Hi everyone,

This week I connected with a website expert, Diana Ratliff and asked her all about when (or if) to shift from marketplaces to selling on your own site. We discussed Amazon, Etsy, eBay, and more!

Hi everyone,

The newsletter is online. You can download a printable copy here. I’ve also included all the content in this post!

Lots of sellers on eBay, Etsy, and Amazon have never gotten around to setting up there own website.

Is that you?

That is a massive mistake that is costing you thousands of dollars – maybe tens-of-thousands, hundreds-of-thousands, or even millions!

Four Reasons You Need A Website

#1. Because the easiest place to tell your story is on your website. People buy from people – and they bond with people. If you want to have any hope of building a long-term relationship with buyers – you need to connect with them on an emotional level. Bonding is best done on your own website!

#2. Because the easiest place to collect email addresses is on your website. Regardless of whether you eventually sell product on your own site, or continue to sell it on the big ecommerce platforms (or both) your cheapest, easiest, and best advertising option is email marketing. And it is simple to collect email addresses on your own website, but almost impossible to collect them via the big ecommerce platforms. Imagine listing a new product (on your own site or on Amazon, eBay, or Etsy) and sending an email to 40,000 or 50,0000 eager buyers! Your email list obviously starts at zero, but the more you focus on capturing email addresses the bigger it will grow. When we “woke up” and realized this in 2009 we only had 125 email addresses on our list. Today we have over 40,000. You can do it too.

#3. Because you shouldn’t build a business on “property you don’t own”. If you’re building your entire business on Amazon, Etsy, or eBay, then you’re placing your future in the hands of those companies – not your own. Of course you can use sales on those sites to scale up your business, they make a great sales channel, but don’t rely on them 100%.

Even if you want to continue to sell exclusively on those sites, you should have a website up and running – and collecting email addresses – just in case you need to shift to being a direct seller through your own site.

#4. Because easiest place to give away freebies, promotions, and “ethical bribes” is on your own website.

Website Tools That Make It Easy

If you haven’t made your own website until now it must be because you believe it’s hard. While that might have been true a few years ago – it’s certainly not anymore. Here is a short list of the most simple website solutions.

The Best Beginner Platform: www.wordpress.com

The first thing you need to do is go to www.wordpress.com and create a site. You can purchase a domain name for something like $11 a year. Of course there are other options – ignore them. A site on the wordpress.com platform will serve you really well.

The Best Theme: DIVI

The look and feel of your website is controlled by the “theme”. The absolute best theme available is called “DIVI”. You can have it installed on your new wordpress site for as little as $5. Just look at this search on Fiverr.com – DIVI Theme Installers.

The Best Email Integration Tool: Mailchimp

The most important aspect of your website is setting up an email collection form so you can begin regularly communicating with your followers. Mailchimp is simple and free to use until you reach 2,000 followers.

Conclusion: There is literally no reason to NOT have a website – and the benefits are undeniable. Spend a few hours this week making your new website a masterpiece. Work through the uncertainty and painful learning curve and come out victorious!

Jason & Cinnamon