1. Product Research
1.1. Product is KEY in eCom & dropshipping - Spend 80% of your time finding the right product.
1.2. Winning product criteria
1.2.1. Problem solving or Emotional
1.2.1.1. Preferably very common problem
1.2.1.1.1. Example: posture corrector
1.2.1.1.2. Example 2: skin toner
1.2.1.1.3. Example 3: teeth whitener
1.2.1.2. Or emotional
1.2.1.2.1. Example 1: dog collar with custom name
1.2.1.2.2. Example 2: baby hand print kit
1.2.2. Not commonly found in stores
1.2.2.1. If it is sold on the local supermarket - forget it and find a new product.
1.2.3. Wow factor
1.2.4. Unique or innovative
1.2.5. Not easily breakable
1.2.6. Already selling
1.2.7. Check for customer reviews about the quality
1.2.8. Non consumable
1.2.8.1. Food, drink, supplements etc. are highly regulated. As a beginner, stay away from consumables.
1.2.9. Fast shipping - ePacket
1.2.9.1. Only when you are dropshipping from China
1.2.10. NOT saturated
1.2.10.1. Less than 5k orders on Aliexpress
1.2.10.2. not sold in many stores
1.2.11. NOT copyrighted/trademarked
1.2.12. Check against facebook advertising policy
1.3. Find 6 - 12 products to test
1.3.1. Once found, choose 1 product with the most potential based on the winning product criteria checklist and go ALL in.
1.4. Check for Upsells potential
1.4.1. complementary products to sell
1.4.2. bundles of products to sell
1.5. How To Search for Winning Products
1.5.1. Top Product Research Tools
1.5.1.1. AdSpy
1.5.1.2. SaleSource - Best Premium Ecommerce Tool - Free Trial
1.5.1.3. AdPlexity
1.5.1.4. AliFox - Home
1.5.1.5. https://app.cjdropshipping.com/
1.5.2. Prime your FB to show more ads
1.5.2.1. Search for "Free shipping" or "50% OFF" VIDEOS on Facebook
1.5.2.2. Click on ads and add to cart
1.5.2.3. Use FB Pixel hack for purchase
1.5.3. Follow trends
1.5.3.1. Instagram pages
1.5.3.2. Google trends
1.5.4. Ask for supplier/agent for new & trendy products
1.6. Types of products
1.6.1. Fad products
1.6.1.1. A passing trend
1.6.1.2. Lifetime: 3 - 6 months
1.6.2. Seasonal products
1.6.2.1. Products mostly selling in spring, summer, winter.
1.6.2.2. Lifetime: 3 - 4 months / per year
1.6.3. Evergreen products
1.6.3.1. Products bought throughout the year
1.6.3.2. Lifetime: 12 - 18 months or more, till saturated
2. Common Terminology
2.1. Advertising Terminology
2.1.1. WW - World Wide
2.1.1.1. Refer to world wide TRAFFIC
2.1.2. CT - cold traffic
2.1.2.1. People who have never heard of you or your brand before. They are completely unfamiliar with you and have no idea what you do. Anything other than your Custom Audiences or FB Fans is cold traffic.
2.1.3. WT - Warm Traffic
2.1.3.1. people already know of you in some way (in this case they’ve consumed content on the website or liked the Facebook page)
2.1.4. Ad Creative - visual part of the advertisement.
2.1.4.1. Image
2.1.4.2. Video
2.1.4.3. 3D content
2.1.5. LLA - Facebook Lookalike Audience
2.1.5.1. People who are similar to your existing customers and followers(based on pixel data). When creating a Facebook Lookalike Audience, you can choose between a range of 1%-10% of the total population in your chosen target country, with 1% being those who most closely match your source.
2.1.6. CPA - Cos Per Action
2.1.6.1. Also known as cost per conversion, this is the price you pay for each action a user takes on your website because of your Facebook ad. An action could be a purchase, a newsletter sign up, an app download, or any type of other conversion.
2.1.7. CPC - Cost per Click
2.1.7.1. This is the price you pay for each click on your Facebook advertisement.
2.1.8. CPM - Cost per Mile
2.1.8.1. This is the price you pay for 1,000 impressions on your Facebook ad.
2.1.9. Ad Copy - main text of an advertisement
2.1.10. PPE - Pay per Engagement
2.1.10.1. Paying for engagement on your posts. Engagement can take the form of video views, reactions, comments, shares, link clicks, page clicks.
2.1.11. CBO - Campaign Budget Optimization
2.1.11.1. A new FB feature that helps you automatically redistribute your budget to the best performing audience.
2.1.12. AOV - Average Order Value
2.1.12.1. The average dollar amount spent each time a customer places an order on a website
2.1.13. ROAS - Return on ad spend
2.1.13.1. If you invest $100 on ads and get $500 in sales you have ROAS of 5
2.2. Product Terminology
2.2.1. Low Ticket item- cheap product for impulse buying behavior
2.2.1.1. Anything UNDER $25 dollars
2.2.2. High Ticket item - any product priced above impulse buying range
2.2.2.1. anything OVER $25 dollars
2.2.3. Tracking number - numbers given to packages when they are shipped
2.2.3.1. Tracking numbers are useful for knowing the location of time sensitive deliveries.
2.2.4. MOQ - Minimum Order Quantity
2.3. Bussiness Terminology
2.3.1. BRP - break even point
2.3.2. VA - Virtual Assistant
2.3.3. ROI - Return on investment
2.3.4. COGS - Cost of goods sold
2.3.4.1. Refers to the direct costs attributable to the production of the goods sold in a company.It excludes indirect expenses, such as distribution costs and sales force costs.
2.3.5. MOQ - Minimum Order Quantity
2.3.5.1. Some Dropshipping agents require you to have 10 - 50 minimum orders per day to qualify for their services.
2.4. Website Terminology
2.4.1. SEO - Search Engine Optimization
2.4.2. ATC - Add to Cart
2.4.3. Niche Store - a website focused on selling products related to specific subject or interest.
2.4.4. General Store - a website focused on selling an assortment of different items, not specifically related to any niche or interest. An online department store or a mall.
2.4.5. Funnel - The journey a consumer takes through navigating an e-commerce website and finally converting to a sale.
3. Sourcing Products
3.1. The GOAL is to find a reliable suppler/agency that you can work with for a long time. Relationships - make them and keep them.
3.2. Aliexpress
3.2.1. Use only for testing products.
3.2.2. Move to suppliers directly or an agent after confirming its a winning product(BEFORE Scaling on Facebook).
3.3. Dropshipping Agent
3.3.1. Bulk orders
3.3.2. Cheaper prices
3.3.3. Faster shipping ( 7 - 14 days )
3.3.4. Find in dropshipping groups
3.3.5. List of dropshipping agents
3.3.5.1. DailyFulfill
3.3.5.2. SourcinBox|One-Stop Dropshipping Supply Chain Solution https://app.sourcinbox.com/affiliate/register/4B4B4E4D4E4B494E494D484C4B424D4D484E42
3.3.5.3. Best Aliexpress Agent & Dropshipping Agent | Start Dropshipping China
3.4. Contacting Suppliers
3.4.1. Negotiate pricing
3.4.2. Check for history/time in bussiness
3.4.3. Ask for shipping time
3.4.4. Positioning yourself as authority
3.4.5. Check for english skills
3.4.6. Check for reviews
3.4.7. Make sure you're talking to the supplier directly (via alibaba for example) because you might be doing business with the middleman currently, so this way you can have a better communication and pricing
3.5. Fullfillment agency
3.5.1. Private labelling
3.5.1.1. Custom Product packaging
3.5.1.2. Custom Product label
3.5.2. Faster shipping
3.5.2.1. 7-14 day
3.5.3. Creating a brand
3.5.4. You pay them (via Paypal usually)
3.5.5. List of fulfillment agencies
3.5.5.1. Peony Fulfillment Agency
3.5.5.2. Fulfillman - Global Fulfillment & Dropshipping Services
3.6. Dropshipping suppliers for best US/EU products | Spocket
3.7. Silkroad
4. Customer Service
4.1. Honest-humility factor in communication
4.1.1. Sincerity
4.1.2. Fairness
4.1.3. Greed avoidance
4.1.4. Modesty
4.2. Handling chargebacks
4.3. Replying to emails daily
4.4. Replying to Facebook comments daily
4.5. Replyng to Phone
4.6. Hire Virtual Assistant on UpWork
4.6.1. Preferably Native language speaker
4.6.2. Good communication
4.6.3. Quick to respond
5. eCommerce Trends
5.1. The general trends in eCom move towards fulfillment centers(Faster shipping), branded products(1 product niche stores) and un-saturated markets(Europe).
5.2. 2016
5.2.1. General Stores
5.3. 2017
5.3.1. Niche Stores
5.4. 2018
5.4.1. 1 Product (branded) stores
5.5. 2019
5.5.1. Unsaturated markets
5.5.1.1. Non-english speaking countries
5.5.1.1.1. Europe
5.6. 2020
5.6.1. 2 day shipping
5.6.2. Fulfillment centers
5.7. 2021
5.7.1. Custom products
5.7.1.1. Focus on branding
6. Mindset
6.1. You are a scientist constantly testing
6.2. No emotion, just data
6.3. Losing money on ads = learning
6.4. You’re one product away from finding a winner
6.5. Track your progress - write down what works / what doesn't
6.6. Emulate bigger brands, not your dropshipping competitors. Stop thinking of yourself as "dropshippers" and start thinking of yourself as "ADVERTISERS"!
6.7. Stay consistent & stick to ONE niche
6.7.1. Prefer a niche you are interested in
6.7.2. Prefer niche you already have knowledge of
6.7.3. By focusing on 1 niche you will be able to utilize your data(FB pixel, email lists etc.) over and over again across multiple stores and products.
6.8. Do not get emotionally invested in any product
6.9. Expectations: Average person loses money in the first 3-6 months before starting to see consistent profitability in eCommerce.
6.10. AVOID the biggest pitfall: Focus and don't get distracted.
6.11. The one thing you can control is YOUR effort
6.12. Most people get stuck in the research phase. Just TAKE ACTION on the first step on the MINDMAP> Product Research and figure out the rest as you go.
7. Tools
7.1. Some of these tools are absolutely needed. Spell checking, translation and spy tools are a common practice.
7.2. Translation to different languages
7.2.1. Use this translation tool for creating stores in Unsaturated Markets(non-english speaking countries)
7.3. Poweradspy | Facebook Ad Spy
7.3.1. One of the best tools to spy on competitor stores, their ad creatives, pricing and marketing strategies.
7.4. Automatic spell checking Write your best with Grammarly.
7.4.1. Use spell checking for Product Page descriptions
7.4.2. Use spell checking for ad copy
7.4.3. Use spell checking for emails
7.4.4. Use spell checking for facebook replies
7.5. GIF Maker - Imgflip GIF Maker
7.5.1. Use for making GIFS for your product page
7.6. eCom store inspector Plguin for Chrome Commerce Inspector
7.6.1. Uncover product details, apps, and secrets on the stores you visit. The Commerce Inspector browser plugin reveals secrets for any e-commerce you visit. Learn everything you need to beat the competition.
7.7. Remove background from images
7.8. Make Ads More Transparent - BigSpy
7.9. TRACK your numbers and PROFIT with OrderMetrics – Ecommerce Plugins for Online Stores – Shopify App Store
7.10. Trennd - Discover rising & hot topics by search volume
7.11. Facebook Audience Finder | AdIntelligence
7.12. Shopify Plugin for One Page Checkout and Upsell CartHook - CartHook
7.13. Nerdly Solutions FB audience builder Laser target niche keywords
7.14. WhatsApp Chat + Cart Recovery – Ecommerce Plugins for Online Stores – Shopify App Store
7.15. https://www.similarweb.com/
7.16. https://www.intercart.io/
8. Advertising
8.1. Choose 1 platform and double down on it till you get RESULTS:
8.2. Facebook Ads
8.2.1. General
8.2.1.1. Interest based targeting
8.2.1.2. Less accurate intention of buying
8.2.1.3. Scalable
8.2.1.4. Difficulty: medium - advanced
8.2.2. Ad copy
8.2.2.1. Short - 6 - 12 sentences
8.2.2.2. call to action
8.2.2.3. Problem - solution
8.2.3. Target audience research
8.2.3.1. Facebook Audince Insights
8.2.3.2. Google Trends
8.2.3.3. Keyword research
8.2.3.4. Spy on competitor ads
8.2.4. Video
8.2.4.1. You'll only win if your ad is the best compared to competitors
8.2.4.2. Bring up a problem in first 3 seconds
8.2.4.2.1. continue to offer solution
8.2.4.3. Take video clips from the supplier
8.2.4.3.1. Alibaba
8.2.4.3.2. Ask from the supplier directly
8.2.4.3.3. aliexpress
8.2.4.4. Take video clips from Youtube
8.2.4.4.1. avoid videos with someones face in it
8.2.4.5. Switch to your own content ASAP
8.2.4.6. Scroll stopper - grab attention in 3 seconds
8.2.4.6.1. Test different scroll stoppers
8.2.4.7. Infomercial style
8.2.4.7.1. Educate
8.2.4.7.2. Show steps
8.2.4.8. Answer: Why should they buy?
8.2.4.9. Display customer feedback/reviews
8.2.4.10. Show brand logo at the end?
8.2.4.11. Call to action
8.2.4.12. Short and snappy
8.2.4.12.1. 15 - 30 seconds
8.2.4.12.2. to the point
8.2.4.12.3. condensed
8.2.4.13. Color correction-contrast
8.2.4.14. Music
8.2.4.14.1. non-copyrighted
8.2.4.15. Fast paced ads
8.2.4.15.1. 3-4 sec clips
8.2.4.15.2. big captions on screen
8.2.4.16. Watermark
8.2.4.16.1. store name
8.2.4.16.2. logo
8.2.4.16.3. to stop competitors from stealing your content
8.2.4.17. Outsource video creation
8.2.4.17.1. https://www.ecomvids.com/
8.2.5. Facebook comments blocking
8.2.5.1. Go to your facebook page that you use to promote your products, click on settings on top, and go to page moderation, click on edit and block posts or comments
8.2.5.2. Block negative words
8.2.5.2.1. leaking better offer aliexpress aliexpress.com bad quality alibaba ad stratergy niche or general dropship dropshipping do not buy dont buy shipping time never receive pissed leak idiot idiots nonsense idiotic douches ruining ruins douche returns returning disputes disputing chargeback dispute nada return pathetic pathetic obscene creature stupidity punks punk hookers hooker drunk liar divorcing divorced divorce pissing piss rubbish feces pee poo urine rubbish garbage thrashing throw trash assassinating assassination murdering death dead killing kill crimes crime murder murderer cheating cheat cheater cheated crappy vomit vomiting yuck pissing piss wtf pu$$y pussy spitting spit shame shaming shame depiction a-hole ahole hole ass asshole lie lies slap delete deleted offensive $46 damned damn hell bucks buck sad idiot vernacular smashing smash no thanks $25.99 gross feces pooped poop disrespecting disrespect shitting insulting insult screw bang pitiful stupid disgusting scum scumbag ass cunt dirty cheaper cheap china sad away broken break smash cheat $ sex racist sexual dork fucking fuck bitches bitch whores vagina pussy checkout grotesque $19 $50 $30 $20 $21 rip off ripoff dollars price overpriced hideous hate hatred disrespect joke lie cheat 50$ 25$ 20$ 50$ 40$ 15$ 19$ 20$ porno porn ridicule absurdly pricey stupid absurd expensive hate shit shitty ass sucks dick disgusting puke disappointed delivered delivery fraud victim poor bad arrived quality no reply customer service email no product product ebay amazon wish shipped never came not working does not work broke scam assholes shit info how much not quality bought junk ship riecieved never rubbish got scumbag weasel scam scum dirty ugly never never received s&h postage shipping £2 £1 £ 1 month didn’t receive scam not real fake stupid don't like this cheap wish app wish etsy.com etsy ebay.com ebay amazon.com amazon amazon.ca amazona.co.uk
8.2.5.3. Block spam pages
8.2.5.3.1. Make a list of spam pages that comment on your ads and add every varioation of them to the list
8.2.6. Facebook ad policy
8.2.6.1. do not contain "before-and-after" images
8.2.6.2. do not contain nude/naked body parts
8.2.6.3. do not promote violence
8.2.6.4. do not promote drugs, tobacco, steroids etc.
8.2.6.5. do not show unrealistic results
8.2.7. Testing Products on Facebook
8.2.7.1. Scaling Facebook Ads
8.2.7.1.1. Copy working interests(ROAS over 1.2) into new campaign
8.2.7.2. RETARGETING
8.2.7.2.1. 1000 VC for retargeting.
8.2.7.2.2. 500 purchases
8.2.7.3. PHASE#1 - INITIAL DATA COLLECTION
8.2.7.4. PHASE#2 - DATA DRIVEN TARGETING
8.2.7.5. PHASE#3 - AD CREATIVE OPTIMIZATION
8.2.7.5.1. Use TOP audiences identified and test NEW creatives
8.2.7.6. General
8.2.7.6.1. 5 - 10 Adsets
8.2.7.6.2. 5 dollars per day
8.2.7.6.3. 1 day ad click
8.2.7.6.4. run for 2-3 days
8.2.7.6.5. target Engaged Shoppers
8.2.7.6.6. Placement: Facebook mobile news feed only (could include Instagram)
8.2.7.6.7. Exclude interests
8.2.7.6.8. 2-3 ad copies/videos
8.2.7.6.9. Test on Warm audiences FIRST(from your previous product/store video viewers or website traffic).
8.2.7.6.10. 1) ppe alongside SPECIFIC single interests 2) i started from the bottom of the funnel and worked way up to get events for each funnel instead of going straight to purchase 3) did lla's once i had enough 4) took my interest and winning lla's to cbo 5) currently just increasing budgets and looking at the past 5 days info to determine kill/keep while constantly testing every angle
8.2.8. Audience Finder
8.3. Google Ads
8.3.1. General
8.3.1.1. Keyword based targeting - more accurate intention of buying behavior
8.3.1.2. More consistent
8.3.1.3. higher ROAS
8.3.1.4. Harder to scale
8.3.1.5. less used by other dropshippers
8.3.1.6. better for high-ticket items(few hundred to thousands of dollars)
8.4. Instagram Ads
8.4.1. General
8.4.1.1. Younger audience
8.4.1.2. Better for impulse buys(low ticket items)
8.5. Snapchat Ads
8.6. Pinterest Ads
9. ePacket Shipping
9.1. Fast and affordable shipping option worldwide for light packages.
9.2. TOP 4 ePacket Countries
9.2.1. USA
9.2.2. Europe
9.2.3. Canada
9.2.4. Australia
9.3. Size, weight & price Requirements
9.3.1. package cannot weigh more than 4.4 lbs (2kg)
9.3.2. maximum length of the package : 24” (60cm)
9.3.3. Total length, height and thickness of the package cannot be more than 36” (90cm).
9.3.4. cannot exceed $400 in value
9.4. Shipping to 35 eligible countries from Hong Kong or China
9.5. Shipping time: 10 - 25 days on average
9.5.1. Depends on the supplier
9.5.2. Depends on the shipping country
9.6. Tier 1 Countries
9.6.1. Australia Austria Belgium Canada Colombia Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Finland France Georgia Germany Ireland Israel Italy Korea, south Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Mauritius Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Norway Poland Slovak Republic Slovenia Spain Sweden Taiwan United Kingdom United States of America
9.7. Tracking numbers
10. Virtual Assistant
10.1. Hire VA only as soon as you make good profit. ~ 50 orders/day or less.
10.1.1. about 50 orders per day
10.1.2. over 50 comments/emails per day
10.2. Cost ~500 dollars per month/per VA
10.3. Hiring
10.3.1. UpWork
10.3.2. Search from Dropshipping FB groups
10.3.3. Ask from other dropshippers/ecom store owners
10.4. Customer service
10.4.1. Replying to Facebook comments
10.4.2. Answering e-mails
10.4.3. Answering calls
10.5. Handling issues with orders
10.5.1. Chargebacks
10.6. Handling issues with suppliers
10.7. Report problematic orders
10.8. Hiding negative/spam comments
11. Product Pricing
11.1. Pricing comes down to testing and branding - how much of PERCEIVED value you can create in the eyes of your customers.
11.2. Minimum 3x
11.2.1. $6(product cost + shipping) x 3 = $18
11.3. 30% is good profit margin
11.4. Do not LOWER prices relative to competition
11.4.1. Offer HIGHER value instead
11.4.1.1. #1 Better customer service
11.4.1.2. #2 Bundles of products
11.4.1.3. #3 Free digital products(eBooks)
11.4.1.4. #4 Faster shipping
11.5. Test different Price points for Low ticket items:
11.5.1. Start LOW and INCREASE prices by 1 - 2 dollars (every 2-3 days) till it starts to hurt conversions
11.5.2. 14.95
11.5.3. 17.95
11.5.4. 19.95
11.5.5. 24.97
12. Buy and Sell eCommerce stores
12.1. Great for spying on the market or flipping eCom stores. Looks at eCom/Dropshipping products, pricing, website design and strategies.
12.2. Flippa - #1 platform to buy and sell a business.
12.3. Established Websites for Sale on the Empire Marketplace
12.4. Ecommerce Websites & Businesses for Sale | Buy and Sell Online Sites
13. Marketing
13.1. 1% of first time visitors buy. Most of your sales happen on the back-end (re-marketing to existing customers/visitors)
13.2. SMS Marketing
13.2.1. Highest ROI and Open Rates of any marketing channel
13.2.2. SMS Marketing Automation for Shopify | SMSBump
13.2.2.1. This free app will allow you to do text marketing, SMS abandoned cart sequence etc.
13.2.2.2. Pay per use (price per SMS)
13.2.3. SMS Sequences
13.2.3.1. SMS #1: (after 5 minutes)
13.2.3.1.1. Hi {FirstName}. We are sorry to see you go! Return today and CLAIM 5% OFF your entire order! You can return here {AbandonedCheckoutUrl} ;
13.2.3.2. SMS #2: (after 3 Hours)
13.2.3.2.1. Hi {FirstName} your cart expires soon! Return today and CLAIM 10% OFF your entire order! You can return here {AbandonedCheckoutUrl}
13.2.3.3. SMS #3: (after 12 Hours)
13.2.3.3.1. Hi {FirstName}, LAST CHANCE! GET 15% OFF your ENTIRE order! You can return here {AbandonedCheckoutUrl} . This offer expires in less than 1 HOUR! Don't MISS OUT!
13.3. Messenger Marketing
13.3.1. General Info
13.3.1.1. for Automation
13.3.1.2. simple to use
13.3.1.3. cost effective
13.3.1.4. 2 - 3 hours of work to setup
13.3.1.5. unsaturated - not widely used(yet)
13.3.1.6. potentially very high ROI
13.3.1.7. open rate up to 97%
13.3.1.8. immediate results
13.3.2. ManyChat – The easiest way to create a Facebook Messenger bot
13.3.2.1. Bot automation tool for FB
13.3.2.2. 19 dollars/per month
13.3.2.3. Free to try(with limitations)
13.3.3. STEP#1 - Run a compentition
13.3.3.1. Make a SICK prize
13.3.3.2. Make it broad
13.3.3.3. make it relevant
13.3.3.4. make it a Facebook post
13.3.4. STEP#2 - Comment to Enter
13.3.4.1. They comment "Win".
13.3.4.2. Bot automatically picks it up
13.3.5. STEP#3 - Bot Subscribes them
13.3.5.1. Get them to Confirm their entry
13.4. Email Marketing
13.4.1. 1# Abandoned cart follow up
13.4.2. #2 Prior purchase
13.4.2.1. Weekly/monthly offers
13.4.2.2. Discounts
13.5. Instagram Influencer Marketing
13.5.1. Bamboofy 🚀 Powerful, Organic Instagram Growth | Free For 10 Days
14. Startup Budget
14.1. You can start with a low budget of 300 dollars if you leverage the free trials of Shopify and apps, but it is recommended to save a few thousand dollars. Reason being> you will probably make mistakes and lose money on advertising at the beginning. We recommend a healthy budget for your first ecom business.
14.2. Domain: $10
14.3. Shopify: $19.90/month
14.4. Shopify Apps: $40+
14.5. Advertising: $1000+
14.6. Fulfilling orders: $500+
14.7. In total, you need about 1k -3k USD to start a basic ecom/dropshipping bussiness.
15. Outsourcing
15.1. Outsource all the low-level tasks, that anyone can do, so you can FOCUS on whats important - marketing.
15.2. Product research
15.2.1. Recommended to search for yourself at the beginning, so you know what actually works.
15.2.2. Hire a person from dropshipping groups/Fiverr.
15.2.3. Give them specific niche/criteria to look for
15.3. Order fulfillment
15.4. Customer service
15.5. Accounting
16. Website
16.1. Great looking website is going to make you stand out in your niche and make your brand timeless. Spend time perfecting your website. Look at big brand websites like Gucci, Nike, Apple, Oculus etc. and emulate them.
16.2. Setup
16.2.1. Buy domain
16.2.1.1. Godaddy.com
16.2.1.2. domain cost: ~10 dollars
16.2.2. Platforms
16.2.2.1. Shopify
16.2.2.1.1. 30 day Free trial
16.2.2.1.2. $29 /per month
16.2.2.1.3. Beginner Friendly
16.2.2.1.4. Many themes
16.2.2.1.5. Many plugins(paid & free)
16.2.2.2. Clickfunnels
16.2.2.2.1. 14 day free trial
16.2.2.2.2. Best for 1 product stores with multiple upsells
16.2.2.2.3. $97 / per month
16.2.2.2.4. many templates for different goals
16.2.3. Store type
16.2.3.1. General store
16.2.3.1.1. Use for testing many products fast.
16.2.3.2. 1 product brand store
16.2.3.2.1. Use for 1 winning product you found by testing in general store
16.3. Design and Structure
16.3.1. Logo
16.3.1.1. 1 or 2 colors
16.3.1.2. Easy to read
16.3.1.2.1. Dafont DaFont - Download fonts
16.3.1.3. Logo color scheme determines the entire color scheme of the website
16.3.1.4. Outsource for 5 - 10 dollars on Fiverr
16.3.2. Design
16.3.2.1. Shopify themes
16.3.2.1.1. Turbo
16.3.2.1.2. Konversion
16.3.2.2. Shopify apps
16.3.2.3. K.I.S.S - Keep it simple,stupid
16.3.2.4. Emulate big brands
16.3.2.5. Do not add trust badges - they look spammy
16.3.3. Images
16.3.3.1. Must be congruent all over the page
16.3.3.2. white/gray background of product images for higher conversions and clean look
16.3.4. Phone number
16.3.5. About Us/Our Story page
16.3.6. FAQ page
16.3.7. Privacy page
16.3.8. Add products
16.3.8.1. Oberlo Dropshipping – Find Products to Sell on Shopify With Oberlo!
16.3.9. Checkout
16.3.9.1. Upsells on the checkout page
16.3.9.1.1. Post Purchase Upsell
16.3.9.2. GO through the checkout process yourself and make sure there's no issues.
16.3.9.3. Add shipping time in checkout page
16.3.10. Keep urgency plugins minimal
16.3.10.1. quantity left
16.3.11. Popups
16.3.11.1. DO NOT use PopUps right after page load(super annoying)
16.3.11.2. DO NOT use PopUps on exit intent
16.3.11.3. USE An Add to Cart Popup.(Right after user click on Add to Cart button on your Shopify store)
16.3.12. Email collection form
16.3.12.1. Offer extra discount
16.3.12.2. Offer free complementary product
16.3.12.3. Offer FREE eBook in return
16.3.13. Payment gateways
16.3.13.1. Paypal
16.3.13.1.1. Bussiness account
16.3.13.1.2. Verify
16.3.13.1.3. You will need to provide your supplier info(When they ask)
16.3.13.2. Stripe
16.3.13.3. Shopify payments
16.3.13.3.1. Use Stripe instead if possible
16.3.13.3.2. They might put your money on hold for upto 6 months with no warning
16.3.13.4. Payment methods breakdown by country https://blog.salecycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/online_payments_europe.jpg
16.3.14. Order tracking page
16.3.15. Research competitor stores
16.3.15.1. Ecommerce Websites & Businesses for Sale | Buy and Sell Online Sites
16.3.16. Product page
16.3.16.1. Make it EASY to read!
16.3.16.1.1. Use bullet points
16.3.16.1.2. Use paragraphs
16.3.16.1.3. Use capitulation
16.3.16.1.4. It's 2019, people are lazier than ever. People are not reading, they are scanning. So make it easier for them to find the parts of your text they want to read.
16.3.16.2. Use Spell checking
16.3.16.2.1. Write your best with Grammarly.
16.3.16.3. Use photos, and GIFS in your product description
16.3.16.3.1. You want to put at least a few HIGH RESOLUTION photos on your product page.
16.3.16.4. Make them feel the pain(for problem solving product)
16.3.16.4.1. make them imagine what can happen if they're not using your product!
16.3.17. Order Fulfillment
16.3.17.1. Dropified - Dropshipping Management Software
16.4. Translation
16.4.1. Weglot | Translate your website - Multilingual for WordPress, Shopify and more
16.5. Check for loading time/page speed
16.5.1. PageSpeed Insights
16.5.2. Optimize for Mobile(majority of traffic)
16.5.3. 1 - 3 second load time(best)
16.5.4. Bounce rate gets worse every second it takes for a page to load
16.5.4.1. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0898/4708/files/MobileLoad_GoogleThink.jpg?v=1562264264
16.6. Set up Facebook Pixel
16.6.1. Use pixel hack to make it trigger 4-7 seconds after loading
16.6.1.1. this way you wont target un-intentional click(which might be upto 10% on FB)
16.6.2. Do this right before you start advertising on FB