I recently started an online store selling accessories and it has provided me with a different insight of how complex and flexible the internet can be.  I first experienced selling products back in 2005, when I sold stamps on Ebay.  I would purchase Australia Pre-decimal stamps on other Ebay International sites and sell it off on Ebay Australia.  In the past Ebay sites weren’t as globalized so there was a opportunity to earn profits from higher margins which was pretty decent for a teenager.  While most teens thought $20 meals were expensive, it became a standard meal for me. (Not good)          

Before I started the online store, it was a traffic site displaying related affiliate products, and I would earn commissions from leads that generated into sales.  This was done through Amazon Affiliates, so commissions would range from around 4-8% depending on the quantity sold.  I initially purchased the domain in September 2010; including the premium domain name I purchased and getting the site up and running (including SEO) it cost me roughly A$1000.   Profits was around A$250 per month from January to August when I ran Amazon Affiliates.  This is pretty good for not spending a cent on advertising, and I believed I could make it better.  Why? There were over 5000 clicks from my site to Affiliates per month.  Only 1.5% of it converted, which means there were roughly 75 sales.

As most Affiliate products were located in America, it is understandable that conversions would be low.  I thought to myself, ‘My site is targeting Australians, so why would I try and sell them products located in America.  They would have to wait over 2 weeks to receive there items’.  Most people would pay a little more for there products to be located domestically as they would receive it quicker.  This is when I decided to try and sell the product myself.

At first I was a bit skeptical on investing $XX,XXX in importing the accessories as I couldn’t see my self packaging and posting products.  Boxes of stock were delivered to my house and my room was filled.  It was pretty depressing at first.   But I’m glad I took this route because conversions have increased dramatically from 1.5% to 30% and quickly the boxes of stock disappeared from my room.  Revenue has increased 5000% since transiting from the affiliate to an eCommerce model.  Although, it’s terribly tiring packaging tens of items a day, but it has provided me valuable experience in dealing with eCommerce sites such improving checkout processes and optimizing product pages.

Some interesting facts I’ve found:

1. Ranking higher on Google:

•  Isn’t all about number of links
•  Bounce rate has an effect on rankings
•  There is a high correlation between conversions and ranking
•  Providing more information about the product increase ranking
•  Real eCommerce sites selling actual products rank way better than affiliate sites (traffic has increased 120% since the transition of models)

2. On page Optimization:

• Simplifying checkout process increases conversion by 39%
• Adding promotional banners on the website about your product increases sales by 13%

3.  Posting and packaging items is a real bitch

What’s surprising is already receiving 2 offers  from competitors wanting to purchase the website.  The offers were quite tempting ($XX,XXX)  but I believe the website has a ton more potential thus  sell for more.  It’s really tempting to receive that amount of cash after less than 2 months operation.  If it was the young me, I would have already sold out and maybe purchased a M1 Beamer.  Luckily I’ve learnt my lesson and matured.   My plan for the site is to hold out for a few more months and hopefully in the process, increase revenues by at least 200% within the next 1.5 months.  Also I will allocate a few thousand in advertising budget (PPC and content creation)  Wish me luck guys!