My eCom Journey – Dave’s Daily Journal Issue #1

Introduction

Hi, Everyone…

Today I am starting a new series of posts on my e-commerce journey. I will add in notes, thoughts, case studies, training, and tips over this series, and using the search feature on the site you will be able to find subjects of interest to you.

The reason I am doing this is to help you and myself. I regularly keep a diary of what my daily activities entail, and this is helpful as I go about building my online business. This series will bring some of the highlights of that running notebook right to you…

I also have Facebook groups and pages that I will use to share these posts, and between all of them, we will get the word out to as many people as possible. Of course, I will also work to make sure that what I post is going to help you.

As more people become aware of this series, I am hoping that they add their own experiences, their questions, tips, advice as well to what I have published, and together we grow our business. That is the grand plan for the series, now let’s dig into what I will cover today…

Where It Began…

I started my online journey a little over three years ago, not long at all compared to my background in marketing and sales (over 20 years) and my military career (25 years). I have, however, come a long way over these last few years, from a neophyte to having a pretty good grasp on the essentials of what it takes to make a living online.

I dabbled in offline marketing to businesses, as I thought with my background it would be an easy transition, and soon discovered that there were too many things I just did not know. It was a bit of money thrown at an idea, and it did make me realize I needed to gain a strong base of knowledge about online marketing prior to spending much money or effort, or I would be wasting my time…

Shortly after getting started online I came to across a super training site called Wealthy Affiliate. You can find reviews of that site right here on this blog – WEALTHY AFFILIATE REVIEW. The excellent training and support I found helped point me in the right direction for all that has followed. I am forever grateful for having that site available to me.

Affiliate Marketing…

The Wealthy Affiliate site taught me how to set up niche websites (this is one!), plan for a niche to focus on, how to plan and create effective posts and reviews that included SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques to get organic (free) traffic, and answer all of the many questions a newbie will have as they get started (I had a million!).

I started some IM sites and got busy creating useful posts on all aspects of online marketing, publishing posts on a pace that was unsustainable. Of course, it takes time to get attention to your content, and I found myself getting burned out. Lots of work, lots of content, but few results. This kind of marketing online takes time. You have to have patience and fortitude!

Today I still am into affiliate marketing, but to augment that income (commissions from sales of products, tools, and services) I decided I needed to expand my horizons for online marketing. I really intended to make this into a full-time income and I knew I needed to make some changes.

That is when e-commerce came to mind. I read lots of stories of people making massive amounts of money quickly. That was attractive to me (and likely is to you too!?), so I decided to dig into it and see if it was something that might work for me.

My E-Commerce Move…

There are a number of so-called ‘gurus’ out there that are anxious to sell you their latest idea or get rich scheme at a high cost (much like affiliate marketing ‘gurus’) but for the most part, I feel that these are a waste of money, at least from what I experienced.

The business itself is easy to conceptualize as is affiliate marketing. The devil is in the details.

These e-commerce series of posts you will find on my site will cover every aspect of planning, setting up, and operating a successful e-commerce business. I do not need a lot of money from you to pass this on, rather together we will grow.

Schedule of Posts:

I have in mind an orderly set of published posts that will take you from the beginning stages right through advanced techniques and tactics. Over time, you will have the complete picture to include detailed tips and advice, based on my own journey on how to go about your business.

Training, Tips, Tools, and Advice…

Inside the posts, I will offer you access to some of the materials that I have developed or purchased that will help you. Of course, I will most of the time give them away for free, or better said, in return for your email address and name.

This is an essential element of any online business. Building a list of people that are all interested in similar things will allow you to communicate with them on a regular basis. That is what I want to do. Of course, we will also build the Facebook group and business pages at the same time…

My hope is that we get a lot of interested people as more and more see that I am here to help, and there are a lot of other people that are just the same as they are – looking for some candid, no BS advice and training. Together we will make this into something special.

What’s In This For Me?

I get to lay out my thoughts and journey for you to follow, pass on my own insights as to what worked and did not work from my own e-commerce efforts, and you get to gain the insights and add YOUR insights, experiences, and advice. I like that.

Of course, I do have other services that I offer the online marketer: training, video creation, bot services, content, app services, etc. My hope is that some of you will decide that one or more of these will be something that you can use to leverage your own efforts and become successful faster when it comes to online business.

What’s In It For You?

You will have access to first-person, real-time details on how someone who is growing a solid business online is doing it. The steps, the mistakes, the successes and the failures. You can save yourself from making the same mistakes and go on to make your own!

Here you can share your own experiences with other like-minded people. Together we are stronger than individuals and you can lean on and tap into the other people who are also working their businesses. You also will get access to the many free tools and other content I will offer.

So It Begins…

Now that you know a little bit of where I have been and where I am going, and how I plan to help you get started or grow your online e-commerce business, I do hope that you will check in here and on the Facebook Group and Business pages I have to stay abreast and become a participating member of our community…

Here is an image of some of these Facebook pages:

What Are The Pages About?

If you look through the list, you will see that they are a combination of training, review, and online store support sites. Today, the Facebook platform has about 1.3 billion users a day. You simply cannot ignore that platform if you are involved in online business.

How Do I Use The Pages?

I have groups where like-minded people post their ideas, questions, hints, and tips, and we all share with one another. I also add in any such content that I find in the many other groups I belong to that can help us all. For the store business pages, I have a live catalog of items that are synced directly with the store websites.

To get more interaction with site visitors and customers, I also am in the process of deploying a bot tool where AI comes into play. Having a series of preplanned responses for customers and visitors increases engagement, helps sales, and lets these people know that you are interested in their business.

You will see that same bot here on this website soon, I am in the process of implementing it now across all of my sites (it takes time and planning)…The one I am using now is a slimmed down version of what is coming. The bot tool works in tandem with the Facebook Messenger tool, and it has a lot of promise (you will learn why as we go along with this series)…

Here are just a couple of shots of what  these pages (and the associated stores) look like if you go to Facebook and find them:

(1) PureWhite Shop:

(1a) Facebook Business Page:

(2) Reva 5 Star Shop

(2a) Asscoiated Facebook Business Page

I could go on and on (altogether currently I have about 20 websites of one sort or another, and many more social accounts supporting them). This seems like a lot, I know. It is. The only way to keep up is to have some automation in place as well as some help ( I have both).

We will learn more about how I manage all this and some of the problems I have had keeping up with it all (and maybe you can suggest some new techniques or tools as we go along too!). Over time you will see how I came to the conclusion that I needed to build this business platform as I have and continue to do…

Anyway…

Are There Other Platforms to Use?

Of course. Unless you have been under a rock for the past 5-10 years, you will know that although Facebook is an important platform, others out there are deserving of your attention as well. Google, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc. all have large audiences that you can tap into.

The top ones we will look at are Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Google Plus, and YouTube. These are the ones I am most familiar with, so as I move into other platforms, we will share that trip as well here! There are so many ways you can leverage social marketing…

Some are better than others…

OK, What’s Next?

I am bringing the social side of business up early to let you know that there are legs in the idea of leveraging their use in your business. Before we get to the point that you can effectively do so, there are a bunch of other things you will have to get in place.

That is where I will begin, using a first-person conversational style of writing to keep this as informal as possible,  so you see what I have done, what I am doing, and how it can apply to what you are trying to do. Using my own stores, my own platforms, my own ideas, you will have an over the shoulder view of what I am doing…

My Call To Action:

With each post, I will summarize what was presented and then add in one or more call to action points for you. The intent is to get feedback, input, and results you may have gotten from taking that action. We will share here and on the facebook pages so all can learn.

What is my call to action for this post? Here it is, quite simple really:

Come back to read the next edition of the daily diary of my e-Commerce journey! 

Next time, I will offer you something of high-value for your subscribing to this website, my facebook page(s), or even buying something out of one of my stores (sales coupon)…Do bookmark this page, do come back! Thanks and talk again soon!

Cheers!

Dave : )