I went over some of the basic fundamentals last time (or at least what I think are), so this time I wanted to dive a little more into the actual set up process mistakes, and other various mistakes regarding the design and domain name.
1. Use a Business Name Domain Name - Purchasing a domain name that is the same as your business name, or personal name. In some cases it is ok to purchase the domain name that goes along with your business name, but let me explain what does not work well (for branding purposes). Lets say growing up you had the nickname - Great White Dino, and you created your business name as Great White Dino LLC (or something). If you are setting up a dropshipping business selling electronics, "GreatWhiteDino.com" will not really work that well for branding, (nor will your personal name). It is much easier to start ranking a (brand spanking new) domain name that has some form of the main keyword you would like to get ranked for in it.
2. Not using a Search Engine Friendly (SEF) Shopping Cart - If you are not using a shopping cart that is SEF then how are you going to make your product pages unique? Naming of the pages need to be SEF, the URLS need to be SEF (no sessional ID garbage), naming folders and even being able to change the image names and alt text is something to consider.
3. Use a Template Website Builder (Or Worse, Try To Learn HTML yourself) - You will always be faced with the decision of building the site from scratch by hiring a designer, or to build the site yourself by using a template builder (or worse - trying to learn html, css or any thing else for that matter). My recommendation is to always have the site custom built for you by a professional that knows what they are doing. Remember tip two above as well, because hiring a web site design firm will help you get the site designed in a SEF manner.
4. Just Copy and Paste Content Provided To You By Supplier - One of the biggest mistakes I see new to dropshipping business owners make is just taking the product descriptions that are provided them by the dropshipper and copy and pasting them right into their website. There is no telling how many businesses in the past (and currently online) are using the same exact content. You will have major duplicate content issues with Google and your product pages will probably never rank. They will never ranked because they will never get indexed because of the duplicate content.
5. Thinking You Are A Website Designer - This one is very simple to understand. You are a business owner. You do not need to be wasting your time learning to program or design sites. (this one kind of ties into the third one, but you get the point) If you can spend your time running the business, you will always have more of a chance for success with your Internet business.
With so many things to consider when setting up a dropship business I wanted to give you the "not to's" focused on web site design, because this really is one of the biggest areas of mistakes that I see made during the set up process.
1. Use a Business Name Domain Name - Purchasing a domain name that is the same as your business name, or personal name. In some cases it is ok to purchase the domain name that goes along with your business name, but let me explain what does not work well (for branding purposes). Lets say growing up you had the nickname - Great White Dino, and you created your business name as Great White Dino LLC (or something). If you are setting up a dropshipping business selling electronics, "GreatWhiteDino.com" will not really work that well for branding, (nor will your personal name). It is much easier to start ranking a (brand spanking new) domain name that has some form of the main keyword you would like to get ranked for in it.
2. Not using a Search Engine Friendly (SEF) Shopping Cart - If you are not using a shopping cart that is SEF then how are you going to make your product pages unique? Naming of the pages need to be SEF, the URLS need to be SEF (no sessional ID garbage), naming folders and even being able to change the image names and alt text is something to consider.
3. Use a Template Website Builder (Or Worse, Try To Learn HTML yourself) - You will always be faced with the decision of building the site from scratch by hiring a designer, or to build the site yourself by using a template builder (or worse - trying to learn html, css or any thing else for that matter). My recommendation is to always have the site custom built for you by a professional that knows what they are doing. Remember tip two above as well, because hiring a web site design firm will help you get the site designed in a SEF manner.
4. Just Copy and Paste Content Provided To You By Supplier - One of the biggest mistakes I see new to dropshipping business owners make is just taking the product descriptions that are provided them by the dropshipper and copy and pasting them right into their website. There is no telling how many businesses in the past (and currently online) are using the same exact content. You will have major duplicate content issues with Google and your product pages will probably never rank. They will never ranked because they will never get indexed because of the duplicate content.
5. Thinking You Are A Website Designer - This one is very simple to understand. You are a business owner. You do not need to be wasting your time learning to program or design sites. (this one kind of ties into the third one, but you get the point) If you can spend your time running the business, you will always have more of a chance for success with your Internet business.
With so many things to consider when setting up a dropship business I wanted to give you the "not to's" focused on web site design, because this really is one of the biggest areas of mistakes that I see made during the set up process.
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