So, I have decided to use cs-cart as the platform for my ecommerce store. It isn’t a store that I have come across before but they have a good user forum and good support. The store itself is excellent and has everything that I am looking for and need. It is also very customisable which is important to me.

They are currently in the process of releasing a new version within the next couple of weeks but I’ve already started designing my store using their demo version which can be upgraded when the stable upgrade is released.

I’m just going to spend my time uploading and entering all of the products into the store. I am taking the content from my suppliers website (with their permission) and once everything is in my site, I will go through each product and rewrite the product description to ensure that it is unique content. During this step, I will also that all the product pricing and options are correct.

After I get all that sorted out, I will then work on getting the site looking right and add additional content. I expect all of this to take me about 2-3 weeks in total. After that, the site will be ready for launch and also for taking orders!

At present things are going well. I have been thinking about my goals for this project and have changed my mind on one aspect of it. I have decided that I will use PPC from the big 3 like Google Adwords as I want to get some profits ASAP. I only expect to continue the PPC campaign as long as it is profitable (obviously) and until the SEO work kicks into effect.

I managed to complete the tasks that I outlined in my last post. I have got my supplier all sorted and ready and will get a 20% margin on the products on a dropship basis. The retail value varies from about £25-£60.

I’ve also generated a good keyword list and have grouped them to base my website around.

I’ve had an issue recently. I have a reseller hosting account with Hostgator but since most of my websites are targeting a UK audience, I have decided to get a UK hosting account to help with seo. This is a debatable aspect of seo and whilst I have read enough to think that it may make some difference to ranking, it can do no harm. My previous UK hosting company worked quite well but used a Plesk control panel and as I was used to Cpanel, found it quite different. I had a few problems when trying to install scripts due to ‘php safe’ mode being on and even though support helped direct me to switch it off so some of my programs would work, I was still having a lot of problems.

I had spent so many hours trying to sort it out that I had had enough and decided to move to a cpanel reseller hosting. I’m in the process of transferring my sites over and then I can set my new ecommerce site up. So why all the bother.

Well, I’m currently looking into using a few different cart programs and have found 2 that I am very interested in testing. I’m looking at using either x-cart or cs-cart. Both seem to be very good and have the features that I am looking for. I’m choosing these over and above zen-cart which is a store that I know because I want something that looks better from a design point of view. I think x-cart and cs-cart may be easier to design an attractive site with and are more customisable with less work.

I’m leaning towards cs-cart and will report on my progress.

Today has been a bit crazy as we are in the process of selling our flat in London. There is so much paperwork and sorting out to deal with. Unfortunately, I’ve not really had much time to do much.

What I did do was recieve an email and supplier agreement form with my product supplier to ensure that I comply and agree with their terms which is fine. This I will get sent off so I can get started.

My main achievement today (apart form sorting out the flat!), is that I have registered my domain name for my new ecommerce website. I managed to get my .co.uk and .com versions. The .co.uk will be the main domain as I am targeting the UK market only. The .com domain will be parked and point to the .co.uk site.

I used www.123-reg.co.uk for my .co.uk domain and www.namecheap.com for my .com domain. I use these because their prices are excellent and I have used them both a lot in the past.

The next couple of day are going to be very busy in terms of finishing the preparations for the flat, so time will be very limited for me. My next goals are:

1) Send of suplier agreement form tomorrow.

2) Generate a good keyword list for the website marketing and development. Completed bysaturday.

3) Decide which platform to base the ecommerce store on and start work on developing it. Commence by sunday.

Great news. The two possible niches that I mentioned in my last post I have contacted and I have had some success!

One supplier does dropship but I am still unsure whether they have product images that I can use. If not, then I cannot use them as a dropship supplier. It could still work as an affiliate website niche though.

My other possibility is more specialised and is an area I have some experience in (health market). I called the supplier today as their website said that they did wholesale but when I spoke to them, they said that they would dropship! This is great news. Although the margins are smaller, it would be a great way for me to start and test the market. By dropshipping first, I can see which products sell like hot cakes and then can perhaps look at stocking those for greater profits.

To find my potential suppliers, I used Google and typed in the “product+dropship”. For example, “blood pressure monitors+dropship”. I then repeated the search with variations on the word ‘dropship’, using ‘wholesale’, ‘trade’ and ’supplier’. I did look through quite a lot of results and even up to around page 10 of the search results. My reasoning for this is in case there wasa supplier who had a website that was poorly ranked, I didn’t want to miss out on a potential supplier. I then looked through some websites and looked for a supplier link, I find that these are often found in the footer links.

Using this process, I found my supplier!

I’m not going to reveal my supplier or niche but will say that it is in medical devices. This is not my niche but  an example would be ‘blood pressure monitors’. It is not really that important what the specific niche is that I am entering but it is the concept and mechanics of researching potential markets and then finding potential suppliers that is important.

Ok, so I’ve been very busy this weekend doing lots of market research for Project 3000.

I’ve decided that I would prefer to do a dropship ecommerce business and have been proceeding on that basis. In terms of market research I’ve been using a couple of tools. Google Keyword Tool is a free service and is great for brainstorming ideas, keywords and getting an idea of demand. The other tool that I have been using is Market Samurai. This is a paid for tool that I think is brilliant and is great for doing research in one place. I can get a load of keywords, assess the demand and then analyze the top ten competitors, so youhave an idea of what you are up against. They do offer a 12 day free trial if you wanted to take a look.

Anyway, I’ve been brainstorming and researching lots of random markets by entering broad keywords, from cars to babies! I have certainly cast the net wide! Things are going ok, and I have come up with a couple fo potential niches that I may go after and base Project 3000 on. The main problem for me is that I am looking to work as a dropship business and the dropship method of working is not very mature here in the UK. I am also looking to target the UK market as I live here so why not, keep things simple.

One of my possibilities I have found a potential supplier who do dropship but I’m cannot find many pictures of the products on their website. I have emailed them and hope that they do have product images that they can provide otherwise it will not be viable.

The other market I have found is quite attractive as it involves some sort of medical device and I come from a health/medical background myself so think that I can market it well as I would be able to write lots of content. Unfortunately, I do not think they dropship but I have contact them as well by email to see if they do offer dropshipping. If not, then they do wholesale so it would mean buying a job lot and having to deal with fulfilment etc which is not really something I want to do. However, if I have some options there by outsourcing it if I decide to go with them on a wholesale basis.

I am going to do a bit more research and see if there are any other markets out there that could be possibilities and then I will make a decision. I hope to have decided by the end of next week so I can get on with designing the website and getting things moving!

Ok, the first step I’m taking is market research and to decide which markets to enter. I’m currently exploring my options and am thinking of an ecommerce dropship business, or maybe a ‘real ecommerce’ business that requires me shipping products out. I like the idea of something a bit more tangible in terms of products but there are upsides and downsides to it.

The positives of stocking product is that the margins are a lot better, and I do have some experience of this. However, I would prefer not to be tied down to a location. Stocking products would mean needing physical space for the stock and issues to deal with like refunds and faulty goods, supply etc.

The other option which is more attractive and more inline with my lifestyle goals is the dropship option. The margins are higher than an affiliate but less than stocking my own goods. It is more involved than a pure affiliate business but the margins are much better. With a dropship business, even if it was very successful, the time needed to fulfil orders and answer emails I expect to take less than 1-2 hours/day, so this is quite an attractive option.

The affiliate ecommerce option is very attractive as it can be virtually hands-off once it is up and receiving traffic. The main drawback with this is that the commission generally are quite low for physical products (depending on the product) but I would expect to get between £4-£10/sale, depending on the product.

These are my current options and at the moment I am leaning towards the dropship option but will report on what happens.

One of the problems with Internet marketing and Internet businesses is actually choice, there is almost too much choice and it can be a bit of information overlaod in terms of knowing what to do. There are so many markets and niches and different ways of making money that it can be difficult to know where to begin. If you are anything like me, then you want to get involved with everything! This means, seo, ecommerce, blogs, ppc etc etc.

I know I’ve said earlier that I do not want to get too distracted by doing too much or getting sidetracked with other offers and stuff but unfortunately I’ve succumbed! What I have decided to do is to do what I love doing and follow through. Now this means researching and setting something up. I love setting up new projects but get bored once it is all up and running, the marketing side is something that I’m not a massive fan of. So, this is what I have decided to do…read on.

I will start a brand new website of some sort, ecommerce, affiliate sales, blog etc. I will document each step that I do such as keyword research and setting up the site and report on the results. I love reading other people’s case-studies as it is a great way to learn so thought it would be good if I did my own and it will provide me with some accountability.

I will call this ‘PROJECT 3000′ so you can follow it easily. I called it this because I will aim to make £3000/month with it by end of December 2009, that’s 8 months from now.

Here are my aims:

1) Start a brand new website and document each step.
2) Generate at least £3000/month using organic search traffic.
4) Not use main PPC traffic (ie Google, Yahoo, MSN).
3) Achieve the goal by end of December 2009.

I’ve no idea whether I can achieve this but will certainly give it a damn good go!