Like a ton of online entrepreneurs - we started our e-commerce business (Liberty Jane) selling on eBay then added a Wordpress site. Then discovered Shopify in 2013.

Looking back, it's obvious now why Shopify is superior to Wordpress, but at the time, we weren't sure.

In this post, I'll share why (functionally) we prefer Shopify for e-commerce selling. But first...

Disclaimer: I use Wordpress sites, both hosted and self-hosted, for blogging - and really like them for that purpose. I'm not trying to bash Wordpress in any way. 

But if you're an e-commerce entrepreneur trying to decide on website options, I think this article will shed some light.

Achilles' Heel - There Is Really No Such Thing As A Self Hosted Wordpress Site

The first real problem we encountered with using Wordpress for e-commerce is, there is no such thing as a "self-hosted" Wordpress site. This confused us at first. What is "hosting"? But over time our thinking got clearer. What is implied by the phrase...

In the last 30 days, we've had over 100,000 people visit our Shopify site (www.pixiefaire.com). They visited 240,000 times in total and looked at 1.2M pages.

In this article, I'll share the simplest, most effective, and most under-utilized way to get lots and lots of people to visit your Shopify site. Here is a screenshot of our analytics to prove my traffic claims,

Focus On Why They Come

The newbie marketer asks, "where" do I spend my time getting people to visit my website? Is it

Facebook?

Instagram?

Youtube?

Pinterest?

Twitter? 

Snapchat? 

Viral Video?

Email Marketing?

SEO?

The veteran marketer asks "why" would people want to come to my site and how can I make that "why" incredibly attractive to my ideal customers. 

Get a good "why" and the "where" is simpler. The "where" almost takes care of itself if you design this strategy correctly. (I'll explain how in a moment).

So let's look at why someone might come to your site and how to build a system to make that...

Every Shopify store owner has a top of mind question:

How do you get people to your website?

In this post, we'll discuss how to answer that question using Pinterest.

Pinterest Basics - Not Tricks

As context, I'm a big believer in mastering the basics rather than trying to chase short-term tricks or gimmicks. And with Pinterest, there are tried and true basics that you can (and should) follow to grow your traffic. So anyone can do this! As Bruce Lee wisely said,

"I don't fear the man that has practiced 10,000 kicks. I fear the man that has practiced 1 kick 10,000 times."

In-Depth Resource - Pinterest Power: Oddly enough I've had the privilege of being on the front lines of the marketing world's adoption of the Pinterest platform. I started blogging about Pinterest in December 2011 (www.marketingonpinterest.com) and because I was pretty much the only one discussing that topic at the time, I got a traditional book deal. My book Pinterest Power was published by...

Veteran online sellers have found a tried and true product strategy for scaling a business to six and even seven figures - and Shopify is a great platform to implement this blueprint on. 

What's the product strategy? I call it Product Stacking, or the Integrated Product Stack. It's not complicated - and here is a chart that outlines the concept:

Product stacking is built on the idea that people want to 'go deeper' in connection to their area of interest - and if they trust you for one aspect of that journey, they'll likely trust you for the other aspects as well. Or, if they don't trust you, at least you're ideally positioned to make an offer to them associated with the other needs related to the topic. Since you've got their contact information and you know they purchased something in associated with that issue you are more ideally suited than anyone else to offer them a related product.

Step One - Initial Purchase

If you offer something - and someone...

Lots of people try to sell on Amazon and fail. We did. And although I don't generally like to dwell on my failures, I think in this case it might be helpful to share about it - in the off chance that you're in the same boat. 

Of course - my prescription for success is to sell direct-to-consumers via Shopify - which may or may not be the right solution for you - I get that. But if you've failed on Amazon then my best suggestion is to diagnose the root cause of the failure, look at it carefully, and then craft a new plan that is built on those hard-won lessons.

Reasons Why Sellers Fail On Amazon

There are a lot of ways to fail on Amazon. Let's document the most common (and I'll share which one snagged us):

1. The product you're attempting to sell has low sales volume on the Amazon platform (this could be for a wide variety of reasons).
2. The product you're attempting to sell has good sales volume on Amazon, but you can't source it cheaply enough to have any profit at the...

I'll never forget the day I was sitting in a room of over 500 online sellers (the vast majority were selling on Amazon) and the speaker asked everyone selling over $5,000 per month online to stand up. Half the room stood up, including me.

• She asked people to remain standing if they sold over $10,000 a month. A good number of people sat down.
• She asked people to remain standing if they sold over $20,000 a month. More sat down.
• She asked people to remain standing if they sold over $30,000 a month. At that point there were about 20 people standing.
• She asked people to remain standing if they sold over $40,000 a month. Most of them sat down.
• She asked people to remain standing if they sold over $50,000 a month. Two people were standing - me and Mike Brown of Death Wish Coffee.
• She thanked everyone for sharing their results, asked the audience to applaud us, and asked us to sit down.

I was shocked. First of all, where did all the amazing Amazon sellers go? Why did they drop...

I've had the honor of working with almost 1,400 Shopify site builders in the last 6 months, and I've come up with a working theory of e-commerce success. I believe it takes 4-Core team (or personal) Aptitudes to begin finding some success. I like using the baseball metaphor to explain it.

Last month I introduced my 4-Core concept in a super long blog post, (The E-commerce Formula - Mastering The Four Core Building Blocks Of Online Selling Success). To summarize it - I made a framework diagram I'd like to share. If you like it, share it with other people around the internet.

The Business Aptitude 

Your decision to sell products or services as a business venture starts the process. When you put on the entrepreneur uniform and gear up - you're in the game. You step up to the plate and begin looking at opportunities flying by - like baseballs. You begin seeing opportunities to make money everywhere you go - and in tons of different ways. You can take a swing at any one of...

When I launched my Shopify Power course on Udemy (in June 2016) I wasn't sure anyone would notice. Since then I've had the privilege of working with over 1,300 new Shopify site owners and it's been a blast!

Many of them come to me as successful Amazon sellers. I love helping them launch Shopify sites so they can create a second source of online income. 

I've come to realize there is a big difference in the mindset / priorities / and tactics between selling on Amazon and selling on Shopify.

• Mindset
• Priorities
• Tactics

So in this article, I'll share the differences I've seen (many of them in the form of a question). If you enjoy this content, you'll also enjoy our Amazon To Shopify webinar. 

Amazon Mindset Vs. Shopify Mindset

Many Amazon sellers I've met have a merchants-mindset. Let me explain. When I was a kid we lived 30 minutes away from the largest Saturday market in California, Denios Farmers Market & Auction. It's amazing. We would go...

Starting a new Shopify site can be intimidating. Here is a checklist that will help you make it systematic.

Pre-Launch Branding Checklist

Domain Name Availability: Check on www.godaddy.com to see if the domain name you want is available. If you can't get the Dot Com version, move on to another idea. Your primary goal should be to pick something that is available, memorable, meaningful, and easy to say. 

Search Engine Availability: Google it - and make sure there aren't people, products, or companies that are already using the name you want. If it looks like it is a crowded field, with well-established sites and brands operating professionally - go back to the drawing board and look for another naming idea.

Trademark Availability: Go to www.trademarks.justia.come and search to see if someone already owns the name as a registered trademark in the industry you want to operate in. If so, go back to the drawing board. 

Business Name Availability: Go to your...

Legendary money manager Bill Miller once said, 

"There are three sources of competitive advantage in investing: informational, analytical, or behavioral."

We can apply this to the real world of competitive marketing and say, there are...

3 Sources Of Competitive Advantage In Building Your Brand

Informational Advantage: You can win by simply knowing more about the business than your competitors. It's very common for entrenched competitors to face new upstarts. That can be troubling. One way they win is by simply knowing more about the business than their younger rivals. What can they know? 

• Customer buying behavior (what will sell and what won't)
• Pricing strategies that work in that niche
• Supplier options and challenges
• Seasonality
• Margins
• A million other small but important facts that give the entrenched marketer an advantage - as they simply wait and watch the upstart rival make predictable mistakes.

What can the new upstarts know that serves as a competitive...