It’s really hard to find quality eCommerce content with the individual entrepreneur in mind. Too many sites are targeted only toward large enterprise businesses, have poor content or don’t have first-hand experience running an eCommerce store.
That’s why I’m bringing you a list of eCommerce experts who need to be on your radar. I picked these individuals based on their experience, the information they share that’s applicable to smaller merchants and because I often find myself trolling around their sites and/or listening to their podcasts.
Dan and Ian host what has become my favorite podcast. It chronicles their adventures running eCommerce businesses, manufacturing products in Asia and traveling all over the globe. Over the past five years they’ve built up a seven-figure, location-independent eCommerce business, as well as a large following online. Their Lifestyle Business Podcast is one that consistently entertains AND delivers value, which is a difficult combination to find.
To Learn More: Visit The Lifestyle Business Podcast website or Subscribe in iTunes. You can also Follow Dan or Ian on Twitter.
There are two things I love about Billy’s website: his long-form articles that are incredibly valuable, and headlines like “How to Buy a Ferrari for $20K” that make me want to dedicate a year of my life to becoming a better copywriter.
Originally the founder of a successful poker training site, he’s become much more involved with eCommerce and shares his real-world experiences at ForeverJobless.com. In his post How to Get “Lucky” in eCommerce, he discusses how he scored an incredible deal on an eCommerce store – and how you can, too. He doesn’t post super regularly, but when he does, his articles are well worth the 15-minute time investment to read.
To Lean More: Visit ForeverJobless.com or follow Billy on Twitter.
Steve runs a successful wedding handkerchief store that he started so his wife could stay at home with their children. Within the first year, the store cleared over $100K in profit and has been growing since. He’s blogged for more than four years and shares valuable first-hand experiences from his own businesses to help others succeed. On more than one occasion, I’ve found myself knee-deep in his archives, reading article after article.
To Learn More: Visit MyWifeQuitHerJob.com or follow Steve on Twitter
Of all the individuals listed, Linda focuses the least on small eCommerce merchants. She consults for larger eCommerce operations and focuses on eCommerce research at GetElastic. But because the content she publishes is such quality, useful information, I had to make an exception and include her on this list. Even if you’re not running a Fortune 500 eCommerce operation, the articles and research she provides are very insightful.
To Learn More: Visit GetElastic.com or Follow Linda on Twitter
Dave is a true eCommerce veteran and has been running successful online stores since the late 1990s. He owns numerous stores that focus on industrial equipment and he’s a testament to what’s possible to achieve with a single-person in-house team. Dave’s also written an incredibly comprehensive eBook on starting an online store, The GrabApple Guide to eCommerce.
To Learn More: Visit GrabApple.com or see my interview with him.
Mark is the head of PR at Shopify and is responsible for their well-known eCommerce blog. I’ve worked with Mark on numerous occasions, including on The Ultimate Drop Shipping Guide that we co-authored and released this spring. If you haven’t checked it out, I’d highly recommend it; it’s the most comprehensive guide to drop shipping you’ll find anywhere.
Apart from the guide, Mark consistently publishes high-quality content to help store owners get the most out of their businesses.
To Learn More: Visit the Shopify blog, see The Ultimate Drop Shipping Guide or follow Mark on Twitter.
Gary is so widely known for his books and support of social media that most forget he originally started with eCommerce by building WineLibrary.com. He’s not actively involved in eCommerce today, but the core values he promotes (insane levels of caring, building a brand, cultivating customer loyalty) are increasingly becoming critical to eCommerce success.
In a world where Amazon is becoming the de facto source for anything you can imagine, building loyal customers will be absolutely essential to growing a small eCommerce business in the future.
To Learn More: Follow Gary on Twitter or check out my interview with him.
Terry launched the Build My Online Store podcast a year ago, and he regularly interviews store owners and related eCommerce experts. His interviews provide great inspiration to those just starting out, as well as insights for merchants looking to get more out of their existing stores.
To Learn More: Visit BuildMyOnlineStore.com or Follow Terry on Twitter.
While I didn’t know Ezra when putting this list together, it didn’t take long for me to realize the mistake I’d made! From the numerous comments mentioning him below to getting to know him personally, Ezra definitely is a top eCommerce expert you should be following.
He runs more than a dozen eCommerce stores – including Boom by Cindy Joseph – and writes about marketing and eCommerce at SmarkMarketer.com
To Learn More: Visit SmartMarketer.com or Follow Ezra on Twitter
I’m sure there are other eCommerce experts sharing great content that I missed. Who else do you follow? Let me know in the comments below.
Photo by mpilote.
55 Comments
You definitely miss Tim Ferris and his http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog
Tim is definitely worth following! He does a lot of things really well, but I wouldn’t say he focuses on eCommerce which is why I didn’t include him. But thanks for mentioning him!
Thanks for the great resource Andrew!
No problem, Ian!
Andrew,
Great list, looking forward to the new course coming out, I signed up for the private list!
One additional person I think that has a really cool story and is a non-corporate ecommerce influencer that sold their Ecommerce business for a lot of money is Shirley Tan, check her out. She started and sold AmericanBridal.com and another site too after that.
All The Best,
James
Thanks James! Putting the finishing touches on the training, and it will be coming out in the next few weeks. 🙂 Appreciate the tip on Shirley Tan, too. I’ll definitely check her out.
Hope you and the newly launched store are both well!
Quite a coincidence, I am speaking to Shirley Tan in a few days on the podcast!
Nice! Will look forward to hearing that one. 🙂
Great list, good company to be in. Thanks for including me Andrew!
Absolutely! Keep those long-form gems coming… 🙂
Thanks Andrew! What do you think about Pat Flynn? He has a lot of usefull stuff
Agreed, Oleg! Pat has a lot of great stuff and I think everyone – myself included – appreciates his transparency and candid monthly income reports. While he focuses more on information products and affiliate marking, a lot of his lessons can definitely be applied to eCommerce. Thanks for the mention!
Andrew: I’m honoured to be listed among such an impressive group of ecommerce and business experts. Thanks so much for including me.
Very welcome, Mark! A lot’s happened since I started “stalking” you last summer and I’m glad we’ve had the chance to collaborate together.
Looking forward to SXSW 2014!
Awesome blog. I was actually running out of good content to read….not anymore. Really looking forward to your mini-course on Friday.
Thanks Mark! Friday’s lesson is one of my favorites – I think you’ll like it. 🙂
I guess you couldn’t include yourself Andrew! haha, but you’ve been instrumental in our launch as well.
I’ve directed everyone to your site, can’t say enough good things about you, Andrew.
I also really like Neil Patel. His blog is rich with useful information and he’s one of the best in the biz.
Keep up the good work, and thanks for everything!
Best regards …
Hey Daniel! Maybe I could have… Just photoshop a little mustache and toupee onto my picture, write some self-depreciating remarks and roll with it! That would have made an even 10. 🙂
Good call on Neil – he’s got a lot of great stuff and I follow him as well.
Best of luck with Hammocks Paradise and thanks for reading!
Thanks for the great list, Andrew! I really appreciate the info you’ve been sharing in your mini-course. Since you asked for other helpful resources, I’d recommend checking out http://EcommercePulse.com, a site I’ve been working on lately as a place for quality ecommerce guides and strategy, especially targeted at beginners. Thanks again for the post–looking forward to more of your mini-course!
Hey Leighton!
I have to say, you’ve put up a very impressive site. FANTASTIC article on turning down an MBA to pursue your own business instead – and I 100% agree with your approach and reasoning. Will be sharing that with my followers via FB/Twitter shortly. 🙂 You’ve got a great combination of content + a killer design. Looking forward to following your success in the future. Best of luck!
Hi Andew,
Excellent information.
I think you are missing Ezra Firestone, Steve Clyton, Dave (StoreCoach).
Eagerly waiting for your new course.
Would love to see automation on the same process you showed manually for Niche Research and Keyword Research.
All the best.
Richard
Great additions, Richard! I think Ezra and Dave should both be honorary additions. Not familiar with Steve, but I’ll definitely look into his background now. In terms of The Insider’s Guide, I’ll be releasing it late next week. More news to come shortly…. 🙂
Hi Andrew, I found your blog a week ago and have been glued to it ever since. I have gone through and read all of the old articles up to this newest one. I cannot thank you enough for you taking time to give true value in your articles. I work for an SEO company and your 15 minutes SEO explanation is the best and most accurate explanation of how SEO works. It is simple to the point and does not go too much into the details that make peoples eyes glaze over. I read in one of your previous posts that you had a ecommerce meetup in Austin Tx. I live near Cedar Park and was wondering if you still have these meet ups. If you do I would like to know more about it. Again thank you for giving real value here.
Hey, thanks Aaron! Really appreciate it! I tried to make my SEO guide as concise as possible without leaving out anything major, so that’s great to hear.
Unfortunately, the Austin meet-up was a one-time deal as I was in town for just a few days. But if I’m ever in town again and have another one, I’ll make sure to let you know.
Thanks for reading!
Your information has made it that much easier to start an online business. After years of researching on the internet for a legit home-base business I found ways to make extra income, thanks to you now I can use your info to make a good business model. Thanks Andrew, I will be following yours blogs from this point on….
You’re very welcome, Rob!
Take a look at Ron Rule as well, http://ronrule.com, works mostly with large brands but shares the results of his strategies on the blog so smaller shops can duplicate.
Will do – thanks Tara!
Awesome list, Andrew! Really enjoying reading MyWifeQuitHerJob.com….it’s always more fun to read about actual people who went out and did it vs. big corporations’ view on ecommerce. 🙂
Keep up the great work!
Thanks Susan! I agree – enjoy following individual stories much more as well.
Do you know Ezra Firestone?
I do now! Wasn’t as familiar with him when I wrote this, but have gotten to know him fairly well in the last few weeks. Definitely a worth addition to the list.
Hello Andrew
I came across your site while doing a seach on eCommerce sites for sale. To get ideas on different niches. I read your article on thepopcorachine.com site and was completely amazed by your breakdown. I’ve just downloaded your ebook and it seems to be a complete guide to beginning an eCommerce business. And I just purchased the BrownBoxFormula by Ezra Firestone. Kinda wish I would have found you a few days earlier, probably would have saved a few bucks. I really resonate with you because you seem very doen to earth, like anyone could repeat the same success with some focused hard work. Appreciate the info your putting out…keep it up for all us beginners, thanks.
Glad you’re finding it useful, Stephen! Best of luck and thanks for reading!
You could have listed Neil Patel(quicksprout.com). he is an online marketing legend.
Agreed! Neil puts out a lot of great stuff. I didn’t list him as he’s not specifically an eCommerce guy, but he’s a great resource nonetheless.
Excellent list there, Andrew. Definitely some people I haven’t heard of that I will be checking out. I’m also a big fan of the LBP. One name I thought could be added to the list is Skip McGrath. Most of his information is centered around selling on eBay, but that is definitely ecommerce in my book. I subscribe to his newsletter and find useful tidbits pretty often.
Just from reading the headlines of your blog posts, I can tell I’m going to be spending some time sifting through your site. Your story is strikingly similar to mine and I always like to see how other people have managed to escape the rat race. Keep up the great work!
Tom
Thanks Tom! Yeah, the LBP is great stuff and I’ll make sure to checkout Skip. Thanks for the recommendation.
You forgot to mention ezra firestone. Actually, I got to know you because of Ezra. He really deserve to be one of Ecommerce masters.
Agreed! Looks like I may need to make him an honorary list member per all the comments, and getting to know him this last few months. 🙂
Thanks @hassan I appreciate the love!
Dear Ezra
i have been doing online marketing for awhile , affiliate marketing , seo consulting for local company here Dubai United Arab Emirates , i know little bit about e commerce but i was thinking it’s only for companies with big budget, until i receive email from Digital marketer by ryan deiss introducing brown box formula by you and that video it was an eye opening for me to e commerce and how you make easier to explain what i takes to create an online store with no technical expertise and huge budget although i didn’t bought the course but from the six day challenge and the hangout you did with other e commerce expert including andrew and terry lin i again lots of knowledge and ever since i have been following your blog and andrew blog , thank so much Ezra and andrew
Would love to see you following Ezra Firestone as per some of the other comments above. Thanks Rebecca
Agreed! Have had the chance to get to know Ezra over the last month or two, and he’s a great guy with a lot of knowledge about eCommerce.
You rock Rebecca – I appreciate you recommending me! and thanks to @Andrew for putting me on the list!!
Great list – but to cover the UXD topic you should have a look at http://ux4dotcom.blogspot.de/ – it’s a German UX expert in the fashion e-commerce area
Will check it out – thanks Steve!
Hey Andrew,
I’ve been following a few of these blogs since I started out in eCommerce, and they’ve been tremendous help(as has yours, of course:D). I only came across Ezra Firestone’s blog after listening to Terry’s roundtable podcast with you guys and his blog is awesome, too.
ABetterLemonadeStand by Richard Lazazeera(http://www.abetterlemonadestand.com) is also pretty nice, and he’s got a really interesting project with #TheGreatBuild.
And to add one more, I’ve started a blog over at http://www.bootstrappingecommerce.com, where I’m trying to put out good content about ecommerce in general and ecommerce SEO and marketing specifically, targeted at cash-strapped beginners.
Cheers, and good luck with the forum!
Thanks Shabbir! Yeah, a lot of good stuff from all these folks. I’ve come across Richard’s stuff as well and have been interested to watch #TheGreatBuild.
And congratulations on your new blog! Will be following it as well going forward. Congrats on the launch!
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I found your website by accident, and I’m gonna definitely be coming back for more. Lots of really great stuff. I’m just starting to get interested in e-commerce or developing an e-commerce myself. Thanks for sharing this list, I’d definitely check out some of them and maybe pick a favorite over time.
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I would like to comment on my recent experience with Steve Chou of mywifequitherjob.com if that’s ok.
I’ve been listening to his podcasts and followed his website with all the advice that he’s given and I thought what an excellent job! And then last week I listened to one of his podcasts on getting thousands of Instagram reviews and I followed exactly what was being said – which is to use an app called Crowdfire…etc.
My Instagram account was suspended 3 days later.
So I went back to his podcast and left a comment. That comment was promptly deleted. Thinking there’s a glitch, I wrote another comment again and this time, I couldn’t access his site at all. Probably being naive – I was actually thinking that he may have a technical glitch on his site, so I waited a few days to see if I could finally access his site. But no, I couldn’t.
So then I went on FB and contacted Steve Chou personally. He replied that my IP was banned! Yes, banned – just for making a very polite, but negative review on his podcast that spreads potentially illegal information. I didn’t know leaving a negative comment about a potentially harmful and illegal practice would get me banned? I was just seeking clarification and perhaps warn the other listeners that this wasn’t the best advice..
Anyway, what’s most disappointing is his response (or lack of), where he never even apologised to me! He never assured me he will ‘un-ban’ my IP address, absolutely nothing! To this day, I can’t access his site. Not that I’d want to anyway. He is not a good business person, I’m sorry to say.
You know, this article sums it up for me from Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/amyanderson/2012/11/28/success-will-come-and-go-but-integrity-is-forever/#1a5e81bc6141
Success will indeed come and go, but integrity is forever. Integrity means doing the right thing at all times and in all circumstances, whether or not anyone is watching.
I feel like I needed to say this, and that it’s somehow my duty to warn others and just to say – no matter how much someone seems legit/fantastic/trustworthy, do NOT trust them fully. A lot of these guys are just in it for themselves….