read more...]
4 Marketing Automating Mistakes That Will Cost You
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Today I'm excited to bring you a guest post by Josh Ludin of NeverJobHunt.com. Josh Ludin is a serial experimenter with various forms of making money online, and writes about his successes, and most importantly, failures at NeverJobHunt.com. He's a huge hockey fan and player, and aims to step foot on 6 of 7 continents. The ecommerce industry is quickly heading down the path of complete marketing automation. If you've been in eCommerce for the last 5 years, I'm sure you've tried multiple … [Read more...]
