We’ve had a lot of challenges in September, particularly those related to importing and developing products. This is not unusual for e-commerce sellers dealing with suppliers on the other side of the world.   However, despite these challenges, we’ve had a lot of wins in terms of content in many of our brands. We’ve recently been playing around with some new tools to improve SEO, including an on-page AI tool that boosted our traffic significantly.   Timestamps:  1:58 - Why our overall revenue dipped in September 2:47 - YoY updates of the brands 8:43 - Is just-in-time inventory better? 10:17 - The difficulties of designing and launching new products 15:40 - Brand wins for October 17:38 - How we use an on-page AI tool to beef up our content 23:49 - Failing to add country of origin labels    Check out the  Brand Report that complements this episode.  Secret Sauce and EcomCrew Premium subscribers also get access to our monthly Income Report, which contains a more detailed breakdown of our numbers and strategies.   If you enjoyed this episode, please  leave a review on iTunes. We’d love to hear about what topics you want us to discuss next.

E474: September 2022 Brand Report—Using AI to Improve Content

An eCommerce podcast for store owners, hosted by 7-figure store owners Mike Jackness and Dave Bryant. We cover everything in eCommerce from Shopify, to Amazon FBA. From email marketing, to Facebook Ads. Never before has there been a podcast with store owners who are so candid. Subscribe to the Ecomcrew podcast today!

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In this episode, Mike and Dave dissect Amazon's latest announcement regarding Return Fees, how this will affect sellers starting on June 1st, and a possible option to combat these fees.  Another day, another fee gets announced. It seems like third-party sellers are getting hit left and right lately with new fees, the latest one being Return Fees. In this episode, Dave and I are going to dive into the latest announcement regarding Return Fees, what this means for sellers, and how you can possibly combat these fees.  The Big Takeaways  If you're in a hurry, here's a few of the big key points from this episode:   Starting June 1st, Amazon will start charging sellers $2-$4 extra dollars to process returns.  This will only affect SKUs that have surpassed the return threshold in their category. The specific thresholds have been listed by Amazon here.  To check for your product's return rate, check out Amazon's SKU Economics Dashboard which is available in Seller Central.  Take into account your product's return fees, and double check if your products are still profitable.  If you're over the Return Threshold for your product, increase your price.  Turning on the "Returnless Returns" option for your most returned products can be a viable way to combat these extra charges.   Timestamps   Podcast Start - 0:00 Looking at return rates and return thresholds - 0:35  The return fees announcement - 1:22  The published thresholds for categories - 2:21 How return fees affect your products profitability - 3:30 All the new fees to think about - 4:54 Tip: The SKU Economics Dashboard - 5:20 How the Return Rate Thresholds are calculated - 6:08 What sellers should do - 6:56  Mike's most returned product - 7:05 Tip: How to "possibly" combat these return fees: turning on returnless returns - 7:47 Dave's most returned products - 10:33 People taking advantage of Amazon's return policy - 11:26 The automotive category's return threshold - 14:11 The silver lining: being forced to double check operational costs - 15:39  Return fees will be charged for units above the threshold - 19:12 How return fees compare to storage fees - 20:46 Return fee predictions - 21:43  Catching up on Hockey with Dave - 21:57  Links to Tools Mentioned:   Link to Amazon Return Thresholds  Link to the SKU Economics Dashboard  Link to Helium10   Dave, thanks again for coming on the podcast! It was nice catching up with you again, and I look forward to the follow-up episode we'll do about returns soon.  If any listeners would like to have a discussion about this, let me know by emailing us directly at support@ecomcrew.com. Also, if you have any questions or any topics you’d like us to discuss on the podcast, you can email us directly as well! We would really appreciate it if you would leave us a review on iTunes.  Thanks for listening!

E551: Your Returns Are About to Kill Your Profits

Kevin Williams is on the podcast today to talk about his entrepreneurial journey. From founding brands like Brush Hero to appearing on Shark Tank and finally, to diving deep into AI, we cover the lessons that he's learned through each brand and venture.  Kevin Williams is the founder of MadBrains AI, a company that specializes in AI literacy and training. With an extensive background in ecommerce, Kevin consistently provides practical tips to digital marketers on how to leverage AI for their brands. Kevin and I met quite a while back in 2015, where Kevin held a presentation on the importance of product validation before marketing, and that's when I had an epiphany — if no one is interested in your product before you go to sell, it's not worth it.   After years of friendship, I've decided to get him on to catch up with him and get a background of his experience as an entrepreneur. Here's some timestamps:  Timestamps:   Podcast Start - 0:00 Mike's Reason for Getting Friends on the Podcast - 0:30  Kevin's Product Validation Presentation and Business Model - 1:30  Traffic is 4x more expensive now - 2:44  Kevin's Patent Concept - 4:17  The Origins of Brush Hero - 6:28  Importance of Storytelling - 7:26  How Counterfeits Destroyed Brush Hero - 8:41 Being CEO of Balls.co - 11:48 "What happened to Balls.co?" - 13:59 Diving into AI - 20:14 "What's one thing that I should have asked?" - 28:26  If you're in a hurry, I've listed a few of the big takeaways I personally found to be the most impactful:    Traffic is so way more expensive now. In 2015, it would cost 25c - 50c to buy traffic on Facebook Ads. Currently, it costs $3-$4 to buy traffic. If you want to start buying ads, it might be more cost-efficient to use a cheaper social networks like TikTok.   Being granted a patent is a bucket list item for most tinkerers and engineers. However, a lot of people don't go beyond that point. Partnering with a patent holder can be a good way to find products to sell on Amazon.   Storytelling boils down to three main points:    Man - your brand or product   Mountain - the big problem   Getting Over Mountain - how your product solves your problem    Online reviews have a big impact on offline sales. If your product is available in a brick and mortar store, shoppers will normally try to price-match by checking your product on Amazon and they'll run into your negative reviews.   Running a business that's based overseas while having staff that's based in a separate country can be very physically and mentally taxing.   Getting shadowbanned on your advertising account is more common than you think. It's a term that describes getting really poor performance on your advertising account, without explicit notice from the platform.   Balls.co suffered from their success in the influencer marketing. After receiving a lot of traffic from their influencer marketing, they were starting to be seen as an entertainment company instead of a product company. This meant that they werent getting much sales from their marketing efforts.  All of the Fortune 10,000 companies are concerned about the implications of AI, but only 5% of them have training in place.   You should be leveraging AI to automate customer service. There is no reason for you to be doing first-contact customer service anymore as a business owner and AI can make this a lot easier for you.  Taking the previous point a step further, you can use AI to sift through previous chatlogs,  emails and reviews for practical information that you can use in your marketing, customer service and product development.   You need to be checking your SEO and keyword rankings almost daily. AI generated content is really finnicky as of now, and it can affect your keyword rankings on Google by a huge margin.     Kevin, thanks for coming on the podcast! It was nice seeing you again, and I hope our paths cross again before the next eCommerceFuel Live.  If any listeners would like to have a discussion about this, let me know by emailing us directly at support@ecomcrew.com. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn, where he publishes practical AI tips every week. You can also find him through his company MadBrains.  Thanks for coming on to the podcast Kevin!  Also, if you have any questions or any topics you’d like us to discuss on the podcast, you can email us directly as well! We would really appreciate it if you would leave us a review on iTunes.  Thanks for listening!

E550: How This Shark Tank Almuna Went From E-Commerce to AI

Jeff Oxford joins us on the podcast today to talk about the most recent Google Update, who the winners were, and how search is going to look like with AI in the horizon.   Jeff Oxford is the Founder and SEO Director of 180 Marketing, a marketing agency that specialises in SEO strategies which cover everything from keyword research to webpage optimization.   Today, he's on the podcast to talk about the most recent Google update that happened in March. Specifically, we'll dive into the criteria that Google uses to rank websites, the winners of the most recent update, and why brand metrics plays an important role in search.    The big takeaway here is that no matter what, keep playing the long game. When it comes to content, it's only a matter of time until your content starts making its way through the algorithm and to the audience that you're targeting.    It really is just a matter of time. It might be an overnight viral success, or it might be a crawl towards the goal, but it's a matter of when it happens instead.    Timestamps:    Podcast Start - 0:00 Catching up with Jeff - 0:31 Google's March Core Update - 2:14  Why Mike was excited for this update - 4:30  Playing the long term game - 6:03 Google's update patterns - 7:40 Mike Jackness History Lesson - 9:31  How Google finds cheaters - 12:23  Why Reddit and Quora won the last update - 14:43  Why Brand Metrics matter for SEO - 15:58 How do you get started in building your SEO? - 18:13  Stick with it! - 20:31  What is Search going to look like moving forward? - 22:38 How will Google incentivise making good content with AI in the future? - 28:11 Learn more about Jeff Oxford - 30:39    Jeff, thanks for coming on the podcast! It was nice seeing you again, although through a virtual screen instead of in person but we'll take what we can get!    If any listeners would like to have a discussion about this, let me know by emailing us directly at support@ecomcrew.com.    Also, if you have any questions or any topics you’d like us to discuss on the podcast, you can email us directly as well! We would really appreciate it if you would leave us a review on iTunes.    Thanks for listening!

E549: How To Get Started in Building Your SEO in 2024 with Jeff Oxford

In the world of ecommerce, opinions on starting a dropshipping business really differ. Some people say it's an unprofitable business model while others swear by it.    Well, dropshipping is still very much around. But as Amazon moved into a position of dominance, its appeal has waned. The fact that some so-called “gurus” who sell dropshipping as an “easy” way to earn millions hasn’t helped either.   However, there are those who own sustainable dropshipping businesses.    Pat Haggerty, owner of Right Channel Radios, is one of them.   I’ve asked Pat to join me in this podcast episode to talk in detail about his business, Right Channel Radios.    I hope our discussion didn’t only prove informative but encouraged you to look at dropshipping businesses in a different, albeit more positive light.   Pat, thank you for accepting the invite to record a podcast together. I really appreciate it, and I look forward to seeing you again in the next events.    If any listeners would like to have a discussion about this, let me know by emailing us directly at support@ecomcrew.com.    Also, if you have any questions or any topics you’d like us to discuss on the podcast, you can email us directly as well! We would really appreciate it if you would leave us a review on iTunes.    Thanks for listening!

E548: Making Dropshipping Work in 2024 with Pat Haggerty

Dana Jaunzemis joins the EcomCrew podcast today to talk about how she evaluated businesses before purchasing them, why she chose to sell her businesses, and ultimately chose to retire.    Dana Jaunzemis and I met for the first time years ago during my eCommerce speaking circuit and has since become a great friend of mine. She's the killer combination of having a really interesting background, while also being incredibly intellectual business-wise and philosophically too.    She's been a good friend that's always been helpful when I've run into troubles of my own, especially those regarding burnout, identity and the end goal as an entrepreneur.    Today, I wanted to pick her brains on the podcast about what it's like to have been recently retired from eCommerce, how she still finds a sense of fulfilment and the factors she considers before buying a business, which may or may not have been on my mind lately.    "E-commerce, while easy, is the highest risk type of business [in my opinion]." - Dana Jaunzemis    Timestamps:   0:00 - Podcast Start 0:31 - Introduction 2:49 - Dana's Career Timeline 4:54 - The Appeal of E-Commerce for Introverts 6:28 - Is E-Commerce Difficult?  9:19 - The Difference Between Successful and Failing Businesses 11:44 - How lessons in life can apply to your future 15:40 - Factors to Consider When Buying A Business 16:31 - Factor #1: Profitability 16:46 - Factor #2: Where Your Skillset Fits In 24:24 - Why Dana chose to sell her business 30:01 - Risks of e-commerce 31:41 - Factor #3: Inventory Costs  34:19 - Finding Fulfilment in Retirement 38:14 - Knowing when 'enough' is enough 41:53 - Moving Goalposts  46:30 - What was it like buying a business with friends?     Dana, thank you for accepting the invite to record a podcast together. I really appreciate it, and I look forward to seeing you again in the next events.    If any listeners would like to have a discussion about this, let me know by emailing us directly at support@ecomcrew.com.    Also, if you have any questions or any topics you’d like us to discuss on the podcast, you can email us directly as well! We would really appreciate it if you would leave us a review on iTunes.    Thanks for listening!   

E474: September 2022 Brand Report—Using AI to Improve Content

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