Transcription
HI THERE!Just like anything else, there are lots of ways to sell with eCommerce and dropshipping. But I want togive you a brief overview of the system that I use when creating new dropship stores. I’ve been doingthis for almost a decade now and these steps continue to work for myself and our members.Think of these seven steps as a checklist for every time you build a new dropshipping store. If youfollow the steps and do the work, you’ll find success.These are the seven steps that I use to make my stores profitable. It’s what I teach in my course andit’s what has worked for a decade!If you eventually decide to join my online coaching program and community, Drop Ship Lifestyle,there are tons of videos on each of these topics. In the program, I give you the exact steps for buildinga successful eCommerce business.With that being said, I still want to break this down so you get a good understanding of whatdropshipping is, how dropshipping works, and what you should do when you’re ready to start.JOIN DROP SHIP LIFESTYLE FOR LIFE!Ready to Start Your Own Lifestyle Business? Check Out Your Special Offer Today!LEARN MORE!2
SO WHAT IS DROPSHIPPING ANYWAYS?DROPSHIPPING WORKS LIKE THIS:Dropshipping is a strategy used when selling online that allows you to sell physical products withoutactually ever seeing or touching them.Unlike other business models, in dropshipping you don’t pay for inventory. You only pay your suppliers for orders that you’ve already sold to the customer.The only upfront costs typically associated with dropshipping are in running paid traffic and themonthly Shopify store fees. And lucky for you, this guide shows you how to save money on both ofthose costs.“The thing is, dropshipping is so much easier and cheaper when youdo it the right way.A N T O N K R A LYYou may find companies that offer to manage the creation of your dropshipping store for an upfrontfee. These kind of businesses are middlemen and you should avoid them at all cost. That’s becauseusing middlemen is the wrong way to dropship.If you go with one of these business you will lose a lot of money up front and your store will not besuccessful. It’s a losing proposition.The other way to do it, the way that is profitable for the long-term, is to build your own store andwork with real suppliers. This may be counter-intuitive but using the method that costs you almostno money up front is actually your best option.In this guide, we’re going to cover the seven steps to correctly build yourown dropshipping business. You’re about to find out how easy it is to getstarted using the exact same method I teach in my Drop Ship Blueprint.Ready to Start Your Own Lifestyle Business? Check Out Your Special Offer Today!LEARN MORE!3
ABOUT THIS GUIDE1. S E L E C T A N IC H E2. RE S E A RC H T HE M A R K E T3. C R E AT E YO UR S TOR E4. GE T APPROVE D B Y S U P P L I E R S5. O PT IMIZ E F O R C ON V E R S I ON S6. T URN O N PA ID T R A F F I C7. O UT S O URC E A ND AU TOM AT E YOU R TA S K S
1. CHOOSEYOUR NICHE
TONS OF NICHES ARE PROFITABLE, BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD RUSHINTO THEM.Niche selection can make or break your dropshipping business. This is one part of the processyou do not want to rush. Breaking it down, there are two types of niches: the non-profitable(bad) niches and the profitable (good) niches:Ready to Start Your Own Lifestyle Business? Check Out Your Special Offer Today!LEARN MORE!6
To get started with selecting a niche, brainstorm a list of at least 50 good niches that fit thecriteria above. Save that list because you’ll need it in the next step.To brainstorm new ideas, I often think of things that I’ve recently bought online. As well asasking family and friends what they’ve recently purchased. Also, think about what you’vebought in the past.Here are some more action tasks that will help you brainstorm a long list of profitable niches. What are the last five items you bought online? What do people like to do on vacation? What are the hobbies of your family and friends? What’s the most expensive item in the room you’re in right now? Think about all your family and friends and what they have in their houses.Write everything down, even if it seems questionable at the time. I then take this list andbegin running them through my “tests”. Tons of niches are profitable, but that doesn’t meanyou should rush into themOnce you have your first list of niches, view them through these five lenses:1. COMPETITION - Scout out other dropshipping stores and see what products are oversaturated. You don’t want to sell those.2. LOYALTY - Don’t go for a niche or product that is dominated by a national brand(s).3. PRICING - It’s easy: the higher the price of the products, the greater your profit marginwill be!4. WEIGHT - Shipping is expensive but a winning combo is a high-priced product that haslow shipping weights.5. RETURNS - Don’t pick a product with sizing and style preferences, they will have anastronomical return rate.Ready to Start Your Own Lifestyle Business? Check Out Your Special Offer Today!LEARN MORE!7
2. RESEARCHTHE MARKET
The next thing you want to do is research the market and find your future competitors.So yes, you will have dropshipping competitors because there’s no niche out there that haszero competition. If you find one, it’s probably because it’s a bad niche and people don’t buythose products.Putting your niches through a series of checks will help you determine which will be mostprofitable.When it comes down to choosing your niche, there are 5 huge factors to consider:1. Average Product Price2. Buyer Demographics3. Brand Loyalty4. Dropship Friendly5. Quantity of SupplierOne of our favorite ways to see if a niche is trending upwards or downwards (as well as seasonal or not) is to use Google Trends.Look at this graph to see the seasonal spike in popularity that is typical with a product likepaddle boards:Ready to Start Your Own Lifestyle Business? Check Out Your Special Offer Today!LEARN MORE!9
Checking out your possible niche on Google trends is just one part of the market researchstep that will help you build a successful dropshipping store.In the second half of this step, you’ll look for dropshipping sites that you’ll be competing with.Basically, you’ll try to find them before launching your dropshipping store so that you knowwho your competition is before you even get started.You also want to look at your future competition.Research the top sites in your potential niche using Alexa. Only look at sites with a GlobalRank of 1,000,000 or less. When you’re visiting the top stores in each niche, check out theirinventory and extract the details.Such as, do they have a warehouse, showroom, or retail stores? The goal is to find companiesthat sell online for multiple brands but have no physical presence. This shows you that they’redropship suppliers. It means you can compete with them!Ready to Start Your Own Lifestyle Business? Check Out Your Special Offer Today!LEARN MORE!10
3. BUILD YOURONLINE STORE
You read that right, the third step is to actually build an online store. Yes, prior to ever evencontacting the supplier. That’s because the good suppliers won’t approve you unless they seethat you already have an eCommerce store. So this is something that you’ll want to do evenbefore making that first phone call or sending that first email to a potential dropship supplier.At this point, you should have a great “Master List” of suppliers for your chosen niche. Nowcomes the scary part: getting approved with dropshippers. But things get less scary when youlook at it from the suppliers’ perspective:Suppliers want you to sell their products because when you do, you’re helping them make money.But most suppliers will only want to approve retailers who: Already have a quality website in place Can clearly define how they will generate sales Can explain why their company offers exceptional customer serviceSuppliers need to protect their brand and want retailers who offer a “store” that meets orexceeds their expectations. Even spending a few hours creating a good looking store willimprove your chances of supplier approval drastically.If you feel frustrated just thinking about building a website, consider the investment that youare making in your future!Whether you’re experienced or new to building websites, Shopify is the best eCommercecontent management system out there for hosting your store. They also offer hundreds ofapps, a secure shopping cart, and a fully-customizable design!It’s the only thing we use and recommend here at Drop Ship Lifestyle because it’s inexpensive andcomes with a two-week free trial.Ready to Start Your Own Lifestyle Business? Check Out Your Special Offer Today!LEARN MORE!12
4. GETTING APPROVEDBY SUPPLIERS
The next step is finding and getting approved with suppliers that are willing to “dropship”the products for you. Which means that they will warehouse and ship them so that you don’thave to!You do this by reaching through sending emails and making calls. This is when you’ll showthem the store you built in Step Three. It may take a little bit of time and perseverance tofinally get approved suppliers but keep at it. The work will pay off.With Drop Ship Lifestyle 7.0 we have training that can help with getting approved with as wecall them, Gold Suppliers. As well as resources and guidelines that will make getting approvedwith suppliers as painless as possible.So before you pick up the phone to call a supplier, before you send an email asking how to getapproved for an account, before you even think of contacting anyone in your chosen niche,you should have the below completed.If that is you, you can feel confident calling your list of dropshipping suppliers!Ready to Start Your Own Lifestyle Business? Check Out Your Special Offer Today!LEARN MORE!14
5. OPTIMIZE FORCONVERSIONS
This is where things start getting interesting. That’s because all the traffic in the world isuseless if you don’t know how to convert it into sales.Here’s the thing, you could have all the traffic in the world. But if they don’t buy from you, itdoesn’t matter.You don’t need tons of traffic but you do need a buying audience. You need your website toturn those visitors into buyers. Or else, all the traffic in the world won’t solve your problem.So before sending traffic to your eCommerce store, make sure you have the best chances ofconverting every visitor. There are so many different things you could do once you have yourdropship store up that can improve your conversion rate. (Your conversion rate is how manypeople buy versus how many people visit your site.)These techniques are covered heavily in my Drop Ship Blueprint course. There are also freeresources on the internet available that aren’t dropshipping specific but still have some value.That means it’s up to you to build your store to have the best chances of converting thosevisitors into buyers!Optimizing these specific areas of your store will have the highest impact on yourconversions:1. Use urgency and utilize expiring coupon codes.2. Create pages like “About Us” and “F.A.Q.’s” so customers view your business astrustworthy and secure.3. People trust reviews, so get reviews on your products ASAP. Use supplier testimonials orask them for reviews so you can show off what people have to say about their products.4. Harness the power of social proof with social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram,and Pinterest.5. Retarget shoppers who have abandoned their shopping cart.6. Bonus offers or add-ons like eBooks, gift cards, and free shipping will make you stand outfrom your competitors and help seal the deal with your website visitors.Ready to Start Your Own Lifestyle Business? Check Out Your Special Offer Today!LEARN MORE!16
6. TURN ONPAID TRAFFIC
Now that you have your store and suppliers fully optimized, it’s time to start sending sometraffic to your new store.This step is all about sending people to your store. There are definitely techniques for bringing moretraffic to your website but the real trick is getting good quality traffic. That way you’re getting themost out of the money you’re spending for traffic.Additionally, there are a ton of different ways to get traffic to your dropshipping site and youshouldn’t rely on just one. You want to have diversified sources of traffic. That way your businessdoesn’t turn off overnight if one of your traffic sources stops working.The channels that bring in the highest quality traffic are Google PLAs, Facebook Ads, and very basicSEO. (I don’t recommend spending money on SEO, most can be done yourself!)I go into this heavily in my Drop Ship Lifestyle course, but here’s an example of how Google PLAswork When someone searches on Google for a brand name, product name, and/or SKU number, youcan get your product image, name, and price to appear right on the first page!And if you set things up properly, you can get laser-targeted traffic from Google Paid Listing Ads(PLA’s). This means you’ll be targeting the people most likely to buy, increasing your conversions.Google PLAs are the easiest way to build a successful dropshipping store. Before moving onto paidsocial traffic, get a good understanding of how the online advertising world works. When you’reseeing consistent sales and looking to scale your advertising to new channels then you should shiftyour focus to paid social traffic.Ready to Start Your Own Lifestyle Business? Check Out Your Special Offer Today!LEARN MORE!18
7. OUTSOURCE ANDAUTOMATE YOUR TASKS
The beauty of a dropshipping business is that it’s very easy to automate and outsourcedifferent tasks. You don’t want to do this at first. You want to build your business, you want torun it for a while. Only do this step after: You found your niche. You built your store. You got approved with suppliers. You optimize it for conversions. You have traffic coming in. And you’re getting sales and making profit.That way you know how every step of the process works. After you do that, it’s very easy tostart delegating tasks, outsourcing, and using apps that automate how your business workson a day-to-day basis.With automation and outsourcing, you can eliminate simple repetitive tasks or processesthat tie you to your computer. Remember, take your time and do it right. Finding the bestoutsourcing shouldn’t be rushed.The best tasks to automate and outsource are ones such as: Image resizing Product description writing Product uploads to Shopify Customer service including answering the phone, email and online chat Content creation (blog posts, social media posts, lead magnets) Managing your social media accounts Managing your pay per click campaigns Order processing Payment processingThis step will not only make your business more attractive to more buyers but it will alsooften lead to a higher multiplier on your net profits in the future. The end goal is to set up abusiness where you work as little or as much as you want.Ready to Start Your Own Lifestyle Business? Check Out Your Special Offer Today!LEARN MORE!20
CONGRATULATIONS!Congrats, if you’ve made it this far you know how easy it is to set up your dropshipping store.You’ve discovered what it takes to get things built and have sales coming in.Whether you want to work 10 hours a day, two hours a night or on the weekends; there is nofixed amount of time. What matters is putting in the right amount of work for what you wantto get out of your store.Maybe you’ll never really do anything after reading this guide or maybe you’ll be one of thepeople that signs up, goes through everything, reaches out to me, asks for my feedback, takesaction right away and sees results really fast.With dropshipping, there is no standard timeline to when you startmaking money. What matters is deciding for yourself how much time youwill commit and the effort you put into your new dropshipping store.When I was first starting out in the eCommerce more than a decade ago, I remember howoverwhelming the process of building an online business was. That’s why I created Drop ShipLifestyle.One of the key things that enabled me to achieve success was ignoring the “I need to build abusiness” thought, and just focusing on the very next step I knew I had to take the little butimportant next action that would take me that much closer to realizing my goal.So, whether you’re feeling overwhelmed by this or whether you’re just excited and readyto get started, take that very next step. And then the next one after that. And before youknow it, you’ll be looking back at how far you’ve come as a successful business owner andentrepreneur.WANT INSTANT ACCESS TO THE WORLD’S BEST ECOMMERCE COURSE WITH FREEUPDATES & MONTHLY CALLS. FOR LIFE?FIND OUT MORE HERE
OUR MISSION AT DROP SHIP LIFESTYLE IS TO EMPOWERFREEDOM THROUGH ENTREPRENEURSHIP.As a leader in the field of eCommerce, I’ve experienced this first hand. With both my own stores, and thestores of 10,000 students that I am proud to have as part of the Drop Ship Lifestyle family.My company, Drop Ship Lifestyle is an online coaching program that has taught over 10,000 studentssince 2013. Our proven method helps people sell products online by leveraging the power of high-ticketdropshipping.Regardless of their prior experience, many have quit their old jobs because of the revenue they created byselling online.Here are a few quick facts about Drop Ship Lifestyle:1) Drop Ship Lifestyle has thousands of members from over 30 different countries.2) We have 1,000 success stories from people of all different backgrounds.3) In 2018, Shopify voted Drop Ship Lifestyle as the “Best eCommerce Course” in the industry.This isn’t about bragging or showing off. This is about giving you a proven path to follow that starts with yourdesire and ends with your success.That path is paved by following my Blueprint, which has been created from more than 10 years of trial, error,optimization, and always working to create ticket, semi-automated online stores.Drop Ship Lifestyle is not just another course. It’s an entire program that has been changing lives since Istarted it back in 2013!That path is paved by following my Blueprint, which has been created from more than 10 years of trial, error,optimization, and always working to create ticket, semi-automated online stores.Drop Ship Lifestyle is not just another course. It’s an entire program that has been changing lives since Istarted it back in 2013!Thousands of people have already said yes, and they’re doing it. Are you ready to get started?JOIN DROP SHIP LIFESTYLE TODAY!
With Drop Ship Lifestyle 7.0 we have training that can help with getting approved with as we call them, Gold Suppliers. As well as resources and guidelines that will make getting approved with suppliers as painless as possible. So before you pick up the phone to call a supplier, before you send an email asking how to get
