How to setup an E-Commerce site and make money

Do you want to make money off of the internet? If so continue reading and I will briefly go over how you can start making money within 5 days.

As I have mentioned before I work on other projects outside of C&C.

Recently I started my own E-Commerce store so that I could learn how to build, manage, and make some money in the process.

In this post, I will break down what I do and then how you to can make money off of the internet.

My E-Commerce site is focused on Testosterone, but I also offer a number of other products.

I am not going to name the site because as of now I would like it to be completely separate from C&C since there is a chance I will be selling it in the near future.

The marketers and so-called “gurus” try to hype up how hard it is to start a store online that it almost makes me sick.

WARNING:
Here is an example of a scammer trying to sell you a system.

I used to believe that it was hard to build a site and then make money, but my friend Conner at Alpha Philosophy (He is now focusing on building his Investing Portfolio) showed me that it was so easy that anyone with half a brain could do it.

I literally watched him set up a site within several hours and had it to where he could make money.

Obviously to get the site nice and polished with the right theme etc took more time, but the moral is that it doesn’t take long and is easy.

After watching him I decided to give it a try to so I began my journey into the land of E-Commerce.

At first to be honest I said to myself, “This is probably just a waste of my time”.

But really what I was saying is that I was too lazy to learn what I had to so that I could make some side money.

I researched the niche that I wanted to use and after a few hours decided to go after the Testosterone niche.

From there I bought my domain name, selected hosting, and got to work. There is a lot more that goes into it so as you read this article I will break it down into Phases.

Phase 1:

1. Find a niche that has a demand
2. Select a hosting plan that fits your needs. 
3. Buy Domain

Find a niche that has a demand:

You want to make money, don’t you? Yes

That’s what I thought well if so then why would you select something that nobody is looking for?

Remember: Demand= $$$

The reason I decided to go with Testosterone is that there is a demand out there for it.

What do most men look for?

• Muscle gain
• Being better in bed
• Weight-loss
• An overall confidence increase
• Higher Energy

Well, guess what that is exactly what Testosterone does. There are literally hundreds of Testosterone products out there to choose from.

You can choose to sell Testosterone cream, Test Boosters, Testosterone Patches, the list goes on.

Another plus with the niche that I chose is that I can also complement it with other products related to men such as protein, energy boosters, and muscle gain products.

So in other words, if I feel like expanding then there are plenty of other products out there that I can sell.

I used to believe that you had to be passionate about something to sell it, but now I know that belief is false. All it takes is a demand and then a desire to SUPPLY that DEMAND.

You might be thinking Dylan, “I’m not passionate about women’s skin cream, so I don’t want to sell it”. My response is that if there is a demand then you might as well supply it or someone else who wants to make money will.

C&C is an example of my passion. I am very passionate about building this site, writing, and changing lives.

It has turned into an obsession of mine and is on my mind while I drive down the road and when I wake up in the morning.

Do I make money from C&C? The short answer is that I do not. I have recently started placing Affiliate links on certain posts which will generate money for this sites Expenses, but otherwise, I am not selling any products yet.

In the future, there will be services which I will offer and then you can look forward to the release of an eBook which I will generate a bulk of my earnings from.

Update: Think and Go Hustle is now available

Make sure to subscribe if you haven’t so that you can join our Insider’s Club and know what is going on before outsiders do.

You can also sell out and start selling a dream to weak-minded people.

I do not recommend this because you will constantly have to move on to the next thing.

This method also causes much stress for your body and mind so your health will slowly start to deteriorate.

Here is an example of how I could sell out:

• Dumb down the content to appeal to weak-minded people
• Put out an eBook titled, “How to Quit Your Job and Be Rich in 30 Days” which would sell a lot
• Repeat
• Now I have your money in my pocket and at that point I would probably feel like an empty shell of a person

I refuse to do that because I want C&C to bring about lasting change to all of the people out there that want to achieve more in life.

That is why I have not flooded my site with income generating things and why I haven’t been in a rush to release an eBook.

When I do release an eBook I want it to be perfect and to be able to offer real value at a great price.

Select a hosting plan that fits what you want:

This is something that is very easy, but can determine your sites future. I use Web Hosting Hub to host this blog and have overall been very pleased with its performance.

For my other projects that I do I use GoDaddy. I was a little unsure about using them only because I had never tried them before.

So far since using them to host my E-Commerce site and several other developmental sites I have had zero problems.

Their customer service team is quick to respond with the answer to what you need.

I had to call them several times when having my initial E-Commerce site setup. After my final call I was able to get my problem resolved. It turned out that it was mainly due to me rushing through the sign-up process and selecting a plan that isn’t the best for WordPress.

Basically, my word of advice is that you need to go pro from the beginning. Do not try to save money by going with a crappy plan because it will waste your time and money. Get a plan that suits where you are wanting to take the site.

Buy Domain

Just like selecting your hosting plan, buying a domain is just as important. Your domain is what the world will see.

Let me give you an example:

(Entertainment purposes only. I am not claiming that you will make money from this niche. You must do your own research.)

You decide that you want to have a site based around selling female facial cream because there is a high demand for it. You get the best hosting plan for you. After that you decide to use a domain you bought in the past so that you can save some money. The domain is flowersandgrowth.com.

While you might be able to make that work. Chances are that your site will not be found and then for SEO purposes it will hurt you from the beginning. Instead, you should choose a domain such as womensskin.com or beautifulskin.com.

With those domain names you are telling the person interested in buying women’s facial cream what they should expect from your site.

Whatever you decide to sell on your site try to select a domain that is as specific as possible.

Phase 2:

1. Choose a theme
2. Design your site
3. Create content or outsource it

Theme:

Your theme is what the visitors to your site see whenever they click your link. As they say first impressions count.

You wouldn’t want someone to come to your site and have some theme that is really gothic while you are offering Buddhism related products.

That is a very simplified example, but just try to keep your theme related to what your site is about.

As time progresses you will change your theme. C&C has probably gone through at least 10 different themes.

Save yourself $500 and check out Marketers Delight.

Design your site:

Since you have decided what your theme is now it is time to move on to the fun part. Designing your site if done right will take the most effort.

I wouldn’t recommend half-assing this part of the process. If you speed through designing your site then it will look crappy.

Guess what?

Nobody will buy what you are offering.

This applies to everything from E-Commerce to running a site like this. If I had a bad design then you wouldn’t even give me the time to show you what C&C offers.

Something that I recommend but won’t keep your site from making sales is having a logo. Your logo will be your signature.

If you were to see the logo that I use for this site somewhere you would immediately think about C&C. That is how powerful it can be to have your own unique logo.

You can easily create your own logo with Photoshop or do what I do and hire someone off of Fiverr.

Do your own research and find someone who does good work that way you can get a professional logo. Prices for a good logo go from $5-25.

Later in this article I will show you some plugins that will make designing and running your site easier.

One of these plugins that I believe is a must if building a E-Commerce site is WooCommerce.

WooCommerce does a lot of the work for you. Another plus is it saves time when you are posting your next product on your store.

After writing this article I found Shopify to be better. You can read more about them here.

Create content or outsource it:

Your theme and design is what keeps them on your site, but how do you sell them your products/services?

Content.

People buy based on emotion. If you can craft an article together about why they need what you are selling then you will get a sale. 

Once you gain a good understanding of how to transfer your emotion, selling will become a lot easier. You will be able to take any product/service and sell it to your client or customer.

If you are just setting up an E-Commerce site what I would do is create 10-20 posts about the topic you are selling. For my Testosterone site, I wrote several different articles about the topic.

Here are some examples:

• How Testosterone affects your sex drive
• The importance of Testosterone
• How Testosterone makes you a man

Do you have to be a writer to be able to make money online?

No, actually you don’t believe it or not. Although being able to write makes it easier,  you can just outsource your content to other people.

At the time of me creating the Testosterone site, I was really focusing on C&C and didn’t feel like writing content for my side project so I hired a writer from Upwork.

I put out an ad and within 6 hours received several applications. After speaking with several freelancers I chose a nice girl who lives in Kenya.

A plus was that she had experience writing about Testosterone, supplements, and other related things.

She was anxious to work for me because while not a lot of money to Westerners what I was going to pay her would be a lot in her home country.

I made sure she knew that if I liked her work that she would be my go-to person for all future projects as well as I would recommend her to friends of mine.

So if you cannot write or have too much on your plate then, by all means, hire someone to do it for you, BUT make sure that they have a good reputation.

The last thing that you want to do is waste your time with someone who lacks the required skills for the job you are offering.

Phase 3:

• Selecting your product
• Getting Traffic
• Enjoying your money

Selecting your product:

Now that you have your site in place it is now time to finally get some products on it. This depends entirely on what business model you want to use for your E-Commerce site.

Have you ever wondered how certain sites are able to have tons of products?

Well, the answer is that they use 3 of the following options:

• Drop-Shipping
• Buy in bulk
• Affiliate Marketing

Drop-Shipping basically makes you the middleman. You place a manufacturer’s products on your site and then charge more than what it would cost for you to get it from them.

For example I offer a product on my Testosterone site that I can get for $32.00 but the market value is $38. I have it listed for $38 which is a $6 mark up.

After you take out some of the fee’s I end up making around $4. To most that would not be worth it, but if you combine that with 100’s of sales then you will be making bank before you know it.

The beauty of Drop-Shipping is that you do not have to own or put out any money for any of the products on your site. That is a plus for all of the people who don’t have money to invest into buying or making a product.

Let’s say that I have placed a product on my site using the Drop-Shipping model here is how it would go down:

1. You come to my site looking for a certain product.
2. You decide to buy the product after reading my description as well as the related articles.
3. I receive a notification saying that someone has placed an order.
4. I order the product from my supplier with your address.
5. They put my logo on the package.
6. You receive your product and I enjoy the money.

(You Start A Store Easily With Shopify)

It really is that simple once you have everything in place. You can automate the site as time goes on that way it is completely hands off except for little tweaks here and there.

Since my E-Commerce site is fairly new I have not looked into automation systems yet so I don’t have any I can recommend.

It is my belief that you should take care of running your site until you have a large number of orders coming in so that you can learn the ins and out of your business.

Once you have a good understanding you can easily duplicate what you know on as many sites as you would like.

Buying in bulk is another option to consider. You can go directly to a manufacturer and order a lot of X products.

Since you are buying such a large quantity of X product you are able to get a discount. An example would be that the product retails $98, but with your discount you get it for $40.

That means that you can make up to $58 for each unit sold. Let’s say that you purchased 500 units from the manufacturer and sold each unit with a $58 markup. After the fee’s you walk away with $50 in your pocket for every unit sold.

After you sell all of the units how much money do you have?

500 units x $50= $25,000 profit

My example was over simplified, but I just wanted to show an example of what could be achieved through buying in bulk.

Affiliate Marketing can make a good chunk of change as well. As an affiliate you place links to products on your site and in return for every sell you make you get a small commission.

As an example, I am an affiliate for 30 Days of Discipline.

The way I can make money using Affiliate marketing is writing an article about something and then including an affiliate link on the post.

What I like about affiliate marketing is that I can get paid for telling people about products that I enjoy.

I stayed away from affiliate marketing for a while because I thought it was just something that scammers did, but once I did some research I found out that a lot of people use it for side income.

Here is what your game plan would look like as an affiliate marketer:

1. Find a product that you enjoy.
2. Write an article describing your experience with the product.
3. Sign-up as an affiliate.
4. Place your unique affiliate link in the post somewhere
5. Get traffic to that post.
6. Once someone buys the product through your link you will receive a commission.

In my opinion, I do not think that someone should base their entire business around affiliate marketing because the money that you do receive from it will be considerably lower than what you could get from Drop-Shipping or buying in bulk.

Here is an example of a post I did that included affiliate links in it:

Why Adderall sucks compared to Kratom – With this post I expect to receive several hundred dollars.

Why you ask?

Because I took the time to find which strains worked well for people who usually rely on things such as Adderall.

This leads me on to….

Getting traffic:

You now understand three models for making money online, but what about actually getting money?

The way that you will get money from your site is by directing traffictot your site which will convert into sales.

To get traffic you can set up your own affiliate program, place ads, or buy traffic.

Setting up your own affiliate program can be fun because not only are you making money but also whoever is promoting your product is getting paid as well.

It is up to you with how much the affiliate and you make from each sale.

You could make it to where your affiliate makes a 60% commission which would still leave you with a 40% cut of what that person sold for you.

For my affiliate program, I offer a 70% commission.

You must make sure that you have the proper systems in place when offering your own affiliate program because the last thing that you want is for some cockroach to mess up your image by spamming your product.

Even worse they could place your affiliate link on a site with a bad reputation which could make you look bad.

The chances of any of those things happening are very slim because believe it or not there are plenty of good people out there.

More than likely if someone is becoming an affiliate for you then they probably like you and what you offer.

Just be smart and you will be okay.

Another way of getting traffic is by placing ads. You can place ads on everything from Google to Facebook. I haven’t used this method much, but will utilize it in the future.

In the past I have used Facebook as a way to promote a certain page or product I was selling.

I saw some decent conversions from that and it didn’t cost that much either. Recently I ran a small Facebook marketing campaign and the results were a little questionable.

I ended up getting a lot of people from countries Africa and South America sending me emails that were obviously scams.

The final way that you can get traffic is by buying it. In the past when I was building a sales team I used several places where you could buy strong leads from.

At times I would pay $150 just for 70 leads. Depending on your marketing approach you could convert 3 out of those 70 people.

If you aren’t trying to build a sales team then don’t worry there are still ways to buy traffic for whatever site you are building.

There are people on Fiverr that can give you traffic for anything from a blog, E-Commerce site,  to an affiliate site. I try to stay away from buying traffic for anything where I am building a reputation such as C&C.

On the other hand if I created a site where I was just trying to sell products then I would buy traffic after laying the foundation.

Needed Plugins for your E-Commerce site or blog:

• Akismet- This plugin has saved me from having to delete hundreds of spam comments. Do yourself a favor and download it.
• All in one Favicon- If  you look at the tab for this page in your browser you will see a picture. In my opinion, it adds a professional look to your site. 
• Contact Form 7- This gives you a professional contact form. I’ve removed my contact form. You can join the Young Hustler Newsletter to get in touch with me.
• Genesis eNews Extended- This plugin gives  you a bold newsletter sign-up form. (Pro Tip: If you change the CSS coding you can change the colors to whatever you want.)
• Jetpack- This plugin simply rocks. It gives you a suite of different plugins that makes managing and building your site easier.
• WP Super Cache- Without this plugin my blog would load much slower. Basically this plugin cleans up your site.

Conclusion…

As I bring this article to a close let me leave you with some final words of advice. Do not believe the marketers that claim they make 1,000’s of dollars every single month.

Why you ask?

Let me break it down into 2 different categories:

1. Cockroach– This type of marketer claims he makes 1,000’s of dollars with no work. The reality is that he hardly makes enough money to pay his bills let alone to enjoy the lifestyle he says he lives.
2. Scammer– This type of marketer makes a nice living from his site where he gives people the “secret to wealth generation”, but do you want to know the real secret? He makes that much money because he hypes you up and then sells you a dream such as a system that will somehow deposit 1,000’s of dollars into your bank account.

Both of these individuals are nothing but the scum of the earth. Stay away from them because the people who are making that much money from legitimate businesses probably aren’t advertising it.

Now I will say that when I was involved in Network Marketing I did have to hype people up, but the difference with me is that I was real.

I didn’t claim any type of income level other than what I could show them.

I told them what I wanted from the company so that they would know if they wanted to work with me.

Another thing that you should remember is that making money online takes hard-work.

You can’t just start making money instantly.

To make money online you will need to set up a site, get traffic, and make sales before any of the perks kick in.

There will be days when you spend 5 hours on a problem with your site. You might even go months without making a single dime.

Just why you are doing what you are doing and stay consistent.

Follow the different steps that were put on this post for you and get started today.

Stop giving yourself excuses and change your life. As time goes on you will learn other ways to go about making money online and building sites.

This is just the beginning.

Until next time Go and Dominate.

Your friend,

Dylan Madden

Next Read: How to Start a Dropshipping Store