Ash Explained

Tag: Digital Marketing

  • I Failed In Dropshipping. Here’s What Happened

    I Failed In Dropshipping. Here’s What Happened

    And Lessons from my experiments

    While working in a day job, I wanted to quit and do something of my own, like most corporate professionals. It was getting more and more depressing.

    I was searching for new sources of income to quit my job and found Dropshipping.

    Dropshipping is selling a product on your website with a markup. You buy the product from a cheaper supplier after receiving an order.

    You don’t have to keep any inventory. This caught my interest and attention.

    This was my golden ticket opportunity and I jumped in after watching a few YouTube videos.

    The video was very convincing that it was easy to make good money through dropshipping. And all I needed was a single-winner product to make it work.

    A single product can fund my early retirement or vacations.

    Things didn’t go as planned

    Running a business is not that easy.

    Dropshipping was not as easy and cost-effective as they said in YouTube videos.

    This side hustle became very costly very fast due to Shopify and payment gateway costs. Shopify takes a monthly fee.

    Both payment gateway and Shopify take a percentage from every sale too.

    Youtubers never mention the accurate investment you need to start or continue the business. They don’t mention the hidden costs and many are recurring.

    They also didn’t mention how long it may take and also that it doesn’t always work.

    Photo by Ibrahim Rifath on Unsplash

    To bring all the eyes to your product you need to pay for ads.

    In YouTube videos, they always suggest Facebook ads. Facebook ads are not as simple as they look & it’s costly also.

    People usually don’t have buying intentions on Facebook as it’s a social media. I realized it very late after I invested a lot of money.

    If you think about it you go to Facebook either for entertainment or to know about your connections, not for shopping.

    I targeted the wrong platform.

    From the very few sales I got, there were quite a few scammers as well which I was not ready for.

    I remember a customer opened a fake dispute in PayPal saying they never received the product. Due to this PayPal had put a hold on the balance payments. I had to submit delivery documents from courier delivery partners to prove that it was delivered.

    Judgment came in my favor but it was not worth all the hassle and mental tension, to be honest.

    Don’t take Shortcuts in Life

    Building good things in life takes time and effort.

    There’s no such thing as getting rich quickly.

    I did not know about digital marketing. I thought adding a product and running ads was enough to make customers buy the product.

    When it was already late I realised the importance of digital marketing and SEO.

    If it seems too good to be true then it probably is.

    When you look at YouTube videos, and the way they explain the business, it seems like anyone can do it and can get rich quickly. There is no mention of the difficulties you can face when you start with it.

    I strongly believe all they need is views on their videos, and people to join from their affiliate links or take their courses.

    Photo by Nik on Unsplash

    I have learned that in a business if the entry barrier is so low then getting good results is very difficult.

    Starting this business is easy as long as you have a very small amount of money. It becomes more of a competition of who spends more to get more customers.

    Also, you don’t always have a unique product. Other sellers might sell the same product but to compete with you they will cut down the cost of their listing.

    If you want to try dropshipping

    Learn before you want to earn.

    Plan your expenses and budget them wisely.

    Shopify is not the only option. WordPress is much more cost-effective. You pay for hosting and domain for a year upfront and it’s way less than Shopify’s one-year pricing.

    Learn Google ads for search intent and Facebook ads for retargeting.

    When someone wants to buy they search for the product on Google which means they are already half convinced. It is easier to sell to half-convinced customers than to a stranger on social media.

    Facebook ads should be used for retargeting people who saw your product and didn’t buy. This will remind them of the product whenever they go to social media.

    Usually, e-commerce websites get a 3% conversion rate.

    This means out of 100 people visiting 3 may buy the product. This data works if the product page looks good and trustworthy.

    Research your competition who are selling the same product and optimize the product page. Also, include reviews for social proof.

    Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

    People buy benefits and not features.

    We buy products only when it is useful and solve a problem. Make sure to include the benefits in the product description. So pick your products carefully.

    Find good suppliers by checking reviews on supplier sites and the Facebook ad library.

    You Need to have a product that is not easily available. Otherwise, customers will prefer Amazon over your website.

    If you want returning customers then you need good product quality and a trustworthy supplier.

    And remember as with every other business, dropshipping also needs lots of hard work, planning, time, and patience.

    Let me know in the comments if you have any questions and I will be happy to answer.

  • Generate a Year’s Worth of Blog Titles in Minutes

    Generate a Year’s Worth of Blog Titles in Minutes

    With complete prompt and explanation

    If you are stuck with writer’s block or struggling to figure out topic ideas to become an authority on a subject then this prompt can help you.

    This prompt will give you 400 blog post titles which are organized into 20 sub-topics based on one given topic.

    Below is the prompt I use. I have tried it with ChatGPT but I think any other AI LLM will give similar results.

    For the best results use ChatGPT o1 preview.

    The Prompt

    Your goal is to make an outline of topics for new websites. 
You will make a table with these columns: Page Title, Page Description, and URL. 
Ask for a niche (If the user gives you a niche, you can start right away). 
Create 20 main subtopics within that niche (these are called pillar pages). 
Add these to a table. Break down the niche into 20 subtopics or pillar pages. 
Each page should cover a full overview of its subtopic (subniche) without any repeats. 
Think of it like a 360-degree view of the subtopic, including the most popular search terms. 
This helps build strong topic coverage. 
Do not repeat or make pages that are too similar in content or wording. 
Get approval for the 20 main pages. Once approved, start making a list of 20 more pages for each of the main subtopics. 
Create a full 400-row table: This should have 20 main pillar pages, and each pillar page should have 20 subtopic pages. 
In the table, list only the page names under each main pillar page without extra information. 
This full list will have 400 items. You can complete it in steps.  

    Explanation

    Here is the basic explanation of the prompt

    • Goal: You need to plan blog post topics for a new website.
    • Table Setup: Make a table with a Page Title, Page Description, and URL.
    • Start with a Niche Topic: Ask the user to give a topic (“niche”). 
    • Main Topics (Pillar Pages): Make a list of 20 big topics within that niche. These are called “pillar pages.” 
    • Organize Ideas: each pillar page topic includes all popular terms people search for.
    • Avoid Repeating: Make sure each topic is unique and they don’t repeat in any other pillar topics.
    • Approval: Show the 20 main pillar pages for approval by the user. After they’re approved, create 20 more subpages for each pillar page.
    • Complete the Full List: In total, you’ll have 400 topics — 20 pillar pages with 20 subpages each. 

    This will help you to create authority on any topic with your website content.

    Let me know in the comments if this prompt helped you.