Whether your goal is to generate a passive residual income or create a recognizable brand, dropshipping is a great way to do that. Imagine working for yourself, setting your own hours, and having the ability to work wherever you are.
A dropshipping business gives you the flexibility to work from home, from your 9-5 job, or even while on vacation. It’s a perfect opportunity to create a supplemental income, and can even give you the ability to choose when and where to work.
Dropshipping is a business model that gives you the flexibility to operate an online store, without ever having to carry the product. You process orders, and ship directly from the supplier to your customer.
In the beginning, some may find dropshipping a bit intimidating. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be. That’s one reason we have designed these 10 dropshipping tips and best practices tips to help you take your existing dropshipping store to the next level, maximize profits and increase conversions.
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1. Don’t Just Learn Dropshipping, Practice it
The beauty of the internet is that there is always someone out there who wants to give information away for free. You can sign up for countless dropshipping tips and classes, and pay for endless dropshipping ebooks. Watch YouTube videos, read blogs, take free dropshipping courses, participate in forums, but don’t pay for knowledge. Use that money to invest in advertising or reinvest into your business.
2. Focus on Presentation
One of the biggest mistakes that new dropshippers make in their new retail store is creating their products without editing the product description provided by the distributor. Add items to your shop in small batches, 20 – 30 tops. This gives you the opportunity to review and edit the individual product descriptions to optimize them for maximum conversions.
3. Test your Product
As a drop shipper, it’s important that you take the opportunity to get to know your product. Have you ever ordered an item online, and what you received wasn’t what you expected? You have a responsibility to your customers to know what your product looks like. As a bonus, when you order product samples you’ll be able to take better photos of the product, have products available for SEO generating content creation (blogs, how to videos, etc.), and be able to answer customers’ questions.
4. Automate Your Website
Website automation is one of the fastest ways to ensure that you are able to generate a passive income. When you use automation tools, life opens back up to you. Automation tools automate social media postings, targeting emails, and so much more. Automating your website will simplify your life, and free up your time.
5. Ship via Epacket
Shipping from overseas can take forever, which isn’t the best way to keep your customers happy. By selecting vendors that use Epacket you’ll be able to get your product in your customers’ hands faster, and without exorbitant shipping prices. Your customers will be happy, and your reviews will reflect that.
6. Marketing is Gold
Automation tools are great for advertising on the go. Pursue your life, go to your 9-5. But don’t forget how valuable manually checking in each day can be. Check your social media business pages. Respond to customers. Answer questions. Today, nothing is more valuable than authenticity. Spending a little bit of time connecting with your customers leads to higher conversion.
7. Don’t Limit Your Suppliers
Limiting yourself to one supplier can lead to long term problems. That supplier may discontinue your best-selling product, or sell out unexpectedly. Using multiple product suppliers also means that when you order your product samples, you choose the supplier that has the best product. Having multiple suppliers will also give you a wider selection of items to choose from, so research alternative dropshippers to source your products.
8. Create Custom Content
Custom content is a fantastic way to generate traffic to your site. One of the best dropshipping tips is to do live product reviews on your social media pages. Start blogging to compare different types of products. Most importantly, make it about the products that you carry. If you carry women’s fashion, write about fashion week. If you feature children’s toys, share the top 10 toys for each of the last five decades, etc. Create content that people will want to share.
9. Snap it up
When possible, use your own images to really set your website apart. Using your own product images sets your brand apart. The photos that you create are ones that your customers will drool over, and they aren’t the same stock photos seen by every other dropship retailer. Make sure you know what you are doing, this can up your game, or it can reek off unprofessionalism.
10. Know Your Niche
We’ve saved the best (and the most important of the dropshipping tips) for the last. Don’t choose your niche based on what someone else says is going to sell. You need to select the best product for you. If you aren’t interested in the product that you are shipping, that’s going to come across to your target customers. They want to buy from someone who cares as much about their interest as they do. Otherwise, they’d order from Amazon.
Your interest, knowledge, and expertise are part of the package. Choose products that make sense for your niche. If you don’t succeed at first, your shop can go in a different direction down the road. When your website is too general it won’t make sense to your customers, and they won’t want to shop from you.
What’s next?
Well these were some of the best dropshipping tips on how to be a successful dropshipper. Just remember that starting an ecommerce business takes some time, effort and hardwork. Sometimes you are going to be successful, while other times you are going to have to change the game up. Customers will respond to different things at different times.
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The most successful dropshippers aren’t the ones that are set in their ways, the most successful dropshippers are the ones that aren’t afraid to try new things, take risks on new products, and explore new and innovative methods of marketing. Dropshipping can be extremely satisfying, and a great way to supplement your income or create a new stream of revenue, if you don’t give up.
Disclaimer: This is a guest post by Gonzalo Gil, Founder and CEO of 3dcart. The opinions and ideas expressed herein are author’s own, and in no way reflect Cloudways position.
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Gonzalo Gil
Founder and CEO of 3dcart, a leading online store builder ranked as the best ecommerce platform for SEO. As an ecommerce expert, Gonzalo works with businesses of all sizes to help them build their online presence and succeed selling online.
