Welcome to E335 of the EcomCrew podcast! This is a special episode because it’s the first time that we have a returning guest from our Under the Hood segment.

We started doing Under the Hood back in 2018 to give free hour-long advice to other ecommerce sellers and feature them on our podcast. This year, we’re touching base with our past guests to see how they’re doing and how our advice impacted their business.

When our guest, Richard Phillips, was here 2 years ago, he had recently made the transition from affiliate marketing to actually selling physical products. If you missed that, check out E155.

In this episode, Richard and I talk about

• Richard’s ecommerce journey - 2:28
• Not being discouraged about business mistakes and failures - 6:28
• Why Richard went into the glassware industry - 7:40
• The importance of packaging for giftable items - 10:05
• Is Amazon the right place for Richard’s products? - 15:15
• Buyer behavior during holidays - 15:45
• Using Amazon customization to make products more special - 18:15
• Who should be using Facebook ads - 24:00
• Using Google AdWords - 30:40
• Using influencer marketing to promote your products - 34:15
• Influencer tiers and what factors to consider- 35:24
• How many products you should give away to influencers - 37:54
• The advantage of having a catalogue of products - 40:35
• Increase in traffic at tactical.com - 44:15
• How Mike’s writers make good content - 48:55

If you would like to get more reviews for your Amazon listing, we have a great deal for you! We are partnering with Captain AMZ to give EcomCrew podcast listeners 10% off on their paid plans. We know how useful they are to sellers because we use them personally.

Want to be a guest in our Under the Hood episodes? Sign up now and get the chance to be featured on our podcast and get an hour of coaching.

If you liked this episode, please leave us a review over at iTunes.

Hello and welcome to E334 of the EcomCrew podcast!

Today, I am joined by Judson Morgan, who is an actor, entrepreneur, and more importantly, the founder of Butter, a video ad agency that helps ecommerce businesses tell their brand and product stories through high-quality videos.

In this episode, Judson and I talk about

• What a video is worth - 4:18 
• How other platforms adapted to the rise of video marketing - 5:50
• How Judson started with Butter - 7:15
• The challenges of making video content - 9:43
• How much videos increase conversion rate - 11:37
• How to make good video content with little budget - 13:33
• The importance of brand storytelling - 18:00
• Butter’s case studies - 20:34
• Versatility of videos - 23:24
• Using keyword strategy along with video content - 25:33
• Mike’s strategy when using video content - 28:27
• Where you can find Judson - 30:34
• Mike spending time with his employees in the Philippines - 32:00

You can find Judson and check out his company’s work over at butter.la. 

And if you haven’t signed up yet, we are closing our EcomCrew Premium registration tonight at 11:59 p.m. and wouldn’t be opening again until next quarter. 

Sign up now to get one-on-one support from Dave and I as well as access to our exclusive Facebook group, monthly webinars, and Premium courses.

Finally, if you like this episode, please leave us a review over at iTunes.

Until the next episode! Happy selling!

When we first heard of the existence of COVID-19 earlier this year, most of us didn’t think that we would still need to be at home past the middle of 2020.

Aside from our ability to be outside and be with people, the pandemic has also impacted the economy significantly. Many businesses had to declare bankruptcy, and millions of people around the world were laid off.

In this episode, Mike sits down with Brian Miller, the CEO of Easy China Warehouse, to discuss the effects of COVID to ecommerce businesses and where he thinks ecommerce is headed post-pandemic.

Brian talks about:

• Where the virus started -  3:45
• How the US and China differed in how they handled the pandemic - 4:45
• How honest China is regarding the number of cases -  9:05
• Brian’s quarantine story - 12:49
• How factories in China are doing - 16:20
• Consumer sentiment and how it is affected by the pandemic - 17:35
• Mike’s advice for ecommerce business owners - 26:30
• The importance of taking into account the adjustment period for the economy - 28:25
• The ripple effect caused if small business owners do not make it - 32:10
• Services that Easy China Warehouse offers - 34:20

If you want to know more about Easy China Warehouse, visit their site or shoot Brian an email at brian@easychinawarehouse.com.

For those of you who aren’t members yet, we are opening EcomCrew Premium again! This will only be for a limited time, so sign up while you still can.

We also have a public webinar coming about increasing external traffic to your listing so you won’t have to spend too much on PPC ads. This will be held on Sept 17 at 10 AM (PST).

As always, we only have limited slots, so you better reserve yours now.

If you liked this episode, please leave a review over on iTunes.

Happy Selling!

Because of how important Amazon is to ecommerce sellers, it’s important to keep up-to-date with the latest changes that affect how we should behave in order to remain compliant with Amazon’s policies.

There’s only a few people out there who would be a better fit for giving us these updates than Seller Labs’ Jeff Cohen.

In this episode, Jeff talks about:

• Restrictions in sending messages to customers
• What makes inserts Amazon-compliant
• White hat ways to drive traffic to your Amazon listings
• What not to include in your emails and logos
• HTML restrictions in Amazon
• The importance of understanding the relationship between Amazon and third-party sellers
• Language restrictions in rebates and purchases
• The risk of employing black hat tactics

Seller Labs has been working closely with Amazon for years and is one of the first tools that has been integrated into the Amazon app. It continues to help ecommerce business owners grow and thrive on the platform using a well-established system.

And we have great news!

Seller Labs is giving EcomCrew podcast listeners a sweet deal! You can now get 30% off for 3 months to use their services. This is on top of the one month free subscription when you choose Pro.

Spending too much on PPC ads and not seeing much growth in your sales?

Join us on our webinar this September 17, and we will talk about how you can increase external traffic to your Amazon listing the white hat way.

Happy Selling!

Welcome to E331 of the EcomCrew Podcast! In this episode, we have a husband-and-wife duo who share their ecommerce journey with us.

Deeanne and Garret Akerson had full-time jobs and two small kids when they first recognized the need to make high-quality and comfortable clothing for pregnant and lactating mothers. Born out of the desire to make motherhood easier, they made it their business’ mission to provide moms with a great selection of clothes that are both functional and stylish.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How Deeanne and Garret started Kindred Bravely
• How they dealt with existing brands who offered the same products
• How they got their first reviews
• Turning customer suggestions into best selling products
• Braving the challenges of being new in ecommerce
• Quitting their jobs to do the business full-time
• Their secret sauce
• Hurdling the winters of the business
• Vanity metrics
• Employing a team to focus on what they do best

Check out Deeanne and Garret’s business, Kindred Bravely. 

If you liked this episode, please leave us a review over at iTunes.