A Year in Review: eCommerceFuel Turns One

A Year in Review: eCommerceFuel Turns One

It was one year ago I published my first post here on eCommerceFuel. Looking back, I’m amazed at how the blog and community have grown in just 12 short months.

In this post I want to share traffic and analytic stats and the marketing strategies I’ve used, and let you know what’s in store for the blog in the coming year. Most importantly, I want to hear from YOU about what you’d like to see in the future!

My Amazing Readers

I have to start by saying thank you for your incredible support! I honestly couldn’t ask for better readers than you guys. It’s so much easier to feel motivated and inspired to write when you know people are engaged. Nearly 1,000 comments appear on the blog, and I’ve had the chance to chat with more than 1,400 of you via email. Awesome!

It’s been fascinating talking with so many different types of people, from a helicopter pilot in Brazil preparing to launch his first store to a Silicon Valley tech mogul looking for a way out of the rat race. So again, thank you for commenting, sharing and reaching out to me this past year — I couldn’t have done this without your support.

Traffic and Analytics

I love it when people share their analytics and traffic data, so I’m dishing some of mine. The stats below are for the eCommerceFuel blog between April 15, 2012 and April 14, 2013.

Total Visitors

 All Traffic

 

Top Traffic Sources

Traffic Sources

  • Direct Traffic – My top traffic source was direct traffic, including visits from links in my eBook, people typing the address into their browsers and email visits.
  • Shopify.com – Traffic from the guest posts I’ve written for the Shopify blog were the third largest traffic source.
  • News.ycombinator.com – This is the address for Hacker News, a popular site for programmers and other techies. I had a few articles hit the front page and I left a number of comments on threads that generated decent traffic.
  • Reddit.com – Most of this traffic came from a popular AMA (Ask Me Anything) I did that generated some exposure. I answered 100+ questions from the Reddit community, and the AMA was one of the top submissions in the eCommerce subreddit for quite a while.
  • Ecommerce.shopify.com – Traffic from “The Ultimate Guide to Drop Shipping,” a guide I wrote with Mark Hayes from Shopify that was recently released.

Growth in Organic Google Traffic

Organic Growth

 

It always takes a while for organic traffic from Google to ramp up, and that’s definitely been the case with eCommerceFuel. The blog generally receives between 150 and 200 daily organic visits from Google, which is definitely on the low side for sites I’ve launched at the one-year point.

The reason? I think it’s because I don’t publish that frequently and I have a limited number of pages to rank for. Other eCommerce sites I’ve launched have had 300+ pages to rank for at the one-year point. This blog has fewer than 50. As I continue to publish more content — with an emphasis on targeting keyword phrases for each post — I expect to see organic traffic expand.

Top Countries of Readership


(Interactive world map courtesy of SimpleMaps.com.)

Top Countries

Predictably, my native United States is at the top. But it’s surprising to see Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines in the top 15 as well!

Subscribers and Content Stats

Marketing Strategy

Detailing the entire process of how I marketed eCommerceFuel would be an involved story, one I may save for another post. But I do want to give you an idea of how I marketed the blog and how much time I dedicated to it.

The eBook Strategy

Cover-LargeStarting a blog from scratch is difficult because no one knows or trusts you. I decided to write the eBook “Profitable eCommerce” to build credibility and to create something people would naturally share. I probably could have sold the eBook, but by giving it away I was able to generate more exposure.

Looking back at the traffic stats, you can see that my primary traffic source is direct traffic. I’d bet that at least half of that traffic comes from links in the shared eBook.

Long-Form Content

I decided to write long-form, in-depth content to provide as much value as possible. Because these posts often take me 10+ hours to write, I couldn’t post them on a weekly basis. I decided to focus on quality over quantity, and I think that’s been a good decision in terms of people sharing my content.

Guest Posting

Writing good content is one thing, but getting it into the hands of others is quite another! I knew early on that I’d need to do some heavy guest posting to build authority with Google, get noticed by the eCommerce community and drive traffic to the site. So after my eBook was live and I’d written a handful of decent posts, I started reaching out to as many people as possible.

I wrote testimonial posts for WPEngine and Rackspace about their great hosting. I pitched bloggers on guest pieces and wrote high-quality posts for their sites. Once I started getting a little traction, I agreed to any interview request I received. Finally, I stalked the author of the Shopify blog and convinced him to let me guest post regularly for the site.

Connecting Personally with Readers

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve chatted with more than 1,400 readers via email. I asked you to tell me a bit about yourselves and what you’re hoping to get out of the blog. I’d estimate that about 15% of you replied and, up until recently, I made it a priority to personally reply to every single reader email.

This took a tremendous amount of time, but it allowed me to make personal connections with so many of you. I truly believe that building those personal relationships with readers has been a key component of the blog’s success and the high level of reader engagement. I had to discontinue this practice for a few months due to a time-sensitive project, but I’m hoping to reinstate it in the near future.

Leaving High-Value Comments

Blog commenting as we typically think of it (plastering generic comments on thousands of blogs) is a horrible strategy for marketing. When done correctly, however, it can be a powerful way to generate targeted traffic and leads.

When looking to drive traffic via comments, I look for two things:

  1. A site with a decent level of traffic
  2. A post on a topic I can speak to authoritatively

The mistake most people make is leaving a link in their comment before they establish any credibility. Instead, you should first write an in-depth comment that showcases your knowledge and expertise on the topic. Only after you’ve done this should you include an on-topic link to some of your own content.

I’ll often spend 30 minutes or more crafting a valuable comment for a blog post, and then I’ll link to one of my related articles at the end. Not all of them generate substantial click-throughs, but many have generated hundreds of visits to my blog from highly engaged readers. Best of all, your comment doesn’t look spammy and should remain permanently to drive ongoing traffic.

Providing an Incentive to Follow Socially

To help build my followings on social media, I give away a free 1-on-1 coaching session each month to a follower on Facebook or Twitter.  Not only has it helped boost my audiences on both platforms, it’s also a great way to connect with readers and helps me understand what issues people are struggling with.

The Time Involved

One of the most important things I’ve learned is how important it is to build early momentum with a new venture. It takes a lot of effort to get a site launched and to start seeing traffic. If you get distracted and try to ramp up a different project before building initial momentum, your chances of success decrease significantly. It’s too easy to get discouraged, and you’re less likely to reach the tipping point where your business starts growing organically.

For the first six months eCommerceFuel was live, it was the primary project I was working on. That’s not to say I was 100% focused on it for eight hours a day — I wasn’t. I had operational issues pop up with my other businesses, and I had other items to deal with occasionally. But I wasn’t trying to start another business at the same time, so most of my time was going toward the eCommerceFuel community.

Once I got past that six-month period and starting seeing substantial organic growth, I let off the gas pedal a bit. The last six months have been a combination of working on the blog and my eCommerce stores.

What’s Ahead

This past year has been amazing, but I’m really looking forward to taking eCommerceFuel to the next level in the coming year. Here’s what I have planned:

Launching a Podcast

In June, I’ll finally be launching the eCommerceFuel podcast. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while but have had to bump back due to other projects and obligations. I love doing long-form interviews and think they’re one of the best ways to learn from experienced entrepreneurs, but I’m not sure video is the best way to deliver this content. A podcast offers the perfect medium for interviews and allows for all sorts of options I’m excited about exploring.

Not many people know that back in my college days I had my own radio show at the school’s station playing funk music at 3 a.m. (can you tell how awesome I was?!). I’ve always loved the microphone, and I’m really looking forward to kicking off the podcast in June!

Late-Night-Groove

Hosting the “Late Night Groove” radio show back in my college days. Roommate Andy (and true friend to be visiting at 3 a.m.) on the right.

Increasing the Publishing Frequency

I enjoy writing long-form pieces, but due to other projects, I’ve only been able to post once every few weeks. That will be changing. Starting in June, I’ll be posting on a much more regular schedule.

The eCommerceFuel blog and community will be a focus of mine in the coming year, and I’m excited to have the bandwidth to publish on a more frequent basis.

eCommerce Training

Aside from a few tasteful affiliate links and a quick-start guide I wrote by request, I’ve largely kept the blog product- and sales-pitch-free. Before selling anything, I thought it was crucial to offer a lot of value for free, earn your trust and prove that I had some experience in the field.

I get numerous emails each week asking if I offer paid consulting (I don’t) or seeking recommendations on training and/or inquiring if I offer any in-depth training products. So earlier this year I decided to create something for readers who wanted something more in-depth than what’s offered on the blog.

Over the last several months, I’ve been working on what is some of the best material I’ve ever created. It’s the training course I wish I would have had when I got started, and I’m really proud of how it’s shaping up. It’s not quite ready for prime-time, but you’ll be hearing more about it come May. Stay tuned!

What Would You Like to See Next Year?

I’d love your thoughts on how I can make eCommerceFuel better in the coming year. What do you want to see more of? What could I add that’s missing? Where could I improve? I’d genuinely appreciate hearing your thoughts in the comments below.

Thanks again for such a great year! I couldn’t have done it without you.

Post photo credit.

Andrew Youderian
Post by Andrew Youderian
Andrew is the founder of eCommerceFuel and has been building eCommerce businesses ever since gleefully leaving the corporate world in 2008.  Join him and 1,000+ vetted 7- and 8-figure store owners inside the eCommerceFuel Community.

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49 Comments

JonathanApril 16, 2013

To start, I really like this blog. It always makes me want to updated/edit/market my websites after I finish reading your posts. I agree with you that starting a site from scratch is very difficult. I started a website 3 years ago and am now seeing really good results and a community and that only makes me want to do better. Recently, I started an ecommerce site (thanks to this blog) and will start the process of trying to get noticed. It takes a lot of time, patience, and trial and error to find out what works best for your site.

What I’d like to see more of on this blog are articles from others who have started an ecommerce site, how they did it, why they are selling what they sell, how they like it… kind of like your post (https://www.ecommercefuel.com/create-online-store-with-job/) I also like your “review” posts like (https://www.ecommercefuel.com/turning-around-a-troubled-online-store/)

Thanks again.

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Andrew YouderianApril 16, 2013

Thanks Jonathan! Thrilled to hear that the blog helped inspire you get an eCommerce store up-and-running. 🙂 I wish you the best as you’re start to market it. And congratulations on the success / traction you’re getting with GymDJ.

I’m planning to do more success case studies next year, especially via the Podcast format, so hopefully that will be helpful. Appreciate the feedback!

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IanApril 16, 2013

Thank you for what you are doing Andrew! I am sorry to say it, but I am still trapped in a cubicle for now, but thanks to you I feel like I have not only the tools I need to succeed and change my own life, but the ABILITY and CONFIDENCE to really DO IT!

You are an inspiration, and I am glad that you have found as much success as you have. I am sure there is plenty more to come, and I look forward to seeing it unfold for you.

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Andrew YouderianApril 16, 2013

Thanks Ian! Best of luck as you plan your own cubicle escape.

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DanApril 16, 2013

Hey Andrew,

Thanks for providing this information, it’s really informative and helpful. I am curious – do you pay attention to your Alexa rank at all? Is Alexa rank primary metric that you use when evaluating traffic on other blogs?

Also, if you had to pick one of the things for your marketing strategy that provided the greatest return on your time, what would that be?

Look forward to checking out the podcast!

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Andrew YouderianApril 16, 2013

Hey Dan! I don’t follow my Alexa rank too closely, no. It’s an interesting metric, but I usually look at things like PageRank, subscriber count and a Compete.com ranking to get a rough idea of how my (and other) blogs are doing. Not to say it’s not useful, it’s just more of a personal preference than anything else.

The most effective marketing strategy? I’d have to say guest posting on niche-related blogs. Not only am I able to generate direct traffic to my blog that is often very high-quality, but I’m also able to build up my SEO authority with backlinks as well.

Hope this helps!

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Tim HuffApril 16, 2013

Congratulations on the 1-year success with eCommerceFuel! I’ve learned a TREMENDOUS amount from your site and offer a huge THANK YOU for this content! Your blog is one of the few that I follow very regularly (some articles I’ve ready many times), and I definitely plan to continue. Excited about your future plans! My only humble request is to continue to keep the content grounded and focused on the real issues on which new entrepreneuers are struggling or actionable content from which we could truly benefit.

Best of luck on your next year, and thanks again for all your help!

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Andrew YouderianApril 16, 2013

Thanks Tim – that’s awesome to hear! Honored to have you as a reader. Will do my best to keep the content grounded and actionable for both new and existing eCommerce entrepreneurs.

Thanks again for reading and best of luck this year with your own ventures. 🙂

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MattApril 16, 2013

Congrats on the one year anniversary! The content you provide on ecommercefuel is excellent; I’m almost done with the e-book and really looking forward to the new training guide. I’m currently working on a business plan to escape my 14 year corporate banking job and I’ve never been more excited and motivated about the future.

I know you endorse shopify but what would you recommend for an e-commerce solution when the website Im launching sells niche automotive performance parts and requires complex menus and specific ways to sort products? Maybe shopify has this capability and I am unaware…

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Andrew YouderianApril 16, 2013

Thanks Matt! Glad you’ve been enjoying the content!

In terms of your needs, I’m not sure if Shopify is the best fit. It’s ideal for creating gorgeous web stores easily that don’t require lots of product config – which you obviously do. I do know that BigCommerce has a bit more robust feature set in terms of configuring products and packages. Also, Magento has a lot of options for this – and it’s open source and fully customizable – but it’s also much more complicated and you’ll need to host it on your own.

Hope this helps, and best of luck launching your new site – exciting stuff!

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ChrisApril 16, 2013

Congrats on your 1 year anniversary and thanks for sharing your analytics! It would be interesting to see how your various sources convert when you eventually have a product.

Your comments on focusing on a single site to build momentum were timely for me. Marketing builds on itself, but eventually you hit a point of decreasing returns. It’s hard to know when to stick it out and when your time is better spent on something new.

P.S. Your “Top Countries of Readership” would have looked snazzier as an interactive world map. If only you knew where you could find one of those.

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Andrew YouderianApril 16, 2013

Thanks Chris! Marketing is crucial, but you’re right – there is a point of diminishing returns. Sounds like a good idea for a blog post. This wouldn’t be the first post idea you’ve inspired.

Hmmm. No idea where I could get nice, simple map to use. If I had one, I’d embed it in the post and include a link back to the author’s site. Maybe you can help me out? 🙂

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TommyApril 16, 2013

Happy Birthday to your baby. Hope it continues to grow up strong and healthy.
Regards,
Tommy

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Andrew YouderianApril 16, 2013

Thanks Tommy!

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MariaApril 16, 2013

Congrats on your one year anniversary! I remember finding your blog through one of your shopify posts, which contained a ton of valuable info. Your posts are so beneficial to the process of building a legit ecommerce store, especially since there is so much crappy, get-rich-quick info out there about dropshipping in particular. I’ve had a couple setbacks finding a decent supplier, but my store is finally about a week away to going live (which is when the real fun will begin I imagine), and I definitely have you to thank for that!

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Andrew YouderianApril 16, 2013

Thanks Maria! Glad the posts this year have been helpful, and best of luck as you’re getting ready to launch your store. Please shoot me a line when it’s live – would love to see it!

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ValerieApril 16, 2013

Hi Andrew,
I appreciate all the info you have freely shared with us! This post today really caught my attention. I have been considering purchasing a training program which offers a 30 day money back guarantee which is a nice benefit. Because of life’s circumstances, I won’t be able to really dig in until after May 11th. Until then I’m working on the business plan. I say all this because I am wondering if your training will launch in May? If so, I may hold off on the other program. Thanks 🙂

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Andrew YouderianApril 16, 2013

Glad to do it, Valerie!

To your question: yes, the training will be launching in mid-May! Additionally, it will also have a guarantee to ensure it’s the right fit / up to your quality standards. If it works out for you, would be honored to have you as an early student of the course.

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MarcusApril 16, 2013

Andrew, it’s been amazing to see how much eCommerceFuel has grown in one year. I remember back when I was looking for a blog on e-commerce and drop-shipping, yours was the one I “clicked” with the best. I wanted a personal perspective from someone with experience. Your blog delivers on that.

That’s exciting news that you’re working on a product. You’ve got a great approach in providing value up front as proof and building authority. Makes selling a lot easier later. I’ve slowly started buying information products, but only from bloggers I’ve followed for a while and that I trust. Yours would qualify 🙂

A blog builds a relationship with customers that can’t be replaced with even the slickest sales page. Looking forward to more awesome content from you.

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Andrew YouderianApril 16, 2013

This is awesome to hear – thanks Marcus. I started out with the mission to provide real-world perspective from my experience, so I’m glad to hear that stood out when you first started reading.

Thanks for being a reader over the last year, and I’ll do my best to keep quality content coming!

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ChrisApril 16, 2013

Happy Birthday:o) Just keep doing what your doing. If its not broke,don’t fix it.

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Andrew YouderianApril 16, 2013

Ha! Good call Chris! Thanks for the well wishes.

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OwenApril 16, 2013

Congrats,Andy. Happy 1st birthday. I love your blog and when I first came across it(from a comment you made on someone else’s blog)I signed up straight away.
If you hadn’t mentioned podcasts, I would have suggested that in the future. I would like to see you interview other
store owners and e-commerce related entrepreneurs.
The best of Aussie luck to you, Andy

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Andrew YouderianApril 17, 2013

Thanks Owen! Looking forward to doing more eCommerce entrepreneur case studies as well with podcast – should be a lot of fun.

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AlexApril 17, 2013

Hey! Just wanted to say, Thank You!

I have done marketing for plenty of online businesses, and I am a business intelligence expert by trade. Finally, I decided that I wanted to start a couple ecommerce businesses. Your ebook and blog were SO incredibly helpful. Thank you for the in-depth introduction to the fundamentals. When you release your ecommerce training course, depending on how much it costs, you can count me in.

To echo what others have said… I would definitely LOVE to see more case studies on other emerging websites and the success and mistakes others have made.

Thanks,
Alex

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Andrew YouderianApril 17, 2013

That’s awesome to hear – thanks Alex! Have you launched your stores yet, or are you still in the early phases? And good to hear another +1 for the case studies. Will plan on doing lots more in the future.

Thanks for reading and best of luck with your new stores!

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CaroleApril 17, 2013

Congrats on the continuing success of this blog. I found it a few months ago when I was just starting to research starting my webstore. The ebook was very helpful, and I’ve found your posts to be well written and informative. Going forward, the type of post that I find helpful are the ones where you recommend specific products and why, with comparisons of the options available (i.e. shopping carts). Also, case studies of other new ecommerce sites are great for seeing how other people who are also newbies are working it out. I’m planning to launch my ecommerce site in about a month, and appreciate your insights.

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Andrew YouderianApril 17, 2013

Thanks Carole! More case studies seem to be the most popular request, and I’ll try to work some additional product reviews into the mix as well. While the reviews aren’t super-comprehensive, I do list the tools I use which might be helpful:

https://www.ecommercefuel.com/toolkit/

Thanks for reading and best of luck launching your site next month!

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CarissaApril 17, 2013

Hi Andrew,

Congratulations to your site’s first birthday. The great insights you share make your blog worth it to read. I was looking for a site that has loads of great e-Commerce topics and gladly I’ve found your site.

You are my inspiration to continue what I am passionate about which is e-Commerce.

Again, congratulations Andrew!

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Andrew YouderianApril 17, 2013

Appreciate it, Carissa! Thanks for reading this past year. 🙂

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ChrisApril 17, 2013

Andrew

Thanks for all the posts, always very useful / interesting to read.

I have recently set up my own webstore: http://www.moonintheriver.com and am looking to develop this further using the drop shipping model to begin with. You will see that the product portfolio is still being developed and is set to grow in the next few months.

I would therefore like to see more info on the use of dropshipping as a model, potential dropshippers, advantages, disadvantages etc and ay other useful info I’m sure you could add.

Looking forward to it

Chris.
Ps You can follow the progress @moonintheriver

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Andrew YouderianApril 17, 2013

Congratulations on launching your store! I like the white, clean design. Great suggestions to highlight drop shipping more – I’ll do my best to get a few more articles on the business model and best practices out this next year. If you haven’t already, you should check out this VERY extensive guide I wrote that covers drop shipping in-depth:

http://ecommerce.shopify.com/guides/dropshipping

Best of luck with your new store and thanks for reading!

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ShabbirApril 19, 2013

Chris,

Congratulations on launching your new store! I glanced over your about page and noticed a few things:

1) You start out with negatives – “we dont ship to the UK” – for example – I understand you are trying to qualify your customer expectations, but you have to be positive! Tell your visitors about the thrill of the outdoors, the crisp air, the cool springs, the peaceful sounds first!

In Andrew’s post about Trolling Motors redesign, he mentions his about us page – it’s what I have modeled by about-us page after – https://www.ecommercefuel.com/inside-relaunch-online-store/

Good luck!

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ShannaApril 17, 2013

Andrew

Congrats on your one year anniversary! Your blog is one of the first that I read when I discovered this thing called ‘ecommerce.’ Your stories and the information you share have been the reason I decided to start my own dropshipping store. I’m still in the very early stages, but without your blog and all the content you have shared, I would be too scared to try!

I was thrilled to read that you are starting a podcast soon, can’t wait for that! The one thing I would really like to see on your blog is interviews with other people who have started their own ecommerce sites. Their success stories, their suggestions for newbies like me, and products that they have tried.

Thanks again for all you do, it is much appreciated!

Shanna

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Andrew YouderianApril 27, 2013

Thanks Shanna! I’m excited for the Podcast as well and will do my best to get more personal case studies highlighted. Best of luck with your new store!

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SusanApril 17, 2013

Hey, Andrew!

Thanks so much for demystifying drop-shopping for the masses. I actually work in online marketing as my day job, and finally said, “Um, why am I not doing this for my OWN sites?” I drive traffic very successfully to client sites, after all!

I’m about to embark on this, but was curious – did you reach a point where you were frustrated and almost didn’t continue? Do you feel there’s a point or some hints within endeavors like yours where you’re better off giving up and putting the energy towards something else? Just curious if there are factors that would add up to throwing in the towel on certain ventures and if so, what to look for.

Thanks so much, again!

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Andrew YouderianApril 27, 2013

Great question, Susan. I think knowing when to quit is an important topic and a difficult decision to make. Quit too early and you lose your initial investment. Stay in the game too long and you’re wasting time on a business that’s not viable.

I think ultimately it comes down to the business model. After three months or so, you should be able to get an idea for how difficult it is to acquire traffic, how much it costs to support them and how much you make. You can then project that out to 1-3 years in the future to get an idea of your future work and payoff. If it looks promising, then it’s worth continuing. But if not, it’s time to reconsider.

Obviously a very cursory answer, but hopefully it helps. A great idea for a future blog post!

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ShabbirApril 19, 2013

Congratulations on turning One! The first year is usually the toughest in terms of slugging it out and being patient – and it’s looking like it paid off really well for you!

I can’t say enough how much I love eCommerceFuel – I have your book on my ipad for constant referral, and I’m always looking forward to a new post email from you!

If you use the Flipboard app, I don’t think I can find your blog on it in its RSS feature – if there was some way you could get your blog available on that, it would be really easy to read on the go, too(I’m not sure, but maybe you have to submit it to a feed engine or directory).

If you could have some detailed posts on writing product descriptions, that would be awesome. In starting two ecommerce stores(flipping the first, working on the second), I’ve found that the hardest part was writing descriptions – it’s not that the product is boring, but with so many products with very little variation, it gets difficult to write “really epic” descriptions for each one. You may have had this issue with TrollingMotors.net.

It seems like this comment is turning into a blog post itself! Ill zip it for now 🙂

Keep them coming, good luck, and I am so glad I found you and your blog!

Shabbir

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Andrew YouderianApril 27, 2013

Thanks Shabbir! It’s been awesome having you as a reader – and seeing your comments – on my posts. 🙂

Great idea for a post on writing product descriptions – I’ll add that to my list. And I did struggle with that with TrollingMotors.net. Especially when you have a lot of related product descriptions, writing unique ones for each SKU is difficult.

Best of luck this year and, again, thank for reading!

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RussApril 23, 2013

Andrew,

Congrats on a year for your blog. I have to admit, wish I would have found this blog and the information you provide a year ago versus a month ago, as I could have have already been up and running. LOL!

Last year, I retired from the USAF and moved back to Idaho with the longing for running my own business, but the need to still support my family, so I had to put my needs first and get employment.

Starting up a drop ship business has been on my mind off and on for the last few years. Finding your blog and eBook has provided me the sound advice I was looking for with credibility. I believe you establish your credibility well by giving the advice without the angle of making extra money by having people click links to other sites. The links you do provide are tasteful and add to the content. Your content could be rightfully charged for what you offer, but again, it speaks volumes about you.

As for what you should offer us all in the future, well keep up the great information, and look forward to more as it comes.

So thanks for the information, and am starting the process of starting up my own drop shipping e-commerce site.

Russ

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Andrew YouderianApril 27, 2013

Glad you’ve enjoyed it, and congratulations on your retirement from the USAF! Your service is appreciated.

Best of luck as you’re ramping up your drop shipping business and I’ll do my best to keep quality content coming this year. Thanks for reading!

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JeffApril 24, 2013

Congratz Andrew! I saw this news just now :

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5cc88002-aa15-11e2-9c7b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2RLX6zAlN

Do you think this is going to pass house? If so, does it affect dropshipping business model?

Anything would be appreciated!

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Andrew YouderianApril 27, 2013

I’ve been following this, too. It’s a big deal – if it passes, everyone will have to start collecting sales tax on ALL purchases online with the exception of excluding merchants doing less than $1 million in sales.

Fortunately, it looks like there is only an 11% estimated chance of being enacted into law – I hope they’re right:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr684

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LindaApril 29, 2013

Hi Andrew,
Congrats! I am really loving your blog. I’ve only recently stumbled upon it and so am doing a lot of “catch-up” reading!
I read your eCommerce guide and found it extremely informative and helpful (as I mentioned in my email to you and to which you responded, which gives you extra points in my book!) You just seem to put a lot of thought and effort into providing content and information that will be of REAL value to someone starting up and/or just needing guidance with their new eCommerce ventures. You have what people would call an “authentic voice” which for me, makes it easy to connect with your words. So glad I found your blog! Thanks!

Linda

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Andrew YouderianApril 30, 2013

Thanks, Linda! I do try to put a lot of time and thought into my content, so I really appreciate your comments. 🙂

Best of luck and thanks for reading!

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Danny HowardApril 29, 2013

Hi Andrew,

Congrats to you for reaching your first year, I discovered your blog about 6 month ago, and after reading just 1 of your posts, I was glued with the info you shared and how detailed your content was. I was hooked from there 🙂

Love your ideas and thoughts too. I would be great if you can create an archive of your posts that you’ve made, it only shows the your recent posts.

Cheers

Danny Howard

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Andrew YouderianApril 30, 2013

Thanks Danny! So glad you’ve been enjoying the information.

You’re right – the archives for the blog aren’t very well accessible and I need to improve those. While it’s not as convenient, you can see historical posts by scrolling to the bottom of the homepage and clicking on the “2”, “3” and “4” links to see older posts. Not ideal, but it’s a hack for now…

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30+ Retail Experts Reveal The Biggest Opportunities in Ecommerce Right Now (Part 1 of 2) – Drew SanockiFebruary 4, 2014

[…] what would you do if you were to start from scratch today?” I always like it when founders share that insight because it has inevitably been informed by months and years of hard on-the-job […]

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Shaun PooreSeptember 19, 2014

Thanks so much for the EBook Danny. Just started going through it last night and full of insightful information.

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