Honest Ecommerce

Kaleigh Moore is a world-class freelance writer who creates blog content for ecommerce platforms and the software that integrates with them. She also contributes to publications like Glossy and Fast Company and is the co-teacher of the Creative Class (a course on the business side of freelancing) with Paul Jarvis. Today, she gives us a little insight into the process of creating blog content for Ecommerce platforms and how the practice has evolved over the past five years. To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.co Resources: Learn more at kaleighmoore.com/newsletter Twitter: @kaleighf How to make your writing sell stuff: kaleighmoore.com/blog/2017/11/28/how-to-make-your-writing-sell-stuff Gary Vee’s content strategy: garyvaynerchuk.com/the-garyvee-content-strategy-how-to-grow-and-distribute-your-brands-social-media-content/ Start a Simplr free trial: simplr.ai/honest Are you a maker, crafter, or small manufacturer on Shopify? Get easier production scheduling & inventory management with Katana. You can try it free for 14 days. By using the promo code “HONEST” you'll get 30% off your first 3 months of paid subscription! Sign up at Katana’s website here: katanamrp.com.

Today’s guest, Ari Messer from Littledata, has some frightening news: our Shopify data is broken! But don’t worry too much – Ari is going to teach us how we can fix it. It can already feel like you’re drowning in data when you’re running an online store, so you might be wondering why you’d ever want MORE data – and the simple answer is that the data you currently have from Shopify and is incomplete. However, Littledata’s Shopify integration will give you more accurate data from Google, which can help you make better decisions for your store. To learn more, visit: https://electriceye.io/podcast Resources: Learn more at littledata.io/shopify Twitter: @arimesser LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/arimesser/ Start a Simplr free trial: simplr.ai/honest Are you a maker, crafter, or small manufacturer on Shopify? Get easier production scheduling & inventory management with Katana. You can try it free for 14 days. By using the promo code “HONEST” you'll get 30% off your first 3 months of paid subscription! Sign up at Katana’s website here: katanamrp.com. If you’re enjoying the show, we also ask that you please click here to leave Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts today. It really does make a huge impact and we love reading every one!

Why do some ads delight us, yet others frustrate us to no end? As an experienced entrepreneur and current CEO of Shoelace, the world-class retargeting solution for Direct-to-Consumer businesses, Reza Khadjavi wants all marketers to consider that question. The days of annoying ads are numbered. Instead the path forward for successful brands is to start leveraging each and every single touch point as an opportunity to build meaningful connections and foster long-term relationships with digitally adept audiences – and he believes you can do this through Customer Journey Retargeting (CJR). To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.co Resources: Download your FREE CJR Deck: learn.shoelace.com/cjr-deck LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/reza-khadjavi-46802918 Twitter: @rezakhadjavi

Cyndi Thomason is a Certified Master Profit First Professional, and the founder and president of bookskeep, a virtual company that provides bookkeeping and Profit First consulting services to ecommerce clients all over the world. Cyndi also just released a new book, Profit First for Ecommerce Sellers: Transform Your Ecommerce Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine. So far, we’ve talked a lot about the technology behind our stores and how to optimize our store pages on the show. But today, Cyndi is going to teach us how to make our businesses more profitable using Profit First, a cash flow methodology that we also use here at Electric Eye. We discuss Parkinson's law and Primacy Effect, and how they impact our money habits; the challenge of managing cash flow in a business with inventory, especially when you try to scale; and a quick-start approach you can use to make sense of cash flow. To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.co Resources: Learn more at bookskeep.com Read: Profit First for Ecommerce Sellers: Transform Your Ecommerce Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine Facebook: facebook.com/bookskeep LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/bookskeep Profit First Friendly Banks: info.bookskeep.com/blog/profit-first-friendly-banks Start a Simplr free trial: simplr.ai/honest Are you a maker, crafter, or small manufacturer on Shopify? Get easier production scheduling & inventory management with Katana. You can try it free for 14 days. By using the promo code “HONEST” you'll get 30% off your first 3 months of paid subscription! Sign up at Katana’s website here: katanamrp.com.

Anthony Blatner, founder and Advertising Director at ModernMedia.io, started delivering newspapers when he was 11 – and has been hooked on advertising ever since. He’s learned a lot since then and, now, he helps other entrepreneurs leverage Facebook ads, create Ecommerce sales funnels, and build successful lead generation campaigns. Today, Anthony shares the findings and insights that he learned from his latest Ecommerce industry study. We cover a lot of the most important findings in this episode, but every eCommerce store owner – as well as every brick and mortar store owner – should read it. To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.co Resources: Ecommerce Industry Study: modernmedia.io/ecommerce-growth-study/ Twitter: @anthonyblatner LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/anthonyblatner/ Start a Simplr free trial: simplr.ai/honest Are you a maker, crafter, or small manufacturer on Shopify? Get easier production scheduling & inventory management with Katana. You can try it free for 14 days. By using the promo code “HONEST” you'll get 30% off your first 3 months of paid subscription! Sign up at Katana’s website here: katanamrp.com.

Shibo Xu is the co-founder and COO of Refersion, a fantastic application that helps retailers start and manage private affiliate and referral networks. Shibo runs us through a quick and dirty Affiliate Marketing 101 course today, teaching us how to set ourselves up for success and and use affiliate marketing and influencers to add revenue to our Shopify stores. To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.co Resources: Learn more at refersion.com/ (Use coupon code HONESTECOMMERCE or ELECTRICEYE for a discount) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shibo/ Twitter: @shiboxu Start a Simplr free trial: simplr.ai/honest Are you a maker, crafter, or small manufacturer on Shopify? Get easier production scheduling & inventory management with Katana. You can try it free for 14 days. By using the promo code “HONEST” you'll get 30% off your first 3 months of paid subscription! Sign up at Katana’s website here: www.katanamrp.com.

Ready to improve the profit margins of your Shopify store, reduce waste, and take an unplugged vacation? Well, you’re in luck! Because today we’re talking to Adrienne Dorison, who co-founded Run Like Clockwork™ with Mike Michalowicz, author of the show-favorite book Profit First and Clockwork. Their goal is to help CEOs design a business and team that can run itself, as the name suggests, like clockwork. Adrienne and the Run Like Clockwork team have created the most simplistic approach to making your business ultra-efficient, drawing on her 10+ years studying big business efficiency principles and figuring out how to adapt them for the small business world. Because of these efficiency tools and concepts, her clients have been able to experience explosive company growth, all while removing themselves from the day-to-day operation. To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.co Resources: Check out runlikeclockwork.com Listen: runlikeclockwork.com/podcast Instagram: @adriennedorison LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriennedorison Twitter: @adriennedorison Read: Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself by Mike Michalowicz Read: Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine by Mike Michalowicz Are you a maker, crafter, or small manufacturer on Shopify? Get easier production scheduling & inventory management with Katana. You can try it for free, and you use code HONEST to get 30% off your first 3 months, at www.katanamrp.com!

Vincent Phamvan is the Head of Growth at Simplr, where he helps high-growth companies engineer unforgettable customer experiences through top-notch human + AI-powered customer service. Vincent previously led business development and innovation for Asurion, where he helped launch several company initiatives, engineering operational business processes and leading process improvement initiatives that resulted in cost savings and growth. Although Simplr is a sponsor of the show, we promise that this is not a super salesy episode – Vincent brings a LOT of customer service experience to the table, and he has a lot of insight that will benefit Shopify store owners. To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.co Resources: Start a Simplr free trial: simplr.ai/honest Twitter: @vphamvan LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/vphamvan/ Gorgias: gorgias.grsm.io/honest Zendesk: zendesk.com

Jessi Roberts is the Founder, President and Boss Lady at Cheekys Brand and author of the new book Backroads Boss Lady.She founded Cheekys in 2011 with her life savings of $7,000 – and, today, the company employs 30 people in rural New Plymouth, Idaho (population 1538), with revenues exceeding $20 million dollars.Cheekys made the 2018 Inc. 500 list for rapid growth, and the company reaches about 2 million people a week through its innovative social media marketing.To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.coResources:Get 15% off using code “NOBS” at cheekysboutique.com/Facebook: .facebook.com/cheekysbrand/Instagram: @cheekyschicksLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jessi-roberts-446889174/Read: Backroads Boss Lady: Happiness Ain't a Side Hustle--Straight Talk on Creating the Life You DeserveStart a Simplr free trial: simplr.ai/honest

Caroline Danehy is the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Fair Harbor Clothing, a lifestyle brand that makes swimwear out of recycled plastic bottles. Caroline shows us that, although Shopify is an online platform, it is still valuable to merchants who do in-person sales. Fair Harbor Clothing does a lot of trunk shows, and Caroline says having Shopify has been been a game changer for tracking their inventory with every sale they make, wherever they make it. To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.co Resources: Learn more at fairharborclothing.com/ Instagram: @carolinejdanehy

Are you interested in building a relationship with your customers and, in the process, creating a recurrent revenue stream in your Shopify store? Then you need to learn more about subscription models! Rob Barr leads partnerships and enterprise sales at ReCharge, a subscription billing platform for Shopify. He manages strategic relationships with global partner agencies and some of the largest subscription brands on Shopify. Today, Rob is going to share how you can adopt new subscription revenue channels and optimising existing ones on your Shopify store. To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.co Resources: Check out rechargepayments.com Littledata: littledata.io Gorgias: gorgias.grsm.io/honest Start a Simplr free trial: simplr.ai/honest

Nathan Hirsch is a serial entrepreneur and expert in remote hiring and Ecommerce.He started his first Ecommerce business out of his college dorm room and, since then, has sold over $30 million online.He is now the co-founder and CEO of FreeUp, a marketplace that connects businesses with pre-vetted freelancers in Ecommerce, digital marketing, and much more.To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.coResources:Learn more at freeup.net/Facebook: facebook.com/FreeeUpMarketplace/Twitter: @realNateHirschLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nathanhirsch/Start a Simplr free trial: simplr.ai/honestLoom: useloom.com/

Philippe Roireau, Head of Partnerships at Gorgias, joins the show to teach us about how we can turn customer service into a revenue generator for our Ecommerce store. Philippe previously operated an 8-figure Ecommerce company as a co-founder and worked at Google and Microsoft in various sales and operations positions. He is now helping dozens of leading Ecommerce brands become more successful through improving customer experience. Want to give Gorgias a try? Head over to gorgias.io/electriceye for a second free month + white glove onboarding!To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.coResources:Learn more at gorgias.grsm.io/honestLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/philipperoireau/

Jeff Couret is the founder of SEOak, a company that helps established brands explode their web store's sales. At SEOak, they have over a decade of experience optimizing websites, and in that time, they’ve seen both a number of successes and failures – so they know from experience what works and what doesn’t. Over the past two years, SEOak has niched down to helping Ecommerce brands. To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.coResources:Learn more at seoak.coDownload Jeff's free SEO eCommerce Cheat Sheet: seoak.co/seo-ecommerce-cheat-sheetFacebook: facebook.com/SEOakTwitter: @jeffcouretLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jeff-couret-6a96a317/SEO tool: ahrefs.com

Karan Jassar is the founder & CEO of Socioh.com, which specializes in social media marketing for online stores.Before Socioh, Karan was with Yahoo for 6 years and had the opportunity to work on all of their advertising systems, starting in their display ads team and later transitioning to building their search marketing system (think Adwords but for Yahoo/Bing search). That experience gave Karan in depth technical knowledge of advertising and how it works on the inside, once you ad goes to Facebook, Google, or Yahoo. Now he leverages this knowledge to help online store owners be successful with their advertising efforts. To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.coResources:Learn more at socioh.com (use code “honestcommerce” for concierge onboarding & feedback)Twitter: @Karanjassar

Sean Campbell is a Project Manager with Out of the Sandbox, which you are likely already familiar with if you are currently a Shopify user (and if you aren’t, your life is about to get a whole lot easier). Out of the Sandbox has been designing robust and revolutionary themes for the Shopify ecommerce platform since 2011. They create feature-rich, flexible, and beautiful themes that not only make your shop look professional, but also perform to high standards and convert to sales – including Turbo, which is quite possibly the best Shopify theme out there. And in this episode, Sean shares some secrets that will help us get the most out of Turbo. To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.co Resources: Learn more at outofthesandbox.com/ Get Turbo for 20% off: use code “honestecommerce” at outofthesandbox.com/collections/turbo-theme Sean on Twitter: twitter.com/SeanpHCampbell Sean on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sean-campbell-87649876/?originalSubdomain=ca Honest Ecommerce is produced by Podcast Masters

Nick Raushenbush is the cofounder of Shogun, and today he teaches us about the power of building a mobile first website. Shogun is a powerful page builder that seamlessly integrates into platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce. This allows anyone to easily build out their store with a drag and drop editor, no code required. Nick is also generous is enough to share a a special discount for podcast listeners using Shopify: 20% off any Shogun plan for life! To get the discount, just use this link: https://getshogun.com/d/electric-eye-podcast-20. To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.co Resources: Learn more at nickraushenbush.com Get 20% off any Shogun plan for life: getshogun.com/d/electric-eye-podcast-20 BrowserStack mobile & desktop site testing: browserstack.com Heatmaps & visitor recordings: fullstory.com | hotjar.com User testing: usertesting.com | lookback.io Assess website performance: thinkwithgoogle.com | pingdom.com Image optimization and compression: compressor.io

Brennan Dunn is the co-founder of RightMessage, a software company that helps bring on-site personalization to the masses by integrating your existing website with your email marketing database. Today, Brennan shares why it's important to segment your audience by who they are and what they need – along with what to do once you have that data. To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.co Resources: Check out rightmessage.com/honestecommerce Learn more at brennandunn.com Twitter: @brennandunn LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brennandunn Survey service: typeform.com

Kassia Meador began surfing at 14, and by 17 she was a sponsored pro-longboarder, traveling the world and competing in surf events globally.Known for her graceful surf style, Kassia was crowned the “queen of noseriding” by the New York Times and, in 2011, ranked 2nd on the WSL women’s longboard tour.In 2013, Kassia left sponsored surfing to build KASSIA+SURF, a brand focused on quality instead of quantity, for women by women.KASSIA+SURF pushes the limits of women’s surf culture, lifestyle, and design, all while using eco-conscious production.Most recently, she’s partnered with Süga to create a yoga mat like no other: one created from recycled wetsuits.Süga reengineered the yoga mat to feel better and perform better, while solving a pressing environmental problem – how to recycle non-biodegradable neoprene surfing wetsuits – leading to the creation of the world's first yoga mat made entirely out of recycled wetsuits. Süga spent two years researching and developing a way to recycle wetsuits, while also improving the performance of the traditional yoga mat. Because these mats are manufactured from neoprene, they’re uniquely closed-cell foam, which means they don’t sponge up bacteria, sweat, dust, and dirt from yoga studio floors like other mats. Süga mats also maintain their grippiness, whether dry or wet. When Kassia discovered Süga, she knew the yoga mats were a perfect way to recycle scraps of neoprene too small to recreate with; an opportunity to give unused neoprene another life. So KASSIA+SURF donated all of their unused scraps and partnered with Süga to create a wetsuit recycling program, which allows anyone to donate their used suits. In return, donors also receive a discount for new KASSIA+SURF products.To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.coResources:Check out kassiasurf.comLearn more about the recycling program: kassiasurf.com/pages/who-we-are?modal=wetsuit-recycling-programInstagram: @kassiasurfFacebook: facebook.com/kassiasurfTwitter: @KASSIASURF

Kai Davis is a lead generation expert who is enamored with the concept of becoming a niche celebrity, or a celebrity in a very small, specialized target market.He’s spent much of the last decade studying what it takes to build a personality-powered business in the Ecommerce and information marketing spaces, and today he’s going to share what he’s learned about how personality sells a product.To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.coResources:Learn more at kaidavis.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kaisdavisTwitter: @kaisdavisRead: “The Non-Technical Handbook for Shopify SEO”Visit simplr.ai/honest to start your free seven-day trial

Nick Disabato is the writer and designer behind independent interaction design consultancy Draft and the newly released book Value-Based Design.If you are a designer in any kind of organization, or if you run an organization that hires designers, this book is a must-read. It’ll help you understand how a designer proves their worth, turning design from a qualitative concept that you just feel to a quantitative business element that we can measure and experiment with to improve business metrics.To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.coDraft's website: draft.nuNick'sTwitter: @nickdDraft's 2 books: Value-Based Design and Cadence & SlangCheck out UserTesting.comHeat maps: hotjar.com

Kurt Elster does one thing (and he does it very well): help Shopify merchants make more money.After working with hundreds of Shopify merchants, Kurt can look at almost any store and identify what it’s missing and how it can make more money. Today, he shares some of what he teaches so that any eCommerce entrepreneur can make the most out of Shopify.To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.coResources:Learn more at kurtelster.comListen: The Unofficial Shopify PodcastWork with Kurt: ethercycle.comVisit simplr.ai/honest to get your free 7-day trial

Honest Ecommerce is a weekly podcast, community & educational resource providing online store owners with honest, actionable advice to increase their sales and grow their business.