Roast Me Like My Name Was Charlie Sheen (36)
Hey whats up STM Clan,
Its been along time coming, shout out to Caurmen for all your input and guidance to get me to this mile stone (micro achievements). I have finally chosen a Niche (three niches that can be tested in this shop with out having to rebrand or create a new FB page)
Below is my first attempt at a
Please dont be kind, this is a first attempt but in saying that I want to learn as much as possibly and make sales and profits.
Here is the link to the
Its still bare bones, only the store and the FB page.
At what point should I start looking at additional marketing methods, such as email, follow ups and cross and upsells??
The site currently has Orbelo, Aftership, Abandonment Protection Plus and Mail Chip Installed (not yet active)
*** After making the suggested changes by STM members, what steps should I take to move in the right direction in an 80/20 fashion ?
For any one interested I am going to be continuing to post a transparent follow-along here
https://stmforum.com/forum/showthread.php?38128-Cooking-With-Gas-Ecomm-Follow-Along
Kind Regards
dancnx
Woh, Crickets...
I guessing every one is still hung over from the week end...
I sent the site off to a mate in Auz who is a keen fisherman, and he mentioned that true Anglers will press the back button straight away when they dont see a brand on their lure. He also mentioned that the Im trying to aim for two markets.. Pros - because the site and FB look good ,,, but at the same budget cheap skates as the gear is generic and non branded..
I guess this will be a matter of testing to find out, its possibly that most advanced fishermen wont by off FB, so I will have to see..
Luckily the site has been set up to pivot if nothing gets traction and results..
Looking forward to your feed back..
dancnx
OK, here are a few quick things:
You're opening with:"No better way to spend your day" -> you don't have to convince people about fishing, you want to convince them to buy fishing gear from you. This is a prime candidate for an adjustment. Change this to something customers can expect when they buy from you.
As for your friends feedback, I am sure he knows what he's talking about. But are keen anglers your target audience. If yes, change. If not, test..
Also, it just depends on how you sell things. Like - this no-name lure is blowing other brands out of the water. See what amateur fishermen are pulling out of the water.
Then add some proof of people catching big fish.
This is just an example and yes, it takes some work, but you've got to have a plan for the products you are selling that goes beyond "I've found this on Aliexpress and am selling it at a big mark up"
And BTW, all those quotes are nice for a Twitter feed, but what it their purpose on your site? Filler content or do you have another purpose for this?
Your "about us" needs work too, like this:
"At Tide and Trek we love offering our followers massive value, so what we have done is create a fantastic Facebook page, where we publish fishing and camping videos, tutorial, gear discounts for out fans and customers."
Are you advertising for Facebook on your own site? Facebook should serve your own site, not the other way around.
Hope this helps...
Thanks a million Pekadis,
Ill go and touch up the site now and work a more value based / buyers intent angle for the site.
Ill take your advice and start with the angle no name brands getting massive results, possibly i can speak to the pain point of people over spending on fishing gear for brand name products while other are having massive wins with less expensive gear.
Yes, the quotes are just filler content to make the store look more authoritative. Ill change them out for offers and products.
Thanks for the constructive input cant wai tto get some ads out in the group and some runs up on the board.
Kind regards
Dan
Keep the roasting coming people.. the more eye balls the better..
Good stuff - I see you've made some changes already!
My biggest suggestion from a quick look through would be to get some proofreading, either professionally or from someone with impeccable English you trust.
You've got quite a few mistakes in your English which will cost you users' trust and sales.
For example:
"These versatile high grade fishing pliers are a fishers-mans best friends. Quickly and easily use this fishing tool to tighten fishing line knots, remove hooks for the mouth of your catch with out loosing a finger in the process. "
should be:
"These versatile, high grade fishing pliers are a fisherman's best friends. Quickly and easily use this tool to tighten fishing line knots or remove hooks from the mouth of your catch - without losing a finger in the process. "
Apostrophes in particular are sneaky buggers, and lots of people make mistakes with them - but lots of other people do notice those mistakes, and they can cost you trust, which in turn costs you sales.
Cheers Caurmen,,,
Yep I speeks it, but cant write it very wells.
I guess this might call for a paid version of Grammarly, or writing the copy, email sequences and social posts in bulk and having a writer, proof read and edit it on Text Broker or one of the other sites like Upwork.
--- Additionally, how many products and categories are you guys starting out with in your stores??
*** How do I make some product free + shipping and others free shipping?
*** How can I convert my currency to the local currency of the GEO I am targeting?
*** What methods and Apps are sellers using to create these massive discount offers with out loosing profits and still being able to afford ad budgets.
Kind Regards
Dan
Hello, I happen to be a hobby fisherman too, so let me drop some thoughts here 
Running an eshop for us is hard, there is literally a FUCKLOAD of stuff we need and buy. It's literally 100s of small things. The problem of your store ... you don't even have the basic ones. Where are the rods, the reels, the lines ... at this point, I'd close the store immediately, it simply doesn't make sense to me ... why would anyone who knows a thing about fishing, even offer such limited supply? Quality equipment tends to be quite expensive either, so people CARE about warranty, you need the credibility, which a small anonymous store won't build easily.
The brands that your friend mentioned are important too, for reels you need Shimano, for lures you need Rapala ... there are huge brands that we ALL know and you simply have to have them listed ... otherwise it doesn't make sense either.
I could go on, but it all leads to one decision you need to make.
Is this supposed to be a full size store for fisherman? If it is, you need to offer everything from a tiny hook all the way to a small size boat.
But there are other ways to attack this, there are niches within the niche : some fisherman catch just certain type of fish, carp for example... so you can have a store for them. Then there are those who catch carnivorous fishes only ...
There are special fishing techniques ... spinning, feeder, heavy fishing, deep sea fishing ...
This means a way smaller range of products you need to cover in order for your store to make "sense" from the fisherman's point of view.
But it's still a lot of products.
But there is still one more way
Bargains, special deals, % sale ... so focus on that. Make a store with bargain deals for fishermen ... time limited offers, not 1000's, not 100's ... build a store around that, in that case, it makes sense to have a limited supply and also an ever changing supply ... which might make some buyers return. And it also forms an easy to use FB ads strategy ... ie "Bargain/Deal of the week ... box full of lures that perform better than expensive Rapala's" This approach would also lower the need of high reputation and the warranty problem, because with bargain deals, it's not such a big concern.
So which one will you chose?
Hmm,
Thanks for the reply and insights Matuloo,
You have made some great points, and a few that where already lurking in my thoughts already.
It seems that this is a brand dominated Niche, and even If I was niche down to individual styles and species I would still be competing with brand loyalty and the warranty issue.
I feel at this point the best option is to create a discount store, which will most probably included installing and learning an app like cart hook to make offers, cross sells and discounts. Not a bad thing, but still one more thing to learn and spend time on....
Or, alternatively grouping all the budget fishing gear into one category inside the store and pivoting to the camping niche, which is a broad niche and less brand dominant niche.
My main concern with going over to camping or even hiking is that I will have less psychographic options, interests, brands and events to target audiences. I guess this method of targeting will take some more research and testing to find the right demographic.
Any thoughts on the above would be greatly appreciated.
Kind Regards
DanCnx
Originally Posted by dancnx
1. If there is a way for you to mix your passion in the process than you are already off to a better start. If you have a passion for Fishing than stick to it. If camping and hiking are not your cup of tea you will most likely not be able to sell to pro campers/hikers.
2. The discount store seems like a great idea. The KEY is the product. Why not move your research to a proven sales platform like Amazon and eBay? see which kind of fishing products sell a lot there and duplicate. If those products have a demand there you know you have a sellable product and you can rule that out of the equation. You can even take it a step further and dropship on these platforms (eBay is much more forgiving at that sense) at break even or at a loss until you can come up with around 5 products that you KNOW can sell. seems to me like a better investment for your money than just giving it to FB.
Good luck!
Another way to tackle this (no pun intended) would be to specifically position your store as a "fishing addons" store, or "fishing gadgets" store, or a "things you didn't know you needed" store.
"You've got the rod and the reel already, and you know what you like. We're not going to try to sell you a new rod! What we do is simple: we provide the fishing gadgets you didn't know you wanted. You might have never heard of them before visiting us, but after you order, you'll wonder how you lived without them."
You can potentially even throw in a line about how the giant fishing stores already provide the basics, but you're keen on fishing and know there are things they don't do so well, so you're trying to bring those things to the fishing community.
The key thing here is to address the question of "why don't you stock rods, reels, etc?" and to do so in a way that makes it clear you understand the hobby and care about it.
As a side note, I'd slightly disagree that you can't sell things you don't have a passion for. I've sold plenty of things I wasn't passionate about! But you do need to get deep into the subculture of what you're selling and be able to speak their language.
If you're not reading fishing forums daily, going through "introduction to fishing" blog posts and videos, and signing up to a whole bunch of fishing-related FB groups, then I'd suggest you do that now. It'll pay dividends as your store progresses.
Originally Posted by caurmen
Haha "tackle this" is actually a good name for such a store
Thanks every one for the input,
I think that Im going to pivot over to camping supplies and gadgets. I like the idea of the fishing gadgets store but there just aint that many products ..
Wh, am i changing so quick??.. ??
PROS
**Camping is still a passion and problem niche, but its less focused on language and terminology. Meaning that I should be able to follow topics, trends and common pains points easier that something as serious as fishing.
**White label products are easy to find, and latter photograph and video..
**Gadgets seem to catch the eye, specially in video.
**Copy will be easier, as most product will cure a pain point with out the need to start that the product is improving a catch or sporting advantage (less blatant lying)
**Not so brand dominated for general items
**If it works out a fishing sub category for the family fishing trip can be added.
CONS
**This is a broad niche
**Possibly harder to target
** Slightly seasonal
**some bigger sized products
Ok, well.. I am going back to the drawing board with this one ..
Keep an eye on the page as I hope to have the new store up by tomorrow..
Current Plan of attack..
Create new
**product listings
-- copy
-- Find free plus shipping offers
**categories
-- with variety and options for upsells and down sells
** new home page
-- Create an angle and stick with it
--- Camping gadgets and discount deals
** new about us page
---camping gadgets and discount deals to make the most out of your new adventure in the great outdoors
**create a sequence of email - mail chimp
-- order complete / shipping details / tracking number
--follow up with shipping details
--Short blogs (latter)
**update Facebook page to a more camping theme
Can anyone please suggest a free plus shipping app or method that i can use.
Plus let me know if I have missed any apps, automation or glaring over sights....
This is possibly the wrong decision, and Im sure I will make plenty more. right now the goal is to keep going forward and not drop off, be transparent and get help from others who are further down the path than me and acquire the skills to become location independent..
Thanks every one
dancnx
Look forward to getting some ads up very soon.
Sorry I forgot to ask..
How many products and categories is a good amount to launch the store with ??
How to set up free +shipping
and what apps are members using to currency convert
Good call. Rapidly pivoting is sometimes a good idea if you've hit a major snag, and being decisive in this case was the right move.
You don't need many products to launch and start testing. 3-5 should be fine, a few more is great. You can add more over time. Potentially even mention on your front page that you've just launched, and provide a way for people to give you feedback - that's gold dust if you get any.
Honestly I'm very skeptical about free+shipping products, but if you want to set them up, just set up your shipping rates in
Your current plan of attack should be:
1. research
2. research
3. research
only then:
Create new
**product listings
-- copy
-- Find free plus shipping offers
etc.
Why?
Well, this: "Camping is still a passion and problem niche, but its less focused on language and terminology. Meaning that I should be able to follow topics, trends and common pains points easier that something as serious as fishing. " as a pro
and then this:
cons
**This is a broad niche
**Possibly harder to target
That's only because you didn't do any research. You;re going by gut feeling only.
Which is fine initially, but then you start testing your assumptions by doing some research.
Like which people go camping and what's their definition of camping.
camping for you potentially looks like glamping to hardcore adventurers. Yet a nightmare for the real glamping crowd.
The products that serve each group are vastly different. The copy would completely put off all groups, but the one you;re targeting...
I rarely fail to gain traction with products, but I know exactly who I want as a buyer and what my product offers them.
With research, you'll be able to do the same. If not, you'll have to pivot in another few weeks.
Hope this helps..
^ Agree, very much. Research, research, research again.
Great stuff guys,
Thanks for the much needed kick in the right direction..
Looks like tomorrow will be a day of research, research and more research.
Ill be sure to document the process a bit for any followers of the tread and really get some feed back on the take aways from what I have found..
Research results of the niche inside the niches in the camping space
language being used by the chosen sub niche
Look for popular popular product outside of Ali express, to show that they are being used by the demo
Look for problem / solution products
Products chosen to sell to this audience
and the product page copy to go with it...
I will start with about 5 products this time, non free plus shipping , but discounted on both the ad and sales page.
Once again guys, Thanks
Was kinda having a shitty day getting lost in my own thoughts until I hit the STM link in my tool bar before I was about to hit the hay..
I got the juice to hit the laptop tomorrow and get back on this ecomm horse....
Cheers Fam
dancnx
Store looks fine. I’d be carefully about getting too into research or attached to the niche.
You seem to be going down the quality, good content etc route. If so check out blog posts by Johnny FD and drop ship lifestyle (no need for course now). Most people I know really made money this way selling to some idiot on flippa after
affiliates transitioning into ecom seem to do better with aggressive, general stores selling viral style products
Some of this biggest stores look like absolute shit but do great numbers. Dudegadgets.com for example
It’s all about product selection
You’ll learn a *lot* once you start running traffic to the products
Thanks Nick,
If I went this route I could just use the model suggested by Caurmen, and make the store a gadgets and gizmo store
for fishing and camping.
Basically a gadgetdudes for outdoor adventures.
From what I understand I will still need to do some research in niches to see what people are buying and the language they are using.
It might be worth test 10 - 20 products with this method, then going niche, niche specific and targeting a single demographic....
As per usual Ill be keeping every one posted..
dancnx
Originally Posted by dancnx
Doing proper research and planning the execution of the project is more important in case of large stores that want to build some following and aim for returning buyers and try to build some "community" around their store. When trying to achieve that, speaking the proper language and knowing the niche inside out, becomes way more important.
I'd recommend doing research focusing on two main things:
1) Language, as mentioned. You want to know the slang and the jargon: I find that's a significant conversion-booster in niche advertising (obviously much less if at all in general stores). I agree with Matuloo, though - it won't make a crap product sell.
2) Pain points. If you know what people are struggling with, you can match that with available products, and more importantly you can angle those products better.
Don't take forever on the research, though. You can keep doing it whilst tests are running. In fact, as Nick mentions, often I find that's the most productive sort of research - "I tried this, it bombed, why? Oooh...."
Ok STMers.I have revisited the website and made it a discount outdoor fishing and camping gear and gadgets shop.
* I will first test all the products in the fishing gadgets on the site, while researching and testing the niche and the uses for the products.
* Once I burn through the products and hopefully get a couple of winners - ill then move over to the next category/niche in the shop Camping.
Any suggestions to keep the pixel and target audiences congruent with retargeting and offers from the first niche, while testing the second niche/category on the site?
Please check out the latest version of the site and give some feed back.
SITE IS DOWN - REBRANDING - MOVING INTO NICHE I AM FAMILIAR WITH
PLUS OPENING A MORE VIRAL GADGETS / PRODUCTS SHOP WITH A PARTNER
Start testing FB ads tonight
dancnx
There's no right or wrong way here.
You have what @nickpeplow mentioned: shit sites in the eyes of traditional ecommerce, yet still killing it when it comes to sales numbers
Or the more traditional approach, more stable, slower to get traction
Both need research, but it's completely different.
For the first model, it really comes down to testing new products and then scaling hard on Facebook. You really want to be a first mover here and have a template / formula for your ads that works.
Research is finding a product and testing if it gets traction. Ideally using a proven template, which you should copy from stores like dudegadgets.
That's to have only the product as the variable, as you don;t want to be testing both the ad and the product.
If you want to go the traditional route, research looks more like finding out what people want, copy quality etc.
There's no best way. One is more product focused, the other more customer (group) focused. Both work.
It really depends on what you want your business to look like and which skills you have.
Just make sure you make a clear choice and stay the course. Commit and optimise everything for the model / business you want. No compromises.
Hey @peradis,
Thanks for chiming in again mate.
Can you please explain in a bit more detail the steps in to?
Thanks for taking time out of your day to share your input.
Looking forward to moving forward.
Think the next niche will be something I am familiar with as the research, language, and copy will come a lot more naturally.
cheers
dancnx
Hey, nice follow-along, hope you´ll kill it soon with Ecomm. Definately some good tips in here!
I was reading through the whole thing and took a look at your site...
Im no eCom specialist and made -5k with AM but here´s some feedback of your shop cause you asked to get roasted:
You are targeting Campers, Fishermen and Adventouros people...
They all have one in common -> they like the nature, most likely are straight forward, like to think about shit (fishing guys wake up 3am to go and chill in piece and quiet) and are rather bodily Active...blah blah blah..id think that as a customer group they dont like empty promises and rather would like the honest way.....
"Best Outdoor Sports And Camping Accessories" - No proof of your stuff being the best whatsoever... I have no better alternatives but if you desperately want to use something like that, then rather: "Outdoor Sports and Camping Accessories" (for wildlifelovers/at a reasonable price/at a great price/discount whatever)
The text on Category Pics. Cant read shit (main page)... White text on a cloudy heaven backround, should be changed - thats the first thing that i noticed.... If you want White text there then maybe make a grey backroundbox behind the text or smth...When going into the "Complete Catalog" the pictures are somewhat readable but still....
Some more thoughts. I personally like the "Skype" blue and blue should be trusty but i wouldnt choose this one for selling products to adventourers who like Bear Grylls, at least in that tone...Maybe "water blue" or sky blue when it has to be blue? just my opinion though...This could be tested etc...(swiss army knife is red and often the jacket Bear Grylls wears also 
)
Also the footer seems really empty - id put some useless shit there just to fill the space...Even if you dont have so many products yet. It´ll get you more trust and when you develop some cool footer, you can use it an all of your shops when launching etc.
Testing is the key as they say...
Good luck with the camps and keep updating with the same pace!
@dancx what I mean is that if you :
1 - have to learn which ads work
2 - know which products sell
You can have:
1. A product that sells well, but your ad sucks
2. A product that doesn't sell well, but your ad is good
3. A product that's good and an ad that's good
4. A product that sucks and an ad that sucks
Now, when you don't know anything, you can give up on scenario 1 - a product that is good, but you get no sales through a crappy ad.
That would be a shame.
Also when you have either a product that sucks and an ad that sucks, you don't now where the problem is.
Now, if you know the ad is good, you can stop campaign #4 and #2, because you now it's the product. Also, scenario 1 wouldn't happen.
So essentially, you would have 1) a success or 2) a fail because the product sucks, just by knowing the ad works
@dancx
One thing you might want to think about here - if you're targeting people in the Northern hemisphere, keep in mind that winter is coming...
Plus, there are no holidays left, except for Christmas.
You'd have to be pretty hardcore to go camping now and around where we are, there are no tents left on campsites. Just caravan and the semi-residents (retired and spend most of their time in their caravan, in stead of in a real house)
If you were to test a beach towel now (just a random example), it would not do well at all. But could do really well in the right time of the year.
Now woolen hats and stuff that keeps you warm, could do well now.
Originally Posted by pekadis
@vinnland
I mentioned this earlier in the thread - copy/steal/rip a template that works from stores that are doing well.
That way, you will never be in situation 4.
I went to your store, its just a blank template. Sorta hard to review that
Yep, sites down for the weekend ..
Pivoting to a niche I know with my own site... and creating a viral type products site with a partner ...
I'll take the link down and repost asap...
TOTALY FLIPPED THE SCRIPT
After realizing I have have no understanding of the niche's that I initially chose, and then coming to the realization that with all the other aspects of learning ecomm, digital marketing and finer art of facebook ads that it was best that I
find a niche that I know something about and at least have a desire to learn about.
Please feel free to grill, roast, fillet and deep fry the new site...
I still have to figure out how to stop the old domain name pointing at the new site
- Update email sequences
- Populate the site with few more products
- work on product descriptions
-- outsource a few blog posts and how to article for content/site depth and email blasts
--- Create the new FB Page
----Continue to perform customer research
--- Pain Points
----Parallel Niches - Yoga has a limited amount of physical products, so I think I will need to cross-promote products from relative niches or Fashion / Lifestyle product that would appeal to the demographic.
I absolutely knackered, currently studying Adwords and Google analytics as a part of my College certificates. Any advice on some 80/20 principles when it comes to the next phase in the business would be warmly welcomed.
Please note, that I would like to stay within this niche and possibly brand down at a later point. I think there is room for growth with digital products such as meditation video/audio courses ... plus affiliating with retreats/wellness coaches / juicing and health optimisation and yoga video courses.
I apologize for the ongoing thread and the constant indecision. I truly appreciate everyone's input and guidance.
Please note this is a niche store that I would like to build a brand around. I will also be working on a more Niche / General Store with a business partner once I finish my current course. That will be broader and viral product / video centric, as suggested as an option by Nick Peplow previously in the thread.
Thanks STM Fam....
Ill keep chipping away at my list and class work for now.
I look forward to hearing what others have to say about maximising my time and getting results.
KInd Regards
Daniel - dancnx
Hey Dan, great progress!
However, a lot of it’s intellectual masturbation...
...You’re doing everything but running ads 
Think about what’s your “minimum viable product” before going live. What do you absolutely need in place, to take a sale
An email funnel? No
Blog posts? No
Parallel niches? No
Grammar? No
Pick 5 complementary products
Write descriptions for products
Logo from fiverr or ripped template from google images
Absolute basic about & contact us page
Fb page, quick and dirty bare minimum
Fb pixel created and added to store
Support email setup & forwarding to a gmail account
PayPal account
Stripe account (or at least start application)
Find clips on YouTube of products
Create video advert for each products in iMovie or similar
Write copy for advert based off other examples you see
Launch website conversion campaign for one product to start, $10/d budget
Check the pixel is working, you see some stats like add to cart etc
Everything else is just your brain trying to make excuses not to launch ads
You need to focus on following things through to completion, not jumping around following shiny objects
Thank you very much, @Nickpeplow,
You're the man, that's exactly what I needed to hear at this point in time. My chronic masturbation has had me dipping my toe in everything but not taking the plunge.
So my next steps are
- Find Youtube Clips of 5 products
- create a simple video on Animoto
- Create website conversion campaign to check Pixel is working
- Apply for Stripe Account
- Start running Adds to first 5 product
- Improve product description copy
Post findings to STM...
Stop Masturbating (so much)
Thanks again Nick, hit me up on facebook - Daniel Douglas if your every back in CNX, I owe you a dukes burger.
Signing Out...
dancnx
Good to see you taking action.
There's a lot of competition in the yoga niche, so I would do things differently. I would never go for the obvious only.
Those comfy yoga pants? Perfect for someone who's just starting and does not have a perfect body.
Why not target those women? Starting, not in perfect shape, someone who does not want everything visible in tight stuff.
Be different. Not in the format (so use a proven template for your ads), but in who you target with your copy.
Tests will show whether this is an angle worth pursuing of course.
And this is just one idea, try to come up with more so you have more you can test with.
Good luck and let us know the results.
Thanks, @Pekadis,
Appreciate the direction and wise words.
Ill go ahead and test the products chosen and frame then for as a problem solution product, and or for a niche within a niche.
I think I will test 5 - 10 products in the yoga niche before moving over to meditation, this could be less saturated but could include sub-niches such as Feng Shui and Crystal therapy.
At this point I think I might be better off starting afresh follow along now, I have chosen a niche and I am ready to hammer down on testing.
Cheers Mate,,,,
Dan
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