Spoony's eCommerce Progress Thread

[Spoony]

Hello all,

I am a 21 year old University Student from the West Coast in the USA.

Just read the fastlane, despite having purchased the book in 2014. I decided I would like to try my hand at eCommerce--already have a market targeted--and am going to track my progress here.

Let's do this!!

 

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[Spoony]

Website is complete and online, and products are up!

Almost cannot believe I am actually doing this!

Two things to do at this point:
1) Learn and research how to do effective marketing
2) Figure out if I should configure the pricing of my items

Random thoughts:
I live in Seattle, and the weather affects my mood significantly--I need to move once I am able ASAP so I can keep my positivity at an all-time high while I work entrepreneurial projects. But this will not be possible for another year or two unfortunately.

I heard a quote in a business podcast recently as well that really spoke to me--

"If you don't stop until it works, it will work"

 

[Spoony]

Still Progressing. I purchased a Skype Phone number with an area code near Seattle (Everett - 425) and pasted it right on the front page of my site next to the contact area with my business email address. I then went ahead and got a voice mail message recorded on Fiverr for $15--it sounds great!--and this has made a world of difference.

I still have had only a total of 3 sales, but I am getting there. Putting the phone number there has increased my conversion rate dramatically.

Where before only 3/100 visitors would add something to their cart and maybe 1 every few days reaches checkout, now, around 15/100 visitors add something to their cart and 5/100 reach check out.

The main issue is people are still not checking out (obviously) but I am STILL making progress!!

 

[DuncDad]

Learn to embrace the weather... Get the right clothes in and get out in it. I have walked my dogs and ice formed on my eyelashes and also had summers where I hosed down a shaded wall of my house and steam came off. No such thing as bad weather. Change that paradigm and you will be so much better off


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Spoony]

I found a social media automation tool here: https://socialrabbitplugin.com/
It is awesome!

As I am currently using Shopify for my site, I purchased another domain with the same name but a .net rather than a .com.
I then installed Wordpress onto this site and uploaded the program, and then changed the option to have my .net site always redirect to my shopify site.

So far so good. The plugin has been increased the likes on my Facebook page to 3-4 per day instead of the usual 1 in a matter of days. I am impressed.

 

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[Spoony]

Well friends I've never been as excited as I am now in my entire life. I've had my first two sales in the past 3 or 4 hours after adjusting my niche, and after examining the analytics, my facebook page and traffic are still growing exponentially.

 

[MoneyDoc]

Keep up the hustle buddy. Two years ago I started off just like you (was 20 at the time). I started my PL adventure on amazon. Now I have 3 best sellers in relatively large markets.

Mind me asking, is there a reason you're not selling on amazon (maybe I missed it on page 1)? I would encourage all e-commerce sellers to test the waters on amazon. They already have done all the marketing for you - billions of people waiting to buy your product.

 

[Spoony]

Thank you everyone for the comments and support. I am glad my journey is inspiring.

@Arun Siva Yes I recommend a skype number for several reasons.
-1) It adds legitimacy to your company. My business is in Seattle and my area code on my number is for Everett (425).
-2) It adds more humanity to your business--someone is on the line that can speak to customers. This greatly builds trust.
-3) With the skype number you can record a professional voice mail message alongside having the program notify you via email if someone calls

It is well worth it in my opinion. After posting the number it increased my conversation rote considerably.

Update on my business:

I realized a drastic mistake I was making. My current focus was on niche products which I was marketing incorrectly. I know now that I should have been having a larger authority site that the niche products are on.

Likewise, I believe I have stumbled upon a hole in the eCommerce community--realized this about two days ago.

With the market I am in I have found two main competitors. As I was examining their sites I went through all the negative customer reviews and it dawned on me that focusing on fixing all of these problems are KEY to my success. I found it odd that my competitors have not done so despite having been around for years.

Anyways, I went ahead and ditched focusing on the niche products and moved over to a larger focus--I still carry the niche products. In other words, my site is no longer only selling niche products, rather, it carries them as well as everything else in the sector. I am now utilizing drop-shipping as well.

Here is my traffic TWO days after making this change (the screenshot). I still only spend money on one $5 fb add and plan on contacting affiliates shortly. Keep in mind prior to this I was only receiving ~100 visitors today earlier.

My facebook page has racked up another 60 likes in the past two days as well, so I wholeheartedly believe I am now on the road to success here. I believe my rising social proof will be crucial to finally hitting those sales.

Thank you again for the supportive comments/following this thread!

 

[Spoony]

I am currently averaging about two sales per day now!! The ball is in motion.

 

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[Spoony]

I have been extremely busy recently and have forgotten to update this thread!

I have had huge AWESOME changes which I will update with when I get the time.

Stay tuned for a big update.

 

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[Spoony]

Website currently under construction... should be launched by mid next week, if not sooner.

I have found the products I am going to sell, got a logo made, and will be taking product photos two days from now.

I've been spending the rest of my time studying eCommerce in general--learning how facebook ads work, google analytics, shopify--and have a lot of faith in my project!

 

[Spoony]

Despite everything you guys are saying--I still hate Seattle's weather, lol.

Scot thank you for the adwords post, something like that is exactly what I needed.

And I finally made my first sale!! It happened yesterday.

Thoughts up until this point:
I feel like I have finally gotten a grip on how to use every aspect of shopify, MailCheat(Chimp), and several other services.
With that said, I now think I will be able to set up future projects very quickly following the same framework.

 

[Spoony]

Absolutely. I didn't think it would be such a game changer.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

Nice progress. Keep building and chugging forward.

 

[Spoony]

Had my first orders today in awhile.. had four actually in the past 12 hours!

 

[Spoony]

Not much of an update other than working my a$$ off still!

 

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[Spoony]

I still don't have an whole lot of time to pound a huge report out, but here are my insights so far, and more detail into what how I am doing.

The first part of this post is more general--what I have learned so far, etc. The second part is the current status of my business.

I started this journey at 21 the summer before approaching my Senior Year of College. I realized I needed to start thinking about employment--but hated the idea of having a job as I never enjoyed my internships or part-time jobs. I went to r/entrepreneur at reddit, found a thread about dropshipping, and decided that I'd go for it. I knew close to nothing about business, eCommerce, and entrepreneurship. Initially I was planning to do standard order fulfillment in my house, but ultimately switched over to dropshipping. I am extremely satisfied with where I am at thus far.

What I have learned so far:

1) Dropshipping is not dead.

I have seen quite a few people say this--even in threads dating back to 2013--and it is far from the truth. Many people think dropshipping is some sort of get-rich-quick-scheme--it isn't. If that is your mindset, then yes, it is dead. The first key is remembering that this is a real business, and you need to be prepared to work your a$$ off so you can figure out what is going on. As I continue to build my brand I plan to move away from dropshipping.

2) The most important aspect of any business is execution.

I know now that ideas are nothing special and execution is everything. Don't reinvent the wheel. Pick something that works--like how I picked dropshipping and eCommerce--and go out and do it better than everyone else.

3) Never stop reading.

Right now I am currently clearing about 1 book/week. I have read all the top titles with respect to Internet Marketing, and in hindsight I was a total dumbass but not reading. This will accelerate your progress FAR FAR more than anything else. You can see the mistakes of the greats before you, and what they recommend. My favorite and most helpful titles so far: the millionaire fastlane (obviously), Click Millionaires, The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising, DOTCOM secrets, Psycho Cybernetics (More mindset than business), and my all time favorites: 88 The Narrow Road and How to Get rich both by Felix Dennis.

Current Status of my business:

1) Facebook Ads

I was spinning my wheels FOR SO LONG before I could get this nailed down. It took several video courses, reading a couple books, and testing over and over before I could figure this out. Now that I understand how these work, I plan to expand into more niches as I grow my current one.

I will go into more detail in a later post on my exact strategy here, but I am now a firm believer in Facebook Ads. It just took me awhile before I "cracked the code," so to speak.

2) Followliker

Still working on how to perfect this.

3) Affiliates

I began using affiliality and have loved it! I have been contacting influencers over Instagram by DMing them and then shipping them a product.

I realize this is pretty brief and doesn't really cover a whole of my business itself, but I feel like I have made immense progress in the past 4 weeks.

 

[tommyh]

Website is complete and online, and products are up!

Almost cannot believe I am actually doing this!

Two things to do at this point:
1) Learn and research how to do effective marketing
2) Figure out if I should configure the pricing of my items

Random thoughts:
I live in Seattle, and the weather affects my mood significantly--I need to move once I am able ASAP so I can keep my positivity at an all-time high while I work entrepreneurial projects. But this will not be possible for another year or two unfortunately.

I heard a quote in a business podcast recently as well that really spoke to me--

"If you don't stop until it works, it will work"

Hey man, I live in Seattle also and I have the opposite problem! I can't get anything done when it's sunny out (like today). I was planning on being productive today, and then I went paddle-boarding instead. Oh well, I'll have 9 months of crappy weather to help me focus fairly soon.

Good luck with your website btw!

 

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[oimate]

Hey man, I live in Seattle also and I have the opposite problem! I can't get anything done when it's sunny out (like today). I was planning on being productive today, and then I went paddle-boarding instead. Oh well, I'll have 9 months of crappy weather to help me focus fairly soon.

Good luck with your website btw!

If any of you guys fancy a life swap you're more than welcome to come sample Ireland's summers lol

 

[Spoony]

Well the momentum from the first sale seems to have been short-lived--no more additional sales.

Traffic has been steadily increasing however.

 

[Spoony]

Ended up making two more additional sales two days ago.

Key take away: Building trust with your current traffic will result in more sales than simply attempting to gain traffic.

I also installed a social media account automation tool on a facebook, instagram, pinterest, and twitter account that are all linked to my website. The bot has been running for only about a week or so and has gained about 20-30 followers across all accounts.

 

[JokerCrazyBeatz]

I love this ! Seeing someone taking action . We need more of this ! Keep it pushing man !

 

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[Spoony]

Hey @Donna_Lee,

Yes, a skype number will ring if you someone calls you. It acts exactly how a normal phone does, just on your computer.

Checkout this link for how to set it up:
https://forums.digitalpoint.com/threads/my-dropshipping-journey-with-aliexpress.2759773/page-27

Just scroll down in the thread and you'll see it.

 

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[DannyGold11]

Keep up the good work man!

 

[Sharilli]

Learn to embrace the weather... Get the right clothes in and get out in it. I have walked my dogs and ice formed on my eyelashes and also had summers where I hosed down a shaded wall of my house and steam came off. No such thing as bad weather. Change that paradigm and you will be so much better off


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Only Positive Thoughts will lead you on the right path. F*ck excuses.

 

[Spoony]

Got a VPS at the beginning of last week that is allowing me to run followliker 24/7... and it is awesome!

I am quite surprised how quickly followliker has been able to grow all my accounts.

 

[Spoony]

How many followers have you gained with followliker? What settings are you using?

Pinterest

• Scrape user/pin limit: 40
• Following
• • Limit: 10-20
  • Daily: 35-75
  • Delay: 70-122
• Unfollowing
• • Days: 3
  • Limit: 10-20
  • Daily: 35-75
  • Delay: 80-125
• Liking
• • Limit: 10-20
  • Daily: 25-45
  • Delay: 60-142
• Repinning
• • Limit: 25-50
  • Daily: 460-500
  • Delay: 15-20
• Comments
• • Limit: 1-1
  • Daily: 5-10
  • Delay: 15-20

Twitter

• Following
  
• • Limit: 10-20
    
  • Daily: 35-75
    
  • Delay: 70-122
• Unfollowing
  
• • Days: 3
    
  • Limit: 10-20
    
  • Daily: 35-75
    
  • Delay: 80-125
• Liking
  
• • Limit: 10-20
    
  • Daily: 25-45
    
  • Delay: 60-142

Instagram

• Following
  
• • Limit: 5-10
    
  • Daily: 200-300
    
  • Delay: 70-100
• Unfollowing
  
• • Days: 3
    
  • Limit: 10-20
    
  • Daily: 100-200
    
  • Delay: 80-125
• Liking
  
• • Limit: 5-10
    
  • Daily: 150-200
    
  • Delay: 30-50
• Comments
• • Limit: 2-3
  • Daily: 25-70
  • Delay: 80-120

Tumblr

• Following
  
• • Limit: 10-20
    
  • Daily: 35-75
    
  • Delay: 70-122
• Unfollowing
  
• • Days: 3
    
  • Limit: 10-20
    
  • Daily: 35-75
    
  • Delay: 80-125
• Liking
  
  • Limit: 10-20
    
  • Daily: 25-45
    
  • Delay: 60-142

I have all of these run monday-saturday with sundays off, and only 6AM-11:59PM

Also, with pinterest I have the boards made in secret mode, otherwise I'm sure it would pick up on how much my account is being blasted.

 

[Spoony]

In terms of followers gained:

Instagram ~600.
Twitter ~150
Tumblr ~40
Pinterest ~170

These accounts have been running for about 4 weeks, so I'm not entirely sure if these are good results? Likewise I am playing it as safe as possible with this particular niche.

I have another niche that I started 4 days ago that is doing phenomenally better, and on it's instagram account I have already gained 100 followers without even posting photos yet.

Both of these niches are connected to eCommerce stores, one being my primary focus, and the second one using a free+shipping drop ship model that I have just been toying with.

 

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[applesack]

You know it has honestly never occurred to me to sell on amazon. For whatever reason I was always set on taking the shopify route.

Any recommendations for getting started in that area?

It appears that Shopify has a native Amazon connector here:

Sell on Amazon – Start Selling Your Products on Amazon Marketplace

There are many other companies that do this as well:
https://www.ecomdash.com/
https://www.nchannel.com/
...others... search for "amazon shoppify connector"

One of the best connectors in all ecommerce is the Magento extension m2epro connector. It connects Magento with Ebay, Amazon, Rakuten, Sears... and maybe Walmart? Not sure about Walmart. It is the most advanced connector I have seen in any ecommerce system, and, coincidentally one of the least expensive. I know you are not using Magento... this is informational only

 

[Spoony]

It appears that Shopify has a native Amazon connector here:

Sell on Amazon – Start Selling Your Products on Amazon Marketplace

There are many other companies that do this as well:
https://www.ecomdash.com/
https://www.nchannel.com/
...others... search for "amazon shoppify connector"

One of the best connectors in all ecommerce is the Magento extension m2epro connector. It connects Magento with Ebay, Amazon, Rakuten, Sears... and maybe Walmart? Not sure about Walmart. It is the most advanced connector I have seen in any ecommerce system, and, coincidentally one of the least expensive. I know you are not using Magento... this is informational only

Thank you for this!

That is a boatload of information...

As for my weekly update:

I am currently contacting affiliates in mass--I have had 6 register so far

Likewise, I have finished building a spread sheet system so I can track all of my facebook ad data efficiently and effectively.

I currently have launched two recent ads to as tests to see if my new strategy will work--and it is!

This week, I will be launching around 5-10 ads as I begin heavily campaigning and collecting data.

Cheers

 

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