Thread by @SchroedsBiz

[THREAD] I've sold millions of dollars worth of products online, and I know getting started can be the hardest part. I'm going to make a thread of some tips, and the tools I use to point you in the right direction.

Also, my DM's are always open if you have more questions. Some of my links can save you money, and I disclose the amount above the link to hopefully help you out!

Alright let's get started!

If you're selling products on your own website, Shopify is the way to go 100%. 14 day free trial, and plans start as little as $9/month. Super easy, beautiful themes, and an app store with thousands of awesome apps to beef up your site. A+ customer care

shopify.com/?ref=shelly-co…

Finding products can be tough. Shopify has articles on this, but you can do what's called "Drop Shipping". Essentially a customer buys from your store, that order goes to the supplier, and they ship it to your customer. You never touch it. App called "Oberlo" does this.

If you choose to ship products yourself, you don't want to write every label. You'll want a service that makes this fast and easy (and gives you commercial shipping rates). I use Shipstation every day, it's a lifesaver.

(Save $30 with this link)
mbsy.co/fjRPV

What about packaging? Believe it or not, eBay has the cheapest packaging materials I could find until you are ordering in the tens of thousands. Depending on what you're shipping, just search "polymailers", "padded mailers" or "shipping boxes". Starting out, definitely eBay.

PS... (If your package is over 1lb, you can often take advantage of the post office's free shipping supplies). I could go on about this, but it would be a whole other thread itself! I'll just leave it at that.

Packaging inserts (postcards, hang tags, etc): I really like UPrinting (uprinting.com). They have really good quality, a wide variety of products, and great customer service. Ordered tens of thousands of cards/tags from them and never been disappointed. Cheap af!

Fancier stickers: while UPrinting has stickers which are good for product labels, I like Stickermule for consumer stickers (ie. laptop/bottle stickers). I've had them on my laptop for 2-3 years and they're still perfect quality

Save $10 with this link
stickermule.com/unlock?ref_id=…

Product reviews: This is a slightly more advanced feature, and may not be necessary at the start, but still good to know. There's an app called Judge.Me on the app store for Shopify, and it's $15 a month. Super easy and customizable product review options. Love it!

Email marketing: I can't overstate how powerful email marketing is. If you're just starting out, Mailchimp is the way to go. Free for 2,000 subscribers, and some really cool templates. Great for beginners.

($30 in credits with this link)
eepurl.com/doHC9X

If you're a larger store/more advanced at email, Klaviyo is your move. It allows for auto-email, segmenting your customers based on previous actions, lovely templates, and really good integrations and insights. This is probably my favorite tool.

klaviyo.com/partner/signup…

Customer service: Honestly, for the longest time I just used Gmail (business suite). I just upgraded to ZenDesk, which is more advanced. Just starting out, I'd say use Gmail until you are getting bombarded with emails and need a way to speed up the process with canned answers

Website: So back to website best practices. Here's just some general tips I've observed over my 3+ years doing this.

1) Use REALLY good photography. You can't just take a shot with crappy lighting and expect people to really be inspired to buy your product. It needs to be taken with a DSLR in nice lighting. Either learn how to do this or hire someone! I can't stress this enough

2) Make sure you have a good "about us" page, and a FAQ page that addresses things your customers are going to ask! This provides peace of mind, and opens the door for them to contact you if something isn't on there.

3) Don't overdo it with offers/sales. Some people think they need to put everything on sale for people to think they're getting a good deal. That's not true! It makes your site look cheap and people are going to question why there's a sale.

A better idea is to use email to capture people on your website, and then run a flash sale if they didn't buy with you.

4) ALWAYS be creating and innovating. You can't just expect people to stay interested in your brand for no reason. You have to be pushing unique, and quality content every day. That means engaging with them, asking questions, doing IG Live, etc. Make them excited!

I'll be adding to this the more I think of stuff. Hopefully this was somewhat beneficial to someone. If you have a friend who wants to be an entrepreneur, shoot this there way! Cheers.