With BuyBlogComments.com being over 1 year old and the launch of 2 other e-commerce sites since then I have learned a lot of lessons from e-commerce sites. If done right, you don’t have to spend too much time working on your e-commerce site. The trick is to find the best way to make your business as automated as possible, so you can spend your time finding buyers, working on support, and working on your other projects.
The main reason I started my own e-commerce sites was because I wouldn’t have to rely on anyone else anymore. Rely on something else for your money is a bad business model. Such as making your money with Adsense, or relying 100% on SEO traffic, or even working for someone else. What if your adsense account got banned, or Google penalized your site, or you got fired? You would be screwed! And those things happen all the time!
Here are 5 things I have learned from my e-stores:
1. Automate - The more time you spend getting buyers and less time with filling orders…the more money you will make. This is basic rule of any e-commerce store, but its very important! If you are a drop shipping store you need to find a way to automated the order process so you wont have to fill the orders and send them to the drop shipper, just like any other store. I spent a 3 days (14 hour plus days) last week building this totally remade backend for buyblogcomments.com and Buyanswerslinks.com. Now I can spend my time on getting more orders and working on support. Which leads me to my next lesson…
2. Support - A lot of people want to feel like they have someone devoted 110% to just there order. If they get great support from you, then they will order again and again. Finding a way to give them great support is hard, who has time to spend answering support emails or taking support calls all day? But you have to find a way too. Its pretty easy to make support as pretty automated, you can have all support tickets emailed to you so all you have to do is reply back to the email. But whatever you do, make sure that your clients can easily get ahold of you. The great support will increase your orders big time… trust me 
3. Marketing - This was the hardest part for me, finding a way to market my sites with min. money and time. *Cough* adwords. This is how I want to spend my time online. I dont want to be doing support and filling orders, so I automated those as much as I can so I can spend the good part of my time finding new ways to sell sell sell. I mostly use adwords and private advertising to get my products sold, however I am seriously looking into hiring someone based off commission to cold call people to get more products sold.
4. Your Store Needs An Identity Behind it - When Wendy’s’ owner Dave Thomas died and they replaced the commercials with that one creapy guy a few years ago… there sales went down like 50%. Have you ever noticed that all the top companys have people who represent there companys. Apple = Steve Jobs. Microsoft = Bill Gates. Allstate = Dennis Haysbert. Progressive = Creapy emo slut chick (Stephanie Courtney). That is why I have the developer hut toolbar on all my sites. People feel better that they are ordering from a company with an identity behind it, not just some random website.
5. Five hour energy is great - I had to throw this one in there. Haha. But 5 hour energy works great. Without 5 hour energy I wouldn’t be able to work so much and make my e-stores sucessful. My liver disagrees though.
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I heard that 5 hour energy was pretty nasty man. Never had the desire to try it though so i dont know for myself. I go old school with a giant cup of coffee. I also like to smoke a blunt before I sit down and work. Makes tedious work easier.
Yeah the shit is nasty… but oh my it works. Everyone says that pop helps. I have tried it and I cant focus. I get too relaxed…
holy crap, Dave Thomas died? no way! Well i guess we know the secret to a long life… don’t eat at Wendy’s.
Why would your liver disagree ?
Their website says…
“5-Hour Energy is packed with stuff that’s good for you — B-vitamins and amino acids. Zero sugar, zero net carbs and only four calories.”
@Marcel:
because his liver is an angry old man who disagrees with everything.