$5000 to $30,000 per month - eCommerce Progress

[Eos]

Congrats on the progress man! I'm also from the Uk and looking at e-commerce.
What resources or advice could you recommend to find a niche or saleable product for starters.

Thanks.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SparksCW]

OK so I missed posting at the end of last month. I'm still doing this thread to keep myself accountable more than anything so here's a quick overview of the past month and 14 days.

February was a bit disappointing at only $20,000 t/o if I'm honest, not as good as January. This month we're currently up to $13,000 so I'm aiming to finish the month at around $25-30k. I'm not 100% convinced we're "growing" at the minute, but we're not going back wards which is positive.

What have I done?

• Added new features to site including a knowledge base, quick view feature, some better browsing features, layered navigation + more searchable attributes (useful, not just pointless ones)
• Tagged all products, should be good for SEO and does help when browsing
• Narrowed my product range slightly
• Generally improving some products and categories as I go. Still lots of work to do. Need to write lots more unique descriptions.
• Added a "downloads" section to products where I'm adding manuals, guides, info etc.
• Added another range of relevant products
• Using Hootsuite to post twice daily on Facebook

What I've identified.

The site is pretty good, it looks nice, looks trustworthy enough in my opinion and is generally pretty easy to choose a solution. But there just isn't enough eyes on the site! I'm getting around 1800 unique UK visitors per month. The site itself is converting about 1.6% at most. Most of our sales are still coming from third party and our other niche product range.

I feel the site is pretty much at the point where I don't want to add too much more, just need to work on content and marketing now, otherwise I fear the site will become too cluttered and will make niche customers trying to find a specific solution struggle and go elsewhere.

Moving Forward

There are still some site and product improvements to be done but my focus is now on

• Building a decent active blog on the site
• improving product descriptions (unique)
• adding content in way of knowledge base, answering questions etc
• adding plenty of supplementary information such as manuals, guides, info, case studies etc.

It's been a bit depressing lately as I don't feel it's moving fast enough but I'm trying to stay positive as it's not going backwards! I still feel that all the work will soon "turn a tap on" and the orders will come pouring in.

 

[Tiger TT]

I think you really need to attract more visitors
to your site.

These may help:

https://yoast.com/product-page-seo/
https://yoast.com/product-page-ux/
https://yoast.com/basic-seo-training-product-page-optimization/

Moz also has a very good blog. Especially you should watch
the Whiteboard Friday video series which are
regularly posted on...you guessed it... Fridays

Here's the Moz Blog:

https://moz.com/blog

I hope you get successfull man. I currently sell my ebook and
I'm writing another one, but I sometimes just think
about opening an e-commerce website and to sell physical
stuff.

 

[Smoothsailor]

So January is over, almost a month since I last posted.

This month ended at just under $23,000 t/o so not too bad considering it is January, it's 270% on last year though which is the main thing!

This month we've;

• improved some product descriptions (more to go)
• written buying guides and added to site
• added some more products
• put a lot of effort into our other site in an attempt to start building this up in a broader niche. all new banners, products, better category structure etc.
• done some mail shots
• got Hootsuite and started to do social media (too soon to say if this will work out but hoot suite certainly makes it easier)

Offline however I'm working on some really good deals and partnership agreements, if this comes off then it'll be extremely good for us. Watch this space.

February we will be;

• continuing to improve product pages
• continuing SEO on category pages, descriptions etc
• more content, need to get this blog going!!
• working offline on deals and trying to get our company visible in the "real world"
• increasing eBay and amazon sales with other products to increase sales, we can be a bit broader with this as the products won't show on the main sites.
• looking for more ways to add value

Hey,

Nice thread you got going on here.
I don't know your product and I have limited experience with e-commerce industry wise but hey, your conversion rate sounds pretty good!! On the other hand, (again don't know the product etc. ) 1.6k unique/mo sounds like nothing.

I'd seriously go bonanza on traffic increasing activities.

I also agree that your tasks make sense (blog, case studies, faq etc.) but sounds limited on the marketing side. Did you check affiliate marketing, fb ads, google ads, cps or cpc, what about partnership with bloggers, product review programs and maybe even more spammy approachs that are not straight away illegal but on the gray side?

I don't know your profit ratios either but with that revenue and conversion rate with that traffic I think you might have a big catch here.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SparksCW]

Hey,

Nice thread you got going on here.
I don't know your product and I have limited experience with e-commerce industry wise but hey, your conversion rate sounds pretty good!! On the other hand, (again don't know the product etc. ) 1.6k unique/mo sounds like nothing.

I'd seriously go bonanza on traffic increasing activities.

I've had a proper look and the conversion rate is actually 0.6% not 1.6% so it's not as good as I thought, but it's a bit more realistic now. I consider the traffic to be really low on this site so you're right that I need traffic really. Most of my sales are still coming from third party (eBay and Amazon) and from my other niche site but this site is growing in direct sales so it's getting there, but I would really like the site itself to be doing a lot more sales.

I need to drastically increase quality traffic.

I also agree that your tasks make sense (blog, case studies, faq etc.) but sounds limited on the marketing side. Did you check affiliate marketing, fb ads, google ads, cps or cpc, what about partnership with bloggers, product review programs and maybe even more spammy approachs that are not straight away illegal but on the gray side?

I don't know your profit ratios either but with that revenue and conversion rate with that traffic I think you might have a big catch here.

This is really where I'm struggling, I do a bit of adwords but it's not working that well if I'm honest. The products on this particular site require installation at the right time when someone is remodelling their kitchen so I think a lot of people do a lot of researching before buying. The average product price is around $450 so it's not an impulse buy.

Which is why I think you are right in that partnerships with bloggers, product reviews etc are a good way forward but I struggle to find these types of link ups. I need more exposure from relevant blogs and websites. I need more non-paid exposure.

I wouldn't do anything that's gray side really as I don't want to risk Google penalties etc. I would rather try to think outside the box and target different audiences for the same products but in different situations. I have a few ideas, but again struggling to get out to people. This is easily my biggest downfall, sales and marketing, this is what I need to work on the most. I'm currently reading "Cashvertising".

We closed March at $28,000 t/o so not a bad month, I'm trying to make April a bumper month, I'd like to hit around $35000 and ideally want to be averaging that or more every month by the end of the year.

My net margin after all bills and staff seems to be fairly steady at 20%, we're still paying off some debt so I'm not paying myself and haven't been for a few months, really desperately want to get caught up so I can start paying myself again! My day to day involvement in the company is zero. I have a staff member who deals with all order fulfilment, telephone and email enquiries and she lists lots of new stuff, so my job is to improve the site, marketing etc and once we get to a more steady level then I can do as much or as little as i want. So I'm happy that we're heading in the right direction all round.

 

[Eos]

Hey man, nice thread. I'm also from the UK, so it's good to see another British person making something happen on this side of the pond.

How did you start off in e-commerce & what would you advise for a beginner with a few £k to risk?

 

[memelia]

Thanks for sharing! Very insightful. What is your take on inventory? I'm looking to start an online luxury women's boutique, and wondering how much inventory I should have on hand. I'm looking to import from US brands though (i'm based in Asia), so that is another problem.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SparksCW]

Hey man, nice thread. I'm also from the UK, so it's good to see another British person making something happen on this side of the pond.

How did you start off in e-commerce & what would you advise for a beginner with a few £k to risk?

One of my suppliers in my day job suggested I started a web shop and sold some bits and it was "easy money".. so I did, and barely got any sales! However I didn't give up, I found a niche product which started selling, then I got the manufacturers domain name for UK and that site started growing, then I tried a broader niche with a different product which is the site I'm trying to grow and that I refer to on this thread. We also sell on eBay and Amazon as well as direct trade sales.

My advice would be to find a niche, it can be anything, there are still opportunities, if there are a couple of existing sites then that isn't necessarily a bad thing as it shows there is a market for the product. Then it's quite simple really, build a decent looking, fast website that answers everyones questions as well as things they didn't even know they wanted to ask. Then get people on the site. The key part really is adding the value, answering questions and removing barriers to buy. Look at your competitors and try to do it different/better. Or target their same products at a different audience.

The hard part is getting people on the site

 

[SparksCW]

Thanks for sharing! Very insightful. What is your take on inventory? I'm looking to start an online luxury women's boutique, and wondering how much inventory I should have on hand. I'm looking to import from US brands though (i'm based in Asia), so that is another problem.

A lot of my products are sent direct from distributors, however I only have a few key distributors and they only send direct as we've worked with them for a long time so I trust them.

The biggest problem we get is selling something that is out of stock at the distributor, its very rare for us due to the above, but with other companies it's a lot more common and that's the biggest issue you'll have with inventory. We do stock a lot of the most common sellers and we buy in clearance/bulk stock if we can save money.

If you are importing then you have no choice but to hold stock, and I would suggest keeping good stocks and making sure your inventory is accurate so if it sells out the customer either can't buy it, or they are warned that it's out of stock and there will be a delay.

 

[Fernando Cordero]

I too want to get into the e-commerce world, i find it fascinating and really fun. I would love to start with amazon since its such a huge site and it has alot of visitors every month so i know my product would be seen by some people.

Right now im waiting on some samples from china but just testing the waters, thankfully i found about a guru of this stuff that can mentor me and knows alot of stuff about amazon.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Smoothsailor]

I've had a proper look and the conversion rate is actually 0.6% not 1.6% so it's not as good as I thought, but it's a bit more realistic now. I consider the traffic to be really low on this site so you're right that I need traffic really. Most of my sales are still coming from third party (eBay and Amazon) and from my other niche site but this site is growing in direct sales so it's getting there, but I would really like the site itself to be doing a lot more sales.

I need to drastically increase quality traffic.



This is really where I'm struggling, I do a bit of adwords but it's not working that well if I'm honest. The products on this particular site require installation at the right time when someone is remodelling their kitchen so I think a lot of people do a lot of researching before buying. The average product price is around $450 so it's not an impulse buy.

Which is why I think you are right in that partnerships with bloggers, product reviews etc are a good way forward but I struggle to find these types of link ups. I need more exposure from relevant blogs and websites. I need more non-paid exposure.

I wouldn't do anything that's gray side really as I don't want to risk Google penalties etc. I would rather try to think outside the box and target different audiences for the same products but in different situations. I have a few ideas, but again struggling to get out to people. This is easily my biggest downfall, sales and marketing, this is what I need to work on the most. I'm currently reading "Cashvertising".

We closed March at $28,000 t/o so not a bad month, I'm trying to make April a bumper month, I'd like to hit around $35000 and ideally want to be averaging that or more every month by the end of the year.

My net margin after all bills and staff seems to be fairly steady at 20%, we're still paying off some debt so I'm not paying myself and haven't been for a few months, really desperately want to get caught up so I can start paying myself again! My day to day involvement in the company is zero. I have a staff member who deals with all order fulfilment, telephone and email enquiries and she lists lots of new stuff, so my job is to improve the site, marketing etc and once we get to a more steady level then I can do as much or as little as i want. So I'm happy that we're heading in the right direction all round.

0.6% sounds more market standart.
I know what you mean, it's always the though part to get quality traffic/liñks/blogger attraction. My experience with bloggers, there are two types; 1)the cannibals, they wont do nothing without trying to overcharge you 2)laid back types, these are trying to deliver good value to readers and not as capitalistic.
-are you reaching out/cold calling big number of bloggers, in order to discover type 2 bloggers for collab?
-did you identify links to your competitors? So you can reach expand to same people/blog/organixations
-instead of adword, which is usually overpriced, did you discover any focused cpc/cps partners (might find this inur competitor link analysis). I.e. i had an experience with a small focused listing website to have cpc priced at 9 cents while adword was charging up from 30 cents. Even at 9 cents i was at breakeven because my conversion rate was 0.4%, that means i sell nearly 4 product to 1000 visitors (1000 visitor will cost 9 cent*1000 =90 usd, 22.5usd marketing cost/sale)
It's crazy right, even with such cheap cpc, imaging if i was using adwords... Simply out of money!
-how about cps affiliate agreements? Did you try any? That one you only pay a commision if there is a sale. (Usually near 10% of sale price).
Bottomline, there are some things you can try to exploit, especially cold calling bloggers might help a lot if you can get a few of them to help you for free or a small favor.
Ps: overall ur company sounds healthy, keep up the good work! Fingers crossed for ur sale target!

 

[Smoothsailor]

I too want to get into the e-commerce world, i find it fascinating and really fun. I would love to start with amazon since its such a huge site and it has alot of visitors every month so i know my product would be seen by some people.

Right now im waiting on some samples from china but just testing the waters, thankfully i found about a guru of this stuff that can mentor me and knows alot of stuff about amazon.

Sounds cool buddy.
Amazon, etsy etc. Makes sense for the beginning to start experimenting. I wouldnt worry about a few k capital. Simply start with tiny product selection and improve your marketing skills and product selection skill. After good experience when you feel confident you can step up gradually. If you're successful capital won't be a problem..

 

[Tallphil]

A lot of my products are sent direct from distributors, however I only have a few key distributors and they only send direct as we've worked with them for a long time so I trust them.

The biggest problem we get is selling something that is out of stock at the distributor, its very rare for us due to the above, but with other companies it's a lot more common and that's the biggest issue you'll have with inventory. We do stock a lot of the most common sellers and we buy in clearance/bulk stock if we can save money.

If you are importing then you have no choice but to hold stock, and I would suggest keeping good stocks and making sure your inventory is accurate so if it sells out the customer either can't buy it, or they are warned that it's out of stock and there will be a delay.

Just wanted to say that you're doing a really great job! Thank you for the value provided in this thread and best of luck!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SparksCW]

I too want to get into the e-commerce world, i find it fascinating and really fun. I would love to start with amazon since its such a huge site and it has alot of visitors every month so i know my product would be seen by some people.

Right now im waiting on some samples from china but just testing the waters, thankfully i found about a guru of this stuff that can mentor me and knows alot of stuff about amazon.

I do love it, but it's not always fun and games, some days, like today you just wish you didn't bother getting out of bed!

$600 worth of returns requests over the weekend.

Had an enquiry for some products to value of about $2000, nice order! he agrees to buy so we call to take payment but for some reason our card processor fails his card repeatedly, he gives up and says he'll call the bank. He's a bit unsure at this stage so it takes an email from me to convince him that we are a legit company and his money is safe with us. He seems happy with that now but is waiting to ensure no money is taken from his account before placing the order directly on our shop (uses a different card processor so should be problem free, hopefully!!) I'm just hoping he comes back and the order goes through okay! Problem lays with our card processor, sometimes it just doesn't like someone!!!

Then less than an hour later we get a negative review (first ever) left from a customer who wants to return an item claiming its faulty, however from his description it clearly isn't, he just isn't connecting it correctly, before we even get the product back he's left a horrible review saying how bad we are and that the returns isn't really "no hassle" - all because we asked him a couple of questions to try and help him get it working...! he forgot to mention that he received the product in less than 20 hours from purchase. He left his review only a couple of hours after he initially emailed us asking to return it!

So there is a down side to e-commerce, but the upsides do make it all worthwhile!!

 

[DrkSide]

So there is a down side to e-commerce, but the upsides do make it all worthwhile!!

The downside isn't talked about nearly as much on here but it is inevitable that you will have days/weeks/months like this. What defines you is how you deal with this and keep pushing forward.

This lifestyle isn't for the faint of heart. The highs are high and the lows are very low.

Good work so far and keep pushing!

 

[SparksCW]

Another month, another post...

So last month closed at $25,000

However, a lot of those sales were of an item we have in stock from a large acquisition which is great as it's meant the company has caught up significantly with some debt.

What have I done last month?

Not much if I'm honest, I've been a bit busy with my main business and life in general.

however this month is going great, it's the first working day, we had an epic weekend of sales and 2 large quotes I've been working on have turned into paid orders, so as of the first working day of the month we've already done $20,000!! This month is shaping up to be great.

May To Do List

• I've been talking to a local niche related company about a small link up, using their photos and some social media stuff to promote each other.
• the blog is going to progress this month, if it doesn't then i want someone to PM me calling me useless and to sort it out!!
• continue adding questions and answers to the products on site
• continue improving product descriptions

It's getting exciting now as when I've caught up some personal moneys (i need to pay myself now as i have a wedding to pay for) once thats out of the way I'm going to dedicate 6 months to pure growth, no money taken out, just reinvest in marketing, advertising, videos, pictures, everything!! I'm going to use a marketing company, on the list is Facebook advertising, google re-marketing, email marketing and more. I may consider consumer shows as well to get in front of potential buyers. The aim is to get more eyes on the website, more conversions and more phone call orders.

Things I've Learnt

it's all about the knawledge!! the more i teach my customers the more they trust me and my company, the easier they buy. $3000 order in the bag today because I could advise him on everything he needed and best value for money way of achieving what he wanted. Didn't even need to talk him into buying it. So my advice is to make your product as easy to understand as possible, answer every question, do as much as you can on - site with blog posts, related questions on product pages etc. Be the place that people research your product.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[JordanK]

How has the month being going for you?

 

[SparksCW]

How has the month being going for you?

Hi, pretty good this month really. I've been on vacation for the past week or so which means we've not done much "new" stuff. However the hard work appears to be paying off.

This month we're at $40,000 so far. But more importantly, direct website sales are significantly up!! That's what I've been working towards and it's only this month that I've started to see it happen! We're still a long way off but this months direct website sales are 100% on the previous two months.

Now I'm back from my holiday we'll be pushing on with more products (solutions) and continuing to make it easier to buy things.

Whilst on holiday I have;

• Sourced a new product which fills a gap, hoping these will sell well as there isn't much competition online. They've already been added so I just have to create the categories, structure, some content and bundle deals to make it easy to choose a solution.
• Lined up a developer to fix some website bugs and other improvements.
• Found some new products in one of my categories, nice to have another option for customers as it was looking a bit bare before.
• Got a new bundles feature ready to implement, this will offer a small discount on upsales items, most of my manufacturers won't let me do discounts on the main product so I'm going to offer a discount on add on's instead just to encourage larger baskets to try and maximise value from every customer.

On the list;

• The unique product videos are looking more and more important, so these will be pushed on soon.
• More content, guides, how to's, advice. The blog will be the key to this.
• I'm going to be working on a new website, it encompasses my existing niche, but is much broader so I can go for many other applications for the same products as well as adding a lot more. I am going to phase out our existing "master" site as it's too broad and we don't offer any value compared to our competitors so I don't see the point in running it any longer, it would take a lot of work to get up to standard and I feel the broader site in my current niche is a much more viable concept.
• Improve up sells and cross sells with low value basket stage add ons to try and maximise value of each basket.
• Buy in stock of best selling items rather than relying on distributors to ship out... we have no problem with the distributors sending but we can save $5 a unit shipping ourselves, we will know what is or isn't in stock and we can easily add extra items etc to the packages. We already stock a large amount of items in other ranges so it's not a big issue.

Years of hard work meant I could go on holiday with my family and the business ticks over in the back ground, the holiday was paid for by the time I got home, I had orders coming in on the plane. The "laptop lifestyle" is a lot harder than the youtube gurus tell you, but it's not until you're getting paid when you're doing something fun with your family that you realise what you're working for. Makes me want to work harder to get a more reliable and much larger income to let me do even more things with my family and not worry about money so much.

This month is the first month I've ever earnt a five figure income, (well, i could have, I chose to pay off most of the companies debt instead but still able to pay myself a decent sum this month).

I would also like to add that getting an employee, even if part time, was the best move I've made. It does cost money, but it allows me to make money even when I'm not around, or if I'm working on something else. I know my orders, phone calls and emails are being dealt with and I'd go hungry before I got rid of my staff.

You can only work so many hours, don't waste them doing the menial bits unless you just want a job.

 

[Nhausberger10]

Hi, pretty good this month really. I've been on vacation for the past week or so which means we've not done much "new" stuff. However the hard work appears to be paying off.

Hey SparksCW,

I was looking at this tread (great one by the way), and realized that we are kind of the same. The way you word your words, tells me you might of got your knowledge, the same place I got mine. I feel above average in my knowledge about buisness, ads, and marketing. Just one thing... I never actually went through it yet, so I have no experience. Just knowledge. I know I need to start executing, but with a budget of only $440, I am doing alot of thought about how I am going to spend my money and what product to invest my time in. That said, I have a few problems that come into my mind. Can you or anyone else reading this help me answer a few questions?

(In the US by the way... CA)
-I read that you have a distribution deal with one of your suppliers. That's a nice deal, but if you didn't have that option, how would you distribute your goods to the customer? I was thinking about using the US postal mail or UPS, but is there a better, more professional way to go about it?

-What is your thought about a warehouse, office, and house, all in one?? If I were to start off, could I store shipments at my house (dont own a warehouse), and run a website at m house? or do you think its alot of hassle?

-Is amazon and ebay and pain when it comes to fees? I know traffic is higher on those sites, and that a big deal, but is FBA and selling fees costly? I read that one should start off with their own site, then work up? I feel like you would need to be proficient in selling your product, before using one of the sites, because after paying the supplier, your website subscription, and amazon FBA, plus selling on there site (if fees apply), it seems like your profit margins are not worth the profit. I mean maybe if you had a good product, but If I were starting off?

-One more question, is my age (19) going to play a huge downside in tying to run a successful business? I feel like suppliers would not take me seriously, and no one would want to work for me. I get that most people my age are not that bright, but I am the .001% of people.

Hows this month going? I am mainly interested in your business progress, a kid like me, with no bills, one employ, and 25k+ in sales (netting 20%) a month; that would be awesome. I know running a business involves risk and is not just fun and games, but there is nothing I rather do with my life. No friends, huge chance I will never get a GF, nothing to live for. I have all the time in the world to keep trying in life until I have a successful business.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SparksCW]

Hey SparksCW,

I was looking at this tread (great one by the way), and realized that we are kind of the same. The way you word your words, tells me you might of got your knowledge, the same place I got mine. I feel above average in my knowledge about buisness, ads, and marketing. Just one thing... I never actually went through it yet, so I have no experience. Just knowledge. I know I need to start executing, but with a budget of only $440, I am doing alot of thought about how I am going to spend my money and what product to invest my time in. That said, I have a few problems that come into my mind. Can you or anyone else reading this help me answer a few questions?

Thanks, budget is irrelevant to get going for a lot of business, I started my company with nothing. Originally on a paid monthly e-commerce package and that was it. I bought goods when I sold them. It was painfully slow going, but at the time it didn't matter as it was just a bit of fun.

(In the US by the way... CA)
-I read that you have a distribution deal with one of your suppliers. That's a nice deal, but if you didn't have that option, how would you distribute your goods to the customer? I was thinking about using the US postal mail or UPS, but is there a better, more professional way to go about it?

By distribution I mean I stock and sell their products so get better margins. I don't know about USA. We ship items out direct from our warehouse or from other distributors using various services, mostly Interlink & Royal Mail

-What is your thought about a warehouse, office, and house, all in one?? If I were to start off, could I store shipments at my house (dont own a warehouse), and run a website at m house? or do you think its alot of hassle?

Rome wasn't built in a day and you can't run before you walk. My business started in my spare bedroom, I'm not ashamed of that. Early last year I had a packing bench that took up over half the room and could barely sit at my computer. Aim to move into a small unit as soon as you can though, they aren't necessarily really expensive. Again, don't know about USA but there are some really cheap easy in easy out places in the UK. We're in an easy in easy out but it's a higher end one so a lot more expensive, but much better facilities.

-Is amazon and ebay and pain when it comes to fees? I know traffic is higher on those sites, and that a big deal, but is FBA and selling fees costly? I read that one should start off with their own site, then work up? I feel like you would need to be proficient in selling your product, before using one of the sites, because after paying the supplier, your website subscription, and amazon FBA, plus selling on there site (if fees apply), it seems like your profit margins are not worth the profit. I mean maybe if you had a good product, but If I were starting off?

The most successful businesses sell.... EVERYWHERE!

Ebay, Amazon, Own Site(s) with traffic generated from all manner of social media, PPC, remarketing etc. This is the hard bit, being everywhere. But don't rely on one thing, i'd rather have a well spread $500k a year business than a $1m ebay only business, don't think I'd sleep at night!

I know a business that has high overheads and they only sell on Amazon, he said he has sleepless nights worrying what would happen if his account got blocked!

People moan about eBay fees, but it'll cost you far more than the fees to drive traffic to a website unless you're 1) very lucky or 2) very good. Ebay and Amazon fees aren't too bad in the grand scheme of things. But it's not as simple as listing some stuff and it'll sell.

If your product doesn't have enough margin to cover eBay/Amazon fees then it's not worth selling, after fees you have staff, overheads, etc etc... if you drop ship and sell items that everyone sells the margins will be rubbish, you have to commit and take risks. I bought $50,000 of stock paid upfront last year just to get a better deal! I had to sell my Range Rover to pay for it!!

-One more question, is my age (19) going to play a huge downside in tying to run a successful business? I feel like suppliers would not take me seriously, and no one would want to work for me. I get that most people my age are not that bright, but I am the .001% of people.

It all depends on your outgoing image, which is also very important to your customers. A professional website with decent content, contact numbers, addresses, tax and company details etc will portray a good professional image. Make sure you have a good email footer with well written emails etc. It won't be until you're on the phone/in person that someone will be a bit surprised that you're young, by which time they should be confident with your business based on the image you've portrayed. It's just branding and marketing essentially.

Hows this month going? I am mainly interested in your business progress, a kid like me, with no bills, one employ, and 25k+ in sales (netting 20%) a month; that would be awesome. I know running a business involves risk and is not just fun and games, but there is nothing I rather do with my life. No friends, huge chance I will never get a GF, nothing to live for. I have all the time in the world to keep trying in life until I have a successful business.

Finished month at just over $45,000, was very busy and I hope it continues, pushing on with more content, more unique stuff to make the site harder to replicate and to increase brand confidence. Hopefully sales will be good with the continued effort.

 

[Nhausberger10]

Thank you for your answers, they are very well written/ worded, and helped me out a lot. Thank you and congratulation on a good month. I get what you mean when you tell me that what sells the best, are things that other people can't replicate, and that had a lot of thought and hard work put into it. I feel like I am ready, I just have to tackle the biggest obstacle. Picking a product that fixes a problem or fulfills a desire. With 8 billion people in the world, and business starting and failing everyday; finding something to sell now a days that is actually profitable, is hard. I respect anyone who has success in business now a days, and I respect you highly. I look forward to more updates by you.

 

[SparksCW]

It's the 5th of June and the website that I'm focusing on in this thread has now (already!) directly sold more $$ than it did in jan, feb, mar, april, may (not combined, just beat the previous months individually with exception of May)

This is telling me that the subtle and the not so subtle design/layout changes are working, the product info is good and the site is working well. The changes were made at the beginning of May and the conversion rate for May was 0.75% and for June so far is 1.33% (for comparison, apr 0.46%, mar 0.58%, feb 0.59%, jan 0.40%) at present overall traffic has barely changed, it's still low at approx 3k sessions and that seems to be pretty steady so at present I'm just converting more people.

3k p.m traffic (sessions) sounds awfully low, I am excited to think what sales will be like if I can get the traffic to 3k a week!!!

This particular site, lets call it Site X for ease.. is now becoming the biggest single source of income out of all the channels as it appears to be (almost) overtaking eBay and Amazon. (average order value is about $300-$400)

Aside from some new products and general on going improvements I think I'm going to back off working on the website and now work on MARKETING. I was working on a "master niche" site but I've put it on hold again as I think I still have so much to learn and do with Site X that starting anything else, even in the same niche, will just be a distraction, Site X's niche is plenty big enough and I don't think I've scraped the surface of it yet.

Said it before, but I have a new sense of motivation right now.

TO DO

1. unique product pictures
2. unique product videos
3. case studies and more content
4. blogging
5. Found an email marketing automation software which I'm going to give a go, seems really clever and I'm going to look at ways to sell more to existing customers as well as sign up people who haven't purchased yet then send them a series of helpful emails to hopefully convert them.
6. I am in talks with a marketing company, I'm reluctant to spend the money but I really want re-marketing banners set up and I've not had much luck with PPC so may need some professional help.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SparksCW]

Finding the day job a real issue lately, I work for my dad and am "in line for the throne" and all that, but my heart isn't in it and we don't really see eye to eye on anything. I'm having an authority issue too, not happy being an employee. Past couple of years I've only really been there because I want to help him get back on his feet, he doesn't seem to help himself though so I'm almost at the point of giving up. He's a true sidewalker through and through.

Might be taking this full time soon, intrigued to see how well we can do if the majority of my focus is on this! Even as part time, by the end of this year I'll be debt free and I'm already paying my own bills!

Favourite thing this week... I import a product from the USA and today I sold one to someone in... the USA! strange when it's readily available out there.

Anyway, keep working and progressing.

 

[m500]

Just read through this whole thread and feel inspired and extremely impressed! It wasn't until your last post that I remembered that you also work for the family firm too. I think that makes it all even more impressive, and makes you wonder what figures you can do if you're dedicated to it full time.

I'm also in the UK and am researching products/niches to get into so this is all really useful for me.

I ran a Shopify store for around a year and it did pretty crap to be honest! But, I learnt a lot and was impressed with Shopify.

Congrats on your progress so far and I look forward to reading more.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Eos]

Thanks for the advice and for carrying on sharing your journey. Keep it up mate!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SparksCW]

So this happened....

Sink or swim time!

 

[SparksCW]

I only have a few days left in my slow lane job and then I am full time on my own fast lane ventures.

I haven't posted in this thread for a couple of months but we've been pretty busy and just about keeping a steady $25-30,000 p/m revenue.

We've taken on a couple of other brands and put a lot of work into the site.

• Streamlined and removed certain products as they just caused clutter as they weren't the items I want to be selling.
• Added some much needed product up sell options as customers kept asking on the phone for them but no ability to buy directly on the site
• I have employed the services of a copywriter to do 2 blog posts per month and to gradually re-write the guides, create an e-book and eventually re-write the product descriptions
• I have employed an eCommerce consultant with proper industry experience, in my own industry which I'm really, really hopeful that this will be a key success move as he has run adword campaigns generating $3-400,000 revenue per month - this is verified as he comes from a recommendation and he is currently working for one of my key suppliers.
• Increased website traffic, not significantly but it is going in the right direction
• Increased phone orders
• got a semi-exclusive product deal
• got my own product ready to be manufactured!! I utilised an existing company and they have agreed to build their existing product into a different format with some key changes and in a new box.
• got a deal with a foreign manufacturer who wants to bring their product into my country.

In the coming months, now with my full attention we will be doing:

• product videos
• general videos
• blog posts
• a major SEO push
• a major adwords push
• further conversion optimisation - if you properly look through analytics you can start finding out where people drop off the site.. I've just noticed that more than 50% of traffic is going to a certain set of pages that are poorly designed and offer no value, and thus have a 70% bounce rate.. so these are first on the list for major improvement.

I have been struggling to increase the sales as you can see from the relatively flat turn over from past months.. always around the $25-30k month. But I am very hopeful that by Christmas this year we'll be smashing the $25,000 revenue mark.

Keep plugging away!

 

[SparksCW]

Oh I forgot to say though...and it's kind of important.

Whilst overall revenue is steady, it's now coming predominately from the key site this thread is about. When I started the thread we were only doing a few $ through this particular site and the revenue was made up via other sites and third party sales, now via the site and the phone calls it generates we're doing about $15,000 p/m! That's a pretty good increase I think and we're only just getting started!

Lately third party sales and our other site sales are quite low, luckily this particular site is growing and we will be working on the other channels soon to try and increase them as well.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SparksCW]

So this month has been a real change for me. I've been guided by someone who's run much larger shops in the same industry and I've learnt a considerable amount already. (action has been taken on my site, and seeing results already)

I'm not here to take part, I'm here to take over - Connor McGregor

Little Details

Every single last thing on a website matters. If you want to be the best it matters anyway.

I've been tracking keywords for a long time, and I see them rise and fall and I add a few words into the page to try and boost it. Had some success over time sure.

BUT

I've often wondered why we're in top 5 for a relevant keyword which appears to have reasonable monthly traffic, but we don't seem to get considerable traffic onto the site. And here's why..

When you click on that link and look at the page...

what does it say to you?
does it answer your question?
does it solve your problem?
does it make you want it?
does the meta title and description shown on Google draw you into clicking the link?
does the page relate to the above meta title and description?
does the category description fit?
is there enough products to fulfil the customers needs and desires, people tend not to want 1 solution, they want to compare otherwise they have a nagging doubt about "what else is there?"

Most important thing with SEO (my opinion)

If someone is searching for calculators.. and you're on the first page, top 5 results somehow, but your meta description says computers. Will people still click? if they do and your page mentions computers, will they convert? or will they just disappear off to the next link?

What if you're in the top 5 and your page is relevant, but the description isn't good enough? there aren't enough products to choose from? the page doesn't adequately answer questions?

The SERP ranking isn't the only key factor here.

Your Google result needs to say

Buy Calculators
Make adding up easy. Get your calculators here, all types sizes and colours available next day.

and the page needs to be

"Heres a calculator, want a black one? here you go! calculator with a printer? here you go! calculator that doubles as a coffee machine?!! We have that too because we're the best damn place to buy a calculator oh and heres some pretty pictures of calculators!!!"

So this month we've been going through everything with a fine tooth comb and it's hard work, it's boring and it'll take a lot more time. Every time you think you're getting close you realise there are still so many questions un-answered or bits missing. And let me say that the details weren't alarmingly bad, they just weren't good enough to be the best.

We've been re-writing META descriptions and titles, keeping them within lengths. I recommend using www.seomofo.com SERP tool as you can see what it will look like on Google.

Long Term

This is all long term, it takes time to make changes and it takes more time for them to have results in Google.. however it does make a better product/category page which will improve Google Adwords quality scores etc and hopefully convert more paid traffic whilst building on the organic.

So yeah, attention to detail is where it's at.

(all above being tracked via analytics, judging by conversion, bounce rate improvements and general traffic improvements - small results so far, but we're only a couple weeks into the ongoing changes - I still believe eCommerce is about finding and perfecting the formula, and once the formula is perfected you'll turn the tap on full power and become an "overnight success").

 

[SparksCW]

Haven't posted here for a while, last month was $36,000 so starting to increase but still far slower than I'd hoped, it was also ironically one of my most stressful months yet. It's only been two months since I quit my day job and the world has changed a lot in that time (Brexit for example!) but it's all too easy to blame outside influences, the trick is to learn to adapt and change so that those issues no longer become a problem.

Things I've Learnt After A Really Stressfully Hard Month


1) Amazon and eBay are hard to compete with.

2) But Amazon & eBay don't add value, so whilst products may be there and cheaper, it doesn't mean you won't sell via your own website.

3) Control is important. One of my smaller brand websites has had a 24% price increase due to the current exchange rate. My supplier put my costs up significantly, now I have to raise all my prices and risk losing sales, but more importantly I can no longer offer my trade account margin and a lot of my customers are trade. Not able to gain product direct, lesson learnt. Unsure how to make the most of this situation now. I can only think of adding more content, more value and more accessories. It's unfortunate, but my other niche site far outperforms this so it's not going to ruin me.

4) Scaling costs money. Lots of money.

5) Three good, properly made, value adding niche websites beat 1 "mega store" that has no USP or purpose.

Spent the whole of Oct-Nov getting stressed over suppliers, eBay & Amazon competition, only to be punched in the face by the reality that (in my opinion) there are only three types of direct product sales ecommerce websites these days.

A) the quality niche store that answers all the right questions about a product that you can't easily buy from down the road.

B) the big money mega stores with advertising budgets to suit, all the big brands want these guys to sell their stuff and their TV ads will generate the trust required to make a mega store work.

C) the wannabes in the middle who don't really know what they are or what they're doing, wondering why they have no traffic and no sales.

I have 2 stores in band A and 1 store in band C. This thread has mostly been about a band A site but I've been working a lot on the band C site this past month or two, only to realise that I'm working pointlessly on something I don't have the money or connections to make it work. I have seen the light and this site can easily be transformed into a Band A site by following the blueprint of my other sites. They are all closely inter-connected but all serve a very different audience.

6) Business isn't easy. Working for yourself is tough. BUT there are no ups without downs. Working for someone else is like sitting on the kids caterpillar rollercoaster at Disney Land. You're pretty safe but you're not really going to have much fun.


My Niche Store 101


1) close matching domain names do help, I am not an SEO expert but I'm very confident that they help. Even if just a little. I know lots of people say otherwise. I don't know if I'm right. But I've had far more success with them than others. I have the same niche product on two sites, the domain name matching site far outperforms the generic site in the serps.

2) Your products need to be something that people need and want (even if they don't know it yet), but they can't just go to the local Tesco/WalMart/Currys/Best Buy and pick one up after work or buy from their websites. Why would someone buy a generic product from you over a big name? Or if it can be picked up easily then it needs to be something that really needs a lot more questions answering that the big stores can't/won't do.

3) You CAN beat Amazon. But you'll only beat them with lots of very useful content. Not just a bit, I'm talking proper descriptions, FAQ's, knowledge base, blog, videos, pictures, guides, how-to's. Go deep! Good content is ever-green, promotes conversions, promotes links and reduces phone calls and emails asking about your products.

4) Build a niche, and when it starts selling well start working in your own-branded or re-branded products. It makes it harder for people to compare you to competition, if your re-branded product is spot on for pricing, quality and meeting customers requirements then you stand a good chance of selling it over the other brands on your site.

5) Niche stores can make it BIG. think ao.com they sell white goods and closely related things you'd expect to see in that type of shop, their USP is low prices due to no showrooms and they play HEAVILY on the FREE timed delivery, who wants to lug a new washing machine home in their car? And vice versa, who wants to pay $60 for delivery? no one, so AO.com removed both those issues and are now a big name in white goods. (in the UK at least) I hear it was started by some bloke who was in a pub with his friends moaning about white goods deliveries and thought he could do better. (not sure if that's true or just internet hear-say) A lot of the success stories I see for people making decent money online all seem to be from smaller niche stores.

6) Don't under-estimate the importance of reviews.

Next month I'll be taking some of Andy Black's advice by spending some more time and money on "Coffee & Diesel"!