Coming soon. Online marketing tips

internet marketing online marketing, wholesale

I get asked this question a lot, so I wanted to touch on it for the post today.  The truth about business in general is its not “easy”, but drop shipping can be a part of your business that IS easy.  Think about it this way.  If you are going to order the products in bulk (lets say mattresses) and you have to store them in your house, load them up to your truck and take them to the UPS store to ship them – I hope you get the idea where this can be a hassle when selling products online this way.

Drop shipping takes care of that problem for you.  You do not have to carry inventory, or ship out of your house or load a bulky item into the back of your truck.  When you get the order, you send it off to your supplier and they take care of everything for you.  So, yes in that regard, drop shipping is easy.

There is a lot of leg work and prep when starting a drop shipping site, but The Shipper has a resource center that can help assist those that are brand new to drop shipping. I guess you can consider that part “easy” to when it comes to drop shipping because we have done all of the work for you!

dropshipping, selling products online dropshipping, wholesale

I wanted to share another quick tip when it comes to adding products to your website.

If you have been doing drop shipping for any time now you probably understand the basics behind getting the information from your supplier, getting images etc and getting the info on your site.  Most suppliers give multiple images for their products, but I normally only see one image at best showing off the products on most sites.

The sites I (personally) spend the most time at are the ones that have lots of great information, and are full of optimized images that are very clear and load quickly.  Nothing can help sell the product better then the product itself.  I know you have heard that “a picture is worth a thousand words”.

Having lots of clean descriptive images can keep people on your site longer, and could end up getting you a higher conversion rate.  I have tested and tested on my own personal sites, and when I have a product with 3 or more images they tend to sell more (and have a better conversion rate) the then the ones with only one image.  If you are wondering how I track my conversion rates (analytics etc) I use Google Analytics a free tracking software program from Google.

The bottom line is to it take advantage of all of the product information that your dropshipper has given you access to.  It’s there for a reason!

internet marketing, website design / help dropshipping, google, wholesale

I talk with so many people interested in drop shipping on a daily basis that I have a pretty good idea some of the main areas of dropshipping that they are struggling with.  One of the main areas of confusion my my end is when they are trying to narrow down a niche.

When you are trying to find a product line (your niche) you are trying to get into something that has a good demand, find good prices and has key phrases that you would be able to be found for.  When doing this, I see a lot with the tendency to not think open minded and limit themselves.  For example; if they are going to be selling fishing poles and that be their “niche” they think they can only sell one type or brand of fishing poles.  They also think that they can’t have anything but fishing poles on the site.  That is a little extreme of a niche in my opinion, and I have seen clients become more successful with a fuller product line and catalog.  I would not recommend selling designer handbags on the same site, but if you want to add fishing tackle or related items I see no problem with that.

The point no matter what product line is to find the best keywords for that specific product line.  If you are selling a certain brand of fishing poles then make sure you use the best possible keywords for that brand/product, and if you are selling tackle boxes, make sure you are using the best possible keywords for tackle boxes etc.

Remember to think outside the box and not limit yourself because you are going after a “niche”.  A niche product line could include hundreds and hundreds of different types of products.  So relax and find all the products you want to sell on your website, so long as they are related and have good results when doing keyword research.

dropshipping, finding suppliers, product research dropshipping, wholesale

At The Shipper we offer a bulk wholesale directory list that will give you access to companies that will sell you products at bulk (more then one at a time) at a much better price then say a drop shipper.  There are some benefits, and there are some downfalls to doing business this way.

Let me explain:

If you have the money to invest buying products in bulk, and don’t mind shipping the products out yourself then wholesale is the way for you to go.  Most people don’t like to buy in bulk because of the upfront cost and money involved.  They do not have the money to invest in buying a product 100, or 1000 (or more) at a time.  Another reason is shipping.  A lot do not like running to the UPS (or other postal carrier) store everyday, and sending out product.

If you do not mind, and have the money to invest in bulk wholesale products you will make more money hands down with every single sale.  You will also be able to compete with more of the big boys (when selling products) on websites like Ebay and Amazon.

You can learn more about our wholesale list at The Shipper by following the link.

pricing and profits, selling products online, wholesale eBay, wholesale, wholesale products

If you are familiar with services like PayPal then you understand the basic idea of transferring money online.  Google has a merchant (like PayPal) called Google Checkout.  I wanted to share this with all who read this site because they are processing transactions FREE for the rest of the year.

If you are needing to transfer money, pay for something online and are wanting to save some payment fees then give Google Checkout a chance.  What have you got to lose?  Not money, because remember its FREE!!

pricing and profits google, wholesale

Most people (I talk to) have not heard of Shopzilla, or what it is. If anybody has heard of it, it has only been because of commercials during the super bowl, or other big events.  I really do not see a ton of television ads for them other then during big time events, yet the have been around since 1996.  Can you believe that?

I wanted to give you some more ideas to expand your money making opportunities through drop shipping on Shopzilla.  Most new internet business owners think that their website is the only place they can make money on from drop shipping products, and that is totally false.  The only other place that may come to mind is selling products on Ebay.  Shopzilla is a pay per click shopping service that can get you quality traffic, leads and sales (and more exposure).

Not everybody uses the general web (or Google search) for finding products to buy, nor do they use Ebay every single time for buying products online.  You need to take advantage of all buying solution websites when it comes to selling your dropshipping products.  Shopzilla is an amazing place that any internet business owner should work into their marketing plan.

To learn more about becoming a merchant for Shopzilla follow the link and get started today!

dropshippers, internet marketing, selling products online dropshipping, eBay, google, internet, internet business owner, wholesale

There is so much opportunity to make money with selling products on Ebay that it makes me laugh when people tell me they hate Ebay because they can’t make any money with it.  My personal feeling are that they do not know how to take advantage of Ebays tools to help you get more exposure to your products.  We all know that more exposure (no matter what I guess) means more money.

1. Sometimes new business owners are cheap, and because of that they lose a lot of sales.  Pay for the gallery image.  I can’t tell you how many listings I blow past because I don’t have a “visual” of the product.  100% of the time I will blow past the listing if it does not have a gallery photo.
2. Additional Images, and using a template can increase your sales.  People like to see pictures, and we also want to know that we are dealing with a professional that can create a good looking listing (so we feel comfortable).  I will spend more time at the listings that have additional images every single time.  You can upload more images on Ebay for a small fee, but I would recommend uploading them to a host account somewhere (if you have one) or a free image hosting service such as Flickr and then just reference to them through html.  (Maybe I will do a post later on how to exactly do this)
3. Professionally written descriptions and titles.  I have often referred to this as “Describe the product as if you did not have a picture” (even if you do).  Just like every single good website needs to do proper keyword research an analysis, you need to do the same for your Ebay listings.  If you write your titles and descriptions with words that are to general and not targeted to the product you are selling then you will get less visitors and lower conversion.  If you can find the words that are the most targeted to your product and use them in the title and description you have a better chance of getting more traffic to your listing on Ebay.  It’s kinda like trying to get a #1 ranking for the word “business” (it will never happen) You need to find the most niche targeted words possible, and if you do, you will have more success on Ebay.
4. During the holidays (when people are looking for gifts RIGHT NOW) give a “buy it now” option.  People hate to wait on auctions during the holidays.
5. Give if a “gift” symbol.  Again, anything you can do to make your listing “stand out” will get you more clicks.
6. Pay for Bolding – sounding like a broken record, but you need to stand out to get more people to click.
7. Take advantage of what Ebay can teach you.

There are many other “little” things you can do to gain more exposure and make more money on Ebay, but this is a great start for the “new to Ebay” users of The Shipper.  If you have any questions about selling products on Ebay then please feel free to ask them here, or via our support.

dropshipping, eBay, selling products online eBay, wholesale

There are a lot of brand new to “drop shipping” readers of this blog and I wanted to share exactly what dropshipping is.

If you have set up a relationship with a supplier company that has the products you want to sell online, have a website, have a merchant account all set up and have done the marketing to drive traffic to your site then you are ready to fully understand dropshipping.  Understanding the concept is much easier.

Lets say I have a site selling jewelry and you (the reader) comes to my site and purchases something from me, I am then notified from my website that I have an order.  Once I have verified the order (no fraud etc) I take that order and contact my supplier.  I will contact my supplier whatever method they want me to, as some want you to call the order in, fax the order in, email the order in, or log into a system online and place the order.  Once I have placed the order with them they will charge my account that I have set up with them.  Lets say you (the reader) paid me $400 for the jewelry and my cost was $100, then I am charged $100 by my supplier company and left with $300 profit (minus any transaction fees).  I do not have to get the product shipped to me, as the dropshipping company takes care of all that.

They have a warehouse and shipping all taken care of.  I know you have heard of the term “other peoples money” right?  This is where you really can take advantage of this.  You do not have to worry about renting a warehouse, nor setting up shipping methods with UPS or running to the post office everyday.

I hope this gives those brand new to drop shipping more insight as to how it all goes down!

dropshipping, selling products online dropshipping, wholesale

I just wanted to share a quick testimonial from a dropshipping client of The Shipper.

I was talking with a lady today who was so excited about “other uses” she has found with access to our drop ship directory.  A lot of people tend to think getting a membership in a dropship list is not beneficial because you get access to the product you want and then are done (no need to keep paying).  If you look at the big picture and use the list to its full potential to making money you will understand.

For example – Lets say its your kids birthday and you are going to get them a toy that cost 400$ at the toy store.  What if you found a supplier, got access to the product and bought it for 150$?  You just paid for several months access to the list with one purchase.  I buy all my stuff from wholesaler and have saved so much money its not even funny.  You can do this to with access to our dropshipping list.

If you are thinking about finding products to sell on Ebay you can find other types of products then you are selling on your website.  You are not limited to only selling what you are doing on your website.  This is where a lot of people miss out on some big opportunities when working with suppliers.  Think about the money you could save on gifts alone through this drop ship list!

This client that was happy today was making the point that our drop ship list was paying for itself and then some and was very pleased and wanted me to share with all!

dropshipping, eBay, finding suppliers dropshipping, eBay, making money, wholesale