Hey There, Dropshippers! Here Are Some Other Countries to Target September 11, 2019 bizadmin One of the advantages of ecommerce, and especially dropshipping, is that anywhere in the world with an internet connection can be a target market. After all, you’re not looking for foot traffic to your physical store. You’re looking for web traffic in your online store. That said, some markets are better than others. This post will look at Oberlo’s own data and hit on some of the best places for you to sell. We’ll look at: The best countries to dropship to The biggest markets for dropshippers A few less obvious markets that outperform their populations Some of the traits that the best performing markets have in common So if you’ve ever wondered about the best countries to dropship to, read on! The Best Countries For Dropshipping No Doubt: The US is the Top Market We’re going to devote a lot of ink to all of the countries where you can dropship other than the United States. But before we do, let’s be clear that the United States is a huge market for Oberlo merchants. We thumbed through some data and identified which countries placed the most orders for Oberlo-sourced products in 2017. Here is what the Top 10 looks like, sans the United States: And now, with the US: Let’s splice that another way: Total orders from the US versus total orders from the rest of the world: Yeah, the United States is definitely the top dog when it comes to generating dropshipping sales. It’s not hard to cook up theories for why that is. It’s the biggest economy in the world, for starters, and has the most mature ecommerce industry around. Amazon is from the US, eBay is from the US, Etsy is from the US, and on and on. Oh, and the US has launched more ecommerce stores with Oberlo than any other country for three straight years. Of course, there are some drawbacks to targeting the US. The market is thoroughly saturated, which both increases competition and drives up advertising costs. So with all due respect to the States, let’s take a closer look at some other countries that you should consider as you build your marketing campaigns and dropshipping strategy. Scandinavia FTW Oberblo’s list of top 20 markets for merchants is thoroughly diverse. Countries span North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The languages spoken include English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch, as well as the 780 languages spoken in India. Despite this diversity, however, you can’t help but notice that Scandinavia – those three sparsely-populated countries sitting atop Europe – is very well represented and could be the best countries to target for dropshipping. When we look at where Oberlo orders were sent, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark all sit in the 11-20 range. This is noteworthy for a few reasons. Here is that 11-20 group by population: Okay, India (1.3 billion) and Mexico (127 million) kind of skew things. Here is that same group, minus India and Mexico: Now we can see just how petite Norway (NO), Sweden (SE), and Denmark (DK) are. Sure, New Zealand (NZ) and Ireland (IE) have even smaller populations, but Scandinavian countries combined have about 21 million people. So why are they such good countries for dropshipping? Let’s speculate. First off, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark have spending power. As anyone who’s ever gone out for a drink in Oslo or Copenhagen knows, these countries are expensive. According to the International Monetary Fund, all three are among the 11 most affluent countries in the world, per capita. But that’s part of the beauty of dropshipping: You can sell to markets with huge spending power without having to pay local prices. You’re not paying Scandinavian manufacturers to produce products, and you’re not paying Scandinavian rent prices to own a store. You’re launching Facebook campaigns and including those countries in your location filters. And chances are that whatever you’re charging for your dropshipping products, it’s not as much as Scandinavians are accustomed to paying for local brands. Another possible factor: People in these countries speak exceptional English. In all three countries, more than 85 percent of the population speaks English. English isn’t the official language of dropshipping. There is no official language. But it’s a good one to have in your back pocket. A Facebook ad or catchy Instagram post in English will have a bigger potential reach than a Facebook ad in, say, French. So remember that Scandinavia is a place where your English headlines and product descriptions will be understood. And not only that, understood by people who, on average, have more money to spend at your store than just about anybody else. Dropshipping in Australia Already No. 3 in the world, dropshipping in Australia still has room to grow. By 2021, online sales across the country are expected to reach $15.44 billion which shows the growing popularity the industry is having. But what are the areas that can make you the most profit when dropshipping in Australia? In 2018 top categories by orders include: Women’s Clothing Home and Garden Beauty and Health Jewelry and Accessories Sports and Entertainment As a fast growing market Australia has the potential to push your ecommerce store to huge success without having to alter your marketing material from English. Possibilities are endless with this top market when dropshipping as many of the popular payment gateways operate in this country, such as PayPal, PaymentExpress, and Shopify Payments, so online payments will not be a problem for you. Online Businesses in France With a population of 66.9 million people and an expected GDP per capita of 42,400 USD by 2022, France has a growing ecommerce landscape that makes for an enticing dropshipping market. France came in among the top 5 dropshipping countries by orders in 2017 and 2018, making it a winning market for our merchants to sell in. Does this information interest you? It should. The French care about beauty and health, but also like to indulge in jewelry sales. But don’t under-estimate the French market as they have healthy spending in clothing, home decor, and entertainment, according to our historic data. ePacket Delivery Here are the top 20 markets that accounted for the most Oberlo orders in 2017: United States Great Britain Australia Canada France Germany Brazil Italy Netherlands Spain New Zealand Norway Mexico Sweden Switzerland Belgium Ireland Denmark Israel India A diverse group, to be sure. Although one thing is consistent across the board: With the exception of India, each country supports ePacket delivery. ePacket, for those not familiar, is a cheaper, faster delivery method for products coming out of China. Given the high volume of dropshipping products that are sourced from China, ePacket lets store owners offer better delivery options to markets around the world. There is a chicken-or-egg element to this: Are buyers in these countries placing so many orders because of the ePacket delivery system? Or is ePacket available in these markets because they are huge ecommerce players? It’s hard to say, but the fact remains: The top tier 20 markets for Oberlo merchants are almost exclusively countries that have ePacket. If you want to take advantage of ePacket, it’s one of the filters you can use when you search for products to import into your store inside Oberlo: Here’s the full lowdown on ePacket: Facebook Penetration Facebook is a great way to reach your target audiences. The only catch: Your target audiences need to be on Facebook. So Facebook penetration is something to keep in mind if you use Facebook for marketing. Let’s look at a list of countries with the highest Facebook penetration, starting with Taiwan and its 66 percent Facebook penetration to see if there are top dropshipping countries among the list. The bold countries also appear in the Top 25 of total orders from Oberlo merchants. Taiwan Chile Argentina Australia United Kingdom United States Canada Malaysia Turkey France Brazil Mexico Peru Spain Colombia Italy Thailand Philippines Venezuela Germany Poland There are a few things for dropshippers to note. * Malaysia, the eighth-ranked country in terms of Facebook penetration, has been 28th, 24th, and 29th in total orders of Oberlo-sourced products from 2016 to 2018. And this isn’t fueled by Malaysia having a huge population (it’s 45th worldwide) or tons of disposable income (it’s between 40 and 50, depending on the source, in per capita income). But still, Malaysia has consistently accounted for a healthy chunk of Oberlo orders. * The Philippines, meanwhile, has for three straight years been in the top 30 in Oberlo-sourced purchases, despite ranking lower than 100 in spending power. We don’t want to make too many assumptions, but we do know that Malaysia and the Philippines have a high rate of Facebook usage, and that there are lots of English speakers in each country: In Malaysia, the majority of residents speak English, and in the Philippines, English is one of two official languages. If you’re in North America or Europe, Malaysia and the Philippines might seem like the edge of the world. But they’re actually a lot closer to China – the potential birthplace of the products that you’re selling – than more “traditional” markets. These are both countries to keep in mind if you have an English store or set up English ads. Considerations Before Dropshipping in Any Country Starting a dropshipping business in any country is not an easy feat, but knowing the steps you need to take and devising a good plan of action can help you overcome some of the hurdles along the way to make the journey less bumpy. The following 4 considerations are important before you start your dropshipping business in any country, regardless of country size and market saturation. Decide Your Niche Every ecommerce business solves a problem for a customer. The first step in a dropshipping journey is to find a product that serves a purpose for your target audience. Write down a few things that would solve some of your problems and start to research the ability for you to turn this into a dropshipping business. Consider your interests and those of your friends and family. Is there a niche here that you can excel in because of your knowledge? The sky is the limit with dropshipping as almost any product can be found on Oberlo. Select Dropship Suppliers Suppliers are hugely important to the success of your business. Finding a supplier that can provide a product that is high quality and delivered to your target country can help create a trusted brand around your business. But finding a supplier that is untrustworthy can ruin the reputation you have sought to build. This is why it is important to build a close relationship with your suppliers and to order samples from them to experience the service first-hand. If you are not happy with the service your potential suppliers give to you, then you shouldn’t choose to do business with them. Every business has different expectations. It is important for you to understand your business expectations and provide high-quality service to your customers always. Product Pricing Dropshipping products may seem cheap, therefore charging a lower price than competitors could be a pricing strategy that you think is viable. If you plan on investing in advertising, designers, and website developers though this may not be a good option as you will not earn enough profit to grow your business beyond the start-up stage. Instead consider the investment you will make for your business and factor that into your forecasted sales. Now you can make a decision on pricing that is more in line with your business goals and profitability. Competitor Analysis Once you choose your products, suppliers, and pricing the final step on your ecommerce setup journey should be a competitor analysis to fully understand the competitive landscape in your market. If you are planning a dropshipping business in certain countries you can factor local competitors in at this stage to really understand the extent of your future marketing efforts. This competitor analysis will also help you understand if your goals and forecasted sales are over-ambitious while trying to build your brand. Best Countries to Dropship to One of the biggest advantages of dropshipping is that you can get your products anywhere. Top dropshipping countries like the United States, United Kingdom, and other “usual suspects” will continue to account for the biggest chunk of Oberlo merchants’ orders. That said, our data shows that the best countries to target for dropshipping and viable dropshipping markets are scattered from Scandinavia to the Asia-Pacific. And you don’t need to do anything to reach them that you wouldn’t be doing already. While different countries have their own quirks when it comes to shipping, chances are that your suppliers will be able to deliver products to customers no matter where they are. Some food for thought the next time you ask yourself which markets to target! David Vranicar David Vranicar is a Content Marketer for Oberlo. He wants to give store owners the tools they need to go from first sale to scale. Follow David on Twitter at @davidvranicar.
The Business of DIY: 10 Things to Make and Sell Online September 10, 2019 bizadmin Salted fish and tobacco are traded for fur and feed grains. A block of raw wood is whittled into a toy horse and sold in a stall at a local artisan market. Watermelon seeds, sowed and tended, become full-fledged fruit before exchanging hands at a roadside stall. Making things from scratch, cultivating them by hand, and carving out a living by selling and trading them—these are the inceptive transactions of commerce. Commerce has evolved in the past few hundred years, with the biggest changes coinciding with rail transport, the manufacturing boom, and the Internet. As far as we’ve come, the roots of commerce remain firmly planted. Today, thousands of Shopify merchants produce made-by-hand goods, selling them at craft shows, pop-up shops, and through their online stores worldwide. Ecommerce gives makers more reach, and apps help keep their businesses running more efficiently, letting them focus on what they do best: their craft. Over the years, we’ve shared deep dives into DIY businesses, producing case studies and guides to help you turn your handmade passion into a living. But maybe you’re not quite sure what to make and sell. Maybe you’re looking for a new hobby to busy your idle hands (and earn additional money on the side). Or maybe you’re not crafty at all. We’ve compiled a list of things to make and sell, something to appeal to everyone from beginners to the advanced craftsperson, from skilled trades to relatively hands-off ventures. Each idea will include a link to a comprehensive guide, as well as a Shopify store to inspire your own. Shopify Academy Course: Sell Your Homemade Goods Online Have a product you’re ready to sell? The Kular family shares their experience building a business around mom’s recipe book. From selling one-on-one to reaching the aisles of Whole Foods. 10 things to make and sell for cash Bath bombs and soaps T-shirts and printed merchandise Jewelry Curated gift and subscription boxes Candles Sweets Art and prints Digital products Enamel pins Traditional handcrafted goods 1. Bath bombs and soaps Honeybunch Handmade on Shopify A simple Google search returns pages of tutorials to teach you to make your own soaps, bath bombs, and other beauty products at home. They range from simple recipes for bath salts to more complicated formulations requiring emulsions and preservatives. This business idea has low creativity requirements—soaps and bath bombs can be made using commercial molds—but packaging and branding are important in beauty, so consider hiring design help. Get inspired: Honeybunch Handmade on Shopify (Case Study) Get started: How to Make Bath Bombs 💡 Tips: Keep your inventory tight—fresher bath bombs have more fizz, and natural ingredients (like essential oils) in soap can expire. Investigate your raw ingredient sources to ensure they’re beauty-grade and safe for skin. Shopify merchant Salem Essentials recommends understanding the basics of chemistry. Check with your local government to ensure that your production facility (even if it’s your own kitchen) meets health standards. In the US, for example, the FDA sets guidelines for ventilation, air control, and surfaces. 2. T-shirts and printed merchandise This is a maker business for the non-maker. Your original idea can be designed (this is where the “made” comes in) and printed onto various goods like t-shirts, mugs, tote bags, and dog bandanas, and shipped directly to your customers. It’s a hands-off business that has a very low barrier to entry. Get inspired: Sugoi Shirts on Shopify (Podcast) Get started: How To Start An Online T-Shirt Business 💡 Tips: T-shirts and printed merch can supplement an existing business. Gyms, musicians, and charities, for example, can sell branded swag to current audiences, and help to build the brand. Not a designer? Use sites like Creative Market or Upwork to find talent to help you turn your ideas into designs for your t-shirt business. Use a print and fulfillment app like Printful or Teelaunch. They integrate with your Shopify store, and automatically print, fulfill, and ship each order. 3. Jewelry Birds N Bones Jewelry on Shopify Jewelry is another business idea that can range from simple and low-tech (say, beaded necklaces and woven bracelets) to skilled trades with special equipment (say, silversmithing). It’s a saturated market, so doing your homework up front is important—how can your designs stand out? Is there a niche market to sell to? Get inspired: Biko on Shopify (Case Study) Get started: How to Start a Jewelry Making Business 💡 Tips: Fashion is fickle. Validate your idea by tracking trends in jewelry—use Google Trends, and follow popular fashion blogs and influencers. Consider adding apps like Jewelfie to help your customers with fit. Photography is extremely important, but also difficult because of the scale and reflective qualities of jewelry. Invest in great photos by hiring a pro. You can save money by partnering with complementary apparel brands to share the cost of lifestyle shoots. 4. Curated gift and subscription boxes Present Day on Shopify, photo by Matt Wiebe A gift or subscription box business is a great idea for those who are less crafty but have an eye for curation. Contrary to print-on-demand t-shirts, curated box businesses can be very hands-on. Assembly can be a tedious task, but the business has its advantages: subscription boxes are usually packed all at once at the same time each month, and in the same size box, making the shipping process simple. Get inspired: Present Day on Shopify (Case Study) Get started: How to Launch a Subscription Box Business 💡 Tips: Calculate your storage and assembly needs. Can your home accommodate your business, or do you need to rent additional space? Ease your customers into commitment. Offer a substantial discount to those who pay upfront for subscriptions, or offer the first month free. Use an app like Recurring Orders and Subscriptions to manage subscriptions. 5. Candles MADE on Shopify The candle business in the US is a $2.3 billion dollar industry, and within that there are several niches to explore: religious, birthday, eco and natural, scented, beeswax, novelty, and more. Like with soap, there’s no shortage of DIY tutorials for novice candle makers, and basic melt and pour methods require little to no previous craft skills. Get inspired: Wax & Wick on Shopify (Podcast) Get started: How to Make Candles 💡 Tips: Get insured and use safety labelling. Due to the nature of candle use, and the increased risks of injury or fire damage, be sure to protect your business from civil suits that may result from the use of your product. Tap into a niche to stand out in a crowded market. Frostbeard Studio appeals to book lovers with cleverly named candle-scents and copy filled with literary references. Pay attention to branding and packaging. Candles don’t differ much from an ingredient perspective, but your product can stand apart with beautiful packaging and strong branding. 6. Sweets Candy, cookies, baked goods, chocolates, and jams. Sugar can be spun and dissolved and baked into endless things to make and sell. This is a category with unique complications—legalities, labelling, and shelf-life—but also with lots of room to get creative. Niche markets include: holidays and occasions, custom, novelty, catering, and gift baskets. Be sure to investigate the viability of selling your product online. Are fragility and refrigeration barriers to shipping? Get inspired: Sweet Mission Cookies on Shopify (Podcast) Get started: How to Start an Online Food Business 💡 Tips: Trace the supply chain, says food lawyer Glenford Jameson. Carefully select your raw ingredient suppliers to ensure that what’s on your label is what’s inside. Consult with a lawyer or food inspection agency to be sure that your labelling meets local requirements for nutritional content, ingredients, and allergy warnings. Rotate your inventory, says craft brewer Casandra Campbell, and stress the importance of doing so to everyone who handles it. 7. Art and prints Art by Helice Wen on Shopify, photo via Spoke Art Forget the story of the starving artist. It’s never been a better time to create the art you want to create, and sell it (without selling out). Whether you’re dealing in fine art, or reproduction prints, you can access far-reaching audiences and sell worldwide. Get inspired: Lulie Wallace on Shopify Get started: How to Sell Art Online 💡 Tips: Work with an established gallery like Shopify-powered Spoke Art to show your work in person and help build an audience for your online store. Have your work professionally photographed, or as a low-cost option, scan it on a flatbed scanner in pieces and stitch the image together in Photoshop. Consider reproducing your art in multiple formats from prints and cards to t-shirts and mugs. Do it yourself through a print and fulfillment company, or license your work to other ecommerce brands. 8. Digital products Retro Supply on Shopify The digitization of goods shows no signs of stopping. Making and selling digital products like font licenses, wedding invitation templates, webinars, or Photoshop actions requires a little up-front work, but is relatively hands-off once you get started. The overhead costs are very low, and some typical pain points that come with physical goods (inventory, shipping) are non-existent. Get inspired: Retro Supply on Shopify (Podcast) Get started: How to Sell Digital Products with Shopify 💡 Tips: Choose a delivery method. Apps like Digital Downloads and Sky Pilot integrate with your Shopify store to automatically deliver digital goods, or provide a download link to each customer. If you’re hosting files on Shopify, make sure files are each 5GB or less. For larger files, try compressing them into .zip archives. 9. Enamel pins Punky Pins on Shopify Enamel Pins remain incredibly popular and are still on a strong upward trend. You’ll usually work with a manufacturer to make enamel pins, but the design component can be as involved as you make it. Design your own, or work with a designer to illustrate your vision. Get inspired: Sleepy Mountain on Shopify Get started: How to Make and Sell Enamel Pins 💡 Tips: If you choose to design your own pins, use Photoshop, Illustrator, or free alternatives like Pixlr and GIMP. Stick to solid colors (no gradients) and avoid fine details. Whether you manufacture overseas or locally, be sure to ask the right questions of your manufacturer: What are your clasp and material options? Can you send me physical samples? What packaging options do you offer? 10. Traditional handcrafted goods Old World Kitchen on Shopify Leather tooling, wood carving, embroidery, and pottery are all traditional mediums with thriving markets. The backlash against mass-production is driving trends back to slow food, one-of-a-kind and bespoke goods, and artist craftsmanship. Many of these disciplines require skills honed over time, but you can access your inner maker and learn these skills via online tutorials, local workshops, and trial and error. Get inspired: Old World Kitchen on Shopify (Case Studies) Get started: Four Handmade Goods Store Owners that Turned Their Passion Into Profit 💡 Tips: Much of the appeal of crafted goods is the story behind the maker. Weave your own story into product pages, a compelling About Page, and even packaging. How will you scale? If your idea takes off, consider how you will maintain the handmade nature of your goods while producing in large quantities: can you hire contract makers? Can certain components of the process be outsourced to a manufacturer, then finished by hand? Artifact on Shopify The ideas don’t stop here—you can make and sell everything from dog biscuits and coffee tables to handbags and terrariums. Browse our case studies for more maker inspiration. Do you make and sell things on Shopify? Share your story in the comments below! Ready to sell your handmade goods? Start your free 14-day trial of Shopify—no credit card required. Email About the author Dayna Winter Dayna Winter is a Storyteller at Shopify, curious about the humans behind the brands and the moments that motivate them to create. She follows more dogs than humans on Instagram and isn’t a real redhead.
Turn Your Cares into Prayers September 8, 2019 bizadmin Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; Philippians 4:6 TURN YOUR CARES INTO PRAYERS My friend, God doesn’t want you to be fearful, fretful or anxious. Instead, He wants you to “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” So when you have a care or worry, straightaway, turn that care or worry into prayer. That is supplication. And when you are troubled by a care or worry that you don’t know how to pray for, pray in the Spirit or tongues. And in the midst of that prayer, thank God that He is already your healing, provision, good success and victory. That, my friend, is thanksgiving. “Pastor Prince, if I am worried about something, how long should I pray?” Keep on praying. Pray in the Spirit until the worry lifts or dissipates, “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). This was what one of our church members did when he found himself anxiously trying to access some important data in his USB flash drive. After a whole day at it with no results, he finally stopped himself from being anxious and instead, turned his worry into prayer, asking the Lord to settle it for him. As he prayed in tongues, he was also thankfully repeating in his heart that having the Holy Spirit—the Helper—with him was to his advantage (see John 16:7). Later that evening, using his wife’s computer, he succeeded in accessing the data in his flash drive after a few attempts. He quickly backed up the data. It was only when subsequent attempts to use the flash drive on his wife’s computer failed did it suddenly dawn on him that God had “resurrected” his flash drive that one time, just for him to recover his data! Beloved, I believe that we would all worry a lot less and enjoy our lives a lot more if only we realized this truth: Our Abba Father is so strong that there is nothing He cannot do, and He is so loving that there is nothing He will not do for us! -Joseph Prince
Turkey Tour Package September 7, 2019 bizadmin Are you hankering to travel to an exotic place? Then check out Turkey tour package for 4 days, which I think is the ideal number of days to visit interesting places, absorb the culture and taste the kosher or ‘halal’ food. You can click on the link above to find out more information. For Muslims, this will be an ideal country to visit since the majority of people and the government are Muslims. People of other faiths and religion can visit as well. There are camel rides, something that you won’t experience in other common places. They also have their Malay architecture to snap photos for posterity. The buildings will be unique and their handicrafts are intrinsic to the culture. I love traveling, and will one day, consider Turkey as my next destination.
10 Things To Do Before Spending Money On Your Business September 7, 2019 bizadmin 1. Research Your Competitors Your most significant insights as a new entrepreneur can sometimes come from researching your competitors. No, really. When I launched my online yoga store, I saw my competitors’ ad and had my aha moment. I knew I just found a goldmine. Tons of people tagging each other in the comments. Likes like you wouldn’t believe. Had I found the product on my own, it might still have been successful. But I wouldn’t have had the confidence to push it harder. However, seeing a competitor achieve so much success with the same product changed the game for me. I knew that this product had all the hallmarks of a winning idea. It was an impulse buy, the image matched my target audience, and the proof was in the engagement. Seeing the success of this product from a competitor, gave me the confidence to promote it more aggressively. I knew that I too could come out on top-selling this. And that self-confidence was enough to help me launch and improve hard and fast. My competitor had already done the hard work of finding and testing the product. All I had to do was learn from it. As a new store owner, you should spend time consciously scrolling through your Facebook and Instagram feeds just to see ads: How are they written? How much engagement do they have? What are they selling? How many people are tagged in posts? You can learn so much from your competitors. Copy the competition. 2. Build an Audience For a couple of my successful stores, I built an audience before building the store. I had purchased the .com domain of my Instagram handle just in case. However, I focused on building up an engaged audience first. During this time, my strategy was to build a fan page instead of a branded account. The reasoning was that people would be more likely to follow a fan page rather than a feed of products. And I knew that I’d be better able to attract my exact audience. My most significant wins came from reposting popular video content. I’d look at the top-ranking posts under certain hashtags and repost it to my account, always crediting the creator. That way I was always sharing viral content. The fan page was made up of curated content rather than original content. One of my fan pages was about dogs, and since I didn’t have a dog of my own, content curation was the best strategy. After a few months of doing this, I was able to skyrocket my Instagram followers into the thousands. So, when I finally did launch my store, I had an audience that I can promote products to. Even if you’re currently working on a store, you should always have a few social media accounts that you’re growing in different niches in case you need to eventually pivot from your niche. Build audiences first, and you’ll be ready to generate sales out of the gate when you launch. 3. Save Money First Running a business costs money. Subscriptions aside, you’ll need to have the cashflow to buy products when you get sales. Plus, it costs money to invest in ads. You’ll want to have saved up a few thousand dollars that you can invest in your business without going into debt. This can be done by taking up active income streams so you can save money at a higher rate. Or you can set aside some money from your 9 to 5 job that you can reinvest into your business. You should save up at least a couple thousand dollars to last you the first few months when you start experimenting with ads. Ultimately, the goal of building an online store is to make money online. And having money set aside to experiment and grow your business can help minimize the risk of loss. You don’t want to go into debt from making the wrong financial mistakes early on. The early stages will require experimentation and failure. And while that does have a price tag, there is a smart way to do that. 4. Start Marketing on a Platform You’re Familiar With One of the smart ways to experiment is to stick with the platforms you’ve used before. For example, if you use Instagram every day, you probably want to focus on marketing your business on Instagram first. Most people just dive into Facebook Ads because “that’s what everyone else is doing.” But you can’t realistically expect your ads to succeed if you’ve never created an ad before. However, if you always spend an hour on Instagram every day, you’re regularly exposed to different types of posts. You see which kinds of posts get a ton of comments, which of your posts get a lot of likes, and which ads always pop up on your feed. And while you might not consciously notice that you’re doing it, your brain has taken in so much information about what performs well on Instagram. And so, when you start building your Instagram account, you create something more likely to succeed. As you grow, of course, you’ll need to know how to use Facebook Ads and use platforms that you have less experience in. But when you start, there’s almost too much to learn. And by sticking with what you know, you can get proof of concept that you’re targeting the right niche. If you’re an Instagram rockstar, that’s precisely where you should start marketing first. The focus of having only one marketing channel, in the beginning, will allow you to scale the growth of that channel. You’ll still want to create accounts for other channels for when you eventually start expanding. But for solopreneurs often don’t have the time to be running an online store and seven social media accounts. Keep things simple in the beginning to set you up for long-term success rather than short-term burnout. 5. Hustle (It’s Free) Sometimes when stores don’t make money online, the failure comes due to a lack of effort. Most people turn on a Facebook ad and expect that ad to do all the heavy-lifting for them. And when it doesn’t, they get frustrated. They complain that dropshipping doesn’t work or that other people’s successes aren’t real. But before you even create an ad, you need to hustle… a lot. For my yoga store, I created several yoga quote articles tagging influencers on social media to get them to share the posts. And I created a lot more than one blog post. I even created custom graphics. I put in the effort to make sure it would rank well long-term. And long-term they still do bring traffic to this day. My first ad was a retargeting ad. The most affordable type of ad you can use on Facebook with one of the highest ROIs. You’re going to need to make sure you have the Facebook Pixel installed on your store. Otherwise, the retargeting ad won’t work. The traffic was super relevant. And having the ad monetize the blog this way allowed us to get our first few sales. And this helped us bring in our first couple of customers. That way, when we would go on to eventually create an ad, we could simply use a lookalike audience to help us find more customers like that. Thus, making ads more effective long-term. If you do decide to spend money, start with a retargeting ad. You’ll need that extra ounce of hustle to get traffic to your website in the first place, but the cost of acquisition will be a lot lower. 6. Become a Content Creator When building a letter board store, I quickly realized that one of the quickest ways to achieve success is to be a content creator. Content comes in many forms. They can be videos, pictures, graphics, blog posts, infographics, audio, online courses, and more. The most successful online stores tend to create their content which helps elevate their brand. I know I gave a huge shout-out to content curation earlier in this article, but if you can create content, you should. Having unique content that you can share on social media will open up new doors for you. For example, you’ll get media reaching out to you to share your content on their website. Other brands might repost your content on their page and credit you. People start to follow you because you post the exact type of content they’re looking for. You might not feel comfortable creating all types of content. And that’s okay. Create the type of content you feel most comfortable creating. But when it comes down to creating content, you want to make sure you follow a consistent schedule that helps followers count on your posts. Ultimately, the more content you create, the more likely you’ll be found by the right audience. Success in content marketing comes from compounded content creation over time. 7. Find Alternative Free Tools For every paid tool, there’s likely a free version of that same tool. With a little help from Google, you can gain access to those tools to save some extra money. Here are a few examples of tools with free plans: Graphic Design: Canva Background Remover: Remove.bg Stock Photos: Burst Logo Design: Shopify or Oberlo Logo Maker Social Media Automation: Buffer Spreadsheets: Google Sheets Word Processor: Google Docs Presentations: Google Slides Communication: Slack Website review: Hubspot Website Grader Email: Gmail Video Conferencing: Google Hangouts Productivity: Evernote Competitor Research: Ubersuggest With all of these tools, you can be on the free plan. While it may sometimes be a bit more tedious than if you were using the premium version, these free versions are great cost-effective alternatives you can use in the beginning. Instead of investing in paid tools off the bat, you can save money on tools. That money saved should be used to reinvest in your business. 8.Validate your Product Idea Before spending money on your business, you’ll want to validate your products. You can do this several ways. You can promote your products on social media, in groups and forums, or by buying a physical sample and trying to sell it in person. You can also validate your product by using Google Trends to determine the popularity of the keyword. Is it trending upward or downward? Is this the best time of year to be selling this product? You can also use tools like Keywords Everywhere to look at the estimated search volume of a keyword. For example, “diamond painting kits” has 33,100 monthly searches and could be a viable product. But “bead kits” only has 2,400 monthly searches so it might be a bit harder to sell. 9. Promote on Free Channels When you only have access to a limited budget, you should focus your promotion efforts on free marketing channels. For most people, this will either be SEO or social media. The upside is that the effort you put in will pay dividends down the road. And it’ll keep your acquisition costs lower allowing you to run a profitable business. The downside to these channels is that they don’t make sales overnight. You’ll need to invest in building out your channels knowing that in the early stages, the sales just won’t come to you. It’s a long-term play but a profitable one. You can create SEO friendly blog posts to drive relevant traffic to your website while building an email list of relevant people. This email list can be used to remarket to customers overtime. You can also build social media accounts on any relevant social platform. If you’re in the wedding niche, you might choose Pinterest. If you’re in the women’s fashion niche, you might select Instagram. If your target audience is over 50, you might select Facebook. Ultimately, you want to choose the platforms that make sense for your business. By picking one channel, you can post a few times a day to ramp up your account to build an audience faster. 10. Reach Out To Your Theme Developer When working on online stores for the first time, most people turn to Shopify Apps to add features or elements to their website. However, the first person you should always contact your theme developer. On multiple occasions, I was able to get the developer to add features using existing theme elements. For example, maybe you want to add your footer email opt-in form to the middle of your blog post. Some theme developers may do this for you for free. If you notice a dropdown isn’t working well, you can reach out to the theme developer to fix it for you. Before you spend money on Shopify apps, try asking your theme developer if they’re able to make a change or two. Ultimately, the change has to be made with existing elements on your store. You can’t ask them to create a countdown timer or build a new feature. But there are reasonable requests that they’ll do for you for free. Build For The Long-Term Investing money into your business is essential long-term. However, by being more conservative in the early stages, you’ll build the right skills while growing organically. Building for the long-term can be a bit boring. But it’s better to build slowly than not to build at all. While there will be costs involved in the early stages, you can keep costs low. Running a dropshipping business doesn’t need to be expensive. If you put in the right work to build a proper foundation, you can generate sales with a lower acquisition cost. If you don’t have a lot of money to spend, build slowly because you’ll still grow. Want to Learn More? 10 Best Products to Sell Online 20 Passive Income Ideas That’ll Make You Money While You Sleep 30+ Small Business Ideas That’ll Make You Money in 2019 10 Best Side Hustle Ideas to Make An Extra $1,000 A Month Nicole Martins Ferreira Nicole Martins Ferreira is a content marketer at Oberlo and experienced eCommerce entrepreneur. She’s been building online stores since 2013 and sharing her secrets with Oberlo users since 2016. Follow her on Twitter @nicolemarfer.
God’s Grace is Unmerited September 6, 2019 bizadmin You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. Galatians 5:4 GOD’S GRACE IS UNMERITED What is the grace of God? Simply put, the grace of God is God blessing, healing, and delivering you because of Jesus. The grace of God is His unearned, unmerited, and undeserved favor toward you simply because of Jesus’ finished work at the cross. Because God’s grace is based on Jesus’ work and not yours, the only way you fall from this grace is by believing that you can earn, merit and deserve it through your obedience and good works. For example, you fall from grace when you say, “God has to answer my prayer because I have prayed long enough.” You also fall from grace when you think that because you are serving in church or you have kicked a bad habit, God is pleased with you and He has to bless you. When you think that it is by your efforts and obedience that you receive God’s blessings, you become like the Pharisees. They believed that their law-keeping justified them and ensured that God would bless them. But the truth is that when you believe like them, “you have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” This means that you are cut off from Christ, who is your salvation, Redeemer, healer, and provider. Christ has become of no effect to you! My friend, surely you would want Christ to be of effect to you. People to whom Christ is of effect receive from Him the miracle they need. When He is of effect to them, He is their healer, and they get healed. He is their wisdom, and they are wise before, man. He is their success, and they experience good success in all that they do. Beloved, for Christ to always be of effect to you and to never nullify the grace of God operating in your life, just remember and believe that it is because of Christ and His finished work—His blood, His stripes, His death, His obedience—that you are justified, healed and blessed! -Joseph Prince
Cappadocia and Pamukkale Tour September 5, 2019 bizadmin Turkey is a beautiful country with a unique culture and food. I am a travelholic and bitten by the travel bug. If the opportunity arises with sufficient cash, I will take the liberty to tour any country that I have not visited before like Turkey. For those of you who are like me, then check out Cappadocia and Pamukkale tour in Turkey, where you can click on the link to find out more information. This 3-day tour includes the following: Pick up and drop off to your hotel Domestic flight & bus tickets as per the itinerary 1-night in Cappadocia hotel Meals mentioned in the itinerary Entrance fees mentioned in the itinerary Car park, Gasoline, Highway & Bridge Fees Local taxes and service charges All transportations in the tour Fresh Up room in Pamukkale on arrival I like short and sweet trips over the weekend. They are not too long with the stress of waking up early to visit as many places as possible like some 21-day tour or so, covering many countries in one go. Besides, these tours are pretty much more expensive for my limited budget. If possible, I would like it free and easy or a simple guided tour with not too many tourists on the bus. Hence this tour would be ideal for someone living in the hustle and bustle of the city to go for a short rejuvenation tour over the weekend.
40 Ways to Stay Creative September 4, 2019 bizadmin The above Pinterest infographic certainly speaks for itself. I like number 38, which is Turn Off Distractions, be it invitation to a party, meeting with people or acquaintances or watching television. Stay in a quiet room, lock yourself in, and do your work quietly without any distractions from relatives or loves ones. This is the mode when you become self-absorbed and selfish in sharing your precious time with people who don’t matter. Also, stop comparing yourself to others. Yes, there will be people who are better off than you and others who are less off than you. So, compare with yourself and do your human best. Also, be curious, and for this, curiosity does not kill the cat! Always be on the learning mode, and the internet is your encyclopedia to learn from, thanks to Uncle Google. All work and no play makes Jack or Jill or dull boy or girl. So meditate and listen to music. It is good for the soul and to recuperate while relaxing your mind and body. Be around creative people and collaborate with others who can lift you up and not put you down.