Finding Your Niche

Once you decide on niche research the items thoroughly. Look into the customer base and see what is currently trending. Research the item and the customers that buy that item and or similar items. If you determine it has a strong customer base, then look into buying the item but look for it on sale from a wholesaler so you can make some money. Also, it is important to research your competitors that sell the item and similar. Not only to see what they are pricing items at but to see how many are in the same niche are selling the same item to decide if it’s worth selling. Below are some different niche options and how each niche works.

Fashion Dropshipping

Health Care Dropshipping

Tools can sell well, but when starting it is better to start with selling tools that are for occasional home use. Your target customer base should be a younger group in their 20s that needs items to fix simple things at home using a basic tool kit. Pro tools are pricey and a competitive market is already out there, but selling simple tools anyone can use with a low markup will help you sell more. Even though it is a lower markup and margin, you will sell a higher amount.

Dropshipping Toys

With the toy niche, you want to stick with only those that fall into current trends or are sustainable as long-selling items. You don’t want to go with a copyrighted product, as you will have to get a legal contract to sell them. Baby toys are common and popular selling items, especially plushes. Especially educational toys, that can range from art, science, and alphabets. Things like balls or anything that would help fine-tune a child’s motor skills. Additionally, there are hobby toys, like models that are popular for all ages. If you decide to sell model kits, check current tending models before buying.

Dropshipping Hobbies

Hobbies are a niche of their own as well. Hobbies are always a popular niche, but there was an uptick during the pandemic. Cooking became even more popular, taking off in cooking tools and supplies in baking. Redoing the yard and the interior of the home did too as most people were now spending more time at home since the pandemic’s shutdown. Knitting has been a popular hobby niche for some time, and not for just making clothes. There are other creative knitting items like plushes and house items that can be made. Starter knitting tools and creative knitting books that teach others to make items that are currently trending are good to sell.

Droshipping Electronics

When starting in the electronic niche it’s best to lower-cost items as opposed to higher-cost items like TVs. Higher-priced items tend to not sell as fast, and you have a lower margin. Lower cost items, like phone chargers, move quicker, you can buy in bulk and have a higher margin. As with all niches, research the market for the item you want to sell first before going ahead with buying. Everyday needs items are good to sell, along with some electronic toys.

Dropshipping Food

For the Food niche, Non-perishables are the best to go with. Snacks that are tending, and even limited edition seasonal snacks can make a profit if you’re willing to take the risk and do the research. Don’t buy too much though as you want to avoid dead stock. Deadstock is a product that is no longer or rarely sells, so it ends up taking up shelf space.

An Employer Identification Number (EIN)

Getting your Employer Identification Number (EIN) is the first step to starting your business. If you want a have a profitable business, do not work with websites that will let you sell their products without an EIN. The reason why this is a bad idea is that means you will be buying at the retail price and then marking up to try and sell it at a higher cost than retail value. Not a good way to do business or a good way to get customers. The only case this works ok in is with rare electronic or clothing items from other countries that you can mark up and else overseas.

Finding Your Suppliers

Having good suppliers is crucial for your dropshipping business. Here are a few things to look for when researching a supplier or wholesaler. Look at the reviews other have for the wholesaler. Check that their name matches the name on the shipping address. When contacting them see how quickly they reply. You want someone you can get in touch with relatively easily.

Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP)

Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price, also known as MSRP, is what the wholesaler suggests the retails price of an item is. If you buy a product with a $90 MSRP with a 25% discount, you can then apply that discounted product to sell at your store with a bit of a mark up to make a profit.

The Differences Between Margin and Markups

How to figure out how much to mark up and how much your margin depends on the items and the price the items were obtained at. There is a basic formula you can use, the ones below are from BlueCart. The Cost is the retail price you bought the item at and the Sales Price is the amount you are selling the item for.

Magin Formula:
Margin = ((Sales Price – Cost) / Sales Price) x 100

Markup Formula:
Markup = ((Sales Price – Cost) / Cost) x 100

The margin is the percent of the sales price you keep. While the markup is the percentage of how much you markup an item from the original retail price. Say an item was Retail Price was $40 and you sell it for $80. The margin would be 50% as half the profit goes to the amount purchased. The markup would be 100% as it doubles the amount of the retail price.

Psychological Pricing

Psychological Pricing is when prices seem lower or cheaper based on the price shown, also known as, “odd-pricing” is where the customer will mentally round down on the shown price. For example, a customer may mentally round down $9.95 to $9 instead of $10. Lowering your end price to .65 or .45 cents may cause the customer to go with you instead.

The Don’ts of the Dropshipping World

One of the main things to avoid in the dropshipping world is you don’t want to sell low-quality products. Selling low-quality products can result in losing your business, or ruining your reputation. You can sell low-cost products, but you want to make sure the quality is good and they will not break easily. To avoid running into this problem research reviews and check out the background on the company that makes the product, and if they have other faulty products. The only exception of low-quality products are items customers don’t expect high quality on like mugs.

Always research an item that you plan to sell. Besides looking into if the item is low or high quality, you need to know the item’s customer base. Research the customer base to see how big it is and how likely they are to buy this product. You want to buy the product when the item is on sale from your suppliers.

Don’t over rely on suppliers to always have items stocked. Having good communication with your suppliers can help you avoid the back-ordered stock. Also, how well they communicate can show if they will be a good supplier. For example, if they are hard to reach or they don’t reply in a timely manner, you might want to look for a different supplier.

Not focusing on the customer will hurt your business. If a customer has an issue, you should reply in a timely manner to resolve the issue. As with any type of relationship, communication is the key to success. If you don’t address issues customers may have you may get a bad review. The more bad reviews, the less you are likely to get more business. Also, replying to questions can help to get more business.

Basic needs for your Dropshipping Website

To have a good website for your dropshipping business, you need to follow the basics any website should have. Keep the layout simple and easy to navigate. Businesses lose more potential customers by having a site that was difficult to find their way around on and search for what they need. Have good branding and have your site’s colors themed after it. Also, have ways to cross-sell items on your website. When the customer is looking at one product, below the item show other products that would go well with it.

Cross-selling is a way to sell additional items that are similar or go with an item you are selling. For example, you sell lace-up boots, you can also sell them as an add-on shoe polish, shoestrings, and shoe inserts. Having these other items listed below the boots is a way to cross-sell. The best types of cross-sell items are cheap and small things. Also, cross-selling is convenient for the customer, as they may have already planned on looking for the suggested items.

Ways Orders are Received

When a customer orders from you, the order is then sent to the vendor that supplies you with the item being ordered. There are various ways for your vendors to receive orders. They can come through email with the order either in the email or as an attachment. Over the phone using an automated system. You can have them sent by automating your website. Talk with your vendors to see how they prefer to get orders.

Marketing

Besides a lot of research, the top thing you need to do is marketing. You can market on social media by having a business page on places like Facebook and Twitter. Take advantage of Facebook Ads to get seen. Google Analytics helps show what is being looked at the most and least on your website. Google ads can help boost traffic to your website. Also, you can list on other marketing sites if you don’t have a website.

There are a few marketing websites you can list on that already have a customer base. A few places you can sell on are Amazon, Shopify, and BlueCart. By listing on these sites you get access to each site’s customer base. Though you have to decide for yourself if it will be beneficial.

Amazon lets you list on their marketplace as long as you follow a few rules, which are quoted below. To avoid confusing the customer, Amazon wants you to be listed as the seller on the site and on the invoices the customer receives. Any returns will need to go through you.

“Purchasing products from another online retailer and having that retailer ship directly to customers, if the shipment does not identify you as the seller of record or if anyone other than you (including the other online retailer) appears on packing slips, invoices, or external packaging, it is strictly prohibited without exception; or
● Shipping orders with packing slips, invoices, external packaging, or other information indicating a seller name or contact information other than your own is also strictly prohibited.
Any time a customer sees packaging, invoices, or receipts identifying a seller that is not either you or Amazon it creates confusion for the customer about how their order is being fulfilled and whom they should contact with any problems or questions.
If you intend to fulfill orders using a drop shipper, you must always:
● Have an agreement with your supplier that they will identify you (and no one else) As a seller of your products on all packing slips, invoices, external packaging, and other information included or provided in connection with the products;
● Remove any packing slips, invoices, external packaging, or other information identifying a third-party drop shipper prior to shipping the order;
● Be responsible for accepting and processing customer returns of your products; and
● Comply with all other terms of your seller agreement and applicable Amazon policies.”

Gotten from Amazon’s Drop Shipping Policy

Amazon drop shipping fees range from around 10% to 15%. Not ideal if you have small dropshipping margins as it will take a good amount out of your profits. Additionally, there is the cost of the sellers plan of $39.99. Amazon takes out close to 15% off your top revenue. The downside is it’s a competitive business and you are likely not to get long-term customers. You may need to have your category section approved by Amazon before you can start selling. This is true if you sell clothes and jewelry. Upside, if you have a Shopify account you can connect it to your Amazon account. Check out each marketplace to see if it’s right for your dropshipping business.

Remember before starting your dropshipping business you must find the niche you want to sell in. Research is key when finding a niche, checking out an item, the customer base, and competitors. When you are ready, get your EIN and find your suppliers. When pricing, be sure you price items fairly by understanding your margins and how much to markup an item. Try using psychological pricing to get more customers by having the end price at .85. Your website needs to be well branded and take advantage of cross-selling. Market your website and items on social media, and google.

Digital marketing is a broad subject. As a result, you might enjoy reading “How To Use Google Ads” . Also, if you would like a free consultation on drop shipping, then please call us at 559-553-5000. This way we can help you personlize a marketing plan for your needs and show you some examples of other client’s we’ve helped with their marketing.

Shopify
https://www.shopify.com/blog/dropshipping-niches

BlueCart
https://www.bluecart.com/blog/markup-vs-margin

Amazon: Drop Shipping Policy
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/201808410?ref_=sdus_soa_sov_ds_xscus_201808410&initialSessionID=139-4711019-7416060&ld=NSGoogle&ldStackingCodes=NSGoogle

Quora
https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-start-a-dropshipping-business

Ways to get your business more traffic.

1. Start With A Great Landing Page
2. High Volume Keywords With Low Competition
3. Offering Discounts
4. Social Media
5. Online Directories
6. Google Ads
7. Updating Information

When trying to get more customers, it is important to have a great landing page that gives the customer the information they need and have a way to get in contact with your plumbing business. Now comes the tricky part of getting them to go to your landing page. Keywords will get your website to come up in a search, but you will need more than that to show up at the top of the list. I will go over some useful marketing tips, to get your website to be seen and ways to get more potential customers. Joining companies that advertise your discounts can help drive more traffic to your site. Different social media options will help broaden the number of people you reach and give customers a more personal look into your company. There are a few successful paid ad services that can help boost you to the top of searches. Also, there are ways to list your business for free on search engines that will increase the number of people that see your company’s website. Using sites that are for the local area will help get your business in front of more local people.

Start With A Great Landing Page

Additionally, having a marketing company create or look over your company’s website can help. They will be able to spot problems that would put off a potential customer, like broken links. Also, they can suggest a layout design that is clean and user-friendly. Not to mention they can update your logo, or have the site match the color theme of the logo unifying the page.

High Volume Keywords With Low Competition

Example List of Plumbing Services:
– Installation, Inspection, and Replacing
– Drain Cleaning
– Leak Repairs
– Toilet Repairs
– Pipe Laying
– Irrigation
– Fixing Clogs
– Water Heater Services
– Septic Tank Services
– Sewage Line Repairs

It is also important to go after keywords that are high in searches and low in competition. A great tool for this is https://www.semrush.com. It lets you know how much volume a particular keyword has and how much competition there is for that keyword.

Beware of Keyword Stuffing

Offering Discounts

Similarly, you can offer coupons on your landing page to entice customers to use you. Your business’s website will come up in more searches by adding keywords to your site for the discount. Also, if you use ads advertised on other websites you should use the same ad on your landing page to help tie it in. The key is to capture a client and make them happy, because your money will be made from repeat business and referrals.

Social Media

Facebook is a free platform to advertise your business that helps potential customers to learn more about your company and drive them to your website. It is also a great way to advertise when you have deals with posts and hashtags. Hashtags are a way to list keywords related to the post. Anyone looking for a local plumbing company will see your business in the search results on Facebook. Facebook is also a good way for connecting with your local community on other local Facebook pages. By joining these pages, you can list what you do, and future customers can connect with you. Also, word of mouth helps even more here. If someone posts for help regarding a plumbing issue and someone else end up recommending your business, not only will the person asking to see it, but several others who might use the information in the future to contact you. Additionally, you can respond to a post or a comment on your own posts.

They also have an option to show your ad for a fee. What is nice about Facebook ads is that you can set the daily amount for your ad, and it will give you a rough estimate of the number of people it will reach. Also, you can customize the settings to get the ad to appear in front of the audience you want. Facebook uses an algorithm to get your ad in front of people based on who they are and their interests. When you go to promote your page for the “goal”, use the “Promote Your Business Locally” option. Define your audience by selecting the area you wish to be seen in, the age range, gender, and special interests. You can then choose “Ad Create”. When creating your ad Facebook will offer a picture and text to use, but it is best to customize it with your images. Then you choose a call of the action button. Which can be to Like, Follow, or the option to open a link to your company’s website.

Online Directories

Google My Business

This is by far the #1 online directory. In fact, don’t be surprised if up to 85% of you overall traffic will be coming from Google My Business. With that being said, it is critical that your Google my business is fully optimized. This means you will want to make sure you have a complete profile. Make sure you have the following completed:

• Complete Name of Your Business
• Phone Number
• Service Area
• Services Offered
• Open Date
• Description
• Logo
• Cover page
• Posts
• Website address
• At least 20 photos
• Address
• Categories
• Hour of Operation
• Attributes
• Date Opened

Yelp Directory

Yelp is another great platform for businesses to be seen and get reviews. Yelp is also free to list your business on, but they do have a paid service. With the paid service you can remove competitors’ ads from your Yelp business page and stand out in search results by listing what is unique about your business. The downside, the pricing starts at around $300, so you need to decide if it is worth it for your business. There is also a paid service called Yelp Ads. This allows you to easily create an ad, have your ad appear on competitors’ business pages, and you only pay per click.

Nextdoor Directory

While normally to be able to use Nextdoor you need an invite code to register, businesses can sign up on Nextdoor’s Business section. Simply create an account on their business page and set up your free business page. Much like Facebook, except it is only for your local area in close-by zip codes, you can engage local customers and give a more personal view of your company. They also have two ad types, Sponsorships for Business and Nextdoor Ads. The sponsorship allows you to interact more with people by sharing your expertise in the field, answering questions, and engaging the community by creating things like polls. Then, there are Nextdoor Ads, which are easy to create that you can link to your business’s website. You can customize the ad to target a certain age group, area, gender, household income range, and homeowners. Also, they track your ad progress and show you a report of how many times your ad appears and how times the ad was clicked on. The report can help you to optimize your ads, so they are seen by the right people at the right times. You pay for your ad based on the number of times the ad is clicked on.

Pay Per Click Google Ads

Google Ads also has a pay-per-click business model. They use keywords and smart technology to help get your ad to the top of the search results when customers are looking. Your business website and contact number will show up both on Google Search and Google Maps. You only pay when people act either by clicking on the ad to go to your website or click to call. You create your monthly budget for ads which you can decrease or increase as you like. When setting up, decide whether you want to focus marketing on getting more traffic to your site or phone calls. There is a way to customize what areas your ad will appear. For example, just in your city or for the county. You can start and stop ads at any time. Also, Google Ads tracks your ad’s performance and makes a report for you.

If you do go the ad route, think of what you want in the ad. Use pictures you have taken or stock images you have purchased. It helps to target seasonal needs to ramp up business. You can focus some of the ads on what tends to need to be fixed in the Winter, like pipe breaks. During the summer, you can gear ads towards common summer plumbing issues like sprinkler issues, and clogged sewer lines. Do not forget, ads for semi-annual services like septic tanks. Also, if your company specializes in a certain area having ads that highlight this will help.

Often your area of service will have a local listing website to list your surrounding business on there. There is usually a free section to list your business. Some offer a paid option for an ad for your business to show up in multiple places on their listings. The great thing about using a local page is it will get you in front of local people.

Updating Information

Something easy but important to do is, to make sure to update your company data, and not only on your website. Using places like Google or Yelp, you can make sure the current address, phone number, and email by ensuring if you have your company’s information/ location listed correctly. If you move or have a new phone number, you want to get your information updated as soon as possible. There is nothing worse than losing a customer because they cannot find or contact you.

Finally, remembering to clean up your company website landing page, allows you to clearly list your services, show customer feedback, and use searchable keywords. By, choosing to use companies to advertise discount deals to get a short-term boost in leads and to possibly get old customers to return. Use social media to drive traffic, get seen, and give customers a more personal view of your business. Estimating if the cost of certain additional paid features will benefit your company such as Yelp Ads, and Google Ads. Make use of free services that will list your business. Lastly, check to make sure your contact information is up to date on all sites that have your business listed.

__________________________________________
Sources:

Elements of a Great Landing Page

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GevNNLSm4ek&t=38s 

Groupon

https://www.groupon.com/merchant

Quora

https://www.quora.com/search?q=What%20percentage%20does%20Groupon%20take%20of%20sales%3F

Google My Business

https://www.google.com/business/

GoogleAds

https://ads.google.com/home/#!/

Yelp

https://business.yelp.com/products/yelp-ads/

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/business/learn/lessons/promote-your-business-locally?course_id=353295105351345&curriculum_id=1855777264527194

Visalia Local

https://visalialocal.com/submit-listing/

This may be the best moment to learn how to start an eCommerce business! Partly because of the pace technology evolves, but also because of external factors such as the COVID pandemic.

According to information from eCommerceCEO the online sales market will reach $6.8 trillion by 2023. That’s why this is the best moment to start your own digital business.

Let us draw you a road map with this step-by-step guide.

1- Choose The Right Products

Finding the right product to start your eCommerce business is not an easy task. You have to do a lot of research and pay attention to new trends.

Start Simple

Think of the niches and communities you’re already in. Are you a member of a soccer team, a chess club, or a manga community? Think about the things you and your team struggle with the most… is there any product that can help you put the uniform quicker, draw faster, or store your chess set better?

Avoid The Generic Route.

Instead, go for products that are hard to find on Amazon, eBay, or any popular eCommerce website. As we mentioned before, you can find products right away if you think of the niches and communities you belong to.

2- Find The Right Niche For Your eCommerce Store

Not all products will work for all audiences. The search for a niche has to be tied up to the product from the beginning. Even if your product is a brand new invention that everybody should have.

Let’s say you decided to sell a smartphone lens to take photos. Start following photography profiles on Instagram or join a photography community on Facebook!

One great way to find both: niches and products is by joining online forums, like reddit.com

Finding the right niche is important! Because it is an excellent place to find people already interested in your product and because getting community feedback is an unending source of ideas for new products.

3- Set Up Your eCommerce Brand And Business

People keep choosing apple products over more generic brands because we all know what quality to expect from them. That’s what a well-built brand can make for you. Here are some of the steps that will help you build a strong business and a good brand image.

Pick Up A Name

Your store name doesn’t have to be the legal name of your business, but we suggest you keep them related. Remember your niche research and use a name related to that.

Register Your Business

After choosing a name, you need to register your business. This can offer huge benefits as legal protection and tax benefits.

Get All The Licenses And Permits Up To Date

Getting all your business documentation in order is the best way to avoid unpleasant surprises.

There are a lot of resources you can access at the Small business Administration, including a guide to help you register your business. You can also find mentors and information about almost anything related to the start-up world.

Develop Your Brand Identity

This is an important part of the process if you want to stand out from the competition. Developing a brand identity can also help you connect with your audience at a more personal level.

Develop A Good Content Strategy

This is going to sound counterintuitive, but the best way to sell is by not trying to sell.

Let me explain. We all hate when people try to sell anything to us, right? But -you may ask- how can I connect with my customers if not by selling them something?

And the answer is very simple: Trough high-quality content.

The hard selling “push” strategies that our parents used in the ’90s don’t work anymore. People are tired of brands trying desperately to get our attention. Instead of that, what you should do is develop a “pull” strategy.

That means, instead of using ads as a spear to hunt your customers… develop good content that works as bait, and let them come to you. Do not push your brand on them, let them fall in love with it.

Remember, good and abundant content is the reason why you have never seen ads for Instagram or TikTok.

4- Set Up Your Ecommerce Platform

Let us break the pros and cons of those three options.

By Your Own

This is the best option for people with advanced developer skills. You can have control over everything from the domain to the payment methods, to the server. Keep in mind this is also the most time-consuming option since you need to take care of things like copywriting and graphic design.

• Ideal for people with coding skills
• You can choose the exact features and plugins your store needs

Cons

• Need to know to code
• Time-consuming
• You also need copywriting and graphic design skills
• It can become very expensive

Using an Ecommerce Platform

There are eCommerce platforms that do some of the heavy liftings for you, so you can just focus on delivering a great experience to your customers. While some of them offer great advantages for starters, if you choose the wrong one, you can find a lot of limitations when you want to grow or diversify your business.

Pros

• Easy for beginners
• Some of them also offer payment and shipping methods

Cons

• Some of them present limitations to grow or expand
• You need to pay a monthly fee or a commission for every product sold
• Your e-store is not entirely yours

Hiring A Professional Web Designer

Pros:

• Absolute control of your e-store
• You can have the exact features you want
• They take care of everything
• No coding skills needed

Cons:

• Good professionals are hard to find

Whether you choose any of those options, here’s a roadmap with a broad view of the things you may need to take care of before starting.

Get Your Domain Name And Url

The best thing you can do is to choose your business name and domain at the same time. This way you can be sure it will be available. Although if you already have a brand and just want to get the domain, you can play a little with characters and words.

Remember to keep it simple and short. That’s the best way to make sure people will remember your brand.

There are many ways to look for a domain. If you are creating your e-store on your own, you can use Google Domain or GoDaddy to check availability. If you are using an eCommerce platform, some of them can help you get the domain you want, and many also include this as part of their service.

If you have a web designer it’s even easier because they can take care of everything and even present you with creative options for a domain.

Questions To Find The Right Platform

If you are using an eCommerce platform, there are a couple of things to keep in mind to find the right one for your business.

As always our best advice is to hire a professional, but if you want to start with an eCommerce platform, here are some things you should ask first.

• Is this platform easy to set up?
  Be careful to choose a platform that offers ease of use for your skill level, or at least good customer service.
• Is it easy to design and navigate?
  Check the templates they offer and take a look at the actual stores built on that platform to be sure the stores work and the pages are easy to browse.
• Is it secure for my customers?
  Check your page has “HTTPS” instead of “HTTP” and also check the lock icon on the address bar. If you don’t have those, people won’t trust you with their card numbers.
• Does it integrate with other platforms?
  Not all eCommerce platforms are compatible with all apps and platforms. Check yours can integrate with the other sites and services you want to use.
• Does this platform allow me to use SEO?
  This is a really important aspect since SEO is one of the best ways to drive people to your website. Make sure the platform you use, allows you to run SEO campaigns.
• Is my store responsive?
  Most online purchases are made on a mobile device. That’s the reason why it is so important to make sure your page looks good on all of them.
• How easy is it to talk to someone at tech support?
  Get ready to find all kinds of technical problems mostly at the beginning. Make sure you can contact someone to help you, or at least to check if they offer any type of learning resources.

You can also check these 5 key aspects you should consider to start in eCommerce to get a better idea of all the things you need before starting.

Experts Choice: Woocommerce

After many trials and errors, a lot of professional web designers choose woocommerce. This platform is well known because of how easy it is to use for starters, but also because of its robust features that make it an excellent choice for everyone.

Here are some of the reasons why as professionals, Woocommerce is the best option:

• User Friendly
  It’s interface was developed to help everyone get the job done easily. It is easy to download and install, and it’s learning curve is way friendlier than the other ecommerce platforms.
• Customizable
  Because it is an open source system, you can customize it to work exactly as you want. The best part is that you can customize it by using plug-ins, which means you don’t even need coding skills.
• Open Source
  As it is an open source system, chances are the plugin you want has already been developed by someone else. It will work even better if you have coding skills or a web designer who knows how to add and remove them.
• Affordable
  Woocommerce is free to download and install. This is undoubtedly one of the main reasons behind its popularity. However there are thousands of plugins you can use, and some of them may have a cost.

5 – Develop An Ecommerce Marketing Strategy

Let’s say your store is all about technology and gadgets. Then maybe you want to join tech and gadgets groups on Facebook, or start posting videos of your products under the #Technology hashtag on Instagram.

Social Media

One big advantage of using social media to promote your store is how easy it is for starters. You can start investing as little as $10 and get some results.

Although you don’t need to invest in paid advertising. You can Look for Facebook groups, Instagram profiles related to your business and use related TikTok sounds to get more people interested in your business.

SEO Strategy

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is about using search engines to reach more potential customers.

Let’s say your product is artistic candles. You want to develop an SEO strategy that shows your store every time somebody types “colorful candle” in google.

How?

The best way so far is with high-quality content. Start a blog about your product, and take advantage of the available SEO tools. Let us share with you 4 tips about how to write SEO-optimized articles for your blog.

Use The Right Words In The Right Places
Look for the keywords related to your product and write about that. You can use tools like Answer the public to find out.

Write Concise Titles And Meta Descriptions
The Meta description is the short text under the URL in the google search results page. It doesn’t have a direct influence on SEO but is vital to let people know what your article is about.

You can use the SERP preview tool High-Quality to get the right size for your headlines and meta descriptions

Deliver High-Quality Content
Google algorithms always favor high-quality content. Avoid copy-pasting from other sites since google sees that as plagiarism, and it can damage your Google ranking.

If you want to learn more about how to write great pieces of content for your SEO strategy, we wrote this guide to help you write better content.

Before You Start -7 Advanced eCommerce Tips

1. Better Ideas Lead To Better Products And Services

And the only way to have good ideas is by trying a lot of them. Don’t be afraid of trying new things. Keep in mind some of them won’t work but can give you valuable insights.

2. Focus Not On Your Product But On Your Customers

Also, remember customers value the products and services that deliver a broadened experience. Weather is a unique packaging or a socially responsible brand.

3. The Importance Of A Good Brand Identity

Developing a brand puts a name behind the products you are selling, but it also has huge benefits! You can access tax and legal benefits as a registered business. But it also helps you develop brand awareness and reach much more customers.

4. People Trust Reviews More Than Whitepapers

No surprises here. We are more eager to trust our neighbor’s opinion before getting a new lawnmower, than a hundred salesmen.

Many commerce platforms allow you to show your reviews from Google or Yelp. And most of them ask your customers to leave reviews. Don’t be afraid to show the best ones and share them on social media.

5. Good Web Design Always Wins

6. Read Your Audience’s Mind

Remember your audience won’t necessarily write the description of your product. They will write what they want. For instance, if your product is a purifier water bottle, don’t use the keyword “purifier water bottle”

Use instead
“The best way to get drinking water in the wild”

7. Don’t Underestimate Your Seo Strategy

The correct SEO strategy can put you right where your customers are looking for. Remember to follow the guidelines and avoid any type of plagiarism since it can affect your ranking in Google.

Conclusion

This is maybe the best moment in history to start your own online business. And now, you know exactly which steps to follow.

If you are interested in automation tools for your online business, check this article about the best automation tools for eCommerce

Let us know which step you liked the most, and follow us on social media to ask anything about the article! We’ll be glad to help you.

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Sources:
https://www.shopify.com/blog/eCommerce-business-blueprint
https://www.eCommerceceo.com/start-eCommerce-business/
https://www.oberlo.com/blog/eCommerce-how-to-start-and-succeed
https://neilpatel.com/blog/how-to-build-a-successful-eCommerce-brand-from-scratch/
https://www.investopedia.com/best-eCommerce-platforms-5092528
https://www.freshegg.co.uk/blog/web-development/getting-started-with-e-commerce

What Exactly Is Ecommerce Marketing Automation?

Let’s take a look at your online business.

Chances are you have some followers, that you would like to turn into buyers. To do that, you need to know how they behave, and what type of product works better for each one of them. You may want to have a segmented mailing list, so you can keep the contact.

If they have already purchased something from you, it would be useful to know how good their experience was, to know the rating they gave you, and how satisfied they were with your product.

Also, you want to keep track of your visitors and your conversions. And if you are a content creator, you want to know how your subscribers behave, what they want to see next, and how to develop better content to keep your audience engaged.

That’s a lot of work!

Fortunately for us, the Internet offers thousands of different online marketing tools to help you automate most of those processes! And here, we are going to show you everything about which are the best ones for your business and niche.

Ecommerce Marketing Automation Tools And What They Can Do For You

A good eCommerce Marketing automation tool is a piece of software that simplifies a highly complex task, so you can give better use to your data, ads, and content.

What do Marketing automation tools do?
You can find automation tools for almost everything:

• Tracking engagement
• Filter leads
• Creating better ads
• Delivering reports
• Scaling programs
• Aligning sales
• Measuring effectiveness

And a long list of etcéteras.

Ecommerce Automation Tools Before Vs After Covid-19

For most of us, the world shrunk into our devices, and by the end of 2020, even grandpas were using some sort of online service for their daily lives.

With so much change in such a short period, software developers went above and beyond designing and programming new tools for this growing market. As a result, today we have a wide variety of plugins, services, and apps, to help us achieve almost anything with our online businesses.

Reasons To Start Using Marketing Automation Platforms

Can help you keep track of your visitors, customers, and sales, and they can also help you manage ads campaigns and score leads

Some of them are particularly good at giving you control of every part of the sales funnel or letting you automate marketing processes and conversions either online or offline.

Ecommerce marketing automation makes it easy to manage and send emails to your mailing lists, and the appropriate tools can do a lot more for you!

Best Ecommerce Marketing Automation Tools

1. Hubspot

An all-in-one marketing platform with its marketing automation toolkit. It offers integration with Shopify to integrate your store data. It helps you coordinate CRM and automate your online marketing campaigns. It also comes with customer service software.

It is a great tool to forget about email marketing, so you can invest more of your time in making your business grow. It offers integration with Facebook, Eventbrite, Google Ads, Facebook ads, Survey monkey or Zapier.

Is it right for me?
This platform can help you keep in contact with customers and even send them an empty cart email reminder to bring them back. It’s ideal to customize and personalize workflows.

If you are starting up your company and need an easy-to-use automation tool, HubSpot may be your best choice

2. Klaviyo

This is a comprehensive eCommerce marketing automation platform that can help high-growth online stores to increase the value they deliver to their audience. This is a cloud-based tool that offers a segmentation engine to help you create personalized email marketing campaigns.

It has many of the features you would expect from an eCommerce marketing automation tool. You can also expand its capabilities with direct integration into other platforms like Shopify, Big Commerce, Commerce Cloud, WooCommerce, or Magento.

Is it right for me?
Klaviyo offers a friendly service that anyone can use, however, if you have some knowledge about how to use data science, you will be able to get the most out of it.

3. Bronto

Bronto is part of the Oracle Netsuite for enterprises, and because of that, it offers full integration with the rest of the Oracle Netsuite tools. This service offers you primarily an email marketing solution, but in the long run, it can help you manage multi-channel customer engagement at scale.

This is a robust platform that can help you personalize your campaigns, automate processes and offer you valuable analytical insight. It also offers integration with platforms like Magento, Salesforce, Monsoon, and Reaction Commerce.

Is it right for me?
If you are already happy with any other of the Oracle Netsuite tools, you may want to give it a try. Bronto also can help you to simplify many of the processes on multi-channel campaigns, that’s why many major brands use it.

4. Pardot

This powerful marketing automation tool helps your and sales teams to pick to filter your leads and find the most promising ones.

Pardot can help you create more meaningful connections with your database to generate more leads and to move them faster through your pipeline.

You can find new ways to engage with buyers, and it even helps you to understand each step of your funnel from click to close.

Is it right for me?
If you need to segment many different customer profiles and get an appropriate interaction with each segment, this is a tool that you may want to try. Another important thing is you don’t need extensive knowledge to get really good insights.

5. Wigzo

This omnichannel marketing automation platform helps your eCommerce company to streamline the work. It works for both B2B and B2C businesses and lets them run different aspects of the marketing strategy on the same platform.

Wigzo lets you perform a lot of actions across different channels like email, SMS, Whatsapp, Onsite, Push notifications, and many more. Automating processes through this tool lets you segment and personalize the strategies to use for different audiences.

An effective tool that can help you get your eCommerce funnel and database in check, and understand all significant insights from your sales process.

It also offers integration with Twilio, elastic mail, Active Campaign, Facebook, or Google Analytics.

Is it right for me?
Wigzo offers a unique Machine Learning algorithm that recommends products based on user behavior and previous purchases, so it is a helpful tool particularly for eCommerce businesses with many products and segments.

6. Active Campaign

“Omnichannel marketing automation made easy” is one of the claims on their website. This Marketing Automation Tool can help you reach the right contacts at the right time thanks to its advanced segmentation and personalization.

Facebook, Typeform, Salesforce, Unbounce, and Google analytics are some of the integrations this platform offers.

This tool offers some interesting features, for instance, it lets you view preferences and behavior-based data to personalize clients’ interactions.

Is it right for me
Segmentation is the Game of Active Campaign. So if your businesses need better segmentation or communication with different audiences, this one could be for you.

7 Constant Contact

Constant Contact is a marketing solution that can help you get the most out of your email marketing and social media advertising campaigns. This platform can automatically send targeted welcome emails whenever a new lead is interested in your brand.

Another nice feature is it helps you organize and manage more efficient marketing campaigns. It integrates with Quickbooks, Salesforce, Office 365, Facebook, Google, or WordPress.

Is it right for me?
This is a platform that allows you to segment your customers based on their purchase activity and it also helps you reduce lost sales by sending customized “abandoned cart” messages. It is a good option to keep constant contact with your database, with minimal effort.

8. Marketo

Marketo is one of the big names on this list, partly because it comes from Adobe. This is another cloud-based platform that can help you to boost your digital marketing businesses.

This tool helps you with the lead generation process by engaging with potential customers from their very first click, and throughout their whole journey. Marketo can also help you create campaigns to personalize your visitors’ experience on your website to turn them into customers.

This tool integrates with most CRM systems, it lets you identify your most valuable leads, and helps you to catch their eye.

Is it right for me?
Marketo is an enterprise-level marketing automation tool. It is ideal if you have a company that is growing faster than you imagined. It has Adobe support, which is also a good thing.

9. LeadSquared

LeadSquared is promoted as a lead conversion and marketing automation tool. It helps businesses to track and manage contacts and leads with ease. It works great for both: B2B and B2C.

This particular tool lets you focus primarily on the lead nurturing phase and helps you to understand which part of the funnel your customers are, and to move them faster into conversion.

You can also build trigger-based prospect communication workflows and reach every one of your prospects on their preferred channel. It could be email, SMS, phone call, or WhatsApp texts.

Is it right for me?
If you want to be aware of every part of your sales funnel and be able to track your customer’s interactions, this could be the tool for you.

10. Drip

Drip is an eCommerce Automation tool designed specifically for B2C companies. You can use it to increase engagement or drive more revenue.
Users of the platform say they are now able to see their customers “in full color”. Comprehensive tracking and hyper-segmentation are a couple of the most relevant features
It offers integration with Facebook, Drift, Privy, JustUno, FOMO, or Textiful. And gives you the chance to collect and organize data, to keep track of your customers’ journey, allowing you to improve their experience and get real-time feedback.

Is it right for me?
This is a friendly tool designed specifically for B2C businesses. If you are just starting and need an insightful platform to start understanding how your B2C customers behave, you should try Drip

11. Wiser

This is a good option for retailers and brands who need to manage omnichannel data. It can help you increase revenue, reduce costs and improve the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. This platform offers you a comprehensive pricing strategy and many tools to automate your marketing processes.

An important distinction is that it can help you to A/B testing your prices and strategies to estimate demand and find the best ratio to maximize conversions.

Wiser also gives you valuable insights that you can later mix with the advanced workflow software to increase the value you deliver to your audience.

Is it right for me?
You should give it a try if you need to manage data from many channels. This tool is like a swiss-army-knife that can help you with automation, pricing, retail auditing, and other business aspects.

12. Act-On

This automation platform was designed for enterprise brands and can help you optimize your marketing initiatives. It helps you increase engagement by enhancing the customer experience.

Act-On collects in-depth data to analyze your prospect’s behavior and show you their buying journey. This lets you nurture the best brand-customer relationships.

It also can help you connect different marketing tactics to achieve improved results. Its automated nurturing tools let you add an effective level of personalization to send relevant pieces of communication to different audiences

Is it right for me?
This is a platform that provides valuable information about your audiences and allows you to optimize marketing initiatives. If your company has many products and different audiences, you’ll find a good companion in Act-On

Frequently Asked Questions About Marketing Automation

What Is Meant By Marketing Automation?

This term refers to the process of automating different marketing and sales processes, such as segmentation, customer fidelity, email campaigns, or social media posting.

What Is A Marketing Automation Tool?

Generally, they are pieces of software, apps, or plugins you can integrate within your selling journey, to gather data and automate different parts of the process.

What Are The Benefits Of Using Ecommerce Marketing Automation Tools?

The main benefit is you save a lot of time and effort. The different automation tools can help you to gather information, send emails, or create segmented campaigns for your different audiences.

Can I Use Ecommerce Marketing Automation Tools If My Business Is B2b?

Yes. There are many platforms out there to cover different needs. Not only can you choose tools specialized in B2B businesses, but you can even go deeper and find the one that works the best with your particular niche or product.

What Are The Basic Features For Which I Should Look Out?

Marketing automation is much more than just mailing or CRM platforms. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all platform since they offer very different benefits. Take a look at the full article so you can get a better grasp at the things you should look for in an eCommerce Marketing Automation tool

When Should I Start Using Marketing Automation Platforms?

As soon as you begin selling anything online. These tools and platforms not only can help you to understand your audience and forecast your selling process but also to understand how your customers behave, what and why they purchase, and their purchasing patterns. The sooner you can put all the data from your business together, the better.

Which Is The Best Ecommerce Marketing Automation Tool?

There is no “winner” since all of them offer different solutions for different parts of the sales process. We suggest you take a look at the whole article to get a better idea of which ones will work better for you

Are Marketing Automation Tools Temporarily Solutions?

Marketing automation won0t be going anywhere soon. After COVID-19, most companies are constantly looking for better and easier ways to keep in touch with prospects and customers. Right now you can find a lot of options, but you can expect to see more and more with time.

Do I Need Previous Knowledge About Marketing Or Ecommerce To Use Them?

Most of the platforms we present here can be used “straight out of the box” with no specific knowledge required. But if you find any trouble with your chosen tool, most of them offer customer support 24/4 and training courses included in the cost.

Conclusion

With the booming eCommerce economy we have after the quarantine, you can expect the online business to keep growing, and with them, the available options for marketing tools.

If you want to learn how to get even more data from your funnel, you may want to take a look at this article about how to use the New Google Analytics to your advantage.

And if you still have any questions regarding Ecommerce Marketing Automation tools, let us know in the comments!

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Source:

https://www.wigzo.com/blog/marketing-automation-tools-for-e-commerce/
https://www.yieldify.com/blog/the-5-best-marketing-automation-tools-for-e-commerce/
https://www.smartmail.io/resources/best-ecommerce-marketing-automation-platforms
https://cedcommerce.com/blog/frequently-asked-questions-about-marketing-automation/