EcommercePlatforms.io

Category: Entrepreneurship

  • 10 eCommerce Hacks to Grow Your Business in a Few Months

    10 eCommerce Hacks to Grow Your Business in a Few Months

    Merchantry estimates that there are over 4.2 million eCommerce brands in Canada and the US. So yes, there’s no better time to be an online seller than now.

    But considering the massive competition, running an ecommerce store is not an easy feat. The good news is that you’re here. That means you have the drive to stand out.

    So, how can you boost growth in the vast sea of eCommerce? Let’s find out! Below, you’ll find 10 quick eCommerce hacks that’ll help you drive your success in months.

    Note that these are only the tip of the iceberg. There are many more growth hacks for ecommerce you can look for. But the following tactics will help you set up a solid ecommerce growth strategy.

    Let’s dive right in.

     1. Go into Speed Mode

    You don’t want your sales to suffer from Slow page loading for even 1 second. Here’s why, according to Envisage Digital:

    • 1 second delay in page load drops views by 11%;
    • Cuts down conversion rates by 7%; and
    • Drops customer satisfaction by 16%.

    Imagine what a 2- or 3-second bounce rate could do to your revenue! Here are a few things you can use to boost page loading:

    • Run a test using Google Page Speed. This tool can determine your speed performance. It also suggests how to decrease page loading time.
    • Invest in a CDN, or Content Delivery Network. A CDN allows you to use different servers to drive data transfer and cut down content latency.
    • Update your hosting plan. Work with a website host that offers high performance and fast speed. You can also upgrade to VPS or cloud hosting to boost page loading.

    Here are more tips to increase page loading speed.

    2. Make Yourself Easy to Find

    The trick is to stay at the top of the heap. But how to stand out among the sea of eCommerce sellers? That’s where SEO comes in.

    SEO is about driving organic traffic using relevant terms. These are words and phrases users type in a search browser to find web pages.

    You should focus on researching 3 types of search terms:

    • The first is frontend, which is directly related to your business. You’ll find them in titles, descriptions and blog posts.
    • The second type are backend keywords. Customers won’t see these terms, but they can help you widen your online reach.
    • Lastly, use transactional keywords to convert users. These are terms used when a customer is ready to buy a product. Think of brand names, or words like “purchase” and “order now”.

    But great traffic also requires great content that delights audiences. That’s On-Page SEO, and it is what will drive both traffic and conversions.

    3. Inform Your Customers

    Any eCommerce site should work on creating in-depth product descriptions. Users want to learn what a product can do for them.

    So, it’s not enough to name the item and its general features. Tell your audience how it’s built, and what its purpose is. In short, share the product’s story with the audience.

    You should apply these same principles to your videos and images. Always include high-quality visuals that showcase your offers as much as possible.

    You can also include tutorials or how-to videos that display the product in action. Shoppers need to see what they’ll buy, and how it actually works, whenever possible.

    4. Long-form Content

    Blog posts are an excellent way to keep customers informed and interested in your expertise. They promote engagement and customer retention.

    However, you need to go outside your own blog to attract new traffic. The best way to do so is by writing guest posts.

    Guest posts are content that you can publish on an ally’s website to build brand awareness. They are also a great feature to show that you are an authority within your market base.

    Plus, guest posts give you the chance to set up backlinks into your own website. This means new customers will have a better chance of finding you.

    5. The Magic of A/B Testing

    This is one of the most used eCommerce growth hacking tactics. A/B testing can help you compare similar products, and see which has better images, layout and copy.

    An A/B test is a key ecommerce hack you need to optimize conversions. It can let you know which assets benefit your sales, and which are hurting growth.

    You can run A/B testing using Google Optimize. This tool can pinpoint the changes that should be made to product listings to drive conversions. For example:

    • Image location, quality and size.
    • Color, size and location changes to action buttons, like “Add to cart”.
    • Stating product supply and free shipping offers.
    • Including trust badges in prominent areas.

    Make sure you A/B test on a regular basis. That way, you’ll soon find the best adjustments that can boost sales.

    6. Include Trust Badges

    Customers value secure purchases. The thing is, ecommerce has little room for face-to-face sales. So, how can you show buyers that you are a trustful seller?

    It’s easy: showcase trust badges. These are the logos of the software you rely on to make every sale as trustworthy as possible.

    You can also feature the authorized payment methods available. Chances are customers will feel safe knowing their data is well protected.

    Place trust badges in visible places. For example, right next to the Add To Cart button, or at the checkout page. This will boost your seller credibility, and also promote conversions.

    7. Responsive Design

    This is about device adaptability and personalized storefronts. And these are not only ecommerce conversion hacks, but a must-do for all sellers.

    Responsive design means setting up your site, so that it fits the device customers use to visit. This means ensuring a great UX on desktop, smartphones and tablets, separately.

    Users are increasingly browsing via mobile devices. And once they know what to buy, they’ll use a desktop or laptop to make the purchase.

    So, it’s crucial that sellers adopt a mobile-first, desktop-second approach to their online storefronts.

    8. Custom User Navigation

    The second key to responsive design is to adapt your webpage to the user’s habits. This means tracking users, so they can find what they need each time they log into your store. For example:

    • Set your store to showcase the specific products a recurring user was looking at the last time they logged in.
    • Use the homepage to feature offers related to the common items they look or buy for.
    • Save their search queries so they don’t waste time typing the products they want to review.

    Here are a few more tips to enhance this eCommerce growth strategy:

    • Visible search bar. Most customers will already know what they want. So, they’ll go to the search bar to find it. Make sure your search bar is in a prominent place on your website.
    • Homepage simplicity. State your value proposition and selling points, but copy and video should be at a minimum here.
    • Menu navigation. Keep a visible and simple menu on top. This is a compass to user search. The idea is to let users navigate smoothly, and go back and forth across your store.
    • Product tags. This tool can help users find specific product categories. Plus, tags are also a great tool to customize URLs to improve SEO, both internally and on SERPs like Google.

    9. Checkout Simplicity

    Almost 70% of users abandon the shopping cart without making a purchase, according to the Bayard Institute.

    The checkout process can actually make or break conversions. It can’t be overly complicated or else your bounce rate will suffer for it. So, how can you push it along?

    • Offer guest checkouts. Not all buyers want to create an account to buy a single product. So, don’t force users to register. Let them make the choice for themselves.
    • Provide multiple payment options. Many users are still wary of sharing their credit card info online. So, give them the choice to buy using PayPal or Amazon Pay, for example.
    • Keep the account registry simple. Don’t ask too much info from users who do want to create an account.

    10. Involve the End User

    Let people know users are buying your products. And better yet, let your customers announce it themselves.

    Customers need more than great content to buy a product. They also want to learn what other users think about the product.

    That’s where social proof comes in. This means sharing customer ratings and testimonials via your website and social media.

    But social proof can go beyond testimonials. A great strategy is to share user generated content.

    For example, encourage users to post their purchases on social media. Then, take those posts and share them across your own channels.

    Learning about other buyers’ experience gives new users confidence to buy a product.

    Final Thoughts

    None of these tips are complicated nor expensive. In fact, you can start using them almost immediately!

    As a rule of thumb, take the time to experiment, or partner up with an expert. This means working on a few ecommerce growth tactics first.

    For example, start off by boosting your page speed. Then, check if your bounce rate decreases. Afterwards, you can revamp your content to boost user retention.

    Test, analyze, and build upon the results. Take a slow, strategic approach to test your eCommerce growth hacks. This will let you see which tips are actually boosting growth.

    And if one tactic is not working, then change it. With time and work, you’ll soon find the formula that works best for your eCommerce store. The results are worth it.

    Best of luck!

    Author

    Esteban Muñoz is a content writer at AMZ Advisers, with several years’ experience in digital marketing and e-commerce. Esteban and the AMZ Advisers team have been able to achieve incredible growth on Amazon for their clients by optimizing and managing their accounts, and creating in-depth content marketing strategies.
  • Small Business Management: How to Build Strong Employee Relationships

    Small Business Management: How to Build Strong Employee Relationships

    You may be familiar with the seeing-employees-as-investments approach to business, and for good reason. It leads to sensible decisions with long-term implications. The problem with that stance, though, is the sense of personal detachment that it cultivates. You can obsess over returned value from a lofty perspective, remaining indifferent in an effort to stay rational.

    That approach, then, isn’t enough in its classic form. It requires expansion. You need to focus on the fundamental exchange of the working relationship, accepting that the best way to get people to work hard for you is to work hard for them in return. And that hard work has to take place in the trenches, so to speak. If you want loyalty (the key to small business growth, particularly in a fast-moving industry like ecommerce), you need to earn it through your personal involvement.

    One often-overlooked key to getting things right is having candid and productive conversations with your employees. Communication is the lifeblood of business, but it’s often below par. In this post, we’re going to consider how you can prepare for discussions with your employees, how you should address them, and how your follow-up actions will shape your success. Let’s begin.

    Preparation: what you first need to do and know

    It isn’t a good idea to go into staff conversations cold, assuming that you can simply pick things up as you go. Would you accept one of your workers going into a client interview with no talking points and little awareness of the agenda? No, of course you wouldn’t — and your attitude when speaking to your team will set the tone for how they approach their work.

    Research is a must here, then. Before you engage with someone, familiarize yourself with their company history: this should be easy in a small business, but if you’ve been distracted and don’t talk to them very often then you may have forgotten some key details. What are they like personally? What kind of track record do they have? Assuming you’ve previously held discussions and performance reviews, what came of them?

    Remember that a core component of radical candor is caring personally: when you care about someone, you take the time to learn things about them and demonstrate that you see their importance. If you don’t arm yourself with relevant details, any effort to evince a personal connection will ring hollow and likely worsen your relationship rather than improve it.

    You need to keep all of this in mind when you schedule your staff conversations. If you know that one of your employees is somewhat anxious, don’t let them know a week in advance that you want to have an in-depth discussion: no matter how you frame it, they’ll end up worrying that it’ll turn negative. Your feedback should concern performance, not personality. Instead, find time to engage in light ad-hoc conversation, then build up from there in a natural way that doesn’t put pressure on them.

    Conversation: how to get your attitude right

    When you get to the point of conversation, your focus (as noted in the title) should be on finding out what they need to be happier and more productive. Done right, this will benefit everyone. The important thing here is to be direct with your employees: you might instinctively feel the desire to talk around issues in the hope that you can avoid awkwardness, but that tactic will only add awkwardness by engendering misunderstandings and causing the conversation to drag on.

    If you’ve noticed that a particular employee’s productivity has dropped massively in recent weeks, your job is to be both blunt and compassionate. Say something like this: “I can see that you’ve been struggling to work productively in recent weeks. It’s alright, I’m not angry, but we do need to fix it — so how can I help you get back up to speed?”

    The sooner you note the fundamental issue, the sooner you can get to resolving it, so the lack of buildup is a good thing. Fearing for their job could prevent them from thinking clearly, so reassuring them — and using “we” to share responsibility — will make a huge difference. There’s also a fundamental positivity in the question since it assumes that they can get back up to speed, and your focus is on how you can help make that happen.

    On the other hand, you might see that an employee has been performing extremely well, in which case you could approach them from a totally different angle: “You’ve been doing a fantastic job recently, and I really appreciate your efforts, so I want to ensure that you’re not bored. Are you enjoying what you do? How could I mix things up to make your workday more interesting? If you have greater aspirations, I’d love to help with them.”

    You might want to simply leave them to their work and reap the benefits, but maybe they could do more for the business — and maybe they’ll look elsewhere if they’ve mastered their current role and see nowhere to go with it. Whether you’re addressing a negative or a positive, you should focus on coming away with a clear idea of how things can be better.

    Reaction: how to follow up in a positive way

    All the goodwill in the world can amount to nothing if it isn’t properly harnessed. Having a solid conversation with an employee is just the start: what really matters is that you actually deliver on the identified need (or needs) to whatever extent is practical. If a high-flying salesperson asks for their salary to be tripled, you probably can’t accommodate their request — but you can give them a raise of some kind, making it as generous as you can afford.

    Very often, you’ll find that employee needs concern businesswide services and working conditions, so you should look for the recurring themes and use them to derive an order of priority. Pay close attention to the broad context of your industry, and decide how far you’re willing to go to improve things. If you can’t take action immediately, you can at least report to the relevant employees that you’re conducting useful research, and even get them involved in the process as a way to show them that they’re important to your business.

    And with working conditions, you should strive to be as flexible as possible with a focus on productivity. If the remote-working revolution stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak has taught us anything, it’s that companies can survive massive operational changes if they trust their employees to get their work done in unusual circumstances. Don’t cling to ceremony for the sake of it. If people want to work in different conditions (as is heavily the case), let them.

    Consider, though, that employees might not know exactly what they want. To some extent, this will be because they won’t fully know what options and avenues are available to them. If you suspect that an employee might benefit from a major change even though they’ve never requested done, pitch it to them, explaining as you do so how you can help them. Suggest a research trip, or a training course. If you’re willing to use an employer of record service, let them know that they can even move overseas and keep their job if they want a fresh start in other aspects of their life. If you end up changing someone’s life, they’ll forever be grateful to you.

    Lastly, when you’ve implemented changes, keep asking questions. Attitudes and requirements change over time. Even your best employee might suddenly think of something else that could help them work effectively, and continued engagement is the best way to show them that your mind is always open. You should be so communicative that your staff members start to reach out to you directly instead of waiting for you to ask. That is the endgame.

  • Top 10 B2B China Sourcing Websites to Find Wholesale Suppliers

    Top 10 B2B China Sourcing Websites to Find Wholesale Suppliers

    Are you hunting for the best Chinese sourcing websites to find wholesale suppliers? With numerous Chinese sourcing websites out there, you might be wondering which one you should trust. If so, you’ve found the right post.

    Starting a B2B business online always takes time and investment to ensure you don’t get scammed by the sellers. Every buyer wants to receive their goods on time with a smooth delivery process. They also want to ensure the products they buy are of premium quality.

    When business owners are planning to connect with the best B2B China sources, several questions appear in their minds. Will they be meeting with certified wholesale suppliers? Are the prospective platforms secure and reliable? Can they use multiple payment methods? Will they get deals and discounts on bulk purchases?

    In short, every supplier and wholesaler is looking for a secure and comprehensive B2B supplier website to use. This post lists the top 10 B2B China sourcing websites to help you find cost-effective wholesale suppliers with minimal effort.

    The Boom in B2B Marketplaces

    B2B eCommerce becomes has become a huge digital frontier in recent years, with the global pandemic causing a significant uplift in interest. In fact, B2B marketplaces have attracted much more attention and investment than their B2C counterparts. It’s been estimated that the B2B eCommerce industry has reached USD 149 trillion, which is 5x more than B2C.

    A recent survey showed that B2B eCommerce sales reached $7.35 trillion in 2021, and this amount is expected to grow 70% in upcoming years. It’s actually projected to reach $18.75 billion US dollars by 2026.

    List of Top B2B China Sourcing Websites 

    If you are wondering how to find wholesale suppliers, let’s dig into it!

    1.eWorldTrade

    Everyone is familiar with this B2B platform that is eWorldTrade. This global and comprehensive B2B platform offers unparalleled eCommerce solutions for small to medium-sized businesses. It operates its services for more than a decade, and it becomes the leading B2B China sourcing website.

    This digital trading platform aims to help businesses to accomplish a commercial competitive edge. It has an interactive user interface, so customers can enjoy the fastest and most secure trading. It even has AI-integrated chatbots to solve any customer query. Once you join this platform, you have ample space to highlight your brand information. It permits you to get free quotes, offers multiple payment methods, and has reordered policy.

    eWorldTrade is a good choice if you are looking for the best B2B China sourcing website to find wholesalers.

    2. Amazon 

    Amazon is no doubt a leading B2B Chinese sourcing website. This platform helps buyers to find the most reliable wholesaler suppliers from every corner of the world. It aims to build strong relationships among them. So, trading internationally is not a challenging thing for them. Amazon help businesses to grow their horizon, whether they belong to the food manufacturing industry or operating in the automobile industry.

    Once you connect with Amazon, you can access millions of products belonging to every category. It allows minimum order quantity with automated pricing. It even allows reordering your previous purchase.

    3. Alibaba

    Does Alibaba sound familiar? Yes, it is, right! This is also the world’s greatest and largest B2B platform with a huge directory of wholesale suppliers and buyers. It is even known as the pioneer of B2B wholesale eCommerce. It is open the gateways for Chinese factories to perform business activities worldwide.

    Alibaba becomes the top B2B China sourcing website, where you meet with thousands of merchants and buyers from every corner of the world. For buyers, it is the best marketplace that offers trade assurance, multiple payment channels, etc.

    4. AliExpress

    Looking for the biggest name in B2B China sourcing website to find wholesale suppliers? Then AliExpress will be another marketplace to choose from. This B2B website is the subsidiary of Alibaba. It has now built into the largest online retail store where you can easily hook up with the Chinese and international wholesale suppliers.

    AliExpress also has an incredible product catalog of premium quality products. Whether you want to buy books, electronic items, kid toys, or furniture, everything is available on this platform. It has a comprehensive incentive and discount policy as well.

    5. DHgate

    DHgate is another top name among B2B China sourcing websites. If you are new to this industry, then DHgate will be a better choice. It is highly recommended for newbies, as it offers the fastest and most simple wholesale buying experience. This retail hub offers high-quality goods and services at cost-effective rates.

    At this platform, you meet with trustable wholesale suppliers and retailers from every industry. Regardless of any industry you belong join DHgate today. It has perfect product listing, offers sophisticated search, in-depth product information, etc.

    6. Global Sources

    Are you hunting for the one-stop-shop B2B China sourcing websites? Global sources is another prominent name. This B2B platform is considered the oldest platform that was launched in 1971 and has experience of 51 years of operating businesses online. It has millions of trustworthy sellers and buyers and consistently increasing.

    Global sources have an optimized storefront and a user-friendly interface. It follows a customer-centric approach to allow buyers to get premium quality products easily. It offers the fastest and most secure payment and delivery methods.

    7. HKTDC (Hong Kong Trade Development Council)

    HKTDC is one of the most trusted B2B China sourcing websites to find wholesale suppliers. Here you find 130,000 Chinese suppliers. This platform is an organization dedicated to the economic growth of the Hong Kong Traders, and gradually, it becomes the leading online marketplace to sell goods worldwide.

    HKTDC has a directory of trusted and reliable suppliers from Asia, Hong Kong, and China. You can connect with certified suppliers who offer high-quality products at reasonable rates. This platform gains popularity due to the potential buyer journey.

    8. DIYTrade

    DIYTrade has described itself as the leading B2B trading platform and has a huge directory of Chinese products. This B2B China sourcing website claims to have 5 million products on this platform. This retail hub was inaugurated in 1999, and its headquartered was in Shenzhen, China.

    DIYTrade has an interactive and engaging user interface that encourages visitors to buy products from certified wholesale suppliers. It has a huge product listing with a massive catalog. It even offers a customer support system to help out buyers to solve problems. You can choose a payment method after connecting with the supplier.

    9. EC21

    EC21 is the most authentic B2B China sourcing website where you find thousands of reputable wholesale suppliers across the world. It has a highly interactive, flexible, and easy-to-use interface that engages buyers to make a purchase.

    If you are looking for a supplier on a regional basis, it distributes visitors by the country. It even has an outstanding product catalog. It has a huge directory of 3.5 million visitors every month.

    10. Lovely Wholesale

    The lovely wholesale market is popular for offering products for females’ clothing and garment items. This Chinese wholesale website claims to have almost 6000 products with a unique style that have to listen on their platform. This platform is highly focused on considering buyer safety; if you get damaged products, they offer a return policy and even discounts on your next purchase.

    Lovely wholesale has a robust refund policy, so they make sure to consider quality assurance and offer products at reasonable rates.

    Guest Author: Ali Hasnain is a trend researcher by passion, senior digital marketing expert, and SEO consultant. He leverages his experience to help SaaS products, influencers, local businesses, and eCommerce brands grow their traffic, leads, sales, and authority. Follow him on LinkedIn.

  • 5 Reasons Why You Can’t Do Without A Business Plan

    5 Reasons Why You Can’t Do Without A Business Plan

    Your project of starting your own full time or side hustle business is now well on its way and you may be thinking about raising financing? You’re feeling enthusiastic about your future business, but you keep wondering whether or not you should write a business plan. 

    Starting a new venture means a lot of questions will arise, and writing a business plan can be very daunting for a new entrepreneur, but it doesn’t mean you should skip it. 

    Starting your business without a plan in your pocket could be a huge mistake: one which could definitely set you up for failure. 

    Let’s look at the 5 reasons why entrepreneurs can’t do without a business plan. 

    1. You will struggle to raise financing without a business plan

    Most businesses need financing and it will be hard for you to convince a bank to lend you money, or for a potential investor to invest if you don’t have a professional-looking document to present. 

    A business plan will be required whether you’re pitching the project to your bank, to investors, or even if you’re simply applying for a grant. 

    Your financial partners will ask for a business plan in order to evaluate the risks associated with your business idea and to understand how much potential the project really has. 

    Putting together a meticulous business plan will give you a chance to convince them to invest. 

    2. You will need a plan for your business to succeed  

    Writing a business plan will enable you to gather your thoughts in one place, and create a clear roadmap of what you need to achieve in the next 3-5 years for your business to succeed.

    It will force you to evaluate every aspect of your business, from how you are going to sell to how many people you need to help your customers. You will precisely estimate every expense in order to get a clear picture of how much you need to invest to start your business and how much profit it could generate. 

    Once it’s been laid out in front of you, you will have a full picture of what to expect for your business. 

    3. You will have to be your own best critic 

    If you are just starting your first business, it’s easy to get carried away or a little bit over-excited about your idea. 

    Putting together a business plan will allow you to spot any discrepancies, identify any weaknesses and work on them. You will then understand which steps you need to take, and what are the constructive changes you need to make. 

    Making a critical decision on your work will allow you to let go of some ideas which seemed brilliant, but perhaps weren’t meant to work in this context. 

    4. You will keep an eye on your cash flow

    Through the process of creating your business plan, you will forecast your business’ cash flow for the next 3 years. 

    Starting any type of business is challenging and things often don’t go as planned. Having the ability to go back to your business plan and adjust your projection as things develop will enable you to keep a close eye on your cash flow. 

    This will ensure your business has enough funding to succeed.

    5. You will find it easier to write your business plan with the right tool 

    Writing a thorough business plan takes time. Between the market research, the number crunching, and the actual writing, a complete business plan won’t be done in a day. 

    Luckily there are online business plan tools which can help you. 

    A professional business software will do the maths and take care of the formatting for you, but it will also guide you throughout with instructions and examples for each part of the plan. 

    We now hope you know why you can’t do without a business plan for your project, and that you’ll get cracking on the writing. 

    Author Bio: This blog post has been written by The Business Plan Shop, which offers an online business plan software you can try for free. 

  • The Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Launch an Influencer Marketing Program

    The Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Launch an Influencer Marketing Program

    Want to know why brands are clamoring to get influencers to promote their brand? Well, they are not only useful in driving traffic. It is also highly effective in convincing prospects to buy. This power stems from the strong relationship that influencers forge with their followers. Their followers don’t only follow them to read and watch their content. They also support them by acting on their recommendations. This power to drive people to take action is what makes influencers highly effective when it comes to marketing. 

    If you are still on the fence on whether you should adopt influencer marketing, here are ten reasons why it may be worth your while. 

    It is effective for reaching your target audience

    Why are more and more brands going to influencers for product and service promotions? Well, it is because it is highly effective. You see, influencer marketing is the only form of marketing with the highest ROI. This is according to Nielsen Catalina Solutions. This is because influencer marketing is quite powerful, especially when it comes to reaching your target audience. 

    The key is finding the right influencers. After all, you’ll need influencers who have a similar target market as yours. This will ensure maximum conversions for each campaign. You have to make sure that your products or services are a perfect fit for their audience. This is the only way for your campaign to fully reach your target market. Once you find the right influencers, you must compile their contact information in an Excel spreadsheet. This will allow for easy access when you are ready to pitch your campaign. 

    Your competitors are tapping into it

    Influencer marketing is the secret behind the growth of the biggest brands on the Internet. If you are planning to compete, you cannot do it without tapping into influencer marketing. Else, you’ll get left behind. You see, influencer marketing allows for natural growth as it helps you expose your brand to thousands or millions of followers from one campaign. The best part is that these people are highly responsive. This is because of the relationship that they have forged with the influencer. Since they know, like, and trust the influencer, they are far more likely to act on the influencer’s recommendations. 

    You can try looking into your competitor’s links to see where it comes from. There are tools that you can use to spy on your competitor’s backlinks. This will reveal the influencers that they have worked in the past. Once you find them, you can keep their contact information in an Excel sheet. The fact that they have worked with your competitor means that they may also be open to working with you. You can take a closer look at how their relationship is forged. Did they create a review? Did they have a link to the website in the sidebar? Did they mention the brand on social media? You can use this to search for their backlinks so that you can do the same and more. 

    It can help you with brand awareness

    Have a brand new website with no followers, leads, or sales? Influencer marketing can help you with brand awareness. Brand awareness is essential when you are first building your business. Not only do you need to drive traffic into your website. You also have to let other people remember you. This is where brand awareness comes in. 

    Fortunately, influencer marketing can help you spread the word about your brand. It allows you to tap into thousands to a million followers in one campaign. It is all a matter of finding and convincing an influencer to work with you. Once you find an influencer, you can propose a way on how you can work with them. You can also choose to pay them if you find that it is worth the money. 

    Influencers know how to approach their audience

    If there is one type of content creator that knows their audience more than anyone, those are the influencers. Not only did they put in the time to get to know their audience. They have also tested different types of content to understand what works and what doesn’t. After all, they would not have reached their influencer status if they did not know their audience that much. You can also learn a lot from them when it comes to creating the right content for your target audience. You can take a look at the content structures and formats, and you can implement it on your own website. 

    More than the content, they are also highly familiar with audience behavior. They don’t only know what to post. They also know when to post and how. All of these factors play a vital role in the success of an influencer campaign. This is the reason why influencer promotions are more effective than others. 

    It can help your brand reach more people

    Influencer marketing can also help you with sheer numbers. When you are running a brand new website, you’ll need to get as many people into your website as you possibly can. Usually, you may resort to paid promotions just to do this. While that is quite effective in driving traffic to your site, the audience may not be as responsive. In fact, you may find that your bounce rate is quite high. The case may not be the same as influencer marketing. This is because you are dealing with a highly responsive audience. These are people who know and trust what the influencer says, and they will most likely visit your website because of this trust. 

    Because of this, influencer marketing is highly effective in driving traffic, even to a brand new website. With one influencer’s promotion comes a stream of traffic that will not only boost your website’s search engine ranking but will also promote your brand. With more people knowing about your brand, you’ll also have a higher brand recall. This means that more people will remember you when they need to buy a particular product or service. 

    It can help you become a trusted brand in the niche

    As mentioned, influencers are viewed as credible because of the trust that they have forged with their followers. You can also become a trusted brand in the niche if you are recommended by influencers. You can do this if you can get a group of influencers to promote you. As the audience sees your brand across different influencer channels, they will eventually visit your site out of curiosity. Many brands have done this. They recommended their product to several influencers in one niche. Later, their followers found the website of the product owner, and they eventually bought it out of curiosity. This shows how powerful influencers’ recommendations can be. 

    So if you want to increase your audience’s trust in your brand, influencer marketing is the key. It is all about finding influencers who trust you and your products, and their followers will do the same. 

    It can help increase your social proof

    Launch an Influencer Marketing Program

    Social proof is essential to the success of any online business. In our age, customers don’t buy products just because someone recommended it. It is their habit to look for other reviews online. They do this so that they can get a glimpse of how the product works even before they buy it. 

    Because of this nature of online buyers, it is much more essential to have social proof in today’s online businesses. You’ll need people to vouch for your products and services so that you can attract more buyers. Influencer marketing is an excellent method for doing this. The great thing about it is that you get more than a typical review. You get influencers talking about your brand. This gives a much more reliable and trusted social proof that is sure to attract more sales. 

    Influencers are expert content creators

    You can learn a lot from influencers when it comes to content creation. Not only do they know what their audience wants, but they also know how to give what they need. This is the reason why they have achieved influencer status. It is all because they know the type of content that their market wants and they know how to give it to them. 

    And it does not stop there. Influencers are also known for creating content regularly. They know that content marketing success depends on consistency. So they ensure that they are consistently creating content for their audience. By doing this, they managed to nurture their relationship with their target market. This means that you no longer have to do the same thing. You just need to work with the influencer so that your brand can also reach his audience. 

    Influencers know how to think outside the box

    Another thing that you’ll learn from influencers is the ability to think outside of the box. They are always looking for new and creative ways to approach their audience. This is the reason why they are able to sustain the attention of their followers. Aside from consistently creating content, they are also looking for ways on how they can catch their attention with a new idea.

    Because of this, you also need to be just as creative when you approach them. Influencers are now used to brands emailing them to request for reviews and promotions. But if you have a unique proposal, your chance of getting noticed is often higher. Some ideas can include collaborations on video content or on products. This is where you get the creative input of the influencer in the creation of something. Since influencers are original content creators, they will be more open to working with you in a project that involves the creation of something. Plus, it will also encourage them to promote their products to their followers. 

    PRO TIP: You can also invite them to your referral program. A referral program is a system where you allow website visitors and followers to promote your website. You can easily set it up with referral software that is compatible with your website. It can go with other names such as WooCommerce affiliate plugin and others. Be sure to choose the app that is most compatible with your website platform. 

    It helps with a website’s seo

    SEO is essential to get your website ranked on the search engines. The higher your rank is, the more organic traffic your website has. While there are many factors that contribute to your website’s search engine ranking, influencer marketing can help you get ranked higher. 

    Why is that? Well, there are two reasons. 

    First, influencers are considered experts in their field. Because of this, their websites usually have high domain or page authority. Getting backlinks from pages with higher power often results in more top rankings. Second, influencer marketing unlocks a stream of traffic. It is no longer enough to have more backlinks. Your website also needs to have traffic in order to get ranked. And that is what influencer marketing can give you. 

    So if you want to get a constant stream of organic traffic to your website, you may want to consider influencer marketing. This will allow you to have multiple backlinks from high authority sites granting you more top search engine rankings. 

    It can help ecommerce website owners

    Influencer marketing is also vital in eCommerce. It can help you stop shopping cart abandonment and bolster your traffic and sales. As mentioned, influencer marketing can boost your social proof, and this helps you to attract more buyers to your online store. Brands like Best Drums Set Labs used this strategy. Influencers helped them receive an instant boost in traffic and sales. 

    As you can see, there are many benefits to influencer marketing. It will help you not only in your traffic and sales. It can also help you get a better brand exposure which can result in more traffic and sales. Alternatively, it can also boost your search engine rankings. This is because it grants you high authority backlinks. Plus, it can increase your social proof for better eCommerce sales. 

  • Print On Demand: How To Start An Online T-Shirt Business That Makes Money

    Print On Demand: How To Start An Online T-Shirt Business That Makes Money

    The t-shirt has the ability to tell the world who we are: what we love, and what we don’t. When starting out your t-shirt business, it needs a brand image and a website that stands out as much as your t-shirts do. So here are some pointers on how you can turn your passion for tees into cash.

    A brief history of t-shirts

    Your business should be as disruptive as the t-shirt itself. So to stand out from the crowd (that’s online as well as on the streets), first, get to know our dress-down history of the t-shirt.

    Late 1800s + early 1900s

    During and after the Spanish-American War (1898) the U.S Navy began to issue white cotton undergarments.

    1920-1930s

    Returning WW1 veterans kept their standard-issue cotton undergarments when they came home. F. Scott Fitzgerald lands the phrase “t-shirt” in the dictionary when he mentions it in his book This Side of Paradise.

    1950s

    In the film A Streetcar Named Desire, Marlon Brando cemented the t-shirt in popular culture. As did James Dean in 1955’s Rebel Without A Cause, who’s said to be an early example of the first modern teenager.

    1970s

    By now, there was the message, and there was the merchandise. Printed across t-shirts, bands, products, and slogans defined who we were and who we wanted to be.

    Today

    The world, culture, and information have diversified. How do you create a product that cuts through in the noise of the 21st century? It’s all down to your brand and strategy.

    Business plan

    So you’ve got your hands on some t-shirts and you’re looking to start a business. The next step is to start developing your business plan and determining how to develop your website to fit it.

    Find your USP

    Before you start any business, you should have your unique selling point in mind. I’m sure it will come as no surprise to learn that lots of folks sell t-shirts online. So how are you going to make sure people buy yous? Any new business needs to develop its own recognizable brand ID – so make sure you have one.

    Considering how your customer journey feels is just as important as what it feels like to wear one of your t-shirts. Before you sell a single crew neck you need to define what kind of business you want to be and what sets you apart.

    Socialize your brand

    No new brand, especially a fashion brand, gains any traction without harnessing the power of social media from the word go. Not only is this the platform to show the world who your brand is and what it stands for, but it’s a space to build a following around your product. It may sound cultish, but the most successful brands have managed to develop a loyal brand that follows them across multiple social platforms.

    Find the right fit

    It doesn’t matter how good your designs are, they’ve got to look good on. So choosing your blank t-shirt is vital. You need to think about the size range, the colors each company can offer and the fabric they use.

    Even though you’ll be able to change who you go with whenever you want, think about how this impacts your customers. If they buy one t-shirt that’s printed on Gildan and another on American Apparel, that isn’t going to play well. Here’s a useful blog to help you decide which one to go for.

    Pick your platform

    You’ve got your designs, brand, and your product. Now you’ve got to decide which e-commerce system you want to use. The one you choose will tie closely to what type of t-shirt business you want to be.

    If you want your website to be orientated around your designs and build your business organically, you want the most customizable platform that can be stylized to suit you. Platforms like Wix and Squarespace give you access to easy to use templates. But these are restricted on e-commerce specific features.

    If you’re looking to get your name out there quickly, Shopify and BigCommerce offer features that integrate with other online market places such as Amazon and eBay without having to delve into any coding.

    Or, to get the best handle on your sales and the traffic coming to your website, a platform like Volusion offers powerful SEO and SaaS tools to bump your site up on search results.

    Whichever platform you use, there is always a cost no matter which package you go for. So be sure to factor platform costs into your wider business model before signing up.

    Refine your brand image

    Image is essential for making an online t-shirt business work. What is the fashion industry if not image? In business terms, this means developing a great looking website that has the right type of product imagery to appeal to the base you’re looking to attract (GraphicSprings is a useful tool to use here).

    Product imagery needs to be professionally shot and presented in a way that fits the overall aesthetic of both the brand and the website. Many of the best fashion websites are understated and simple in design with minimal use of text. This lets the product imagery do the talking.

    Think about how your product imagery both on your website and social media channels will work in terms of social proof. Social proof is a phenomenon in which people will copy the actions of another person in an attempt to fit in and be accepted. When you’re applying this to your t-shirt website you should look to have imagery of models wearing your products, so customers can imagine themselves wearing them as well. This helps to sell the value of the product.

    Social proof also works with influencers on social media. A great early investment for any fashion business can be an influencer to wear and promote the products, telling their impressionable audience how much they like and enjoy wearing them.

    Ethical considerations and branding

    The fashion industry needs to be at the front of ethical considerations. Many shoppers now consider the ethical considerations of the clothes they buy, with a generation rejecting the folly of fast fashion. Consumers are now concerned with where a t-shirt is made and what materials are used. If you want your business to get off the group and not sink under the weight of angry comments from environmentalists you need to find the most ethical manufacturer you can.

    T-shirts have always made a statement. But with so many voices out there and so many other businesses trying to do the same, all we can suggest is be like the T and rewrite the rules. Take your designs, your brand, your product, and your service and just do it differently.

  • How Ecommerce Technology Is Fuelling an Entrepreneurship Revolution

    How Ecommerce Technology Is Fuelling an Entrepreneurship Revolution

    We all need a career it’s – the thing that puts food our tables, heats up our homes, and lets us live the way we want to.

    Most people prize stability and security when mapping out their career moves, and it makes sense to do this – it’s stressful not knowing where your next paycheck is coming from, especially if you have a family to look after.

    This is why using a Professional Services Job Board remains one of the most popular ways to build a career and it’s one that helps countless people to feel good about the choices they make about their future.

    However, if you aspire to not only take charge of your professional destiny but also rule it with an iron fist, regardless of your circumstances or where you come from, then you’re living in the right era. In many ways, the internet has served as the great leveler: granting everyone access to resources and tools, be they young or old, rich or poor, male or female.

    One of the biggest driving forces behind this march towards equality of opportunity, oddly enough, is ecommerce. Ecommerce — online retail — is ruthlessly profit-driven. When new technology with real-world potential comes along, ecommerce retailers will immediately look for ways to profit from it. And as self-serving as this is, it also ensures two things:

    • Firstly, that fresh technologies and methods get enough exposure and testing to be viable for mainstream use. Proving that something can be used for profit ensures that it will get enough mainstream attention to be viable for other use cases.
    • Secondly, anyone with a gift for sales can make their fortune. Anyone can run an ecommerce store, and since profit is the only meaningful metric in the end, successful retailers and SaaS providers will readily embrace anyone capable of delivering it.

    Furthermore, if you aspire to financial independence but lack a specific plan, ecommerce is the perfect path for trying things out and incrementally finding your niche. In short, today’s ecommerce technology is changing how people — particularly young people — view entrepreneurship. Here’s how:

    It’s leading the dissolution of the 9-to-5 routine

    Are set office hours really all that useful? When there’s a team working on shared projects within a shared environment, it’s valuable to have everyone around simultaneously, but otherwise it’s rather antiquated to insist that everything adhere to an 8-hour period in the middle of the day. It’s bad for both efficiency and morale.

    Ecommerce has been about flexibility from the beginning, for obvious reasons. Outside of the practical elements (such as handling customer support requests), it doesn’t call for specific hours — shoppers can place their orders whenever they wish to, day or night. Merchants don’t need to be glued to their screens. They can go elsewhere, doing whatever they like as long as they fulfill their responsibilities. It’s tremendously freeing.

    Ecommerce stores have also been leading the world in shopping and entrepreneurship flexibility. Consequently, having a strong marketing strategy is a must. Strategies like performance marketing help ecommerce businesses focus on consumer behaviors and that helps businesses reach consumers on mobile. This further alleviates the 9-5 routine as stores can now be anywhere at any time.

    It’s ensuring escalating usability standards

    When ecommerce first became established as an industry to watch, smartphones were yet to achieve their current ubiquity. In fact, mobile browsing was still more of a concept than a practicality. But over the course of a decade, the smartphone browsing experience went from a concept to the dominant form of online access.

    Would this have happened regardless of the influence of ecommerce? Yes, eventually. But that quickly? It doesn’t seem likely. It was that unstoppable desire for profit that saw businesses invest heavily in perfecting the mobile experience — and today, it’s the ecommerce industry that’s pushing the advancement of usability.

    Why does this matter for entrepreneurs? There are two reasons: it makes it easier for them to create appealing mobile interfaces for their stores, and it makes it easier for them to run their stores. After all, usability isn’t just for the front-end. Admin dashboards of today are incredibly intuitive compared to their predecessors.

    It’s greatly lowering the barrier to entry

    Back when an entrepreneur needed to secure premises to establish their own business, everything was complex and intimidating. There was the not-insignificant matter of rent, the problem of commuting, and the practical demands of turning a hired space into somewhere suitable for serving customers.

    Today, that barrier no longer exists. Anyone who wants to dip a toe into ecommerce can do so without any major initial investment. They can approach it from any angle, prioritizing their tactics based on their unique resources. If they’re time-poor but cash-rich, they can just pay for stores before reworking them or tuning them up to sell later. If they’re cash-poor but time-rich, however, they can painstakingly develop their own stores (it’s easy to find software), designing all the elements themselves to avoid the expense of paying for assistance.

    And then there’s the prevalence of automation tools that greatly boost the ease with which an entrepreneur can run their store. Everything from email marketing and PPC ads to feedback collection and lead attribution can be made hugely easier through the use of intuitive automation software. Taken on aggregate, ecommerce software is transformational — enough to take a novice to financial independence if they approach it correctly.

    As we’ve seen, the influence of ecommerce (both directly and indirectly) continues to drive technology that is flooding the online world with entrepreneurial opportunities. The major takeaway from this for the B2B world? Keep your best employees happy. They likely know that they can build independent careers if necessary, so you must ensure that they’re content and satisfied in their roles.

    For more information on starting your own ecommerce business, don’t forget to check out my guides or blog for the latest news, tips and advice.

  • How To Develop A Pricing Strategy That Is Perfect For Your Products

    How To Develop A Pricing Strategy That Is Perfect For Your Products

    Pricing your products is a tricky thing. What might seem simple at first — simply identify the wholesale product cost, and then up the price to get a profit — is actually quite complex.

    There are several different ways you can develop a pricing strategy. To help you navigate this tricky area, I’ve identified some common pricing strategies that you can use for your own products. Read on to discover how to develop a pricing strategy that suits your products perfectly.

    How to price your product

    There are many different pricing strategies that you can use as a retailer, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. I’ll dig into a few later, but first, let’s go through the basics of pricing your product.

    Calculate your variable costs

    The first thing to consider when you’re pricing your product are the costs of goods sold. These involve all the necessary expenses that go into producing, marketing, and shipping your product. These won’t stay the same — they will vary according to the product you’re pricing.

    Depending on the product you’re selling, these costs might involve:

    • Manufacturing time: how much time is spent making these products, and how much per hour do they cost you in labor?
    • Shipping: labor time, courier fees, and so on
    • Packaging: more delicate products might require more expensive packaging materials.
    • Raw materials: if you produce your products yourself, how much are the raw materials that go in them?
    • Marketing materials: whether it’s leaflets or paid ads, consider how much these cost per product.

    Once you’ve identified all these variable costs, you can accurately work out the final cost of goods sold per product.

    Calculate your profit markup

    Now you’ve got your cost per goods sold, it’s time to add a profit markup. This includes your profit into the final price of your product at sale.

    When you’re calculating your profit margin, bear in mind that you’re only calculating it based on the variable costs per product. This won’t include the fixed costs that your business incurs, such as hosting costs or business utilities.

    You should also consider what prices you’re up against in terms of your competitors. If your profit margin far exceeds that of your business rivals, then your customers won’t be impressed.

    With that in mind, take your variable costs and divide them by 1 less your required profit markup as a decimal.

    So, let’s say your variable cost per product is $15, and your profit margin is 30%. In this scenario, it would be expressed as:

    $15 / (1 – 0.3)

    This leaves us with a product price of $21.43.

    Once you’ve got this final price, conduct a break-even analysis to calculate how many units you need to sell to cover your fixed costs (or find a useful break-even template here). This will help you make accurate forecasts for the year ahead, and you can determine how to set a product price that works for you.

    What pricing strategies are open to you?

    There are several different pricing strategies open to retailers. Here are just a few common strategies you should consider.

    Keystone pricing

    This is the most common strategy used by retailers when pricing their products. In short, it involves doubling the original wholesale price of a product to identify what it should be sold at to the customer.

    But it’s not as simple as that. There are several factors that can affect keystone pricing.

    For example, if your sales are irregular or require significant handling costs, then your final retail price might not account for the extra work involved. Conversely, if your products are popular or readily sold elsewhere, you might need to reduce the retail cost to increase sales.

    While keystone pricing is simple and easy to follow, it can easily get complicated. Depending on your business and the products you sell, you might need to iterate with your prices to find the right one for you.

    Manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP)

    Manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) refers to the recommended price of a product as stipulated by the original manufacturer. This strategy helps keep product prices the same when sold by different retailers.

    Products covered by MSRP are usually those which have to conform to accepted industry standards, for example, home appliances such as ovens or refrigerators. MSRP means that big-ticket items aren’t priced at wildly varying amounts.

    MSRP makes it simple for retailers — simply save time and follow the recommended pricing plan. However, this does prevent you from getting competitive with your prices. Your competition likely sells the same product for the same price, so getting ahead can be tricky.

    Discount pricing

    Discounting is a solid pricing strategy that virtually every business uses, and with great success.

    While you might get less money in return for your product, the other gains are considerable: higher traffic to your store, an opportunity to upsell other products (and get rid of unsold stock), and the chance to reach a whole new consumer base who might not usually visit your store.

    But be wary: too much discounting can negatively impact your business, especially with big-ticket items. As Jennifer Diepstraten says in Marketing Speak podcast, “if somebody is willing to discount and low ball just to get the business, they just destroyed their perception of value.” Be cautious with your discounts — apply them where necessary, but don’t go overboard just to drive traffic to your store.

    Bundle pricing

    As the name suggests, bundle pricing refers to the bundling of several items for a single price. This is most commonly seen with products like groceries or clothing, but other industries also employ it too.

    Bundling products can actually increase sales. Customers feel as though they’re getting more bang for their buck when the saving they’re actually making is generally less than they perceive. However, this also means that selling those same products individually is trickier. Customers feel as though they’re missing out, and may be less likely to buy them alone.

    Pricing your product can be tricky. But with the tips above, it’s easy to find the right pricing structure for your products. Don’t be afraid to update your prices as you go — iteration is key to a successful pricing strategy. Use the knowledge here to find the perfect pricing strategy for your products today.

  • How To Start A Side Hustle Business On A Shoestring Budget

    How To Start A Side Hustle Business On A Shoestring Budget

    Running a business on a shoestring budget isn’t easy, but it can be done. In this post, we look at what goes into forming a shoestring business budget, and offer some tips for starting a business that doesn’t need a lot of money to succeed.

    Money may be the root of all evil, but it also makes the world go round, and there are some things that are particularly tough to accomplish without a hefty budget on your side. Case in point: starting a business. It’s easy to start listing all the tasks ahead of you and see the ever-escalating costs loom ominously in your mind’s eye.

    But while it’s definitely tough to start a business without significant funding, it’s far from impossible — particularly if you’re viewing it as a side hustle. If you’re not giving up your regular working routine, then you’ll still have money coming in, and you won’t need to commit enough resources to shape it into your primary source of income.

    So if you have great aspirations for an engaging and profitable side business, but you don’t have the funding to just throw money at the project, then you’ll need to get creative. Let’s get into some tips for running a small business with an even smaller budget.

    Chase your inspirations for advice

    Some say that knowledge is power, and if that’s the case, then the internet is the closest humanity has come to achieving nuclear fusion. Social media has only added to this: having become accepted by the mainstream, it’s amazingly become perfectly normal for influential entrepreneurs, academics and experts to spend significant amounts of time on social media.

    Here’s what this means for you: there’s a huge chance that you can not only learn from the teachings of your business inspirations but also speak to them. Getting that type of correspondence for free is something that would have seemed ludicrous even a decade ago, but has now become commonplace in the online world.

    You don’t even have to put a lot of time or even effort into it — it might be as simple as finding someone’s Twitter account and sending them a message, or just emailing them. If you’re polite, respectful, and inquisitive, there’s every chance that they’ll get back to you with some invaluable tips, and possibly even relevant connections.

    Use all the free resources you can find

    As well as connecting you to experts, the internet supplies a near-inexhaustible variety of free (or cheap) tools and resources, and you can make good use of them to keep your costs down. Just about any task you can think of will have some suitable type of utility or mobile app. To handle your finances, for example, you can use free software such as ZipBooks.

    And as you make your way through the numerous parts that go into starting a business, such as choosing a product or service to focus on, figuring out legal requirements, choosing a company name, and launching your first website, you’ll benefit massively from looking around for relevant guides (and free services).

    Most of the time, you only need to type “free guide to [your topic]” and you’ll find a good selection of useful guides. Marketing, creating digital media, pricing services… If it’s a common part of the business process, you’ll have plenty of pieces to choose from. You can even check social media for links to the most popular recommendations.

    Additionally, don’t overlook the value of forms and sites like Reddit for getting some community assistance. Got an idea for your business and want a wide range of comments? Why not post about it on the r/smallbusiness subreddit? Say that you want to start a business but could use some advice. Take each reply with a grain of salt, by all means, but remember how much free consultation assistance you’re getting.

    Spend your money very wisely

    Having a shoestring budget is entirely different from having no budget at all, and you will need to spend it to get your business going. What will make all the difference is how you spend it. To be maximally successful, you must think very carefully about where your money will make the most difference (something that can be tricky to determine).

    Here’s why it’s harder than you might realize to distribute your shoestring budget: while there are plenty of tasks that you can handle manually (ostensibly at no cost), running a business takes up a lot of time (and that’s after starting a business, which is also a big time-sink).

    Furthermore, you’re actually building a side business, so you have plenty of obligations already on your plate. What’s the use in working on something for 10 hours to save $20 when 10 hours of your limited time is worth far more than that?

    Consider a classic example from the ecommerce world: setting up a website for doing some part-time sales work. You want your website to feel yours, so you work on the setup for hours, days, even weeks until it feels good enough to go live. It’s satisfying to put that much work into something — but could that time be more valuable spent elsewhere?

    Probably, yes. Diversifying merchants often sell their online businesses, and might not even charge that much. If you’re done with a website, keeping it doesn’t help you, so offloading it for even a small sum is worthwhile. There are vast online marketplaces of ecommerce stores that are largely ready to use, and it’s much easier than you’d expect to find one cheap enough to support a business on a shoestring budget.

    Which is more cost-effective? Creating your own site, or finding something from an existing site market? Again, we return to the cost of your time. Even if you judge an hour of your attention to be worth $30 (you should be valuing it at a much higher rate, but let’s start low), does that compare favorably to spending $50 on a site that already works perfectly?

    Spend an 8-hour day designing a website from scratch, and that’s a $240 cost by your estimation. Sometimes, spending money is the only way to save money. Use your expertise to build your business, but don’t get stuck on trying to do everything yourself.

    Convince someone to partner with you

    If you just can’t see a way to make things work on your shoestring budget, then perhaps the answer is to bring two modest budgets together to make something viable. Pooling resources for a side hustle can work extremely well if you choose the partner sensibly and you’re extremely clear about the terms of the agreement.

    Maybe you work with someone who might be interested, or you have a friend with budding entrepreneurial inclinations. Most people can see the appeal of running a small business, so there’s an excellent chance that you’ll know someone who’d give it a shot.

    You might even find that your boss is open to pursuing a joint venture — an option that could make it a lot easier to balance your regular workload with your side hustle (but could also make the office a more complicated place, so tread carefully).

    If you have long-term goals for your side hustle that require it to be a solo operation, you can agree on some type of bowing-out point for your partner: once you reach a point at which the returns have given you a sufficiently solid footing to work alone, your partner can take a decent payout and leave everything to you. It could be the solution you need.

    Making the best of a business on a shoestring budget is extremely challenging, but you mustn’t let this hold you back from pursuing your ambitions. Follow some or all of these tips as you start a business, and you’ll have a greater shot at success.

  • 7 Great Ways To Measure The Performance Success Of Podcast Marketing

    7 Great Ways To Measure The Performance Success Of Podcast Marketing

    Since podcasting first achieved mainstream attention through the iPod (the product that provided its name), it’s gone from a niche amateur pursuit to a huge industry replete with influential stars, incredible reach, and more money than early podcasters could have imagined.

    This development alone would have made it a golden avenue for advertisers, but it offers a further benefit: podcast listeners are less likely to skip ads, because most podcasts progress at a leisurely pace and there’s no great rush to get back to the content.

    Podcast marketing is clearly a great option for marketers, then — but how do you track the results? You can’t stick to conventional online tracking because you don’t have that level of control, but you can’t settle for roughly gauging the results.

    To make it easier to accurately determined how well your podcast marketing is going, here are 7 straightforward ways to better measure your success:

    Learn the industry terminology and standards

    I’m not an investment banker, and I don’t have the first clue about bonds or dividends. That doesn’t mean that I can’t invest money and see a good reason, but it does mean that I’m at a major disadvantage when it comes to optimization. I can’t look take elements into account if I don’t understand them or even know that they exist.

    Podcast marketing has a fair range of specific terms that are worth reading about. Do you know what “off script” or “mid-roll” mean in the context of an ad? And what of the standards — do you know what you can expect from each platform? Review this guide from AdvertiseCast and ensure that you feel comfortable with everything before you start advertising.

    Work with transparent podcasts and networks

    As with any type of advertising that requires a medium, your choice of podcast advertising partner matters enormously — not just in their reach, but in their attitude and operation. This is because you’ll rely on them to provide you with information about the performance of your ads, and you need that information to be thorough and accurate.

    Unfortunately, many podcasters try to obscure their performance metrics to make themselves appear more successful. They might claim certain numbers but never provide any proof, or vaguely allude to accomplishments without getting specific. To better measure your marketing success, it’s absolutely imperative that you thoroughly vet your advertising partners before running any campaigns.

    Thoroughly tally your costs

    What ultimately matters for your marketing is return on investment (ROI): considering what you get back versus what you put in. And for podcasting, the relatively novel nature of the platform can easily lead someone to fail at considering the costs.

    Think about what can go into creating a podcast ad. If you develop it in-house, there’s the purchase (or rental) of high-performance recording equipment and any software or hardware needed for editing, plus the cost of the time of skilled professionals. How much time goes into the creative process? It all warrants inclusion.

    Now, you can’t necessarily directly compare your costs to your ROI, because much of your ROI may not be directly financial. For example, a new brand can achieve a lot of exposure that doesn’t immediately lead to sales, but will produce them in the long run. But if you make an effort to assign monetary values to your conversion goals, knowing your costs will be invaluable.

    Use A/B testing

    Regardless of the type of podcast ad you choose, you can run A/B testing easily enough. Dynamic insertion ads are placed into allocated gaps in podcasts, and can change from day to day — this makes them perfect for A/B testing, because you can enter several ads into one pool and readily compare the results. And with fixed placement ads, you can simply request that your ads be split evenly from the beginning.

    Why is this so important for measuring success? Because success is relative. You might think that your ad is performing very well, but until you run it against a competitor, you won’t know if it’s doing the best job possible.

    Provide promo codes and custom URLs

    Now we’re getting into the particulars of measuring performance, and the two most popular tactics for this are providing promo codes and directing people to custom URLs. Affiliate programs contribute some flexibility to the advertising process: an advertiser can negotiate a cheaper rate for ad insertion by offering the platform commission for the sales it contributes, tracking those sales through unique codes or URLs.

    Furthermore, affiliate schemes are available to podcasters lacking the audience to attract regular sponsors, and if you find the right growing podcasts willing to believe in what you’re offering, you can get some advertising with an appealing hook: if it doesn’t lead to sales, you don’t pay anything.

    Monitor your brand on social media

    As noted, ROI might be financial in the end, but it isn’t always financial along the way. Suppose that you have some podcast ads that use promo codes and URLs to achieve trackable results, but you’re not seeing any conversions. Does that mean that the ads are failing? Well, not necessarily — it requires more investigation.

    At that point, it’s very useful to head to any and all relevant social media channels to find out what people are saying about your brand. You may discover that people are speaking positively about your ads, but concluding that your company in general doesn’t seem credible enough, or that something about your product fails to convince them. If so, you may conclude that your ads are performing excellently, and it’s the rest of your process that’s falling short.

    Survey your target audience

    People certainly enjoy discussing their thoughts at length on social media, but not everything will get painstakingly documented. If you want to know more about what people are thinking and what they make of your ads, you’ll need to go directly to them for feedback. By aggregating audience information from your selected podcast partners and your customers, you can form a very useful focus group of sorts.

    Ask people likely to have been exposed to your podcast ads if they’ve heard of you. Use prompts from your ads to gauge their recall. Ask them questions about their favorite ads and placement techniques. Then ask your customers if your podcast ads played a role in driving them to convert. If so, to what extent?

    The answers you take from this feedback-gathering efforts will help you determine the extent to which your podcast marketing is driving conversions, and identify opportunities for tweaking your approach to better suit those who might be interested in what you’re offering but have yet to be convinced by your ads.

    These 7 suggestions aren’t to be attempted in isolation: they must all be done if you want to achieve optimal levels of success. And given the vast reach (and high ceiling) of podcasting, you want to squeeze as much from it as you can.