Email harvesting


fudjj
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29 Mar 17 10:27:08 pm
For those who have taken the step to creating their own website, making the most of the traffic that you are drawing is important...so important that it can be the difference between success and very quick failure.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that every one that hits your website is a customer, they aren't. However, don't make the other mistake of thinking that every one that hits isn't a POTENTIAL customer, because they are. So the question then is what are you doing to create that potential into cash-flow for your business?

Email harvesting is quite possibly one of the MOST important aspects of marketing that you need to be following through on. Every time you get a website hit that doesn't result in either a sale or at least the collection of an email address is a missed opportunity and they can stack up really quickly, which means that's cash not going into your pocket.

So how do you harvest emails effectively?

That's the easy part, I'm not going to personally recommend any software here, it's easy enough to find once you start looking for it or simply speak with your website developer, they'll know all about harvesting software.

Currently, some of the most effective harvesting software are giveaways. The customer enters the site, they're invited to enter into your giveaway competition to win a or some great prizes and all they have to do to enter is simply provide you with their email address to go into the draw ........ now you've just harvested an email. That now gives you a direct line to market to that POTENTIAL customer and convince them to start spending some cash with you.

Now there are plenty of these software packages available for simple website integration, but it's important to remember that you still need to engage with your customers. Many have already grown tired of simple popup prize windows and tent to just close them and move on, so it's well worth trying to be creative and offer something just a little different to get the customer's attention.

Speak with your website developer, a good creative developer will have plenty of ideas if you need them.

For my money, anyone spending money on a website without a good effective email harvester in action is wasting opportunities and wasted opportunities in this business equals lost cash!


Mark (fudjj)

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SaleHoo.com

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tobias_hellerud
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30 Mar 17 05:35:32 am
Hi, I really like this site, and I think I will have a Good time here. Im just wondering how to start, have do I Get some products to sell? I made a Facebook plage, and belive Thats a Good start. I just need something to post, products. And how does the payment Work? They paye me, and I pay you, Them the product gets send out?

The product comes on the door to the customer, or postoffice?

Thank u for answer!
Tobias Silenti


fudjj
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30 Mar 17 07:37:55 am
Hi Tobias and welcome to the forum

Just to clarify, SaleHoo provides a directory of verified suppliers, we aren't an actual supplier our self. Now from what you say, I think you're talking about drop-shipping, so what you do is go to the directory, search for drop-shippers in what ever category you are interested in. Once you find a supplier you would like more information about, contact them directly with the contact information provided on their profile page.

If you want to do business with them, you can then apply for an account with them. If approved, you then have permission to market their products to your customers. So essentially, you list the product/s you want to sell at your sale price, then when you make a sale, you log into your account, process the sale, pay for the goods and the supplier then ships them directly to your customers address that they provide to you at the time of the sale.

Word of caution, if you have a new PayPal account you are using, you will most likely find that PayPal will put a hold on your account for approximately 4 weeks. So you will not be able to use the money paid by your customer to purchase the goods upfront, so ensure you have cash-flow available to process any orders during the hold period ... if using PayPal as your merchant.

Cheers


Mark (fudjj)

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pgooch2
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2 Apr 17 05:30:18 pm
Hi Mark,
I have been following a lot of your advice and tips, and find them very open and honest, a refreshing change in the online marketing platform! Thanks for that. I have had experience in selling on Ebay, and found the same problems you refer to, ie, wholesale buyers, people buying direct from factories, etc, selling items that I could not come anywhere close to, on price. So, I am seriously considering purchasing a salehoo shop, I have 2 questions I would greatly appreciate your comments on.
1, you stress how important doing in-depth research is before deciding on what products to promote, but, how do I carry out this IN DEPTH? I can obviously search Amazon, and Ebay to get an average price, but what more do I need to investigate to confirm the product will sell in my store?
2. I will obviously need to secure plenty of traffic to my store which will mean accurate SEO. How and where do I find this vital information to get my shop seen online?


fudjj
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2 Apr 17 11:07:46 pm
Hi Pete,

Firstly, thanks for your kind words. As you say, there are plenty around that are happy to talk whatever garbage it takes to make a few dollars for themselves, but we live by a simply philosophy here. We can't always tell people what they want to hear, but we can always tell them what they need to hear.

To your questions

Research, there are quite a few different facets to effective research, but initial market research is all about identifying products that offer some potential. Our Lab offers members the opportunities to check to basic information, eBay also has a good feature that I think is often overlooked and that's the Completed Listings feature.

That will give you an indication on sell through rates on products and general sale prices. Of course that's all what we call surface data, without knowing all the details about those listings, you can't draw detailed conclusions, but it all goes towards painting a picture. So research is all about drawing on as many avenues as you can to try and put a half decent picture together.

A really good tool is Terapeak, of course that is a paid service because providing that level of research is actually super expensive. People don't realize, but companies like eBay charge a LOT of money to provide research data. We pay quite a lot for the access to the data we provide through eBay, but we have to limit it so we can absorb that cost and pass on to our members as free tool.

The thing about research is having the ability to decipher it accurately as well. Some times what you can't find out about a product can tell you far more than what you can from finding data. I know that's confusing and it's something that you really only gain from experience. It's not something that can be simply taught unfortunately, but those who have been in this business for a long time will know what I mean :)

Once you get a basic feel for a product/s, test marketing is always a great idea and this is where something like drop-shipping can really shine. It allows you to list products at no great expense, play with your listings, free shipping and so on, see how different listing strategies work over a period of time. There's nothing quite like firm sales data over an extended period of time to give you accurate information to move forward with.

Things like this is why you will see me write that it's a business and running it like a business takes time to get results. Without taking the time to really narrow down and understand your market so you can fine tune everything means you are kind of shooting in the dark mostly and that's very much a hit and miss strategy.

Is there ever any guarantee that a product is going to sell, well I guess you could always sell something 50% cheaper than anyone else and lose money, that might guarantee you a sale, but it can't guarantee you money of course. So in short, there is no guarantee on ever selling a product, there are simply far too many factors in play to ever be 100% sure. All you can possibly do in this business is to tick all the boxes, what I like to think of as the big boxes and the little ones as well. Those little 1% ones that many overlook, they are add up and can often make the difference between a sale or not!

Your second question. You're bang on about the traffic issue and being switched on to that aspect of having your own site is great, because despite everything else you do, no traffic means no sales.

There are many things you can do to market a website, but it all comes down to how much you can afford to spend. This is where the rubber really hits the road, it's the most important part of all in my opinion. Marketing drives sales, there isn't any ifs, buts or maybes, marketing drives sales ... that's just a fact.

In today's market, Social Media is where most money gets spent. Now if you aren't switched on in that field, I would strongly suggest hiring a Social Media Manager to take care of that for you. They can be expensive, so my suggestion would be to have them take on one account only, my personal priority would be Facebook. If they are delivering you plenty of traffic from their efforts, then you can consider taking them on for more accounts, Pinterest, Instagram and so on, it really comes down to the type of products you are selling and the market you are targeting as to where you can get the most bang for your buck with social media marketing.

I wouldn't suggest just going to a social media management company straight off the bat, sites like peopleperhour are a great freelance resource where you can post your requirements for contractors to bid on. Having competitors bid for your business is a good way of getting the best possible price.

Never over look eBay as a strong marketing avenue as well. People think of eBay as a very expensive option, but that's because they look at the platform as a sales channel. With your own site, you can flip that thinking 180 degrees and think of eBay as a marketing channel. Use it to drive traffic, not even try to make money from it. If you think of eBay in those terms, then it's not expensive at all, in fact it can provide some of the best value for dollar marketing you'll ever get your hands on.

Anyway, Pete. I hope that's given you some ideas moving forward, but just give me a shout anytime if need anything, happy to help in any way I can :)


Mark (fudjj)

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SaleHoo.com

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