e-Portal

Facebook Social Cocktail #2

admin — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 19:29:07 +0000

Right lets break this down into managable sections ….

Your Business.

By now you have already realised that there are many platforms available to you to enable you to reach your target market, google, forums, blogging, twitter, facebook, digg, tumblr, squidoo, and thats just a few of them, they all work in much the same way and will give coverage to the most relevant and or interactive users, ALL of these to some extent use personal recommendations to temper their results in some way , the exact ways are not known as all use algorithms to bring results that are determined by pre-existing markers of what that particular platform regards as important,

Each platform should be focussed to be able to do the following ….

~ provide a platform for your services and/or products or even your group/personality .

~ provide a means to interact and build realtionships with existing customers AND potential ones.

~ provide a means to build a list of people and businesses that are interested in your business/service/group/personality.

~ provide a source of relevant traffic to your commercial or personal website/blog

Facebook.

Facebook is a social network so by default will base the largest focus on sociability. The majority of facebook interaction is obtained from news feeds not actual business pages ;o) , so in the first instance what you ned to do is appear in news feeds , obviously the more the better , but the pinch comes when you think about wether or not you ARE actually appearing in those feeds or not, just because someone has clicked like does not mean you are forever going to be on their feed.

Ask yourself this question and answer it honestly, of ALL te pages you have liked be it 20 or 2000 how many of those appear in your feeds still?

I know from personal experience that I dont have ALL the pages i have liked appearing in my personal feed or the feeds for my business pages , after researching the results of other experiments that have been carried out the figures are quite daunting , quoted figures for hiding of pages in news feeds stand at between 90% to 95% tat are idden from peoples feeds after they click like and for a number of different reasons….

The reasons will be different depending on the users personal preferences but asking yourself why you hide pages and people from your feed will give you the basic answers as to why people do it ;o)

So in exactly the same way as Search Engine Optimisation to appear in googles rankings it is up to you to breakthrough and get your business noticed on facebook.

To do this you need to be relevant, remarkable and interesting.

Creating a decent following of adoring and interactive fans is an art form not a science, the formula isnt precise but there are significant things you CAN do to get people involved.

And a few obstacles you will need to get around )

~* Facebook like google does NOT go out of its way to help newcomers, it trusts established users in the same way google likes established websites. Invisibilty is the first issue you need to overcome and you can only do that if you can gain likers, not easy with a limited circle of friends, and not made any easier with the recent changes made to facebook business pages and personal profiles.its a catch 22 situation you need friends and likers to get you off the ground but have a limited number of those tourself.

Luckily this network can help you with this first push , we can like , tag and recommend you to people to give you that first push.
**(be warned people will not by nature help people who cannot be bothered to return the favour.)**

~* Facebook has a default option for most users, “Top News” is facebook GOLD as far as news feeds are concerned this is the place that ideally your interactions with your fans should sit in oder to get the MOST coverage,.
***(thats a difficult concept to get your head around as most people insist on just barking out offers like a caveman, there are issues with doing that tho which we will discuss later. )**

It also seems to be the new default option for pages too, as most of you have found that your business page mixes the most popular posts at the top of the page , not in chronological order like it does in the admin view. This is facebook pushing the interactive angle even further. There also appears to be content defined parameters to work within *(will get to this later too)*

You will also notice that the facebook options at the bottom of your news feed is set by default to show you the people you interact with the most. again focussing on interactivity to determine you or your businesses place in that feed.

Facebook in short is a Huge popularity contest, base daround interaction and involvment.

Below are things for you to consider when you interact with your fanbase and will cover most of the starred points in the paragraphs above.

-Interaction ~ status updates are a must of course but there are various ways you can use them, ASK for clicks and likes and comments, if you are posting a status post something that requires an answer, or an opinion, ask relevant questions to your business to drive the results in a particular direction, Facebooks algorithm feeds on click throughs so tagging people or pages is a good thing , be wary of overdoing it.

- Rich media content ~ music, videos, pictures, Facebook use an algorithm called Edge rank , it is said to favour rich content and the click throughs generated by that content. It gives people a reason to click , a reason to comment and a reason to keep you in their feed, varied content.

-Integration ~ Facebook is NOT the be all and end all, but it is a major part of the whole social networking buzz that is currently growing in platforms, Facebook however is sTILL the most popular becasue of the ways you can interact, you can feed your blog into a page in various different ways within facebook , it too can feed to twitter, blogs can be fed to linked in and various other newtrorking platforms that rely on content to build a fan base and to exponentially exapnd your potential customer base.

-Newsfeeds ~ In order to appear in someones news feed you have to have them click the like by default you will apear immediately , its after this that you need to work at keeping them there or you there ;o) , to stop them hitting the hide post.You can even interact with their friends , take note of those that interact with regularly , the most active people are the facebook influencers , those that interact regularly are gold dust, how many friends they or you have is irrelevant once you get going.

Beware of posting constant money off offers, or constant look what im selling posts, vary your content, I know I personally hide the people i consider boring , or overly repetitive, part of facebooks changes have been actioned to limiot spam posts, and to enable the public to only interact with those people they WANT to interact with, this is why you cannot see peoples personal profiles unless they allow you to be.

If your fan base wish to get to know you better they can but threy arent forced to ;o).

Those of you that are worrying about inboxes and chat are seriously missing the point, if you have made a sale or have an ongoing enquiry with a customer through your page then the chances are you will be asked if they can message you privately or you can ask them to add you as a friend ,or perhaps even publish a mail address for them to contact, or add a contact form to the page all of these options are available with a page already , always have been.

The BIGGEST part of all this is COMMITMENT

its like any new venture, it takes EFFORT to reap the rewards, it takes innovative and creative thinking to pull people in, people forget that facebook became what it is today through a need for people to be sociable, if you can be sociable then you will succeed, but to really reap the rewards you have to be regular, interesting and committed to the fans you already have and committed to those potential fans that WILL spot you on the way, and they wILL come across you , it’s down to you to create a BRAND that KEEPs its followers entertained.
Facebook will reward you for doing that in its mechanical and mathematical way , but it WILL reward you as you are doing exactly what it says on the tin

YOU are being SOCIABLE

How to Make Sales

admin — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 18:46:57 +0000

Some tips that work for me are:

Use a few products in front of people. If you sell clothing, wear it, if you sell polishing mitts show your mates, colleagues etc what a great job it does.

Get the T-shirt. I used to pet sit (for my sins) and wore t-shirts with the business name on it. People would stop and talk to me in the street about the business and got some good business that way. This is especially good if you can do something that demonstrates the product as well, wearing jewellery means I can show people exactly the kind of thing they can buy.

Talk about your business enthusiastically at every opportunity, if someone asks what you do, tell them. I live in the South East and talking to folk you don’t know at bus stops, queues etc is a cardinal sin in this region but even here you can get people to talk to you. The enthusiasm is essential.

Get involved with charities. There are lots of options, some of which have been discussed on this forum regarding charities and your business.

Carry business cards everywhere. Leave them at associated businesses, i.e., if you sell shampoo, ask hairdressers to keep a pile of your business cards on their desk.

Speak to associated shops to see if you can leave a display range and offer them some commission.

Get a range of items and /or a catalogue and sell stuff at parties, book a table in a pub for the night, in offices, car boots, markets etc then take orders for delivery.

You may have noticed all these are offline tips and it means talking to potential customers face to face. But this is great because you get immediate feedback, you can ask why they like or dislike something, service, product presentation etc. You can ask who they are, what they do, how they buy. It engenders trust, you have presented a human face to a usually faceless business, if they like you, and unless you give them a reason not to they probably will, you have gained months if not years of work on just sticking to online techniques alone.

This human contact is extraordinarily useful for repeat custom. If they feel they know you and trust you, they will stick with you and be honest with you when something isn’t working for them.

So how effective are they, they work for me, they work for many other businesses. They are free or cheap to do, easy to test and utilise the very best selling tool you have in your business … you.

Modified to add:

Know who your customers are.

Of all the over used nonsense phrases in this business is that perennial myth that “the products sells themselves”.

This is a myth because you have to sell the idea behind the business first, the products become easier to sell if you can sell the business but no product sells itself. The business sells the product but before it can do that you must sell the idea of business.

eBay is a perfect example of this.

Author – Baa (Forum Member)

Small Business Start Up Overview

admin — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 09:57:02 +0000

Business plan, this is a retail business after all so first things first, you will need a business plan. This should contain information regarding your target market, who they are, age range, gender, as much information as you can get, even down to what type of job they are likely to have, all this info will help you plan a marketing and advertising strategy.
Competition, you need to know where your target market spend their money and how your competition is drawing these customers in, then you need to formulate a plan on how you intend to draw the customers to your shop and not the competition, this is pure retail tactics, the same type of tactics used by any retail business regardless of size, you should be using these same type of methods on your own marketing, tried and tested retail marketing is what you need to know, research is the key.
Marketing, how are you going to market your business, seeing as you have identified your target market and have researched tried and tested retail marketing strategies, you should have all the info you need in order to create a marketing plan. Your marketing plan should detail all your ideas on how to draw in enough customers to turn a profit. Advertising campaigns, where these ads will appear, for how long, how much they cost, why you think these ads will be effective. Advertising can be effective but only if you understand why certain ads work. Failing to understand this could lead to you throwing money away on advertising and getting no return.
Social networking should be included in your list of marketing plans aswell, even vodka and toilet roll manufacturers are using twitter and facebook pages and ads in their marketing campaigns, you should be doing the same, but plan to catch the attention of your specific target market.
Google and other search engines can bring in quite alot of customers but only if you keep on top of the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) work. Your business plan should detail all the work you plan to do regarding search listing rankings.
Offline advertising, one of the best ways to get your business known is using word of mouth. Use your local area, get people talking about your products. You could offer freebies to a few selected people to get them talking about your products, advertise in your local newsagents, local newspaper, magazines etc, you can even advertise on buses, bus shelters, railway and tube stations for a reasonable price. Regardless of your business being an online shop, offline advertising can be very useful and should be used.
Costings, you will need to know what your bottom line is, your break even point. How much will your retail business cost you to run, including all your advertising campaigns and your office running costs and any other cost relating to your retail business. Despite the fact that your office is likely to be in your own home, you still need to have an office space to run your online shop, this should be in your costings aswell, as a sole trader you need to include all business costs in your tax returns so all your costings should be included in your business plan along with your plan to generate enough sales to meet your bottom line costs.
Don’t forget your National Insurance Contributions, as a sole trader you will need to pay this monthly. Tax will be decided at the end of each financial year, once you have declared all your earnings and your business costs to the tax office. You can get your tax return in early and the tax office will calculate the tax you owe for you, which removes the need to employ an accountant.
Contingency plan, there are a few things that need to be looked at here, the most important is cash flow. How will you cover yourself for unexpected costs such as orders being returned and refunds being given? As a retail business, you will have to deal with any returns of damaged or unwanted items, you will need to refund your customer before you are able to return the item for a refund from your supplier.

That is the information you will need on a day to day basis to help you plan and run your businesses marketing strategies and to ensure that you create enough sales to keep your business turning a profit. A business plan designed to be given to bank managers to secure funding should include slightly more information click here for more info on business plans

Dropshipper list

admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:40:21 +0000

a quick list of dropshippers,

the further down the list, the less I know about the dropshippers and alot have not been checked
its always a good idea to contact the dropshipper and find out as much as you can before using their service
research is the key

http://www.gothicdropshipping.co.uk/

http://www.pcdropship.com/

http://dropshiponline.co.uk/

http://www.dropshipbooks.co.uk/

http://www.badgespatches.com/ds/

http://www.simplygorgeouswholesale.com

http://www.dgtg-wholesale-clubwear-lingerie.co.uk

http://www.FancyDressDropship.co.uk

http://www.glowingideas.co.uk

http://www.celticdrop.co.uk

http://www.moonstagdesigns.co.uk/shop/

http://www.nosacrifice.co.uk/

http://www.legalherbalhigh.co.uk

http://www.sexshop365.co.uk/

http://www.devilwear.co.uk/store/

http://www.puckator.co.uk/wholesale/index.php

http://www.atsdistribution.co.uk/Dropship.aspx

http://www.baumhaus.co.uk/

http://www.footballsouvenirs.net/

http://www.nitrotek.co.uk/dropshipuk.php

http://www.dropshipkids.co.uk/

http://www.pixmania-pro.co.uk/

http://www.wickedimports.co.uk/Drop-Shipping.html

http://www.thesalesoffice.co.uk/acatalog/Drop_Shipping.html

http://www.emporiumuk.biz/

http://dropship.rtenterprises.co.uk/

http://www.universalfurniturewholesale.com/home.html

http://www.wickedimports.co.uk/Drop-Shipping.html

http://www.wholesalewellies.com/

http://www.signs2all.com/trade-enquires–dropshipping-3-w.asp

http://www.rayzorinternational.com/

http://www.5tech.com/

http://www.2cddesigns.co.uk/

http://www.1stopdropshipper.co.uk/

http://www.mysticcharms.co.uk/mysticaldropshipping.html

http://www.silktieswholesale.com/

http://www.wholesale-gift.co.uk/

http://www.personalisedgifts-uk.co.uk/ourgiftranges.html

http://www.somethingdifferentwholesale.co.uk/

https://direct2ufootwear.co.uk/

http://www.dropship-gifts.co.uk/

http://www.eastgateresource.co.uk/index.html

http://www.libertyhousetoys.co.uk/index.php

http://www.pdglobal.co.uk/

http://www.dropshipfilms.com/

http://www.wantedbyall.com/index.php

http://www.1on1dropship.co.uk/customer_info/howto.asp

http://www.a2zjewellery.co.uk/a2z/editorial/d/drop+ship+service/artid/3442

http://www.welshcrafts.co.uk/fantasycandles/index.html

http://www.dropship.animalprintsuk.com/ExternalForms/dropshipinfoTlive.html

http://www.dropshipaccessories.com/

http://www.techcessories.co.uk/drop_shipping.php

http://www.drinkstuff.com/drop-shipping.asp

http://www.metal-models.co.uk/DropShipping.htm

http://www.braz.co.uk/dropshipping

Simply Gorgeous Wholesale and Dropshipping

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:06:15 +0000

*Simply Gorgeous is a Fancy Dress, Lingerie and Club wear dropshipper based in Bromley, Kent which supplies to the trade only.
With a product base of over 1000 items it gives an excellent range of items for its customers with over 75% of all items being held in stock and available for same day dispatch before 3.00pm.
Part of there extensive product range has recently been extended to include shoes,
*boots and swimwear.
The staff at Simply Gorgeous work hard to ensure that their customers receive an excellent service.

www.simplygorgeouswholesale.com

Cambridge Party Bags

admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:55:48 +0000

Cambridge party bags exists after lots of requests for pre-filled partu bags after selling at events with Teeny Munchkins. We offer a range of party bag fillers and can supply both empty and pre-filled party bags. Fabric party bags are also available making our site very eco-friendly.

Cambridge Party Bags

Teeny Munchkins ~ Toys, Gifts, Games and Books for Teeny People

admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:51:36 +0000

We sell a growing range of personalised and handcrafted gifts for babies and young children. We also supply baby bedding to Amber teething necklaces and Automoblox wooden cars to Groovy Girls dolls. Free delivery is available on all deliveries to the UK.

Teenymunchkins

JbRCcars ~ Radio controlled Models

admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:45:41 +0000

Blue Moon Lingerie

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:01:19 +0000

At Blue Moon we choose to sell only brands which offer style, quality and a high commercial opportunity. We supply to the trade only and have a wide range of customers from long established multiples to new smaller businesses in the UK and throughout Europe. Which ever, we endeavor to offer unrivalled customer service and can assist your business to grow and prosper.

Through the service we deliver to our customers and the brands that we sell we live up to an excellent reputation and have a loyal customer base which we are proud of.

So you want to be a Dropshipper ??

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:24:09 +0000

So you want to be a dropshipper.

Many people think that starting a dropshipping site is easy and will make them loads of money without any hard work at all.

Set up a site.
Add a few products.
Add lots of profit margin.
Sit back and watch the orders roll in.

HOW WRONG CAN THEY BE!!

Let me introduce you into the real world -

We will start from the beginning. You have an idea to start a dropship business, you will first of all need to find a reputable dropshipper. This involves lots of research. Finding a dropshipper is not hard, finding how good they are is.
Some points to check are:
Where are they located? do you want to import? (that’s another story). What sort of products do they offer? what payment do they accept? What are their delivery times? What type of packages do they offer regarding dropshipping? The list goes on.
You will need to put down the pro’s and cons of your dropshipper.
Overall if you spend less than a week researching you may find you will not get very far off the ground.

Membership fees.
Many dropshippers charge a fee to join. Why? To give you the privilege of buying discounted products, to sell on at a profit. If it was an open market everyone would be buying at these prices, so your business wouldn’t even get started. (It also covers any overheads they may have)

If you decide to make your own site you will need to think of a domain name, something catchy, something related to your products.
You then need to get it hosted. – How much web space do I need? how much bandwidth will I use?. MORE RESEARCH

You then need to determine which shopping cart you are going to use. There are numerous shopping carts available, some free some payable. AGAIN MORE RESEARCH.

So now you have found your dropshipper, decided on a domain name, found a hoster and picked a shopping cart.
You have purchased the lowest cost package (cash flow problems).

You now have to set everything up, web site, payment options, profit margin, add products.

Your dropshipper offers (for example) 500 varied products, each in their own category, each with varied prices. You have to input them manually to your site.
This can take several days (depending on how good you are at typing and amount of time you have). You have to add your profit margin to each product, albeit a specific amount or percentage.
When you have achieved that you will need to recheck for typos, missing links, missing graphics, correct pricing etc.

OMG is that nearly a month gone by already !!!!!!!!!!

So you now have your site set up, your products are all working fine, your prices are correct.
You can now sit back and see people clambering to buy your products…………. WRONG

How are they going to know you even exist, you need to get seen on the internet.
You now have to sign up with the major search engines and wait for them to pick up your site.
You will have to advertise your site in as many ways as possible, and keep advertising. – flyer’s, signature in emails, word of mouth, business cards …….
See also SEO on the forum. (Search Engine Optimisation)

You MAY start getting customers a few weeks later.

This is only a brief outline of dropshipping, to do a full blown article would turn it into a book.

Remember there are 1000′s of people doing the same as you are, so competition will be stiff.

This is NOT a get rich scheme, many people do it as a hobby, and a little pocket money.
Only the dedicated few will ever turn it into a full time occupation.

This is only intended for a website, selling on eBay is more research and hard work.

Search the forum for articles relevant to you and RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH. Maybe then you will succeed.

On an end note – the sponsors on this forum are well known and reputable, you may like to look into them first to save a little time. They do some excellent package deals, and are willing to assist in problems you may encounter.

Hopefully this has given some insight to the misconceptions of dropshipping – If it was easy EVERYONE would be doing it.