Unlike popular belief, you don’t actually need a lot of money to start a dropshipping home business. Here’s how to get started for just $50.
Watch the video below:
Do you want to start a dropshipping store, but have little or no money to start?
This is a common obstacle sellers face when they’re just starting out.
Luckily, you don’t need as much money as you might think. You can start a dropshipping store for as little as $50 today, following these three simple steps:
- Create a dropshipping store with Shopify
- Optimize the Shopify store for free SEO traffic
- Create a free Facebook page and use a like ad campaign to gain initial likes
This article will cover each step in detail, so you too can build a dropshipping store ready to convert relevant visitors into customers.
Step 1) Create a Shopify Dropshipping Store
The first step is creating an online store.
Shopify is the fastest, easiest way for beginners to create an online store. The reason why is because Shopify is designed to accommodate ecommerce stores, rather than general websites. And this makes Shopify much easier to navigate and build a store with.
Shopify has a $29 a month subscription plan. You’ll also need to purchase a domain name for your store through Shopify, which will cost you an additional $14. In total, that comes to $43 for building your store.
Follow this step-by-step video tutorial on how to build an Aliexpress dropshipping store using Shopify.
Once you have built your store, it’s time to move onto step two.
Step 2) Optimize Your Store for Free SEO Traffic
You have now built your online store. The next step is to drive traffic to it so you can start generating sales.
The fastest way to do this is to spend money on paid advertising, where you can advertise your product on social media platforms (e.g. Facebook), and drive traffic from these platforms to your store.
But there is obviously one issue here: you only have $50 to spend. Too little of an amount to drive traffic with paid ads. Plus, even if you did, you’ll be out of pocket fairly quickly.
The solution? Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This method involves optimizing your store so that it ranks high in search engines i.e. Google. This method of driving traffic allows you to attract relevant, organic visitors without having to spend money.
For example, imagine you are selling a Father’s Day mug. Someone who wants to buy a Father’s Day gift types into Google ‘funny father’s day mug,’ and your website comes up as one of the first in the search results.
This position is great to be in as a store owner, as most people tend to click on the first three websites that come up.
So, now, rather than driving traffic through social media, every person who visits your store comes directly from the search engine.
The goal is to rank high in the search engines in order to attract the largest number of visitors to your store. Being on the second page of Google is pointless. Users hardly ever search beyond the first page (we’re pretty sure you don’t either!). The further you are to the top of the search results, the easier it is to drive visitors to your online store.
A good SEO strategy takes time before you start seeing any real results. Unlike paid ads, your products aren’t shown in front of potential customers until you have optimised your page.
This requires more time and energy on your part. But if you are willing to implement an effective SEO strategy, the payoff is far greater. A highly optimized store will draw thousands of free visitors to your store for months, even years to come. Free traffic can dramatically lower your marketing expenses in the long term, which can help to widen your profit margins.
This article won’t go too in-depth with SEO, as understanding this whole concept deserves an entire article of its own to fully grasp. Nevertheless, here are five actionable SEO tips to help you attract free visitors to your store.
1) Pick a keyword for each product. Long tail keywords (3-4 words) are the best type of keywords to rank for. They are far less competitive than broad keywords, and so are easier to rank in the search engines.
2) Put the keyword in your product page title. You should put the keyword as close to the start of the title as possible.
3) Create a product description that is at least 400 words long. The number of words on your page has a large impact on where you rank in Google’s search engine. Make sure your copy in your description is very descriptive, and be sure to add LSI keywords.
4) Use your chosen keyword in your product description. You should aim for a keyword density of between 1-2%. So if your product description is 400 words long, aim to use the keyword 4-8 times throughout your product description.
5) Add a keyword to your first product image. This is called the meta keyword tag. You can add it in Shopify very easily by simply hovering your mouse over an image and clicking the “alt” button, and typing in your chosen keyword.
SEO traffic a great way to make sales. But like any form of organic traffic can be time-consuming at first and requires you put in the effort before reaping rewards.
Step 3) Create a Free Facebook Fan Page
A free Facebook fan page allows you to direct traffic from it to your Aliexpress Shopify store and make sales.
A social media will also help your SEO as Google will view your store as a social media authority.
Portraying yourself as an authority is key in being able to sell to customers. We are naturally inclined to listen to people who hold authority, and allow ourselves to be influenced by them.
Therefore, the key is been seen as an authority before advertising your product. But how can you achieve this with a fresh, young store?
The fastest way is to build a following is to create a ‘Like’ campaign on Facebook. This is not an advertisement, but rather a quick way of earning more likes and shares.
When people see others liking, sharing and reacting to your content, they’ll be more likely to pay attention to your page. People will view your brand as well-established, and this will draw them into have a “look around” your fan page.
Simultaneously, you should be growing your fan page following. This can, in the long-term, provide another stream of free traffic. Once your page has a good amount (20,000 followers), you can start promoting items on there, and direct followers to your online store. This is a popular method that print on demand stores use to generate tens of thousands of dollars.
But just like SEO, results will take a while to see. And is why it is probably a good idea to get the ball rolling when your page is still fresh.
Here are a few tips to help you grow your Facebook page.
- Post fresh and original content every day. Valuable content attracts more fans, likes, shares, and traffic than self-promotional updates.
- Respond to fans who ask you questions. This will eat a lot of your time, but helps you build a better image and encourages positive reviews, so it’s well worth it.
- Provide customer support when people ask for it. Assign one person from your regular customer support staff to take care of these.
- Establish a posting schedule. If you post every day at roughly the same hours, it will be easier for your fans to anticipate your updates, and they will come back for more.
- Let your fans tag your photos. This increases user interaction and often gets you more views, as some fans return to check the comments on photos they’ve tagged.
Overall, a Facebook fan is an outlet to help you build more brand authority, while connecting on a deeper level with your audience.
Recommended article: How to Drive Free Traffic to Your Online Store With a Facebook Fan Page
The Bottom Line
It is possible to set up a dropshipping store, even if it’s a fraction of the normal cost. It can take a while till you start to drive visitors consistently, so it’s important to stay self-motivated and committed at the start.
You need to be willing to invest the time into driving free traffic, even if you don’t see immediate results. Otherwise, you’re likely to lose become demotivated and de-rail from your original plan.