Overview
UKDropshipGroup is an established dropship company based in Cheshire, UK, providing ecommerce websites for those looking to sell products online from home.

The Service
UKDropshipGroup provides a full dropship solution for those who want their own ecommerce website but don’t have the technical ability to set one up. You also don’t need to worry about finding a dropshipper because with the UKDropshipGroup service you also get free dropship supplier accounts.

Products & Businesses
There are currently 7 businesses to chose from selling the following products; inkjet, DVD, beauty, gadget, football, lingerie and wedding. Each business has a range of professional templates so you can pick your own design. The templates are not your usual run of the mill templates, but professionally created to entice customers. Also, your new website will be up and running inside 1 hour.

All UKDropshipGroup customers also receive a free dropshipper business package, including marketing, search engine, SEO, free domain name, free software, free telephone number and many more essential products required to get your new website business of to a flying start. You will also receive free technical and customer support, giving you the total peace of mind that should you require any assistance, it is available to you.

Cost
It costs £14.97 to set-up your website (limited time only), and then you have to pay £7.95 per month for the web hosting via a paypal subscription. This is good value for money considering the time you would save in comparison to learning how to set-up a website and doing it all yourself. Also, depending on the hosting package you choose, it is possible to be running your new website business for as little as 13 pence per day. Great value.

Conclusion
UKDropshipGroup are ideal if you want your own website but don’t know how to go about setting it up. Even if you do know how they can still save you a lot of time. A wide range of business types are also available so you can be selling products you like yourself and enjoy selling, in my opinion it is always important you are selling products you quite like yourself. Dropshipping is a growing industry, and UKDropshipGroup are very experienced in this field, and can offer you all the start-up information, and support you could require.

Visit the UKDropshipGroup.com website now to learn more about the service and register your own website.

Post from: The Dropshipper

No need to pray customers will think your a one man band anymore!

• Become a Ltd Company - Limited companies always make a website appear like their is a larger business behind the screen. Even though it could still just be one man working from his living room. However please remember the extra costs and legal implications of registering as a limited company, the effort and cost may not be worth the gain.
  
  
• Register For VAT - Having a VAT number listed on your website to show your visitors also makes your business appear larger. If you have to pay VAT to your dropshipper everytime you order it will also make financial sense to your business to register. If you have high hopes for your business (which you should) then it is worth noting that once your sales reach £67,000 in 12 months it is a legal requirement to register for VAT.
  
  
• Giveaway Competitions - You could create a competition on your website. You could offer 10 products up as prizes, say your 10 best selling products, and to enter people have to register as a member at your ecommerce website and then complete a small questionnaire. You could then tell website and blog owners in the same industry about the competition who might mention it on their website for you. This will give you links to your website, instant potential customers and new members who you can promote to. But best of all it will give your website improved presence on the web and only large companies can afford to run competitions like this, or so the consumers think!
  
  
• Show off Memberships - If you are a member of business groups or ecommerce organisations you can often get badges for your website showing you are part of these groups. You don’t need to properly show them off but you could reference them on your “about us” page or low down your sidebar. This will show to users you do business properly and they can trust you.

There you have another 4 ways to make your website appear like it is owned and run by a large company. In total (including the first two posts) that is 13 very good ways to improve the public appearance of your business.

Final Thoughts
Trust is a big factor in ecommerce, if visitors don’t trust you they won’t buy from you. No matter how good your products or prices are. Making your website appear like it is a large company (or at least bigger than one man in his front room!) is a key way to building trust. So if you don’t put the tips into action listed in this series then you will be losing sales. The great part about these tips is that most of them are free to implement, they just require a bit of time and minimal effort - so no excuses!

To keep up with more great posts like this you should subscribe for free to our instant updates.

Image credit: andrewfeinberg

Post from: The Dropshipper

A clearly stated phone number will build visitors trust in you

This post covers measures to make your website look like a larger company that will require some investment from you but should have a very good positive impact on sales.

So here are 4 more ways to make yourself appear to be a bigger company:

• Web Design - A professionally done web design can seriously help conversions on your ecommerce website. If your web design is simple, clear, pleasing to the eye and effective for users (navigation etc) then conversions will increase. Potential customers aren’t going to have much trust in a website with a design that has poor image formatting, tacky text, bad colours and just looks damn cheap.
• Domain Name - Your domain name has many effects on the success of your website. Not only does it help you in the search engines and help visitors remember your business it also has an impact on how much trust visitors have in you. For a start your website must have a .co.uk or .com extension. The domain should also sound good, be relatively short and have a targetted keyword in it. You should also consider investing in a premium domain (one or two keywords), this will cost you thousands of ££ but could completely change your business! I’m going to be developing Paperback.co.uk myself soon and am a big believer in investing in premium domains. Consumers think that only big companies have the premium domains!
• Phone Number - to be a serious dropshipper you really need to have a phone number on your website. Many visitors just want to see that they can call you if they need to, they may not even call you. If you don’t want to put your phone number online you could pay for a managed service like YourCityOffice. Users will think no phone number means you are either a scam or incredibly small business, you don’t want visitors thinking either.
• Physical Address - very much the same as the phone number bullet point above. If you don’t want to put your own address online you could put your dropshippers (clearly state that the address is for return orders only though and no snail mail) or you could pay for a registered business address.

If you haven’t already then make sure you implement the ideas I gave you in the First Post of this series. Then you need to save this page and start making plans so you can implement the above ideas now or in the very near future!

In part 3 of the series (on Monday) I will wrap up with a few more ideas and tips to make your company appear bigger. If you like this post and other posts and haven’t yet registered for our free updates I recommend you consider subscribing as it is completely FREE, easy and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Post from: The Dropshipper

Don't let visitors know you are a one-man-band, appear big!

We all feel safer being part of something big!

Make your website appear to be a big company and potential customers will trust you more. Would a potential customer choose the website that is run by one man at home or one with 20 employees and a big fancy warehouse?

Obviously you can’t just get yourself lots of employees and a warehouse - but there are lots of ways to make yourself appear like a larger company to potential customers!

Here are 5 ways to instantly make yourself appear to be a bigger company:

• Change the words you use on your ‘Contact Us’ page. For your email put “Send an email using the form below and a member of our team will get you back to you very shortly”. And if you have a phone number put “Call our sales team to get an answer to your question right away!”. If you havent got a phone number there is more on that in the 2nd post of this series.
  
  
• Put impressive numbers on your ‘About Us’ page or sidebar section (don’t lie though!). You can say things like “our website receives over 30,000 unique hits every month”, this sounds better than “our website receives around 5,000 visitors per month”. Put total hits, not unique visitors as it is always much higher. You can also put other things like when you are explaining why it is good to buy from you, at the end of a sentence put “that is why thousands of customers trust us”. Even if the reality is that you only get 10 orders per week but have been trading for 3 years, you have still had thousands of customers, just its taken years to get them.
  
  
• Make sure all grammar is perfect. You don’t want a single spelling mistake, any bad english or general bad presentation (use of paragraphs, bold text, italics, bullet points etc). The more professional your text looks the more professional it makes you look. And professionalism is generally associated with larger companies.
  
  
• Get your face on your website! A great way to build trust is to put on your “About Us” page a section about you. Put a smart photo of you, maybe in a suit or at least looking smart with a nice smile on your face. Then put a short paragraph in first person EG “Hi, I’m Bertie and I’m the Director of extremesportstuffonline.com. I love extreme sports and being part of a business where the product is also my passion is great. I’m very proud of the products we sell and service we provide and hope all the great products you buy from us meet your exact standards. If they don’t one of our team is always just a phone call away. You can also send a personal feedback email directly to me at bertie@extremesportstuffonline.com! Keep loving extreme sports! Regards, Bertie Bertimus.” I’m sure you get the idea anyway, it definitely gives the business a feeling of size and also shows the top boss of a website cares about his customers and the products.
  
  
• Make sure important pages are visible, even if its at the bottom of your web design. Pages like “Terms & Conditions”, “Privacy Notice” & “Disclaimer” all show your visitors you are a serious business and operate on the right side of the law. You can also create pages like “Jobs”, “Corporate”, “Advertise” & “Press” and then put small holding content on them. I’m sure you will have seen links to these sorts of pages so many times on large ecommerce websites, but how many people would actually click them - virtually none! And having the links gives the impression of a large company!

So there you have 5 really easy ways to instantly give your business a larger feeling. In the 2nd post of the series I will cover more bigger topics like web design and having a phone number.

The 2nd post in this series will be published next Monday, you can subscribe to our free updates to instantly find out about it.

Post from: The Dropshipper

]]> http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/11/03/we-all-feel-safer-being-part-of-something-big-part-1/feed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/10/27/help-yourself-stay-productive-top-3-to-do-list-providers/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/10/27/help-yourself-stay-productive-top-3-to-do-list-providers/#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:00:43 +0000 Chris http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/?p=150
Lose The Paper, Use Free Services!
Staying productive is very important. When working for yourself it is easy to go off in other directions and not focus on the tasks that need doing - the internet has the power to distract!

To help yourself stay productive you can sign-up (for free) to websites where you can create and manage your own ‘to-do-lists’, this will help you focus on the tasks in hand and not forget what needs doing.

Here Are The 3 Best To-Do-List Services:

1. - I’ve put this website first because it is feature packed but also simple to use when you first sign up. You can organise your tasks into tabs and with tags. You can also make time specific tasks with automatic reminders which I think is brilliant for managing your time when running your business.
   
   
2. - Probably the most slickest and web2.0 of all the services. You can create multiple lists each with a unique name, and then you can choose the lists you want to see and display them in your workspace. Very cool and ideal when working on different projects and aspects of your business.
   
   
3. - This service is the opposite of Orchestrate. It is simply a to-do-list and thats it, no fancy features or anything like that. You are able to create multipe lists and add, edit, and remove tasks, thats it! If you just want a super simple service for a few task lists this is the one for you.

There are a lot more providers of To-Do-List’s but I didnt want to list them all as I don’t really see the point, they all do much the same job. However if none of the above meet your reguirements search google and you will find lots more websites that might be able to help you.

For more great posts like this you can subscribe for free updates from our website. It is quick, easy and secure to do!

Post from: The Dropshipper

]]> http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/10/27/help-yourself-stay-productive-top-3-to-do-list-providers/feed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/10/20/aim-for-a-bumper-xmas-to-beat-the-credit-crunch/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/10/20/aim-for-a-bumper-xmas-to-beat-the-credit-crunch/#comments Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:50:31 +0000 Chris http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/?p=145
.....massive profits during December!!
Watching BBC Breakfast this morning they reported on the prediction that the economy will shrink by 1% next year and that we are already in a recession. This credit crunch is not fun and it is important you aim for bumper christmas 2008 sales to help your business through 2009.

I haven’t heard a great deal about what things will be like in early 2009 but I think it is going to be really tough. Even with the credit crunch Christmas 2008 is going to see everyone buying lots of presents and treating themselves with the usual Christmas products like trees, decorations, fake snow etc etc.

But in the new year everyone will have to tighten their belts even more so than people normally do in the new year. I think consumer spending will be really low in the new year. If like me you run your own business full-time I have little doubt you have at least some concerns as a result of the credit crunch - even if this recession only lasts a year or two there are still bills to pay!

To help beat the struggle through next year I think you have to take maximum advantage of the festive period. I am a big believer in pushing your business through a recession and it is vital you keep agressively developing the business if possible. This puts you in a great position when the economy recovers.

So make sure you have your plans ready for christmas and work your backside of to make every last single sale you can!

If you want to keep learning quality ecommerce advice and tips you can subscribe for free to our website and you will receive instant updates! You can unsubscribe at any time.

Post from: The Dropshipper

]]> http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/10/20/aim-for-a-bumper-xmas-to-beat-the-credit-crunch/feed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/10/13/10-ecommerce-resources-that-can-help-succeed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/10/13/10-ecommerce-resources-that-can-help-succeed/#comments Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:51:18 +0000 Chris http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/?p=140
You Need A Team To Succeed!
To succeed with your ecommerce business you need help like personal advice, general tips and your questions answered. Thankfully the web is awash with great information, I have put together a list of great resources I have bookmarked in the past.

10 Ecommerce Resources To Help Your Business Succeed:

• Entreprenuer eBusiness - A section on entrepreneur.com dedicated to eBusiness with lots of great articles and how-to guides on getting started, getting traffic, operations, site design etc
• Practical eCommerce - A very helpful advice website with articles, blog posts and podcasts
• Get Elastic - An ecommerce blog with regular posts from quality authors. Worth subscribing to (free) so you don’t miss any of their content. A recent article I liked was Online PR Tips for Consumer Safety
• eShop Forums - A forum for webmasters selling products online. Not a highly active forum but there are over 5,000 posts with info you can search through
• The eCommerce Blog - The name says it all! Not many regular postings but lots of archives worth going through to dig out some great content. A post I like is: non core products as a loss leader
• Top 100 eCommerce Tips - This is a forum post from webmasterworld where members each contributed to the thread with their own tip
• Choosing A Shopping Cart - An article which clearly explains everything about shopping carts so you can get the right one for your estore
• Top 10 eCommerce Tips - An article published by smallbusiness, its an old article (2006) but still a good’en!
• Increase Online Sales - 7 tips from gotwww.com about how to increase your sales online
• This Blog - of course how could I not include this blog in the list! We do regular postings (every monday mornings) and you can subscribe for free or add us to your bookmarks!

So there you have 10 really good ecommerce resources which can help you with your business, all that is required on your part is the time to digg out the info and implement what you learn - so what are you waiting for?

If you have any more great resources you are welcome to leave a comment below. Thanks, Chris - Author.

Post from: The Dropshipper

]]> http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/10/13/10-ecommerce-resources-that-can-help-succeed/feed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/10/06/how-big-can-you-build-your-one-man-business/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/10/06/how-big-can-you-build-your-one-man-business/#comments Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:31:32 +0000 Chris http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/?p=136
Big Money!
I have often thought about how big I could build my business up on my own, and I expect you have wondered the same thing. So how big can you build up your online business by yourself?

How does $14.9million sound? (£8.5 million in the UK)

This is what one man has just sold his blog for. Bankaholic.com provides info on deposits, savings accounts, and money market accounts - and it is owned and completely run by just one man, John Wu.

He set the blog up in July 2007, 15 months later it has sold for $14.9million. That is incredible and a great inspiration for anyone running an online business. No matter how you generate revenue - dropshipping, advertising, subscriptions or selling your skills - it shows what is possible.

If you aren’t yet subscribed to our blog you can use the box on the right hand side, it is completely free. By subscribing you will never miss any of the content published here, we can give you the tips and info to help make your business a success!

Post from: The Dropshipper

]]> http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/10/06/how-big-can-you-build-your-one-man-business/feed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/29/dropshipland-free-uk-dropshipper-review/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/29/dropshipland-free-uk-dropshipper-review/#comments Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:09:07 +0000 Chris http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/?p=115
DropshipLand
Following on from my review of Chinavasion I thought it would be cool to do a review of a UK based dropshipper. Sellers generally seem to be more comfortable dealing with UK based dropshippers so for the moment I will focus more on companies in the UK than abroad. The company featured in this blog post is UK based but does ship worldwide - so if you don’t sell to UK customers they are still worth looking at!

Profile #2 - DropshipLand.com

Overview
DropshipLand is a well established UK dropshipper based in the North of England, selling CDs, DVDs, lingerie, beauty products, football souvenirs and more.

Costs & Ordering
To join DropshipLand you just have to pay a small fee, they have two options - 1 Year Membership for £29.95 or Lifetime Membership for £79.95, they also sometimes have special offers. The product prices are not shown on the main website if you aren’t registered however if you contact them they will send you a sample price list. They accept paypal, as well as credit and debit cards - and there is no minimum order when ordering products.

Don’t let the sign-up fee put you off, especially if you are new to dropshipping. Although it costs you now a sign-up fee does help you because it discourages some people from joining which means less competition for you when selling their products and it also stops consumers buying direct from the dropshipper.

Shipping
They ship all goods in plain and protective packaging with no mention of the company so the customer will think the product has came direct from you. Although UK based they do ship orders to customers worldwide with low cost shipping rates - £3.00 or £3.75 depending on the part of the world being shipped to. Shipping is also only £1.50 to the UK, which is very reasonable. 90% of orders are shipped inside 24 hours.

Website & Currency
Once signed up their website is very easy to use, as we also have a ‘new member q&a database’, as well as telephone support. The only currency used on the website is pound sterling but if you are located in the US or Eurozone paypal means you can still use the DropshipLand service.

Website Option
If you decide to take Dropshipland’s website option (Platinum membership), then you can have your own website activated inside an hour, ready to make profits. All stock is fully updated, automatically, on a daily basis. You can also add your own products to your website. In fact, Dropshipland actually give you a 300+ software package bundle for you to sell, free of charge, to sell on your new website. You gain free technical support for your website, including telephone support and ticket system. Full details of the Dropshipland website option can be seen here: http://www.dropshipland.com/your-website-i-23.html where you can quickly see the benefits.

Immediate Access. Once you have joined Dropshipland, you will be automatically directed to full access details, including how to create your account, as well as activate your website. The software used on the website you receive is a much improved version of the popular Zen Cart shopping cart system, which is very easy to use, even for beginners. The website is already populated with stock, and the only action you have to take, is insert your paypal email address, and you are ready to start trading. It could not be easier.

Product Example
I can’t give a product example like I did on the Chinavasion review because the 2 websites work differently but at DropshipLand they do sell the following products at prices significantly lower than the RRP - CDs up to 40% lower, DVDs up to 75% lower, lingerie up to 40% lower, Inkjet ranges up to 25% lower, beauty ranges up to 30% lower, ties & cufflinks up to 40% lower, souvenirs up to 35% lower than the RRP. From those prices you can see there is room for decent profit margins, especially if you sell from your own website, not eBay. Also, remember, that because Dropshipland have so very many products for you to promote, along different ranges, you will always create the possibility of passive sales from one range, to another.

Conclusion
DropshipLand is a very well established dropshipper and have been dropshipping for over 4 years. They continue to increase their product range which is brilliant from a sellers point of view and they also provide quality customer service - on their website they have a phone number, address etc so it is super easy to get in touch with them. If you want to sell a broad range of products and want a dropshipper you have full confidence in then DropshipLand is ideal. You can be safe in the knowledge, that you would be using a dropshipper that has stood the test of time, and is well known for excellent customer services.

Other Notes
As with any dropshipper, DropshipLand will go out of stock of products from time to time, however they do have a clever system in place which lets you check if products have gone out of stock giving you enough time to control your sales. This is a great benefit because there is nothing worse than making a sale and finding the dropshipper has sold out of the product!

The people who run Dropshipland, have some of the widest dropshipping knowledge available, which means you would be working with a company who were one of the first dropship companies in he UK, and who know the industry better than most.

Website
Visit the Dropshipland website to learn more about them and sign-up for their service.

Please note all figures quoted and information was correct at the time this page was published.

Post from: The Dropshipper

]]> http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/29/dropshipland-free-uk-dropshipper-review/feed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/25/patience-virtue-especially-ecommerce/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/25/patience-virtue-especially-ecommerce/#comments Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:28:06 +0000 Chris http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/?p=128
Patience Is A Virtue
Patience is a virtue in all aspects of life, they say good things come to those who wait! But can this be said for those of us running a business online? After all you read about the stories of websites which have built up to a massive scale and are worth millions in only a couple of years - Facebook, Digg, YouTube, MySpace, Flikr, Craigslist, Friendster, the list goes on.

So does this mean if my website doesn’t take off within a few weeks/months it isn’t going to work?

Not at all! The web is a very competitive place, and unless you have something incredibly unique or a really big marketing budget it is very difficult to get floods of customers through your website within weeks of launching your site.

You have to be patient. If you notice all the sites I mentioned at the start of the post are services, they don’t actually sell anything to the consumer. Websites like this can grow dramatically quicker than ecommerce websites. With ecommerce it is a whole different ball game, you have to build trust with visitors so they are comfortable to create an account with you and hand some money over.

As long as you have got a solid business plan, determination, patience, common sense and good people around you then you stand a very good chance of building up a successful business.

When I first started out online I wanted to do everything at once. And I would be annoyed when I had been working my backside off for weeks and weeks and hadn’t generated a penny in revenue. This can soon leave you questioning what your doing and leave you a bit despondent.

Ultimately with everything in place you need to just be patient and get on with it - easier said than done I know but this is business and you should be in it for the long haul.

The longer you are running your online business and active on business forums and blogs like this the more you learn, with your greater knowledge you improve your business and it becomes like a snowball effect. In my experience setting up and getting your business going is the hardest bit, it takes a lot of hard work and patience! Long-term though it is worth it for a variety of reasons; satisfaction, financial and the lifestyle that working for yourself brings.

So remember, good things come to those who wait - keep working!

You may also be interested in reading these posts which Ive written in the past which relate to this post:
You must be involved to take advantage of opportunities
Getting your first ecommerce order
Starting your online business properly

Post from: The Dropshipper

]]> http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/25/patience-virtue-especially-ecommerce/feed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/18/top-10-posts-great-tips-free-advice/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/18/top-10-posts-great-tips-free-advice/#comments Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:30:03 +0000 Chris http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/?p=106
Our Top 10 Ecommerce Posts
I’ve got a lot of new development coming up soon which will mean more quality posts on here as I’m developing a new website dropshipping books. I will keep you posted on what I do, why and the success of it.

Despite the economic gloom I believe it is important to keep investing for your business to survive and be strong for when the economy recovers.

Just before the new content swamps the old posts I thought it would be cool to post the Top 10 Posts I’ve made on this blog so if your new round here you won’t have missed anything. I’ve concluded these posts are the best by looking at amount of traffic, comments, length of post and quality of content.

Here is the Top 10 in no particular order:

• Chinavasion review - a review of an electronics dropshipper
• eBay alternatives - increase sales and profits by selling via other platforms
• UK dropship list - a list of major UK dropshippers
• 7 ways not to promote - avoid these promotion methods
• How to value a website - not sure the value of a website you want to buy?
• Measure conversion rates - help to set yourself targets
• Customer confidence, increase sales - improve your customers confidence in you
• Promote with press releases - 2 different ways to use press release
• Ideal time to invest - now is a great time to put your money in
• Spot a scam - how to tell if a website is a scammer

You will have noticed none of the latest posts are included in the list, this is because they have only been published a few weeks so total traffic hasn’t reached the same level as the older posts. To read the latest posts please visit our Blog Home.

Subscribe So You Don’t Miss A Thing!

You can subscribe for free to our blog. You can subscribe be e-mail or RSS. By subscribing you receive a message with the new content, so you never miss a thing! To learn more or subscribe please read our subscribe info page.

Post from: The Dropshipper

]]> http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/18/top-10-posts-great-tips-free-advice/feed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/15/use-scamchecker-decide-website-scam/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/15/use-scamchecker-decide-website-scam/#comments Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:15:39 +0000 Chris http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/?p=103
ScamChecker
Every day on forums their is new questions about whether certain dropshippers and wholesalers are a scam. In April I did a post about how to spot middle men but I have now found a great resource to help you even further.

ScamChecker is a free online resource to help you avoid scams. It uses a checklist system where you tick off the relevant boxes and the website tells you how likely it is that the website is legitimate.

They also have a very good ‘Website Scam Guide’ which is worth a quick read. So if you’re in the hunt for new suppliers add the site to your favourites and save yourself time and worry!

Post from: The Dropshipper

]]> http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/15/use-scamchecker-decide-website-scam/feed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/08/start-getting-ready-for-the-christmas-season-very-soon/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/08/start-getting-ready-for-the-christmas-season-very-soon/#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2008 11:15:56 +0000 Chris http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/?p=99
Santa Is On His Way!
It doesn’t seem like to long ago that I was saying Sell Sell Sell! And now Christmas 2008 will be here very soon. It is a fantastic time for retail sales so it is vital you are ready to start really selling so you can make as much profit as possible.

So, when should you start preparing for Christmas?

From experience I would say any time from now, and the sooner the better because you need to be prepared. One of the major supermarkets took delivery of all their advent calendars last week so they are gearing up already for Christmas.

Level Of Sales Will Be Up…..Again
For years now internet sales have been on the increase and they will continue to grow. The 2007 Christmas period saw a 54% increase in sales compared to 2006 Christmas, and they predict a 50% increase compared to 2007! So even if you have been running an ecommerce store for years you need to be more prepared than ever.

My First Christmas - Go On Beat Me!
I remember my first christmas dropshipping (2005). I can’t recall exactly how much profit I made but it was something like £160. It was an amazing feeling because the majority of sales came from eBay and a few from a crappy ecommerce store I had set up and linked to from the Nochex classifieds service (no longer exists). I only started selling a few days into december and my profit margins were not very good but I still made a bit of money off my own back with literally only a few pounds investment!

If this is your first year dropshipping have a go at beating my £160 profit! A few months down the line the dropshipper closed and so my business was ruined because no other dropshipper sold similar products - anyway thats another story…. This christmas could be your springboard for 2009!

Issues Of Christmas
The amount of online shopping people do at this time grows significantly, so mosts aspects of running your business require more time.

• If you are going to do more ebay listings you will spend more time making the listings
• If you run an ecommerce store you will spend more time managing products out of stock, offers, new product etc.
• More time answering customer questions
• More time filling out orders with dropshippers
• More time keeping your cashbook up-to-date
• Its all about more more more of everything!

Dropshippers will also be sending out info to you on products out of stock, when they will be sending out their last deliveries and other issues they may be having. So you have to really be on the ball to keep everything running smoothly.

Christmas is a great time for small dropshippers - how do you expect to do this year?

Post from: The Dropshipper

]]> http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/08/start-getting-ready-for-the-christmas-season-very-soon/feed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/01/give-yourself-boost-reviewing-targets/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/01/give-yourself-boost-reviewing-targets/#comments Mon, 01 Sep 2008 11:44:45 +0000 Chris http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/?p=95
Don't Be Afraid To Move Your Targets
At the start of every year I set myself a load of targets related to all aspects of life - from golf to business. I recommed you do the same if you aren’t already. This is a much better way to achieve your aims then by doing ‘new years resolutions’, which long term rarely works.

A year is a long time and a lot changes during a year, now is an ideal time to reflect and begin a final push through 2008. A good way to give yourself an instant boost is to review your targets and adjust as required!

Generally speaking it isn’t wise to be changing targets, especially when it comes to your business, otherwise you won’t have a true measure of growth between years. So leave those well alone. I’m talking more about your overall personal goals for the year. I’ll give you an example of one of my targets for a particular business and how I’ve changed it.

• At the start of the year the target was to have a balance sheet of £12,000 by the end of 2008. At the moment I value it conservatively at around £13,000, but would be confident of getting more if I did sell. So I’ve already beaten the target. But instead of just accepting that, I have changed the target so it is now £21,000, and I’m going to need to push to achieve that.

How To Record Target Changes
In the document that you wrote your targets down I would recommend you set up a new column which is parallel to your original targets and then put the new figures in their. This way at the end of the year you can see where you are at in comparison to your original targets and reviewed targets.

And always only set new targets for situations like this, don’t start messing with your business forecasts and other documents.

Conclusion - Ride Your Boost!
There are always some targets you set yourself that you will meet much earlier than you expected, as is the case in my situation. So reviewing and changing your targets gives you a new reason to push and definitely gives you a boost to work and achieve the set targets. Ride the boost for as long as you can and you may even beat your new targets before the year is out!

Before you close this window and go off somewhere else, make sure you review and change your targets for the year - Now is the time to act!

Post from: The Dropshipper

]]> http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/09/01/give-yourself-boost-reviewing-targets/feed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/08/25/make-changes-personal-life-improve-your-business/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/08/25/make-changes-personal-life-improve-your-business/#comments Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:25:10 +0000 Chris http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/?p=88
Spending Money On Your Personal Life Can Help Your Business. New DJ Equipment Is My Latest Investment :)
Running your own business is different to working for someone else, when working for yourself your business and personal life become very much connected, especially when working from home.

Is it possible to change your personal life and instantly improve your business?

Is A Holiday An Investment?
I recently went on holiday to Corfu for two weeks at a total cost of over £1,000. I wasn’t sure whether to go or not - after all that £1,000 could be invested in my business. Only when I was away did I appreciate how much I needed the holiday and how good it made me feel.

I am now more focused than ever and came up with loads of great ideas and plans whilst I was away (the blackberry saves the day again!). The money spent on the holiday feels like an investment, I am now more productive and my business will be stronger as a result of my new ideas. So I guess it really is an investment, except it is an invesment in myself as a whole rather than just the business. A ‘personal investment’.

Day-To-Day Changes Can Also Help Your Business
You can also spend money on day-to-day things that can help your business.

I’m getting Sky Plus soon, this will help me focus more on my business. I like to get up in the morning and watch certain programs (Baywatch - UKTV Gold 8-9am!) before then having breakfast, a shower, sorting myself out and getting down to work.

The problem is by that time it is normally close to 10am, and I want to start work earlier, but if I get up earlier I have less sleep which makes me less productive and I hate being tired. Sky Plus will enable me to record programs which I can’t help watching in the day, meaning I work more when I need to and can watch what I want later in the day! More time working and better focus will mean an improvement to my business.

Other Ways To Change Your Personal Life
There are lots of things like this which you can spend your money on. If you live on your own maybe a dog or cat would be good? I have some days where I struggle to really focus, and my house just feels silent and uninspiring, but if I have the TV on I do no work at all - I hate those days! In this situation a dog would be great, take it a walk to get me some fresh air and take my mind off work for a bit. One for the future maybe.

Indulging in your hobbies, as long as it doesn’t cost to much, is also a great way to keep you perky. A happy person is always more productive than an unhappy person. I love djing (only at home in spare time) and I’ve set a side a couple of hundred for a new CDJ (a turntable for cds) which I’m very excited about.

So, in response to my original question: Yes, it certainly is possible to change your personal life and instantly improve your business!

My CDJ is my next ‘personal investment’, what investment will you make to help your personal life and business?

Post from: The Dropshipper

]]> http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/08/25/make-changes-personal-life-improve-your-business/feed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/08/03/surf-around-blogosphere/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/08/03/surf-around-blogosphere/#comments Sun, 03 Aug 2008 21:04:28 +0000 Chris http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/?p=85
Life's A Beach!
I’m going away tomorrow morning on holiday (fly 8 hours from now to be precise!!) so I haven’t got time to do a post this week. So you still have something quality to read this week ive put links below to some of my favourite recent blog entries to do with online business. 
• Getting the best price for your asset - great post about domain sales and when you come to sell your online assets.
• SEO trends - an interesting post on netbusinessblog about google changing its stance on SEO.
• How to say nothing in 500 words - running any kind of online business involves a lot of writing, whether it’s articles, product descriptions or even emails. This is a useful post for all webmasters.
• Surpise suprise, Google knol ranks well in Google - Darren comments on the SERP’s of keyword search terms to do with new knols created. Google knol is another good way for you to show you are an ‘expert’ in the products that you dropship.

I’m sure there are other good posts about there but these are the only ones I read so they’ll have to do for you! I’m back on August 19th so if you have any questions or anything please get in touch the normal way and I will reply to you when I get back. I run my online business full-time so someone is watching everything whilst I’m away so the blog will remain online so you can read through past content if you wish.

Post from: The Dropshipper

]]> http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/08/03/surf-around-blogosphere/feed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/07/28/ecommerce-study-investing-in-ecommerce/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/07/28/ecommerce-study-investing-in-ecommerce/#comments Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:01:48 +0000 Chris http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/?p=81
Research Study
An ecommerce study called “No Retreat! Investing in Ecommerce Despite The Times” has recently been published with some interesting results, the study is by Acquity Group, a Chicago based consulting firm.

We all know the current economic climate is gloomy in the US and UK. Despite this the report has found companies are continuing to invest in ecommerce, asked, “On a scale of 1-10 how aggressive will you be in your eCommerce investment?” the average response was 7, indicating companies will continue to invest in their eCommerce strategy.

Other Interesting Information From The Study:

• First quarter 2008 sales results show online sales are up 13.6% reaching $33.79 billion
• Ecommerce outpaced growth in total retail sales which were up just under 3% in 2007
• Average conversion rates remain at 2-3%
• 11% of companies have conversion rates below 1%, up from 7% of companies last year
• 82% of merchants expect to add skus (stock keeping unit)

The report has a few more stats, it is 40 pages in total, if you want to read more and have the time you can download the report for free: http://www.acquitygroup.com/publish/en/index/No_Retreat_Whitepaper.html

Post from: The Dropshipper

]]> http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/07/28/ecommerce-study-investing-in-ecommerce/feed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/07/21/chinavasion-worldwide-wholesale-electronics-dropshipper-review/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/07/21/chinavasion-worldwide-wholesale-electronics-dropshipper-review/#comments Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:17:35 +0000 Chris http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/?p=52
Chinavasion
In June I published a free dropshipper list of companies based in the UK who ship to UK customers. Now I want to look a little more at companies who are based abroad but ship to the UK and worldwide. There currently isn’t very many so I’m going to look more in-depth at the suppliers rather than do one list.

Profile #1 - Chinavasion

Overview
Chinavasion is a worldwide dropshipper of electronic products, they are based in Shenzhen, China.

Costs & Ordering
The Chinavasion website is free to join and they never charge any fees, the product prices are available on the website even if you aren’t registered. There is no minimum order when ordering, and they also give discounts the more you order, so the more you sell the cheaper your goods will be meaning higher profit margins!

Shipping
They ship all goods in plain packaging using air express couriers (DHL, FedEx, and UPS). The typical time for orders to arrive is 6-10 days. Coming from China to the UK the postage isn’t cheap but the products are well priced so the overall cost is still very reasonable.

Website & Currency
Their website is very easy to use and has lots of detailed information covering all important information like shipping, contacting them, the dropship process etc. You can order in pounds, dollars or euros. They have a little button in their left navigation bar which you can use to change the currency to pounds.

Product Example
They sell a Super Color Watch MP4 Player 4GB for £27.07, add shipping at £8.97 the total cost would be £36.04 for a very good product.

The product isn’t a brand name, but if you run an established electronics business you could just call it an ‘own brand’ product, which I think also gives the impression your company is larger than it really is. The product also comes with a 12 month warranty which is a great for customer confidence. I think you could comfortably sell this product for just over £50 (on your own website, not ebay!) which even after your payment fees would leave a good profit.

Conclusion - The Positives & Negatives
On the positive side the cost of products is very good. Gadgets and ‘trend’ products seem to be selling very well online at the moment, Chinavasion is a great supplier if you want a piece of the action. The products also have lots of photos and in-depth descriptions which is vital for dropshippers and makes selling much easier. Other smaller benefits include; no sign-up fee, no minimum orders, you can pay via paypal and there are a variety of currency options.

On the negtive side the products aren’t branded, however this is much better than fake goods! The cost of shipping to the UK is also a negative, however this can’t be avoided and is just part of buying from any overseas company, even with the cost of shipping I still think total prices are good considering the prices you can demand from UK consumers.

Other Notes
Watch out for import duty on high value goods and big orders. If you can I would recommend you do a test order to see first hand how their service is and what a particular product is like, it will also let you know if their is any complications regarding import duty. When the product arrives you can then sell it and dispatch it yourself so you don’t lose any money. To learn more read my post about test buying which was published on this blog in January.

Website
Visit the Chinavasion website to learn more about them and use their service.

Post from: The Dropshipper

]]> http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/07/21/chinavasion-worldwide-wholesale-electronics-dropshipper-review/feed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/07/14/use-yahoo-answers-for-quick-answers-to-your-qs/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/07/14/use-yahoo-answers-for-quick-answers-to-your-qs/#comments Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:57:36 +0000 Chris http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/?p=46 Sometimes you need a question answering quickly, sometimes you need the answer now in order to carry on with what you are doing. How do you get a quick answer?

You’ve searched through google but can’t find the answer, you could post your question up on a forum but you know it is going to take hours (sometimes days) until someone replys with the ideal answer.

All the answers to your questions are on Yahoo Answers, no matter whether the question is related to business or personal. Millions of questions have been answered so you can search for what you’re looking for, and if the question hasn’t yet been answered - you post the question up and others answer.

Last thursday I posted a question about saving petrol, I had 5 answers within 20 minutes! Now that’s a response!

Further Reading: How To Make Money with Yahoo Answers, the service also has an API for all you developers, read about it on TechCrunch.

Post from: The Dropshipper

]]> http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/07/14/use-yahoo-answers-for-quick-answers-to-your-qs/feed/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/07/07/involved-to-take-advantage-business-opportunities/ http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/2008/07/07/involved-to-take-advantage-business-opportunities/#comments Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:40:52 +0000 Chris http://www.dropshipblog.co.uk/?p=45
To Find The Key To Success You Have To Be Involved
When stories are told about successful people you often hear others saying “you’re so lucky“. To take advantage of opportunities you have to be involved where the opportunity arises.

Other people will say you have been lucky to have found a great online business opportunity and make money from it, but the people saying “you’re so lucky” probably do a normal 9-5 job working for someone else. They aren’t involved in the industry you have became successful in, so even though you are so lucky in their eyes compared to them, they could never have had the opportunity because they aren’t involved in running their own online business anyway!

Even if you aren’t earning the sort of money you want to at the moment from your business you should keep pushing on and keep your business ball rolling. Running your business is like rolling a ball, you need to build up momentum - the faster your ball rolls the more opportunity comes your way.

To open up as many opportunities as possible you need to network. Get involved in events related to the industry of the products you sell, be active on business forums. Collaborate with other businesses to build up contacts and develop your business.

Case Study
I’m going to an event this Friday because one of my websites is king of its niche, I’ve got ’special attendee’ free entry, guided tours of new features (by BP the oil company) and free lunch with Quentin Willson (former Top Gear presenter), the day won’t cost my business anything financially and will benefit me hugely with great new content for my website and new contacts. A few people have told me how lucky I am - the truth is I am involved with the industry and am able to take advantage!

Are you involved in your industry? If not - get busy!

Post from: The Dropshipper

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