Shopster's Dropshippers, eCommerce, and Selling Online Blog

Early failures pave the way for eventual success

For new and inexperienced entrepreneurs, selling online can seem like a daunting line of work. When business does not do as well as they had expected in the first few weeks and months, giving up are an easy option. They will tell themselves, this is not for me.

There are countless success stories of ordinary men and women raking in big bucks through online selling. Almost all of them would have stumbled a few times before they found the right formula for their success. Sure, a desire to succeed is necessary, but so is a commitment to the new business.

It will not be easy, but selling online should not be impossibly hard either. All it takes is a little luck and a lot of hard work. There are bound to be some early failures, but this is true for most businesses that eventually made it big. Some marketing gurus say there is no such thing as luck in business. One popular saying goes thus: “Luck? I make my luck!”

In other words, working hard while working online will bring together all the resources your way that will result in your considering yourself “lucky.”

Make your luck. Do not be afraid to fail. Each failure is a valuable lesson that you can avoid next time. If you learn your lessons from your past failures, you will no longer repeat them in the future. All these sound like the slogans in the inspirational posters you can buy in any bookstore or gift shop. They also happen to be true. 

 

Create Your Own Holiday Sales

Every owner of every online store knows that he or she is in a daily fight for market share and customer loyalty.

They resort to conventional marketing gimmicks such as holiday sales, which may not always work. Not when everyone else is doing the same thing. Thus, Christmas, Valentine’s, Mother’s Day and all similar holidays see practically all online stores having special sales.

But what if you had your own special day/days when you give discounts and freebies to new and old customers?

One of the old, classic comic strips of the past – Li’l Abner – had its Sadie Hawkins Day, when women were allowed to publicly run after men. It seems like a quaint idea now, which is why the comic strip has faded into history, but the idea is not bad. Even a non-holiday like Ground Hog’s Day is celebrated in some rural areas, and was even made into a movie.

What sort of holidays can you create?

Use your imagination. Are you a Trekkie perhaps? Then you can have a Captain Kirk or Spock Day.  You like old movies? How about a Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart or John Wayne Day? You can have it on their actual birthdays, or when they passed away.

This week saw a Christian cult insisting that May 21 is when the world ends. You can have a World Will Not End on (choose your date) Day.

The important thing is for your invented holiday to be done in the spirit of fun, with tongue firmly in cheek.. It also gives you a good reason to have a special sale on your online store, with the goal of bringing in more customers.

 

Create Your Own Holiday Sales

Every owner of every online store knows that he or she is in a daily fight for market share and customer loyalty.

They resort to conventional marketing gimmicks such as holiday sales, which may not always work. Not when everyone else is doing the same thing. Thus, Christmas, Valentine’s, Mother’s Day and all similar holidays see practically all online stores having special sales.

But what if you had your own special day/days when you give discounts and freebies to new and old customers?

One of the old, classic comic strips of the past – Li’l Abner – had its Sadie Hawkins Day, when women were allowed to publicly run after men. It seems like a quaint idea now, which is why the comic strip has faded into history, but the idea is not bad. Even a non-holiday like Ground Hog’s Day is celebrated in some rural areas, and was even made into a movie.

What sort of holidays can you create?

Use your imagination. Are you a Trekkie perhaps? Then you can have a Captain Kirk or Spock Day.  You like old movies? How about a Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart or John Wayne Day? You can have it on their actual birthdays, or when they passed away.

This week saw a Christian cult insisting that May 21 is when the world ends. You can have a World Will Not End on (choose your date) Day.

The important thing is for your invented holiday to be done in the spirit of fun, with tongue firmly in cheek.. It also gives you a good reason to have a special sale on your online store, with the goal of bringing in more customers.

 

Holding an auction to boost sales

Everyone knows eBay. This online company’s formula for success is as simple as it is effective. Post a product on the site and have people bid on that product. The bidding is for a fixed time frame, so any interested party has up to the deadline to decide if he or she really wants that product and at what price.

The owner of the product can also specify how much he wants so if anyone really wants that item, no bidding is necessary. The buyer agrees to pay the asking price. The deal is sealed, payment is made and delivery is arranged.

There have been attempts to imitate the eBay formula to varying degrees of success.

Your online store can copy the formula without having to be a poor man’s version of eBay. You simply select one or two products of the week or month, and open the door to bidders. If, for example, you sell men’s clothes, you can have bids for the extra large leather jackets you have in your inventory for one month, and then move to pastel colored golf shirts the next, then on to silk neckties the following month.

If your online store sells women’s shoes and handbags, you can have bids on single items only such as that last small pair of red pumps. If you have single items up for bids, your turnover could be faster than if you offered several similar items.

In addition, adding an interesting detail can make an ordinary product more attractive. If the basketball shoes you sell are the same kind that President Barack Obama or Tom Hanks uses when he plays, then say so. Such details can be enough to clinch a sale sometimes.

 

Online Marketing Moves that Can Save Your Business

The thing with online marketing strategies is that it changes quickly and regularly depending on factors such as social media trends. In order to keep your business profiting well, you should be up-to-date regarding the online marketing tips that will move you ahead of your competitors. You should have online store or connectivity. If you are looking for new strategies to improve your performance in the middle of 2011, here are some of them:

Take advantage of the Like button on Facebook

If you don’t have the Like button on your website yet, then you are seriously not keeping up with the game. If you think that social media is only for teens who don’t have anything to do, then better change your thinking. The more likes you get, the more visibility you will have to the millions of people logging on Facebook everyday. While you are at it, better use the other applications that Facebook has been cooking up while you were still living under the rock until recently.

Use videos to the hilt

Videos are great marketing tools in which you have total control on how you want to present your products and services. You need not worry about your video getting lost in the multitude. Google search results now include lots of videos and they often show up higher than paid and organic results.

Your website should be tech friendly

Given the number of people using iPhones, iPads, and Android devices, it’s foolish to own a website that does not support these gadgets. Most people access the web through their mobile devices so just imagine the opportunity and exposure wasted if your website can’t be accessed through hand-held devices.

 

 

 

How to Give Your Man a Makeover

Face it. Most men do not have a clue about what is sexy and what is pure in the sexy looks department. In particular, the undies they wear almost always leave something to be desired.

Guys who served in the armed forces seem to be stuck, forever wearing those boxer shorts with drawstrings. Other guys never outgrew the plain white briefs, the kind that they had when they first started wearing underwear.

Then there are those guys who may not be geeks, but who still wear loose boxers with such themes as super heroes, Star Wars or Star Trek, or – gasp! – Cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck.

Besides the inappropriate undies, some men still insist on wearing white socks. This can get particularly bad when he has stripped naked save for the silly socks.

Sometimes it is so bad that the woman would rather they keep their clothes on, even during sex.

There is a plus side to the sad state of men who wear awful undies. Most men also like receiving unexpected gifts, underwear included. In addition, since undies are affordable, we women do not need a special occasion to give the hapless men in our lives the kind of gifts that they will appreciate.

You can even make a special occasion out of the gift. Tell him a few hours before that you just bought him some sexy underwear, but since you do not know if they will fit, you have to be the one to put them on him. Just to try them out, you understand.

One the two of you are alone, then you have to do the honours of pulling down his pants, then his blah undies. Then you put on the new pair of men’s thongs, or whatever it is that you want to see him in. If you bought several pairs, then he has to try them out one by one.

Of course, they fit. All you had to do before ordering them was to get his belt size. Or peek at any of his old briefs or shorts, which will usually state the size.

If you bought him three pairs, then you have to strip him three times. On the last try, tell him to show his appreciation for the terrific gift you just gave him. He should have a neat woodier after all the fittings. Now prepare to be rewarded for your kindness.