AskAviAryaShow | 9-Point Checklist to Optimize Your Shopify Store in 2021 | Mechelle Carpio |

Shopify store is like WordPress, Wix, something like that. It's like a platform where you can open your own website. You really don't need to have like a big capital for the inventories because you are dropshipping. And that's the reason why most of the Shopify store owners that I know, they are dropshipping. Especially when you don't really have that big capital for inventories. But of course, you have to invest on the marketing strategies as well. Exactly. And number eight, of course we have to avoid errors. We don't want to turn off your customers like grammatical errors or spellings. Right. Okay. Because using paid ads, you can really target those, target audience that you want to buy your products.

So serious about your brand or your product which will show in your pictures and your videos and the way you've done your Shopify website. The more serious you are, the more serious your customer is going to be. I like that point.

Foreign.

Hey, guys, this is Avi Arya, father of two girls, six dogs, husband to a superwoman, a streetcar racer turned hotelier, now social media marketer and founder of Internet mobiles. Welcome to my channel, gentlemen, boys and girls. Thank you all. I'm just going to wait for a couple of seconds for more people to join the Facebook live feed. Today we have a special guest all the way from Philippines. And you'd be happy to know that she's saying that she's using an electric fan because it's nice and hot. I've been to Manila. It's a beautiful place, nice and sunny, warm. A lot of people from Vancouver live in Manila and a lot of people from Manila live in Vancouver. And Michelle is a Shopify expert. I know a lot of people are wanting after the pandemic to start their own businesses. How easy is it to start a Shopify store? How do you market it? All of those things we're going to ask Michelle today. And for all of you people who are watching on Facebook, I would want all of you people to ask questions. I will take your questions live and we will request Michelle to answer those questions before we get started, Michelle, if you could just introduce to our audiences little bit about yourself, what you've been doing and all of that.

Okay? So hi everyone, this is Michelle Carpio. And as what Abby said, I came from the Philippines and I've been building Shopify store for like couple of months, years already. So last year I launched 31 stores of my clients. And yep, before I get into this freelancing world or digital marketing, I was in the corporate for like 17 months. And then I really wanted to have flexibility of my time. And that's why I found out about freelancing or doing this digital marketing. And then I found joy doing it like helping clients, helping them grow their business. So that's like the fulfillment that I've been wanting since I was in the corporate.

Excellent. So tell us for all the people who are here, what is a Shopify store? Is it you go to somebody else's website and open your store? Is it like Amazon? Is it like Flipkart? Is it like ebay?

Okay, so Shopify store is like WordPress, Wix, something like that. It's like a platform where you can open your own website and then you can control everything in there. Unlike on Amazon, you're like renting like it's a third party marketplace that there will be a lot of entrepreneurs in there selling their products. So when you have the Shopify, you can have like a full control over it. You can do email marketing, you can do Facebook ads. Well, you can also do that on Amazon or ebay, I suppose. But it's actually better to have your own website. Like you can design it the way you want, you can do layout, you can do testing, you can do everything to reach your target conversion rate monthly.

Okay, so you're saying that so anybody can open a Shopify store. So what's. If you, if you can tell our audiences who are very new at this, what is the step by step process?

Okay, so in order for you to open a Shopify store, of course you have to make up your mind, like do you really want to open a Shopify store? Because this is an investment. This is not just a business that you can open anytime. Of course you also have to do a market research, have to do a product research like those meaning products that you want to sell. You just have to make sure that those products that you will be selling using Shopify can solve a problem. Okay. That is like the main goal when you are, I think that is what most successful businesses are. It's like their advantage. Like they are selling something that can help a problem. So you have to keep that in mind. Now if you do have that product already, then you can open, go to shopify.com and then open an account. It's just easy. You just have to feel all the information needed like your name, your business or business name. And then the basic plan is around $14 monthly 79, 299. That depends on what you want or how many staff do you have. So but if you're just starting. I would suggest go to the basic plan and that's it. You can decide if you want to design it yourself, you want to optimize the website yourself, or you want to hire an expert to do that for you to save you time. And of course you can do that as well.

Got it. Okay. Now that we've understood the basics, what kind of products or service, how do I decide if I should, what products I should sell? Is there a place, is there a format to research things online?

Yeah. Yes, you can. It's either you do drop shipping, right, using, let's say Alibaba, Aliexpress, or you do have like a supplier in the US or wherever you are right now, then you can do that. But if you wanted to manufacture your product yourself, then you can do that as well. But again, if you wanted to have like a guide on how to do drop shipping, you can go to Oberlo101. They have a free course in there. If you wanted to do drop shipping, so that's a good course as well. But if you wanted to manufacture, Sorry, if you wanted to manufacture your own product like my other clients here locally, like they are the one making their products like glutathions or you know, supplements, etc. Then you can do that as well.

Got it. So when it comes to see, a lot of our audiences are new to this. So if you don't mind telling people what is this concept of drop shipping?

Okay, so for the drop shipping, you don't really have to have lots of inventories to go in your house or on your warehouse. Let's say you are going to find a supplier from, let's say from China. Okay. You have to connect, let's say for example AliExpress and your Shopify for your products to be connected on this system. So let's say someone ordered from your store. Let's say I am selling a water bottle, I am from the Philippines, I ordered some from someone in the US and their supplier is coming from China. So that supplier from China, he or she can ship the product directly to me. Like it doesn't have to go in the US and then send it here in the Philippines. Okay. So you really don't need to have like a big capital for the inventories because you are drop shipping. And that's the reason why most of the shopify store owners that I know, they are drop shipping. Especially when you don't really have that big capital for inventories. But of course you have to invest on the marketing strategies as well. Because let's say you already built the website. Of course you have to show those products to people or to your target audience.

Got it. So we spoke about the basic plans to set up Shopify store. We spoke about how to find do a product research. We also found out you said you don't necessarily drop shipping, so you don't necessarily need to stock your own products. Let's talk about marketing. So if everything is being done by somebody else, the marketing is my strength, right? How well I market my product to be able to drive individual, organic or paid traffic to my pages. So give us a few strategies. Do you use Facebook, Google, all of those strategies. Email marketing, all of that.

Okay, let's say you already have marketing strategies or you are done with the Shopify store optimization as well. But you have to get in mind that even if you have or you spent like thousands of dollars on marketing strategies already, if your store is not optimized or you know, conversion focused yet, it would be useless. So you have to make sure that the store is well built. I can give you like some tips on how to optimize the store. Okay, so I do have here a checklist so maybe if they are listening they can take this down. So first one, you have to have a short domain name. I won't go further on the explanation on each checklist but they can list this down. Okay, so first one, yeah, have a short domain name. Second one is offer free shipping and discount. That is one of the most important because most of us when we are shopping over the Internet, we want free shipping. Like personally I want that as well.

So does that mean that my price of the shipping has to be built into my profit?

Yes. And especially when you are drop shipping, right? Yes. So then.

So then that means I need to look at, does that mean that. So for example, if I'm in India and I have to sell stuff and I have to give free shipping, should I send things to Asian countries or should I go to Canada and America? Because I'm assuming the shipping there is going to be more expensive.

You have to ask your supplier because there's like an average cost of shipping fee. So you have to talk. You really need to be hands on on looking for suppliers. Okay. You really have to talk to them. That's why you can also check that oberlo 101 course the lady there will teach you on how to look for products.

Uberlo. How do you spell that?

It's O B OB E R L O 101.

Okay, so that's a course on how to set up your Shopify store.

Yep. That's a drop shipping specifically. But you can also use that because they are teaching on how to look for product or winning products. They will teach you how to, you know, look for winning products. So.

Got it. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. Please carry on.

Okay, so the third one will be ad testimonials or reviews. This is one of the most important. You have to focus on your customers as well. You have to focus on giving them the best service and products that they deserve. Okay. Because when you have like good testimonials, that alone can be your marketing strategy already. So I hope that makes sense. Number four, you have to go ahead. Sorry.

No, no, go ahead.

Sorry. Okay, so number four, you have to use high quality and compressed photos. Okay. Make sure that the images will be in high quality in its highest quality. Okay. Fifth one would be optimize your checkout page. We want our checkout page to be the same on your homepage because we don't want the checkout page to be or to look different from your homepage because that is like one of the costs causes of abandoned carts. Okay. Number six, you have to optimize your product page. You have to give them the full details about that certain product. Number seven, include important pages only like the contact reviews, FAQs. Very important as well. About us. Because right now we are looking for the values or mission vision of a brand already. Because if we think as the perspective of a customer that you as a brand owner is serious about your brand, of course we will take your brand or your products seriously as well. Number eight, avoid errors. And then number nine, if you are.

Serious about your brand or your product, which will show in your pictures and your videos and the way you've done your Shopify website, the more serious you are, the more serious your customer is going to be.

I like that point exactly. And number eight, of course we have to avoid errors. We don't want to turn off your customers like grammatical errors or spellings. Right. And the number nine, which will be the last one, you have to upsell sell. Okay. Upselling can increase your revenue and your average order value as well. And if you have a high average order value, your Facebook ads, you will be getting like a good return on ad spend in there. If you are going to use that as your marketing strategy that we will be talking later.

Sure. Excellent.

So I hope they got all of those.

So There are about 20 people live on Facebook right now and many people are going to be joining in later. So guys, if you have any questions from Michelle right now, feel free to put those questions in the comment box. I'm waiting. I'm going to give all of you people 10 seconds. Think of a question. If you are looking to promote a product or a service online, what product should it be? How to find out the product, how to do marketing and anything about Shopify, let us know. She is here and she's happy to answer your questions.

Yep.

Till I get more questions, let's talk about some marketing strategies from Michelle.

Okay, so let's say you already have an optimized Shopify store. So the first thing or the main marketing strategy that we should be having will be paid ads. Okay. Yeah. Aside from doing SEO or search engine upgrade optimization as well to rank on Google. That is how we drive good traffic, good quality traffic in your store. Yeah. First one would be Instagram and Facebook ads. It's just that right now they have changed your policies. You just have to follow the policies to avoid disabling of your ad accounts. I think there will be a lot, lots of courses out there that offers, that will offer that, you know, media buying.

Okay, so you're saying it's important to know how to run ads well otherwise you'll be wasting money. If you know how to run ads well, you. Because that's going to be your primary business to be able to run good ads to. Okay, so somebody is asking here, Manish Pawar is asking, do you need to register a company locally in order to start a Shopify store?

Sorry, what is that?

Do you need to register a company for a Shopify store?

Yes. Because on your Facebook ads I think they need to have like a business. What do we call that? Yeah, yeah. I don't really run Facebook ads but I am partnered with Facebook Strategies here in the Philippines. So I do have that information as well. But if you want to open your Shopify, they don't really need or they are not asking for business info or like that legal business info.

Shopify not asking for it. But if you have a business and you don't have an existing thing then obviously you want to have a place for your money to come in and all of that.

And also I think. Yeah, sorry. And also I think if you are really serious with your business, I think you really have to register that.

Sure, sure, of course. But tell me, you launched 34 Shopify stores in the last one year or so.

Yeah.

Tell us a few stories. Who are these people? What was their challenge? And then after the Store. What kind of money are they making? Okay, motivate us, motivate all of us to open Shopify stores.

Okay, so I have this client from the US I'm not gonna tell the name of the company already, but she started, she started June last year and she started having a profit of 5,000, I think. 5,000. And now after a couple of months, I think five, four months of being active, like showing the products to her target audience. She's now at six figures, so.

Nice.

Yeah. And she is getting her products from China as well, which are all good quality. That's why it's really important to talk to your suppliers, get testers, like product testers in order for you to check the quality of the product as well. Because that's your product, you are going to sell that to your target audience. So you have to make sure that they are in good quality.

Tell us what's the difference between a regular, what is this? A regular WordPress website and a Shopify website. Why should somebody. I can put my, Somebody is asking. I can put my products on any platform. Why should I be Shopify?

Okay, so WordPress actually is designed for service based, but there is also called WooCommerce. But Shopify is more flexible. Okay. It's easier to use, especially if you wanted to do it by yourself. Like you don't want to hire an expert, you want to learn it while doing it, then you can do it by yourself. There are free themes as well and you don't need hosting because there is like a monthly subscription already. And Shopify is designed for E Com, like selling products. So that is why most of the business owners right now are using Shopify.

What are the three. Yeah, please go ahead.

Yeah, go ahead.

What are the three things? You know, like I'm, I'm impatient, I want to make money in the next three months. What are the three things I should do?

First, you have to believe in your product. Because if you are doubtful that I think it will not, it will not work. Then it will not work because you are manifesting that. Okay. Second one, you really have to, to show up my other clients. They are really showing their products to their target audience and that's the reason why people are buying the product also they are using it. Okay? So that's one of the most important as well. Again, you have to believe in your product. So if you believe in it, then you are going to use it like show them to your audience. And then the third one, of course you have to start take on your marketing strategies like you cannot do it alone. So you need help from other people, like from experts, media buyers or website developers. Because successful businesses, they cannot, like do it alone.

Got it? Got it. So that means maybe if I'm start, if I want to start a Facebook, if I want to start a Shopify store, I should maybe make a co founder who's a Facebook or Google Ads expert or media buyer or, you know, and then both of us can have a nice partnership.

Exactly. Also, you have, when you are going to start a business, like you are decided already to start a business, you have to make sure that you have that investment as well. Because if you're just starting, there will be like lots of testing that will happen. So you should be ready on that one as well. Because there are people or businesses that I know that they've been in the business for like two years already and still nothing happens. And there are businesses that are just three months, four months, five months in the business, but they are making six figures already. So again, I am telling to most of the business owners that I'm talking to that you have to invest on your business as well if you want to make it work.

Got it. So guys, there are 20 people right now. If any of you have any questions, let us know. We have another few minutes left. If we can take about two or three more questions. So any questions on Shopify, how, what products to choose, what kind of marketing? Drop it in the comment and we're gonna ask Michelle to help us.

Yeah, and also on the Shopify, since I'm a freelancer. Okay. You can do it like yourself. Like if you wanted to build your own business, like your own Shopify store, you can do it. Or if you are a freelancer like me, like offering the service as a Shopify developer, then you can do that as well.

Got it. So guys, if you, all you Facebook guys, all of you people who are on Facebook right now, drop in a question in the comment. Ask Michelle whatever you want. She'll be happy to answer that. And Michelle, how long you've been doing this for? 1 year. And so what is your revenue? When are you going to. When are you going to be making multiple millions in this business?

To be honest with you, I'm still on the manufacturing of the brand. I mean, I'm still thinking of building my brand because I do have or I do know manufacturers here in the Philippines already and I wanted to start local. So I'm thinking of it's either building a cosmetics brand or like selling supplements as well. Like, because right now People in the Philippines like, mostly girls.

I want to. I want to start a sneakers. Sneakers or sneaker line sometime.

Yeah, you can do that. Yeah, like sneakers, like shoes. That's great.

Yeah, Excellent. Okay, so, Michelle, we've got one last question. What are your services and the audience watching this? If they want to hire you, how can they get in touch with you?

They can find me on Facebook, Michelle Carpio. And on. It's either on LinkedIn or Instagram as well. My name is Michelle Carpio. M E C H E L L E and then C A R P I O. So also I offer free audits. Like if you do have a Shopify store you've built yourself and you are unsure about it, if you wanted to launch it or is there something wrong? Why are you are not making sales? Then you can message me. Guys, I can give you a free audit. Free. Like, no catch. Just trying to help. Okay. Because I talk to most, like lots of businesses every day and Michelle, can you help me? I have a problem. I do not. I'm not making sales and okay, I can give you a free audit and then you can do it yourself or you can get me to do the changes. Then that's totally fine with me as well. I mean, what's 15 minutes? Giving my time giving or doing an audit on your website, if that can help you.

Awesome. We love that. So, Michelle, I'm going to give you a link. Just give me one second. I'm going to leave you a link to join our Facebook group where we are going live so that you can join us. And give me one sec.

I think some people are adding me already on Facebook. I can see.

All right. All righty. There we go. That's the group.

Okay. So if they have questions, they can always, you know, message me.