If you have an online store and are familiar with the world of affiliate marketing, you probably have heard/read about CJ Affiliate.
CJ Affiliate, formerly known as Commission Junction has been around since the ’90s and is one of the biggest affiliate networks in the world.
Let’s dive right into the benefits that CJ Affiliate can offer your business.
1. Generate revenue faster
CJ Affiliate has over 15 thousand websites as of today. This means the network maintains a healthy publisher-affiliate ratio that is keeping this relationship financially synergic.
2. Bigger network = higher leads
It is no surprise that the number of leads you’re likely to find in an affiliate network depends highly upon how big the community is.
Since CJ affiliate has been growing its customer base for 20 years, there’s plenty to choose from.
3. Paid placement marketplace
Publishers and advertisers have the ability to showcase their products or content with the help of paid advertising.
This offers a guarantee of exposure to your business to a highly targeted audience that’s hard to find elsewhere.
4. Real-time transaction monitoring
Unlike most outdated affiliate networks, CJ Affiliate offers real-time transaction monitoring. This helps publishers and advertisers accurately track their progress instantly and makes payouts a lot smoother.
5. Display dozens of products with a single ad code
One of the best things about CJ Affiliate is how you can display dozens of products using a single code. This is done dynamically through CJ’s own system. So minus the hassle and higher the output!
Finally, let’s move on to one of the most important questions.
What fees do I have to pay to join CJ Affiliate?
Here’s a breakdown of the total investment you’ll need to join CJ Affiliate.
One time fee of $3,000
Deposit of $3,000
Renewal fee of $500.
Cost per sale is about 30%.
However, if your monthly fees are less than $500, then you pay $500 less the actual fees due for that month.
Starting from June of 2020, ExportFeed introduced a lot of new features among which the real-time orders & inventory sync for Etsy is probably the one that has a lot of our customers are looking forward to.
We’d like to take this opportunity to formally introduce these features and answer any burning questions you may have regarding them.
At ExportFeed, we let our customers be at the forefront of our decision making by closely listening to what they want from our solution.
Let’s dive right into the questions that might be of interest to you.
What exactly are the new features offered by ExportFeed’s Shopify app?
Basic Seller 1
monthly
$29.99
Enjoy unlimited product feeds, automatically sync to over 40 merchants, free upgrades, and live chat plus email support!
The biggest benefit of switching to the new pricing plans is that all of our packages come with real-time order/inventory update by default.
We’re super excited to offer the real-time sync feature at an affordable $10 bump to the existing Basic subscription package.
If you subscribe to any other packages, they’ll come ready out-of-the-box without any extra fee!
Since a majority of our customers were having trouble with the delay in order/inventory sync, we decided to make this feature readily available if you use ExportFeed, regardless of the subscription type.
The great news is that you have the opportunity to perform live assortment, stock and order/inventory syncs between Shopify and Etsy as well as other major platforms.
Another update includes the meta-field sync feature being available starting from the Advance Seller package, which was limited to Super Seller and above previously.
Is real-time order & inventory sync available on free trials?
Of course.
Along with every other feature that any of the paid subscriptions provide.
Do customers subscribed to the older pricing plans need to upgrade?
You can keep using our app as you wish with the current features accompanied by your existing plan or you can subscribe to the live order/inventory sync feature for a relatively small extra fee of $10.
The Basic package now starts at $29.99, which is still a bang for your buck.
We would strongly recommend you upgrade to the new plans since they offer a lot more value for your money.
Are the old pricing plans still available for new customers?
No, we’re completely abandoning the older plans since they are obsolete compared to the new pricing plans.
If you have any queries regarding the change in pricing, please feel free to contact our support team.
85% of product searches start on Google. Is that enough to convince you to start selling your products on this platform that is getting bigger by the day?
Ever since the coronavirus pandemic, online shopping has reached new heights. In fact, a lot of E-commerce businesses have managed to take full advantage of the limitations set by the physical world and switched to all digital platforms to make themselves discoverable.
Google Shopping ads drive 76% of retail search ads spend and generate over 80% of all clicks on Google Ads.
However, simply listing your products on Google Shopping does not guarantee immediate sales.
Here are some tips that can help you optimize your Google Shopping product feed listing in 2020.
1. Search-friendly product titles
A general rule-of-thumb while creating compelling product titles is placing the keyword as close to the start as possible.
Avoid stuffing keywords in hopes that they will boost your listing – in fact it’ll do the opposite.
Make sure you include the brand, color, size, dimensions, gender and any relevant aspects of your listing so that a customer can figure out exactly what you’re selling without having to read the description.
2. Refine product categories
The better you select your product category, the more chance of it showing up on your potential customer’s search results.
For instance, here’s an example of a store that might sell colorful thermoses:
You might be surprised by the level of filtering that comes with Google Shopping’s categories. It might seem arduous but it’s well worth your time.
3. Use clean but compelling product images
The combination of a great title with an equally great product image can work wonders for your Google Shopping listing.
You do not have to have a fancy set up to get great pictures.
Simply use a clean, plain, preferably white background and make sure your products are centrally aligned to the frame.
Avoid using watermarks, logos, or any text on your images.
4. Make full use of product description
No one’s interested in reading the history of your thermos and the wonders it does to keep the family together during winter.
Google prioritizes the keywords used in your product description.
Just like the title, avoid stuffing keywords here as well.
What you can do instead, is include a secondary keyword that compliments the primary keyword.
Use short sentences that describe the basic usability/functionality of your product.
5. Spice up listings with merchant promotions
Merchant Promotions is a free feature that allows you to distribute online promotions with Shopping ads on Google.com.
When you add promotions to products that you sell on Google, shoppers see a “special offer” link (e.g. 15% off, free shipping, etc.). This link can increase the appeal of your Shopping ads and encourage shoppers to buy.
Here are the types of promotions that Google lets you use:
Discounts: Percent off, cashback, buy one get one free, or buy one get 2nd percent off
Free gifts: Free item or free gift card for a specified value
Shipping: Free or discounted shipping
Automate your Google Shopping listings
Creating Google Shopping product feed can take anywhere from a few minutes to hours depending on the number of products you have.
You can use a feed management solution like ExportFeed to make sure your listings are free of errors and more importantly, sync seamlessly with your online store without having to manually update them every so often.
The popularity of dropshipping over the years has led almost every new and aspiring entrepreneur to consider this business model at least once in their lifetime – especially with Etsy.
The main question is, however, not if other people are dropshipping on Etsy – its whether it is legal.
Let’s get right into it.
Is dropshipping on Etsy allowed?
Etsy’s policies do not directly mention anything related to banning ‘dropshipping’ on their entire website.
What they do admit is that they allow reselling in some cases.
“‘Reselling’ is selling an item that you, the seller, did not make or design.”
Technically, this is all dropshippers need as a loop-hole to the anti-dropship policies.
Another crucial point to remember is that Etsy only allows reselling in vintage and craft supplies categories.
If you’re thinking about reselling from a third-party supplier to Etsy, then it is outright illegal and you’ll end up behind bars.
Why is dropshipping on Etsy so popular?
As of 2019, close to 45.7 million buyers had purchased goods through the Etsy ecosystem.
Biggest targeted audience: This audience is specifically shopping for hand-crafted, artisanal or vintage items.
Reputation: Etsy has a special place in every artist-turned-entrepreneurs’ hearts. They are strict with not letting any corporations take over their marketplace and promote originality.
Supportive community: Etsy has a huge community of active sellers who help each other out that makes it feel like a family rather than an E-commerce website.
However, its not all sunshine and rainbows. Let’s look at some downsides of dropshipping on Etsy.
Cons of dropshipping on Etsy
Hefty fees: Etsy charges a $0.2 listing fee along with a 5% transaction fee. Combine that with the shipping charge and wrapping costs and you have the actual number.
If you’re thinking about redirecting your Etsy visitors to your dropship store, don’t even think about it because it is strictly prohibited.
Termination of Wholesale program: On July 31st, 2018 Etsy terminated the closest thing to dropshipping program that existed making it almost impossible to safely dropship on the platform.
Listings expiry: Your listings expire after four months. This means doing the whole listing process all over again if you do not have too many customers dying to buy from you.
Sanctions policy: This policy allows third-party payment services like PayPal to have the authority to independently monitor purchases and block them if necessary.
Limits for scaling: Etsy, by nature, is not designed for people who want to mass-sell their products, which is the exact plan of most dropshippers. If you ever reach a state where you have so many orders, it’ll be time to leave the marketplace.
Uncertain future for dropshippers: Almost every dropshipper on Etsy is anxious about when they’ll implement a strong policy that strictly forbids any loophole that is allowing them to dropship. Most think it’s only a matter of time before a strict policy is in place.
What is the best option for dropshipping on Etsy?
We’d strongly suggest that you not stay entirely dependent on Etsy’s marketplace and operate your own dropshipping store at the same time.
Your standalone E-commerce store will also allow you to sell to other merchants such as Amazon, Google Shopping, eBay and more.
However, doing it manually will take loads of time and effort on your part.
This is where ExportFeed can help you shorten and automate the whole process. Get started for free and jumpstart your dropshipping business today!
In 2020, the face mask industry size hit an all-time-record of USD 4581.9 million.
It is logical to assume that the coronavirus outbreak plummeted the sales of face masks overnight.
If you’re planning to delve into this business but are still on the fence about its sustainability, here’s something even more shocking (positively) – the worldwide face mask market size is expected to record a remuneration of USD 21,210 million by the end of 2026.
Taking this massive opportunity for Etsy sellers into consideration, ExportFeed team is excited to announce the official launch of Face Masks & Coverings category to our plugin.
This will help you generate feeds that fall under this category a breeze!
Simply select Face Masks & Coverings category while creating a feed and we’ll do the rest on auto-pilot.
Don’t have the ExportFeed Etsy plugin yet? Get it here!
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if someone searched for your product on Amazon and it ranked on the top of the search results?
Just like Google, Amazon is a whole different world in itself.
There are a number of factors that are responsible for your Amazon listing ranking.
You could be selling a bang-for-the-buck product but still not rank as high as you want to because of some small aspects of your listing.
Here are 7 optimization tips that you can easily implement to your Amazon listings and start ranking higher in 2020.
Use Product Title Limit to the Fullest
Amazon gives you a 250 character-limit on your product listing’s title. Make sure you grab your customer’s attention by letting them know you’re selling exactly what they’re looking for.
For instance, if you’re selling airpods, include related keywords such as bluetooth, wireless, earphones, earbuds, etc. along with some popular brand names.
Some best practices for the product title include:
Capitalize the first letter of each word
Use numerals (2 instead of two)
If a bundled product, state value in parenthesis as (pack of X)
Keep it short, but include critical information
Key Product Features – include details that can convert
Let’s assume that someone was interested enough in your listing title that they clicked on your listing.
At this point, your customer will look for the unique benefits that your product offers compared to your alternatives.
Highlight the five key features you want customers to consider, such as dimensions, age appropriateness, ideal conditions for the product, skill level, contents, country of origin, and so on.
Maintain a consistent order. If your first bullet point is country of origin, keep that same order for all your products
Reiterate important information from the title and description
Begin each bullet point with a capital letter
Write with sentence fragments and do not include ending punctuation
Do not include promotional and pricing information
Do not include shipping or company information. Amazon policy prohibits including seller, company, or shipping information in product detail pages.
Feature bullets help customers evaluate a product, so any non-product-specific information can distract from a customer‘s purchase decision
Use images that need no explanation
If I can figure out what your product does the moment I see your Amazon listing images, you’ve done it right.
A professional image with a white background can help your products be more discoverable in the search results.
Here are some good components of a good image:
Product images must have a white background with a clear image of just the product
Product images should be at least 300-dpi 1,000-dpi images are preferred
Product images should be in color, not black & white
Show the entire product. The product should occupy at least 80 percent of the image area.
Include only what the customer will receive; accessories that are not part of the product should not be shown
Use variation relationships to avoid any confusion
Here’s a great example of a great use of variation relationships by Team Sports for size and colour variation.
The color combination buttons ‘Black/White’, ‘Green/White’ and ‘Red/White’ change the variation of the ball in real-time so the customers know exactly what they’re placing an order for.
Here are some rules to stick by:
Fully describe each child product, so all will be included in browse and search results
Add the size and color to the child product title
Use SKUs to build relationships using fields for SKU and ParentSKU
List the Child offers under the Parent SKU in the flat-file or XML
Well-written product description
As stated in point number 2, you might think that going straight-to-the-point with bullets can be a great way to convince your customers to buy your product.
However, you can go well beyond that and tap into your customer’s emotional side.
For instance, let’s say I’m selling hearing aids.
I could start the product description with a quote such as ‘Blindness cuts us off from things, but deafness cuts us off from people’.
Then, I can add how effective the hearing aids that I’m selling is for you or your loved one.
Describe the major product features and list product information including size, used-for and style
Keep it short, but include critical information.
Include accurate dimensions, care instructions and warranty information
Use correct grammar and complete sentences
Build credibility with reviews & answering product questions
Let your customers know that you’re an actual human being that genuinely cares about anyone who has a query regarding your product.
Reviews can play a huge role in your customer’s buying decision. Regardless of whether your product has been featured on huge publications like New York Times, Verge or Washington Post, people will still scroll down to see what the everyday-Joe thinks about your product.
Encourage your customers to leave a positive review by awarding them with an incentive – maybe a slight discount on their next purchase or whatever that is feasible.
This brings me to my next category – the product questions.
Regardless of the complexity of the question, answer everything, even if it has been covered in the description!
Listen to these wise words by Bear Gryll
That’s right. Improve. Adapt. Overcome.
Maybe none of the points that I’ve shared here works out for your product and you sell better by actually breaking them.
Monitor your progress and stick to the changes that make a positive impact on your listings.
Business has been slow and even halted for millions of retail businesses all around the world since the coronavirus outbreak.
As a result, we got to witness a drastic switch to digital shopping within a matter of days since going out meant exposing yourself to a deadly virus.
While we could talk for days about all the terrible things that have happened since the pandemic, Google was generous enough to announce some positive news to help businesses and consumers with their new offer.
The news came from Google’s official blog on April 21st, 2020 from Bill Ready – it’s now free to sell on Google.
When will Google Shopping’s free listing offer start?
This offer will take effect before the end of April, 2020 .
Are all countries eligible for this program?
As of now, Google’s free listing offer is limited to the United States and will expand globally before the end of 2020.
Are all E-commerce platforms eligible for Google Shopping’s free product listing?
Google is continuing to work closely with many of their existing partners that help merchants manage their products and inventory, including Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce, to make digital commerce more accessible for businesses of all sizes.
How do I apply for Google’s free product listing offer?
2020 has not particularly been a good year for any of us but in spite of all the struggles that we’re facing together, ExportFeed’s development team has been vigorously working remotely to make sure we still do our best to serve our loyal customers.
During this process, we’re delighted to announce that ExportFeed is officially launching variation image support for Etsy for Shopify.
You will now be able to link your listing photos to a specific variation so shoppers can see all the details for themselves.
This helps avoid any confusion regarding exactly which option your customers are choosing.
How variation image support helps your Etsy customers
When any of your customers make a selection from the variations drop-down and choose an option that has a linked photo, they will be able to see the image of their choice on the listing page and all the way through checkout.
For instance, let’s say a shopper is looking at a black jacket of size 30. This specific option will be displayed automatically in her cart at checkout so she knows exactly what she’s ordering.
Why variation image support is great for your business
You will instantly notice that your support team will start getting fewer questions relating to different variations.
If your store is giving more details in a transparent manner, you can spend less time trying to explain each option in your listing description.
This means no more adding text to your images that clutter its thumbnails.
How can I use ExportFeed’s variation image support for Etsy?
Here’s the fun part – you do not have to follow any extra step other than continue creating your Etsy feeds as usual.
ExportFeed’s system can automatically detect when you’re uploading different variations image to your product and feed it accordingly to Etsy.
Coronavirus has affected individuals and businesses worldwide on a massive scale.
When all of the consumers are limited to the periphery of their residence, there’s not much to sell besides digital products.
One of the rather unsurprising results from this pandemic has been a peak in internet usage – people depend on the virtual world to keep them entertained while trying to hold on to their sanity.
Despite all of this, there have been some digital products that have been trending on Etsy starting from December when the Coronavirus was just being discovered.
If you’ve been on the fence about investing in a different business model, here are some products that might be of interest to you.
You can find the search volume, SEO & paid difficulty along with keyword ideas to help you get started on selling these digital products on Etsy.
Printable Stickers
Stickers are one of the most cost-effective ways of marketing for businesses.
You probably have seen custom stickers on cars, signs, bathroom stalls, doors and so forth.
While people staying at home might not be going around showing off stickers, they are still printing them out of boredom or just to give their room an upgrade.
Greeting cards
There is nothing quite like a greeting card that can send a special message to someone you care about.
They combine the power of beautiful images along with poetic words to make the receiver of the card grateful for the gift.
While any of the other digital products might go out of fashion, these are definitely here to stay.
Printable coloring pages
The search volume alone for printable coloring pages should give you an idea about how popular they are from kids to adults alike.
There has been a significant increase in printable coloring pages’ search volume ever since December which clearly shows a lot of isolated individuals have turned to them to ignite their creative side.
Printable business cards
You might be wondering who could be interested in printing business cards at this time but the numbers clearly show no sign of decrease in its popularity.
Printable business cards let entrepreneurs showcase their business while facilitating the networking process.
Snapchat filter
From house parties and weddings to coffee shops and campus-wide events, Snapchat offers a filter for everything.
You can target a niche audience and create a filter that has a special place in their hearts.
While the average order value might not be too high for these filters, you should definitely consider creating and selling a wide variety of Snapchat filters to make a decent profit out of them.
Printable wedding invite
While it is obvious that no one’s really planning on getting married any time soon, printable wedding invites still have a significant search volume with the hardest paid difficulty in this list.
Printable wedding invites are a great way of cutting costs since you do not have to hire a designer and make the design from scratch.
Printable planners
Sometimes life can seem too overwhelming just because you have no way of tracking all the things that you’re supposed to do at the same time.
Printable planners are a great way of keeping your daily tasks organized.
This is a great solution for people who are working from home to keep track of their pending tasks.
Printable calendar
Calendars have been used since the beginning of time.
The only difference between the primitive ones and the ones we use today would be the design, really.
Just like any other digital product, you could make a good earning by targeting a niche market and offer printable calendars based on that product/brand/TV-series or whatnot.
Fonts
Fonts come in all shapes and sizes. The choices are endless for businesses to choose one that aligns with their brand.
Every product you’ve ever purchased or the artist you’ve listened to has a unique font that helps them stand out from everyone else.
Since most businesses prefer using a unique font, you can offer numerous templates and let your customers choose for themselves.
Business logo
Logos are another crucial component of your business’ brand.
It is often referred to as the face of a company.
While the paid difficulty is slightly higher than the others in this list, you can definitely earn from selling logo templates of a small size for free and high-resolution options as a paid package.
We hope this list of trending digital products on Etsy was helpful for you to prioritize exactly which business you might want to invest in.
However, you will still need help with sending your products to Etsy than spending countless hours creating a manual product feed.
The best solution to list your products on Etsy
ExportFeed is one of the best solutions that not only lets you list your products on Etsy but also to 40+ other merchants and marketplaces.
It’s pretty logical to make your products’ presence known in multiple platforms if you really want to make big numbers in revenue.
You can give it a free try and see for yourself how it shortens the entire process.
