Why we abandoned Amazon and eBay
In business, you must always be on the lookout for so-called Black Swan events. This may seem a bit illogical, but the point is that everything you rely upon in business has the potential to...
View ArticleInternet Sales Tax Isn’t About Fairness
If you listened to the politicians tell it, the story of main street retailers needing online stores to charge and collect sales tax is all about fairness. To again quote McEnroe, “You cannot be...
View ArticleCredit Card Processing Sucks
Credit cards are cool. They make online shopping possible. But credit card processing, the system by which money moves from a customer to a merchant, totally sucks. It sucks for three reasons: cost,...
View ArticleThinking of starting a business? Think again!
I’ve been running my own small business for over a decade and I often speak with people who are thinking about starting their own business. Listening to their expectations usually results in my...
View ArticleContent is King and Time is Your Queen
In your business, you must focus on two things: content and time. They are both equally important and inextricably intertwined. Great content will never go out of style. Seriously, there’s a ... The...
View ArticleSell banner advertising? Yeah. Sell banner advertising.
You should sell ads on your e-commerce site. I’ve yet to find evidence that putting banner advertising on your e-commerce site to be a bad thing. I know it sounds counter ... The post Sell banner...
View ArticleAre you using social media all wrong?
Social media is probably the worst advertising vehicle for small ecommerce merchants I’ve found. Well, perhaps advertising on a park bench would be worse, but social media is pretty darned ... The post...
View ArticlePlease start shipping internationally
Our international orders represent approximately 15 to 20 percent of our total sales. That’s huge. We achieved this level of success through a variety of simple tactics, which I’ll outline ... The post...
View ArticleBeware retargeting
Advertising is a pain in the butt. It’s expensive. It requires constant maintenance, and it’s not always measurable. In our industry, though, we tend to think that we can determine ... The post Beware...
View ArticleYou’ll always lose a price war
Competing on price is a stupid tactic because it’s easy. Any idiot can undercut his competitors. Making money with this tactic, however, is rare. Only a few companies can pull ... The post You’ll...
View Article7 ways to lose less money on shipping
Shipping sucks. It’s expensive, time consuming, fraught with peril, expensive, undervalued by your customers, and did I mention that it’s getting more expensive by the day? You can thank Amazon for ......
View ArticleShould merchants accept Bitcoin?
I was recently asked if ecommerce merchants should accept Bitcoin. My answer is a resounding “yes.” I can think of only a few minor downsides and many major upsides to ... The post Should merchants...
View Article7 tips for building your YouTube channel
My company’s YouTube channel has roughly 1.2 million subscribers. Here are seven pointers that have helped us reach that number. 1. Determine Your Goals for the Channel First, it’s important to decide...
View ArticleUsing Amazon to build an ecommerce brand
I love Amazon, both as a consumer and as a seller. There isn’t a more effective place to launch a brand and learn about consumer behavior than the Amazon marketplace. In ... The post Using Amazon to...
View ArticleUsing Amazon to launch NuPeptin, my new brand
Launching a brand or ecommerce business is risky and expensive. You can do all of the research in the world, but until the rubber hits the road, you really don’t ... The post Using Amazon to launch...
View ArticleFor success on Amazon, sell your own brands
I have been selling on Amazon for many years. I have learned a few things about how to use the marketplace to expand and enhance my ecommerce efforts. In this ... The post For success on Amazon, sell...
View ArticleTo drive sales on Amazon, optimize keywords
There are three ways to sell on Amazon. First, you can become an Amazon vendor, a first-party wholesaler of your products to Amazon, to resell. There are marketing opportunities for this ... The post...
View ArticleAdvertising options for Amazon marketplace sellers
In “To drive sales on Amazon, optimize keywords,” my previous post, I discussed the importance of keywords on the Amazon marketplace, especially for sellers using Fulfillment by Amazon. Keyword...
View ArticleCan ecommerce marketplaces expand a brand?
It’s funny how ecommerce brands fear established online marketplaces. When I discuss with those brands selling on Amazon, Walmart.com, Sears.com or any of the hundreds of online marketplaces, I often...
View Article2 strategies to boost Amazon sales
Amazon is a great additional sales channel for any ecommerce company. Not only will it provide incremental sales, but it also provides brand exposure. In my prior posts, I have focused ... The post 2...
View ArticleWill Amazon’s Brand Registry restrict marketplace sellers?
There are two types of Amazon sellers. Both can be successful. The first type is a reseller of other brands. This is a highly competitive type of selling with very small profit ... The post Will...
View Article2 new marketing options for FBA sellers on Amazon’s Brand Registry
There have been many articles and discussions over the past few weeks about Amazon’s Brand Registry. We’ve addressed it here, at “Will Amazon’s Brand Registry restrict marketplace sellers?” and “Why...
View ArticleHow we increased our international business 40%
We increased our international business 40% recently. Our international packages, prior to this change, represented approximately 9.6% of all shipments. Since we made this change, they now account for...
View Article10 Ways to Make Your Video Not Suck
As I’ve pointed out in previous blog posts, I know a few things about video production. Photography and videography are a passion of mine. So, listen up, please! Nearly every tutorial that explains...
View ArticleYou’ve got a search box, right?
Users who use search on your website convert at a much higher rate than those who don’t. On my website, the difference is striking. Visits with search convert about 500% higher than those without...
View ArticleThe Free Traffic Myth
The obsession over search engine result page (SERP) placement stems from the erroneous thought that traffic gained via this source is free. It isn’t. The cost associated with ranking well for...
View ArticleMimic Amazon at your own peril
Amazon is the largest internet retailer. Copy them and you, too, could end up just like them. Do this at your own peril! In their most recent quarterly results (Q2 2012), Amazon turned in “impressive”...
View ArticleBuilding traffic the right (aka hard) way
Building an online business starts with traffic. Without traffic, you have no purpose. So, how does one do this? It will take a long time, a lot of hard work, and probably a bit of luck. But you can...
View ArticleHow to negotiate successfully
In business, almost everything is negotiable. The key to successful negotiating, however, is figuring out when to spend time and energy negotiating and how to maximize your negotiations. In the...
View ArticleIs Affiliate Marketing Dead?
This is going to be a short blog post and for that I will apologize up front. But, I intended for this to be more of a comment-driven exploration than a “this is how you do this” type of blog post....
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