There are so many people out there that do not understand, or know what it means to dropship.  I know this sounds as crazy as someone not ever hearing of eBay or Google, but there are some people I have talked to that have never even heard of those two online giants!  If you want to learn more about what it means to dropship, or what it means to set up a dropship business, you need to first understand what it means.

About defines droship as -

“An arrangement whereby a mail-order or
Internet merchant accepts orders for products, and then pays a
manufacturer or distributor to ship the product to the customer”.

This clearly should give you a better idea of what it means to dropship, but I wanted to expand on this definition and explain how it can be a viable income opportunity run from the comforts of your own home.  If you are not having to rent warehouse space, employ people, invest in insurance, get legal counsel and everything else that an off line business has to do, you are saving money that goes directly into your bank account.

I love the dropship businesses that I own because I never have to worry about buying more product then I can sell, setting up shipping relations with UPS (or any of them), or ever have to dress up to go to the office everyday.  I can run this dropship home business, like other home busineses online right from my couch – in my pajamas if I wanted to!

A dropship business gives you the freedom to be in control on so many levels.  You have more money to invest into the business (without all the added costs of an off line business), you have more time with your family (because you are not tied down to an office), and most importantly you are the boss and the one in control of all aspects of your life (hmm, I think I will take today off and go to the Zoo with my kids).

If you are looking for products to sell online that range from adjustable beds to ups battery backup, The Shipper has thousands of product suppliers with millions of products that can be drop shipped almost anywhere.  Join Today.

dropshippers, dropshipping, home based business, make money online, selling products online eBay, google, internet, wholesale

One of the biggest hassles when ordering online is not knowing the current status of your product.  You read on the website that you will be notified with an email, but sometimes you are not.  You are told you will get the product in a certain number of days, and most of the time you do not.  This is just the way things happen online, and you have to be prepared to deal with customers that want to know where their product is.

I have no problem waiting a month longer for product I order as long as the company has called me and told me what was going on.  There is nothing worse then not knowing what is going on with your products and the money you spent on them.  My suggestions are as follows:

1. Make sure to offer order tracking features right on your site.  Look at the way Rocky Mountain Mattress allows you to track mattress orders.
2. Make sure you are using a shopping cart that will allow auto responders, and automatic messages sent out during all steps of ordering.  People feel good about the email confirmation they get after ordering saying things like; “You will receive your items in “so many days”, and you can “track your order by clicking here”.  By doing this you are making the customer feel at ease with the purchase that was just made.  It can make all the difference in the world for charge backs, or order cancellations especially when you are dealing with high ticket items.
3. Make sure you send follow up emails after the order arrives thanking for the purchase with customer service numbers, and any other important information.  This also is a great opportunity to ask for testimonials and what they thought of the shipping process, and product (or how things can be improved).

These may seem like simple things, and you are saying to yourself “no duh”, because you use these features all of the time on other sites that you purchase from.  You might be surprised though, how many people who are running businesses online fail to take advantage of these features because of programming costs, or additional time it might take.  Do what you can to make the shipping process easy, and you will almost eliminate the return rate.  Customer service goes along way, so remember to not put the “cus” in customer service!

To start selling products online from video camera batteries to pearls, and gain access to thousands of product suppliers, The Shipper is offering a free 7 day trial membership going on right now!

home based business, online business, website design / help shopping cart, wholesale

First of all, if you have never thought about the need to keep an eye on your competition, consider this a reminder and first tip.  As a business owner it is always good to keep a close watch on things the competition is doing, such as promotions, price changes, new products, announcements or other various items.

If you are constantly checking out your SERPs (search engine ranking positions) like I am then you know who your main competitors are for certain keywords, but what about the industry you are in (in general)?  Are you keeping a close eye on the new information that is available online?  Here are some ideas for doing a better job watching the competition.

• Google BlogSearch – keep a close eye on your industry by finding the latest posts done by the people who own businesses in your industry.  Google BlogSearch does a good job of keeping the newest info in the top of the SERPs for its BlogSearch program.  You can learn more about your industry then you know by keeping a careful eye on your competitors.  You do not want them to gain the advantage with any new kind of “cutting edge” technology.  You want people that visit your site to know that you are also up to date with the latest and greatest information if they are price shopping you and your competitor (and compare the up to date industry news and info of the two sites).
• SERPH – This is a great place to find news that is brand new, and as they put it – “track the buzz in real time”.  In many cases the info you find on SERPH has not even been indexed on Google yet.  You can use this tool to make sure you take care of any negative press that could be done about your business too.  I have used this site many times to see what people are blogging about with me, or my businesses and take care of what ever I need to before it becomes a problem, and gets indexed everywhere.
• Subscribe to competitions RSS – A great tool that your competitor gives you is sitting right on their site.  It is the subscription button to their RSS feed.  You can keep a close eye on what they are blogging about and any new press (or articles) that gets released.  Many businesses will include their press and articles on their blog first before sending it anywhere else.  So you will know of it as soon as its posted!

These should be enough to give you an amazing edge over the competition, and will be platforms for you learning other ideas and way to keep a close eye out.  You need to be doing something to keep up to date with your industry, and the way I look at it is there is no better place to do this then with the people you are going up against.

If you are looking to set up a dropship business, right now The Shipper is offering a free 7 day trial membership that gets you access to thousands of product suppliers with products ranging from pearl jewelry to batteries.  Join Today, and start selling products online today!

home based business, product research, selling products online, website design / help google, wholesale

Just wanted to post a quick tip for all those dropshipping business owners out there who frequent this blog, and that is to make sure an register with Google Local.  Google Local can be an amazing source of traffic, and its fairly easy to get your business showing up at the top of the SERPs (Search Engine Ranking Positions) with little, or no competition.  You can also achieve these rankings at a fairly quick time frame.  You do not have to play the normal “waiting” game of search engine optimization and rankings kicking in.

Lets say you own a website selling pearl necklaces, and want to be found right away because you have product just waiting to be sold.  You can register with Google Local, and once you are accepted, you will start showing up on the local search results for “pearl necklaces” when the town, or city name (that your business is registered with) is typed in with the keywords.  You will also have less competition because most of your competitors are not doing this.  For example;  If you type in “Honolulu Hawaii pearl necklaces” you will see no local results (see pic).

Once you get listed – You will be above everyone for a very targeted local search result for your keywords, and this could bring a lot of business.  NOTICE -  If you type in Sandy Utah Mattress in Google you will see a different looking set of results (The Google Local Results):  Rocky Mountain Mattress, the business I have spotlighted many times, comes up as a result (above everyone).  This gives a map, and directions, and a link to the website.  This is very good for local business.

Once you are accepted by Google Local your business will start to show up in the Local Results immediately, and this is with no search engine marketing or optimization done at all.  This could be a great source of traffic for local searches (and local businesses), and in many industries, the competition does not know about Google Local, or where (or how) to get started with it.

To get started, go to Google Local and and click on the add/edit business, and Google will walk you through the rest of the process.  This is a must for any dropship business owner.  This alone is not all you need to be doing for your marketing, but its a good step that many businesses overlook, and I do not want that to happen to anyone who reads this blog!

If you are new to dropshipping, The Shipper is offering a free trial membership which gives you full access to all of our product suppliers.  Join today.

internet marketing, website design / help dropshipping, google, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, wholesale

I got emailed a question about the content a supplier – dropshipper gives you, and how you should go about using it.  I thought I had been hitting this subject hard lately with a few of my posts, but I feel it’s a good time to talk about it once again.  Here is the question that was emailed to me:

I heard it’s not a good idea to copy exactly what the supplier says. why not? what should I write?

Whoever you heard this from is telling you the right information.  You never want to copy any kind of text your supplier is giving you.  This includes website content, product descriptions, or image descriptions.  I have seen some suppliers provide even more kind of content, but my best suggestion to you, if you are looking to obtain high search engine rankings is to not use anything the supplier gives you word for word.

You will be using the same content that (who knows how many) other people are using, and when Google, or any other major search engine crawls the site, they could see it as duplicate content.  If you have a site full of duplicate content, some of your pages can get de-indexed, or not indexed at all, and this gives you the in-ability to rank for them anymore.  If you had them ranked, and they got de-indexed, then you have lost all rankings, and that could hurt sells.

My suggestion has always been to hire a professional copy-writer and provide them with the keywords that you are wanting to be ranked for, and give them the suppliers content, and have them work your keywords in, while re-wording the content and making it unique.  Including your keywords and business name even will give you a better chance of not getting nailed with duplicate content issues.  You can find free-lance writers on places like:

• http://www.guru.com
• http://www.getafreelancer.com
• http://www.elance.com

If you are not able to spend the money on a professional copy-writer, then you can always head to your local college and find some interns.  You can find those in the English, or Journalism department.  I have found these kind of workers some of the hardest working and eager to please folks on the planet.  Oh yea, and they are cheap!

If you are making your product descriptions unique too, then you have a better chance of getting your deeper product pages ranked too.  That can help your conversion rate, and the money you make on your site as well.  Studies show, if you can get people into the deeper shopping cart pages of your website with less then 3 clicks, you have a higher chance of converting the browser into a buyer.

Even though making sure you have no duplicate content on your site makes the whole process longer, and more difficult it will be worth it in the long run.  You will have more pages to rank, experience higher conversion rate and never have to worry about Google (or other major engines) nailing you with penalties that are hard to overcome.

If you are looking to get into selling products online, The Shipper is offering a free 7 day trial for full access to our catalog that gives you access to thousands of product suppliers and millions of products.  Join Today!

dropshippers, internet marketing, online business, website design / help google, search engine rankings, shopping cart, wholesale

There are many important steps that need to be taken for a successful dropshipping website, but I have narrowed down 7 things that must be done for complete success.

1. Amazing Product Descriptions – Your descriptions should be written as if you have no pictures to help you show the products.  You do not want to be using the product descriptions that your supplier gives you.  I would suggest hiring a professional to write the content for your pages, and product descriptions.  If you are using the same content as all the others your supplier gives access to, then you are risking your website getting nailed and penalized for duplicate content.  Give the professionals the keywords you are wanting to be found for, and make sure they are using them in the content.  You can find a professional writer at http://www.elance.com or http://www.guru.com where you can get pages written for as cheap as 5 bucks! It will be some of the best money that you will spend, that will help out your conversions, and search engine rankings.
2. Your Own Product Images - If you can afford to hire a professional photographer to take photos of your products that can brand them to you, then it will always help your website convert better.  If you are not able to, then making sure you are using the pictures that are only the highest quality that your supplier gives you is a must!
3. Offer Comparisons – If you are selling products that you can write comparisons for (the do so), then those who are comparison shopping for things like quality, pricing and customer service will get a better a better idea of why they should buy from you.  The search engines will like the content that you create for the “comparison shopping” as well and help improve your search engine rankings for your products.
4. Give Something Away – People like FREE stuff.  Anytime you can offer something for free to enhance the potential sale you will experience a higher conversion rate.  On my websites when I give something away for free I have always higher click through ratio and conversion rate.  For example, on Rocky Mountain Mattress when you purchase a memory foam mattress you receive two free pillows.  If people are shopping around and find the the same products at similar prices, but you are offering something free, they will go with you every time!
5. Free Shipping With Every Order – If you can offer free shipping then you will always get more consideration when people are shopping around online, and comparing the bottom line cost. If potential buyers can see what the total cost is going to be right there on your website, they will not be worried about hidden costs upon checkout.
6. Testimonials – There is nothing easier, then having someone else sell your product for you.  I would suggest going back to some of the satisfied customers you have had in the past, and ask them if they would be willing to write up a favorable testimony.  You can link to the product (with keywords) they are recommending in the testimony too.
7. Trust and Security – If you can join the BBB, and make sure that you are SSL protected to do transactions online then people will feel safe giving you their credit card information.  I can’t tell you how many times I was asked on my websites (before I got approved) why I was not a member of the BBB, and how come I did not have the logo on my website.  Potential customers do notice these kind of things and it does make a difference in the trust they will give you.

These are the most important tips that I can give any dropship business owner.  I have been involved in dropshipping businesses since 2003, and have seen it all.  Those who focus on what I have suggested with these 7 tips will succeed, and have an advantage over the competition!

If you are brand new to dropshipping and are wanting to gain access to products to sell online, The Shipper is offering a FREE 7 day trial for full access to our database that will get you connected with thousands of potential suppliers, with millions of products.

dropshipping, online business, product research, selling products online dropshipping, free shipping, search engine rankings, wholesale

A good number of the drop ship (and regular Internet) business owners that I chat with that attend Social Media, and SEO conferences where they are taught to “use Digg” because it will be an “amazing source of traffic” and will do wonders for your back links and traffic etc. are lost.  That puts it mildly.

I remember the first “SEO” conference I ever attended in New York City back in 2005 I heard so much “buzz” about Del.icio.us and Digg, and that everyone needed to be using them, but no one, and I mean no one was giving specifics of how to use them, and use them in a manner where it will benefit your business.  NOTHING MADE SENSE!!  I, like many of the people who read this blog, (and ask me questions about DIgg and Delicious) was lost when figuring out how to make these sites work for me (with an SEO benefit).  I am still amazed in myself that I did not give up on these sites back in 2005 with no guidance.  I am glad I did not, because they are a powerful source of link building and traffic, and can mean the difference between you beating all of your competitors.

I want to share some tips that could help you use Digg (and you can apply the info to Del.icio.us as well) in a way that will benefit your link building campaigns, bring more traffic, and turn your site into an authority site almost overnight.  (no kidding)  It might also turn you into a power DIGGER, which also has some negative side effects, but that is for another post, another day!

Here is what they fail to explain to you in these “conferences”

• To make Digg work for you, you must become a trusted user with many friends that are submitting the same kind of stuff as you.
• It takes some time to build up a trusted account, but not as long as you might think!
• Find and submit stories that are related to your industry.
• Do not spend time submitting stories that are already found on Digg.
• Look for the stories that are not already submitted.
• You can use this tool – Social Media For Firefox to help you find stories that have not been Dugg, but are popular on other major networks such as Del.icio.us, Reddit, and Stumble Upon.
• Find the users who are submitting the stories you like (that have hit the homepage) and make friends with them, and all of their friends.
• Vote for the stuff (that you like) that these new “friends” submit, and they will notice you are taking care of them, and they will return the favor.
• Don’t submit your own stuff, if you become a powerful Digger, there will be plenty of people you can find who would be willing to submit your own stuff.
• After spending time on Digg you will get a better idea of what stuff will make the homepage, and what will not.
• Don’t waste time submitting stuff that you really know will not make the homepage.
• Don’t email your stories to all of your friends all the time, and have the same group of friends submit the same stuff every time.
• It is ok to have friends that are Diggers and have them scratch your back if you are scratching theirs (submitting each others stuff when its worthy). (Don’t even trip on this one, you all know you do it too, I don’t care what you say)
• Everything you write is NOT Digg-worthy.  That is ok, because a site really only needs a homepage digg once or twice to change your momentum, and blow you past your competition!

This should give you a better idea how to use Digg, and benefit from it with links, traffic and more people knowing about your business.  You might end up making some friends in the process.   Any time you can build up friends and getting people to link to you, you will benefit from it.  I wish I would have had someone spell it out for me like this when getting started with Digg.  This will make your Digg experience much nicer then mine was in the begining!

If you are reading this blog for the first time and are interested in selling products online, The Shipper is offering a free 7 day trial that gives you full access to all of the suppliers in our database.  Join Today!

home based business, internet marketing, online business, website design / help internet, wholesale

I was talking with my brother today about people wanting what you have, but not willing to take the steps, and go through what you have gone through to get it.  He compared this to something that I think is powerful, so I wanted to share it with all who read this blog.  We may see what other people have an desire what they have; time with family, more money, traveling, toys, or whatever it may be.  What you need to remember is that you did not watch this person take the steps to get where they are at.  You do not know of the struggles, or hardships they have endured.  You just see what is in the present.

My brother compared this to body building.  Have you ever saw a person with a perfect body, and thought to  yourself; “I want that body!”  I know other people out there have, and they go to the gym for a couple days, and they wake up on the third day with a hurt body, look in the mirror and say, “I do not look any different, and I hurt, so forget it!”  They gave up after only three days, and were not willing to go through the years of training, and pain, and who knows what else to get such a perfect body!

This is so true with home business and making money online.  You may see what someone has, and want it, but are you willing to do everything they have done to make it happen.  Stop looking at the immediate, and what they have, and take a look at the sacrifices they have made, and the money they have spent to be where they are at today.

Growing a successful business does not happen overnight, and you need to remember that building a successful dropshipping business takes time, hard work, and dedication.  Do not give up when you come across your first road block.  Figure out a way to keep going, and make it happen no matter what road block are put in your way.

You can have motivation to make things happen, but if you do not have desire then you might as well give up.  Those who have desire to change their life, work at home, and create a successful business opportunity will change their life.  They are the ones in control, and they will be successful no matter what!  Consider this your encouragement for the week, and go and do!  Stop complaining about the road blocks, get around them and grow into a successful business owner!  I know you can do it!

If you are new to dropshipping, and looking for access to products that you can sell online, or looking for the perfect business holiday gifts The Shipper is offering a free 7 Day Trial for full access to our dropshipping directory.  Join Today!

home based business, make money online, online business, selling products online dropshipping, making money, wholesale

I was talking with a client the other day that told me The Shipper was “the easiest way to find suppliers” that he had ever come across.  Of course, this is good news, but I am not just posting this statement to prove a point, or brag.  I wanted to take this opportunity to explain, again, why The Shipper was created in the first place.

The Shipper was started because there was a problem with (clients) finding products easily when it came to a dropshipping Internet business.  We have dealt with enough Internet business start-ups to know that if they can find products with ease, it makes everything else they have to deal with, when starting an Internet business a little easier.  It also gives them the confidence to know that they can make it work, and see how they can make money if they could just get access to products.  They see how they could start selling them on eBay, or other shopping sites for example, and the dream can start to become a reality.

The point here is that The Shipper can help you find products to sell online with ease.  Starting a business of any kind, is difficult, and I am not taking away from that by any means.  I am just pointing out that The Shipper is making it easy for you when it comes to finding the suppliers, and products you want to sell online.  The Shipper will also be there for you every step of the way.  We offer a full educational learning center with video tutorials and access to webinars.

We are always adding to our supplier database.  If you ever think about a product you want, but a supplier is not on the list, just email us asking for us to find a supplier for that product, and we will do everything in our power to nail down the right supplier for you!  We attend trade shows all around the country including Hawaii, New York and Las Vegas to bring new suppliers to you.

With all that The Shipper does when it comes to finding suppliers to add to our database, this really is the “easiest way to find suppliers”!

If you are looking to start a drop ship business The Shipper can help you find the products you are looking for to sell online.  Join today, and start making money this week!

finding suppliers, online business, product research business start-ups, dropshipping, eBay, find products, internet, making money, wholesale

I have been getting so many great link building questions lately that I wanted to answer another one today.  I love anything there is to do with blogging, so of course this one caught my eye!

“Can you really build links that will help out your search engine optimization campaign?”

One powerful method of link building, brand awareness and traffic building can be found in the comments section of a blog post. I am talking about the comments that you leave on someone else’s blog that is related to the products you are selling on your website.

Most every blog that you come across will allow you to leave a URL that points back to your website in the comments area.  You will also be asked for a name, email address (which is not published) and sometimes there is some form of spam protection like “What is the sum of X and X?”  Most blogs that you come across really appreciate comments left that are useful, but they hate people spamming them with garbage, and links to some other site.  I never let anything stay to long on this blog that I even smell the hint of spam (and no I am not talking about the canned meat).

Every time you leave a comment, you are getting a link that is pointing back to your site which is in essence giving you a “vote” in the eyes of the major search engines.  The comment you leave will not do you an ounce of good if you are not writing some useful content that goes along with the link they are giving you.  This is true for the search engines, and true for the person that is moderating the comment.  If they think the comment is spammy in any form and that you really did not care about the post they did, they will spam it, and it will not show up, and will not do you any good!

I have found that useful comments that bring value to the post give you a valuable link, and can send you some decent traffic from people who may like the comments you are making.

My suggestion is to find blogs related to your products (or service) and find posts that really interest you, and make you want to comment.  When you can find these kind of blogs then the comments you leave are always more useful because you actually have a clue as to what is being said, and you can leave an intelligent comment.

Just use your real name, or even your business name.  I have found that bloggers tend to care less about the link they give you if the comment adds value to their post.  The reason you do not need to worry so much about the “anchor text” that you probably hearing me preach about a lot on this blog is because the link is on a page that is related to yours, and it will pass you some juice and do you some good.  You also will not be known in the blogging community as a spammer, which can be really bad for any of this kind of link building you might attempt.

An example of how this could work out well is if you are leaving a comment on a blog talking about conversion tracking and you link to a company that sells web analytics software.  Even if you just use your name, or the name of your business, you are getting a link inside content that is super targeted, and that is a good thing!

If you are looking to start a dropshipping business The Shipper is offering a free 7 day trial for full access to our membership to sell products online.  Join Today!

internet marketing, online business, website design / help dropshipping, search engine optimization, web analytics, wholesale