Moms Online Business Coach

My very first business venture online was an eCommerce site. Whoa.. the lessons I learned that year!

I physically was manufacturing all of my own products, learning how to put up a website, trying to balance two kids under the age of three, and packing boxes for shipment every night.  Ohhh how I came to resent those boxes.

I then moved from selling direct on my website to offering wholesale.. then to dropship and wholesale.  I did close this business down (with a very rough transition that warrants another blog post on it’s own) but, the other day I found a friend of mine, Tracy wrote an excellent forum post to explain dropshipping to those that are new to the idea of dropshipping.

After all, dropshipping is the EASIEST way to get started in eCommerce because there is little to no money investment.

So here is her post below.. and this is a BIG moment for Moms Business Coach because it’s the first time I’ve had a “Guest Post” here….

How To Find a Good Dropshipper

1. Ask for recommendations. I would put out an inquiry on Twitter, Facebook, other social media networking sites specific (especially those specific to the niche you’re interested in) and also ask here in the Elite forum of SSWT
2. Web search. Put in your main niche keyword followed by dropshipper. i.e. Elvis Bobblehead dropshipper

Setting Up Your Dropship eCommerce Site

1. Obviously you need a domain name and hosting.  Check out my free tutorials on how to register a domain name and how to setup HostGator hosting.
2. WordPress or static site? Either would work, but for ease in updating the site, I would choose WordPress, or another shopping cart system that allows for database storage of your product & content and thus usually always has a way to easily update your site. Static html sites are simply not efficient for larger ecommerce sites.
3. Decide on your shopping cart system. The WordPress ecommerce plugin would work, there’s also the eShop plugin. However, there are many other shopping cart systems that would also work that are outside of WordPress. It depends on how many products you will have, as to which would work best. Once I get all the technical kinks worked out of integrating the system I use into WordPress, I’ll post info on how you can get this system. Until then, here’s is one of my client’s web sites where I integrated this system into their existing design (this is the same system I will be using, but with WordPress): http://inboardhelmetlights.com/catalog.php. I also have a full ecommerce system that’s the next step up for this; you can view samples here: http://theleadingedgepublishing.com/ and here: http://artofeloquence.com/catalog.php and here: http://www.candlesgiftsandmore.com/ [note: these sites are maintained by my clients, not me. So current look/design may or may not reflect my original work, but they are still using the ecommerce system I setup]
4. Payment processing. PayPal is an obvious choice, but you also need a merchant account to accept straight credit card payments outside of PayPal. There are a few online merchant account options, such at 2CheckOut and ProPay. Or you can go a more traditional merchant account option that requires contacting your local bank, or you can also find more traditional merchant account options by searching online.
5. Read the terms of service with the dropship company you’ve chosen, in order to comply with their guidelines. However, in most cases, the dropship company will provide you with product images and descriptions, as well as any pricing guidelines you need to adhere to.
6. Do keyword research for your niche to find the keywords you wish to target. Make a long list, include long-tail product specific keyword phrases.
7. Select the products you wish to add to your store, use the specific long-tail phrase you found in your keyword research when adding the product to your store as the title for that product and also within the description. Don’t forget to read Lynn’s post on How to Optimize an Ecommerce Site

Marketing Your Site
Blogs are an obvious first choice. Write keyword optimized articles on your site about your niche and/or about a specific problem or issue within that niche and direct the reader to a product in your ecommerce store that meets that need.

Forum & Blog Marketing: comment within niche specific forums and blogs, with a link back to a specific product page on your site.

Social Media: Twitter and Facebook are the obvious top two; but don’t forget YouTube, LinkedIn and even groups within Facebook, LinkedIn and yes – even Yahoo Groups & Google Groups. There are still people using email groups.

Traci Knoppe, is the owner of Managed Web Tech Support Services and you can read more from Traci and her insights on the Pro’s and Con’s of Outsourcing.