Shownotes
How To Drive Traffic To Your Website For Free
In this episode, you'll hear:- 3 organic ways to drive traffic to your website
- Choosing which social channel to focus on
- How to use blogging to boost your SEO and attract more traffic
- How great customer experience can lead to more sales
- and lots more!
Ready to drive traffic to your website? Tune In to this value-packed episode now to learn how to do it!
Resources Mentioned
Kerrie's Contact Links
Website | Instagram | LinkedinJoin Our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community
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Gift biz unwrapped episode 377.
Speaker:I'm going to do a subscription box business,
Speaker:and I'm going to sell pet products individually online.
Speaker:Keep it simple.
Speaker:Get fancy later Attentive.
Speaker:Gifters bakers,
Speaker:crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.
Speaker:Now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is give to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode,
Speaker:packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow.
Speaker:Your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:Sue and thanks for joining me here today.
Speaker:One of the most fulfilling things I've discovered through starting gift
Speaker:biz on unwrapped is the warmth comradery and generosity of the
Speaker:community that we formed.
Speaker:You're so giving and so talented.
Speaker:And of course,
Speaker:I always want to give back to you too,
Speaker:to do something that can make your efforts easier and your
Speaker:result greater.
Speaker:So I asked you how you surprised me.
Speaker:It wasn't help with an email marketing strategy.
Speaker:It wasn't about selling it shows or any other number of
Speaker:topics that make up a solid growing business.
Speaker:Nope. What you're overwhelmingly asking for is help with social media
Speaker:posting. You've been telling me that you're putting in the time
Speaker:you're posting frequently and you're discouraged because you aren't seeing any
Speaker:of this move the needle for your sales message received,
Speaker:putting in more and more time posting in the same way.
Speaker:Isn't going to magically bring you in the sales.
Speaker:You need to change the way you're posting and what you're
Speaker:posting. You don't need to put in more work.
Speaker:You need to put in the right work.
Speaker:And that's when you'll see things change.
Speaker:And I've created your guide to do just that.
Speaker:It's called a content for makers and it's specially designed for
Speaker:handmade product makers.
Speaker:Like you content for makers will help you understand why your
Speaker:current social media activities aren't converting into sales.
Speaker:It will also show you how to put in less time
Speaker:and start seeing activity through social that will lead to increased
Speaker:sales. Just imagine knowing exactly what to post and getting it
Speaker:done in just minutes.
Speaker:Each day,
Speaker:that frees up space for you to interact with potential clients,
Speaker:deepen relationships with those you already know.
Speaker:And all of this continues to build upon itself naturally.
Speaker:Yes, this really is possible.
Speaker:Content for makers will accomplish this for you to see all
Speaker:the details,
Speaker:jump over to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash content for makers.
Speaker:But honestly at only $27,
Speaker:it's a no brainer.
Speaker:Plus you only have to pay for it once for use
Speaker:year after year.
Speaker:Why carry on posting as you've been doing all along expecting
Speaker:different results,
Speaker:sign up for content for makers now and see the transformation
Speaker:of your posting experience change right before your very eyes,
Speaker:gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash content for makers it's ready and waiting for
Speaker:your immediate access right now.
Speaker:Okay. So now with content for makers,
Speaker:you'll have your social all button down.
Speaker:Let's move on to another point of friction in your business.
Speaker:How to get people over to your website,
Speaker:because if they don't make it to where your products are
Speaker:displayed complete with description and a buy button,
Speaker:there's no chance for a sale.
Speaker:You can run ads,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:but that comes with lots of time learning,
Speaker:creating testing,
Speaker:and the financial investment.
Speaker:Why not try free methods first?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:not just know about them,
Speaker:but actually do them today.
Speaker:You're going to hear a case study from Carrie.
Speaker:Who's been where you are.
Speaker:If this is a current challenge of yours,
Speaker:you'll hear about her product and the challenging situation she encountered
Speaker:with her website and then how she identified three ways that
Speaker:she has seen traffic increase all organically.
Speaker:Carrie saw great results and they can be yours too.
Speaker:So as we go through this,
Speaker:I want you to be thinking which one of these three
Speaker:will you implement first?
Speaker:Ready Today?
Speaker:We're going to be talking with Carrie Fitzgerald,
Speaker:founder of Carrie Fitzgerald,
Speaker:LLC. This is an e-commerce and product business consulting and educational
Speaker:agency. As a digital marketing expert,
Speaker:Carrie helps e-commerce businesses create wildly in demand brands that their
Speaker:customers are obsessed with.
Speaker:Her unique framework is based in organic marketing that brings in
Speaker:consistent sales and traffic without focusing a dime on ads.
Speaker:You heard that right after starting her first high-end pet e-commerce
Speaker:business, which was called the dapper dog box back in 2016,
Speaker:she grew that business to a multi six figure in revenue
Speaker:business in two years without funding,
Speaker:staff or support.
Speaker:She sold that business in 2019,
Speaker:but during that time she was featured on Buzzfeed Forbes and
Speaker:Mariah Carey's Christmas.
Speaker:Cary is a proud boy and dog mom,
Speaker:hot sauce and coffee lover and east coast transplant currently living
Speaker:in Seattle and the host of the six figure product business
Speaker:podcast, Carrie,
Speaker:welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Thank you so much,
Speaker:Sue. That was a lovely introduction.
Speaker:And I'm so happy to be here with you.
Speaker:Well, you have so many fun things to talk about just
Speaker:through that intro.
Speaker:I'm thinking everyone who's listening is like,
Speaker:okay, okay,
Speaker:let's get going.
Speaker:Let's get to it.
Speaker:I want to hear all about it.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:Well, I'm excited.
Speaker:I love chatting all things,
Speaker:product, business,
Speaker:marketing traffic.
Speaker:So I'm excited.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:well, we're going to see where this lands.
Speaker:I have a few questions for you,
Speaker:but we're just going to see where it goes.
Speaker:But first I have a traditional question that it kind of
Speaker:guides us into our conversation and really resonates with all of
Speaker:us here because we're makers.
Speaker:So it's a creative way for you to share a little
Speaker:bit more about yourself.
Speaker:And that would be,
Speaker:if you were to create a motivational candle that would really
Speaker:speak to you,
Speaker:what would your candle look like by color?
Speaker:And if you have a quote or a saying,
Speaker:what would you put on that candle?
Speaker:Sure. I think this is such a unique part about your
Speaker:podcast. I've never heard of anyone that does something like this.
Speaker:So I just wanted to point that out that I think
Speaker:it's a really,
Speaker:really fun and unique thing.
Speaker:So for my candle,
Speaker:it would definitely be like an orange color.
Speaker:And maybe it's just like the outside of the candles and
Speaker:orange color.
Speaker:Cause I don't know if I've ever seen an inside that's
Speaker:orange, but orange,
Speaker:because it is a color of energy.
Speaker:And I'm someone who is definitely like energetic,
Speaker:passionate, and like spicy.
Speaker:If you will,
Speaker:basically, I eat hot sauce with everything.
Speaker:I love like chili peppers,
Speaker:literally. Like I can eat a chili pepper right now,
Speaker:but just in general,
Speaker:like my personality is definitely like a spicy and like passionate.
Speaker:So for me,
Speaker:orange is the color.
Speaker:And then in terms of a quote,
Speaker:I would love to share two things.
Speaker:One is something that when I was thinking about this,
Speaker:like what kind of quote I would say,
Speaker:I posted this on my Instagram recently.
Speaker:And like,
Speaker:I got so much good feedback from it and I love
Speaker:it. It's keep it simple.
Speaker:Get fancy later.
Speaker:I don't know where I heard this before,
Speaker:but this quote has sort of just been in my head
Speaker:since day one of having my business and it resonates really
Speaker:well with people.
Speaker:Keep it simple,
Speaker:like get started,
Speaker:do it better later.
Speaker:The second thing is this is something that I literally have
Speaker:my six-year-old son say out loud almost every day,
Speaker:I'm strong,
Speaker:I'm able I can do anything.
Speaker:And the reason it's really important for me is that as
Speaker:entrepreneurs, as makers,
Speaker:we have to deal with so much hard stuff every single
Speaker:day. Like how do I ship my product,
Speaker:dealing with customer service,
Speaker:like figuring all this stuff out.
Speaker:And it can be really,
Speaker:really challenging both mentally and physically.
Speaker:And it's just a reminder to people that you can deal
Speaker:with the hard times.
Speaker:And you can do anything that you want to.
Speaker:So for me,
Speaker:those are two quotes that I literally live by every single
Speaker:day, but I also think they're important for people to just
Speaker:remind themselves every day because of the nature of our business.
Speaker:Like it is hard to have a product based business.
Speaker:And I think when it comes to like comparing yourself on
Speaker:social media and looking at this person's business and saying,
Speaker:oh, well she has 200,000
Speaker:Tik TOK followers.
Speaker:And I only have five.
Speaker:Like, what am I doing wrong?
Speaker:Why does no one like my business?
Speaker:So it's just a reminder that you can persevere and get
Speaker:through those hard times.
Speaker:Yeah. And you know,
Speaker:the one thing I've learned over the course of time is
Speaker:we have those types of things that we say to ourselves,
Speaker:no matter how far along you are,
Speaker:when you're first starting,
Speaker:even when you're well-advanced and have what others would say is
Speaker:a super successful business.
Speaker:Sometimes secretly,
Speaker:sometimes we vocalize it,
Speaker:but we all have those little jabs that come at us
Speaker:like someone's further along or someone's doing it better.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:all of that.
Speaker:So I've learned myself,
Speaker:just, I've got to accept that.
Speaker:To some extent I shield myself from it because if it
Speaker:makes me feel bad,
Speaker:I'm not going to perform as well as I can.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:you just work through it,
Speaker:but you can't ever make it go away.
Speaker:You just have to learn how to live with that.
Speaker:I think,
Speaker:Yes. I totally agree with you.
Speaker:I think,
Speaker:especially when it comes to like comparing yourself to other businesses,
Speaker:even if you grow your business,
Speaker:then you're looking at other people that are making this much
Speaker:more money than you.
Speaker:And you're like,
Speaker:oh gosh,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I've done this far,
Speaker:but now I'm still feeling really behind and you're right.
Speaker:Like, no matter where we are,
Speaker:we still have those feelings.
Speaker:So I agree with you.
Speaker:Yeah. There are always people ahead of you and there's also
Speaker:always people who are aspiring to be where you are.
Speaker:And if we can just remind ourselves of that one and
Speaker:get into that cycle,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:that mental cycle and that kind of leads to what you
Speaker:were talking about at first.
Speaker:Keep it simple.
Speaker:Get fancy later.
Speaker:I think I heard this first from Amy Porterfield.
Speaker:Oh, maybe that's where I heard it.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I heard it somewhere.
Speaker:I don't know if she started it or is repeating it,
Speaker:moving it forward,
Speaker:but I think it was an excellent one to bring up.
Speaker:Oh, I love it.
Speaker:And that kind of goes with comparing yourself with others too,
Speaker:because if you try to have everything in place that you
Speaker:see someone who's further along than you,
Speaker:to the point about the getting fancy later,
Speaker:that inhibits so many of us makers to even start because
Speaker:we feel like,
Speaker:oh my gosh,
Speaker:we'll never get to that point.
Speaker:So starting more simple.
Speaker:And then you can add on and add on and get
Speaker:more sophisticated as you go.
Speaker:And specially Carrie,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I'm not sure exactly what we're going to talk about yet,
Speaker:but I think that might be able to apply to our
Speaker:conversation here today too.
Speaker:Yeah. We might talk about some beginning things or some advanced
Speaker:things, but I want everybody to think about if you haven't
Speaker:done any of this yet,
Speaker:just start one little thing because then it builds on itself
Speaker:and it doesn't feel so overwhelming then.
Speaker:Hmm. Yeah,
Speaker:I totally agree.
Speaker:And I was doing something recently where I sort of questioning
Speaker:like, oh,
Speaker:because I'm launching this new program.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Like, I feel like I need to wait until I can
Speaker:get this better.
Speaker:And then I was like,
Speaker:wait a minute.
Speaker:You're not taking your own advice that you teach your students
Speaker:and clients every day,
Speaker:which is like,
Speaker:get started now,
Speaker:make it better later,
Speaker:get feedback from your customers,
Speaker:figure out what they like.
Speaker:And then you can make small tweaks.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:Okay. Yes.
Speaker:And I'm going to launch this in two weeks.
Speaker:I even need reminders of like keeping it simple.
Speaker:Well, and I think that's also good for product makers,
Speaker:because if you just keep perfecting your product without having gotten
Speaker:any feedback,
Speaker:you don't know if you are really making a product that
Speaker:people want more,
Speaker:you need to have that feedback.
Speaker:And luckily,
Speaker:since you're not making,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:as handmade creators,
Speaker:you're not making millions at a time through a factory,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you're able to make those tweaks along the way.
Speaker:So getting customer input is so important.
Speaker:So don't wait until you think you have it nailed down.
Speaker:Just get it out there and then you can perfect from
Speaker:there. Yes.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:So I am a huge dog lover Carey,
Speaker:and right now never in 37 years,
Speaker:have I been dogless but I am right now for a
Speaker:few months,
Speaker:we're going to get a dog at the end of the
Speaker:summer. So I am super excited just to talk things about
Speaker:a dog.
Speaker:So will you share with us a little summary of your
Speaker:whole experience in terms of creating and working through your dapper
Speaker:dog box?
Speaker:Yes, but first I have to obviously ask you,
Speaker:what kind of dog are you going to get at the
Speaker:end of the summer,
Speaker:We're going to get a mutt.
Speaker:My husband and I have come together knowing that probably a
Speaker:mix of what we've had before.
Speaker:Like Bernie's shepherd lab,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you never know what you're going to get,
Speaker:but like a middle to big dog that he can run
Speaker:with, but we are not getting a watchdog anymore.
Speaker:The kids are out.
Speaker:Like, I want just a fun dog that I don't have
Speaker:to worry about that I can take anywhere.
Speaker:Maybe even a little mix of doodle.
Speaker:Although my kids aren't so fond of that,
Speaker:but we'll see,
Speaker:we'll see what comes out.
Speaker:You just never know.
Speaker:Well, I'm excited to hear what kind of dog you end
Speaker:up getting,
Speaker:but it's a fun time to get a new dog.
Speaker:So I'm excited for you.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:And you have a dog,
Speaker:you have one son and one dog,
Speaker:right? Yes.
Speaker:I have two dogs.
Speaker:I have my 10 year old black lab mix.
Speaker:She was actually the inspiration behind my first business,
Speaker:which we'll talk about in a sec,
Speaker:she's a lab shepherd,
Speaker:blah, blah,
Speaker:blah mix.
Speaker:So she's a rescue and she's 10 years old and she's
Speaker:like the little love of my life.
Speaker:I am just disgustingly obsessed with her.
Speaker:And then I also have a golden doodle who is four
Speaker:and he's just like this goofy,
Speaker:fun laid back.
Speaker:I always say if he was a human,
Speaker:he would be a California beach bum.
Speaker:He is like such a laid back like chill,
Speaker:calm dog.
Speaker:He's awesome.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So I may have to talk with you separately for doodle
Speaker:advice. We'll see,
Speaker:we'll see where this goes.
Speaker:Feel free to add.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Let's talk about what I'm sure all of our listeners have
Speaker:keyed in to hear about today.
Speaker:So, but okay.
Speaker:So the dog box,
Speaker:tell me more So how it sort of started.
Speaker:So just like a short back story of like what I
Speaker:did before that my background is in marketing and sales,
Speaker:but mainly in the education and travel space.
Speaker:So before I started my first business,
Speaker:I worked for a few different companies where I got to
Speaker:travel overseas and market and sell study in the U S
Speaker:programs to international students.
Speaker:So I did that for quite a while and I had
Speaker:a baby and was like,
Speaker:okay, I need to change directions here because I was traveling
Speaker:internationally for my job.
Speaker:My husband was traveling domestically for his job and we both
Speaker:like, couldn't keep doing what we're doing with a new baby,
Speaker:as you can imagine.
Speaker:So I left my job and had some like postpartum issues,
Speaker:which I won't get into too much.
Speaker:It's not very happy conversation,
Speaker:but it kind of led me to where I am today.
Speaker:So I feel like we all go through hard things and
Speaker:it leads us to some good things.
Speaker:But I was going through this hard time after having a
Speaker:baby and like was trying to figure out what my next
Speaker:steps were.
Speaker:I had been doing marketing for a long time and I
Speaker:love marketing and I love dogs.
Speaker:And I went to the gym one day.
Speaker:This was about six and a half years ago or almost
Speaker:seven years ago actually.
Speaker:And was at the gym on a strength training machine.
Speaker:And the idea popped into my head and I was like,
Speaker:I'm going to start a business.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:okay, cool.
Speaker:But I was like,
Speaker:thinking about it literally at the gym one day randomly.
Speaker:I had never,
Speaker:once in my entire life thought about having a business before
Speaker:and I said,
Speaker:okay, I'm going to do a subscription box business and I'm
Speaker:going to sell pet products individually online.
Speaker:So I kind of thought about it.
Speaker:And literally a week later,
Speaker:I'm at Starbucks getting my logo designs,
Speaker:like working with someone on fiber,
Speaker:getting a $20 logo,
Speaker:ordering stickers,
Speaker:and sort of like coming up with my business ideas.
Speaker:So many people here can relate to that.
Speaker:And our,
Speaker:or probably in that phase right now,
Speaker:It's always a funny story because I had never thought about
Speaker:having a business before,
Speaker:but my background in marketing and it just,
Speaker:like, I always say that the universe like gave me that
Speaker:little gift.
Speaker:It sounds super Rui,
Speaker:but it's true because I had never thought about it before.
Speaker:And then that business idea changed my entire life.
Speaker:And it led me to what I'm doing today,
Speaker:which is truly what,
Speaker:like, I feel like I've meant to do is help people
Speaker:grow their own product based business.
Speaker:But yeah,
Speaker:that was sort of the beginning of the business.
Speaker:So I came up with the idea in either March or
Speaker:April of 2016 and then July and launched the business super
Speaker:scrappy. I had no funding.
Speaker:I self did most of everything.
Speaker:Yeah. Launch the business,
Speaker:got my first customers learned what my customers liked.
Speaker:I learned how to market a business.
Speaker:Like I figured out how to get my customers involved with
Speaker:my brand and kind of like took it from there.
Speaker:I would say.
Speaker:And I can like elaborate on anything that you want me
Speaker:to kind of dive deeper into,
Speaker:but that's kind of like the quick and dirty backstory of
Speaker:how that business started.
Speaker:It's not like,
Speaker:I feel like most of us who start businesses,
Speaker:they have similar like random stories,
Speaker:like, oh,
Speaker:I woke up one day and I just got the idea.
Speaker:Or like I was making candles for my friend.
Speaker:And I decided,
Speaker:well, I might as well start my own business.
Speaker:Or a friend says,
Speaker:oh my gosh,
Speaker:these are so beautiful.
Speaker:You should start a business.
Speaker:It's so fun to hear how people's ideas start.
Speaker:Some people have no idea.
Speaker:They just know they want to start a business and they
Speaker:don't know what.
Speaker:And then they're feeling like the best answer has to come.
Speaker:And sometimes there are multiple answers and you need to try
Speaker:out which one is going to work because you have the
Speaker:idea doesn't mean you have customers who will buy,
Speaker:right. Oh my God.
Speaker:Yes, It's okay.
Speaker:If you're not at the gym and your idea doesn't come
Speaker:to you right away.
Speaker:Just, I think this is my advice for listeners.
Speaker:Carrie, you tell me what you would say is just be
Speaker:open to whatever ideas come into your head and feel them
Speaker:out for yourself.
Speaker:Like you get one idea and maybe the next day go
Speaker:back to that idea and say,
Speaker:do I really like it?
Speaker:Would I really be passionate about it or not?
Speaker:And what other ideas come up?
Speaker:Because if you're open,
Speaker:you will find the thing.
Speaker:What would you say carry?
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:I totally agree with you.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:in my story is like a Testament of exactly what you
Speaker:just said.
Speaker:Like I had no inkling to really start a business.
Speaker:I remember I did have a conversation with one of my
Speaker:friends who it was like my friend from,
Speaker:so I'm from Boston and it was a friend from Boston
Speaker:and she was telling me about how her sister's friend just
Speaker:sold her.
Speaker:It was like a baby subscription box business.
Speaker:And I remember thinking like,
Speaker:oh, that's so interesting.
Speaker:Like how fun actually.
Speaker:No, that was after I came up with my idea.
Speaker:Sorry. So she was telling me about her sister's friend's subscription
Speaker:box business,
Speaker:but yeah,
Speaker:like that day at the gym and the idea came into
Speaker:my head.
Speaker:I had never thought of that before.
Speaker:I had never been like,
Speaker:Ooh, I want to start an online store.
Speaker:Cause that sounds super fun with a new six month old
Speaker:baby. Like that makes no sense,
Speaker:but it came into my head and literally it was one
Speaker:of those things where I knew in my gut,
Speaker:like this is the right idea,
Speaker:which is funny.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it is kind of funny where you could just think of
Speaker:something and then that one moment your entire life has changed.
Speaker:Absolutely. And I did come up with the idea and then
Speaker:at first I was like,
Speaker:well, maybe I'll do a baby product because my kid was
Speaker:like six months old at that point.
Speaker:And I thought about it and I was like,
Speaker:no, I'm not really,
Speaker:it doesn't feel right to me.
Speaker:And then that's when I came up with the pet angle,
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:well, I have this dog.
Speaker:I love her.
Speaker:I love talking about dog things.
Speaker:I feel like I know a lot about having a dog.
Speaker:So I understand like the customer who would be buying from
Speaker:me and then I sort of like took that and refined
Speaker:it. And I said,
Speaker:okay, well here's my idea.
Speaker:And then what kind of dog subscription box would I do?
Speaker:And then I kind of like dove deep from there and
Speaker:I did market research and I looked up and I don't
Speaker:even know how I knew to do this because at that
Speaker:point this was 2016.
Speaker:I didn't know of any people who had done this kind
Speaker:of business before.
Speaker:I couldn't find any blog posts.
Speaker:And so I kind of just winged it,
Speaker:to be honest with you.
Speaker:And I did like competitor research and I made it like
Speaker:a list on a spreadsheet of all my competitors.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:okay, who do I think these people are marketing their product
Speaker:to? And I said,
Speaker:okay. And like,
Speaker:what is everyone doing?
Speaker:That's different from each other?
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:okay, well,
Speaker:let me go in and read reviews on all these websites
Speaker:and I'll figure out what is missing from all these subscription
Speaker:boxes that people are buying from.
Speaker:And I ended up like thinking about my own experience,
Speaker:getting a BarkBox,
Speaker:which is like the biggest dog subscription box for dogs.
Speaker:I got that for my dog when she was a puppy
Speaker:and I didn't like it.
Speaker:And I didn't like it for a few different reasons.
Speaker:And that is what I sort of took from into my
Speaker:idea when I was coming up with my idea.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:okay, well,
Speaker:no one does treats that catered to like dogs that are
Speaker:on grain-free diets,
Speaker:which my dog was on a grain-free diet.
Speaker:And no one did accessories like bandanas or bow ties.
Speaker:And I,
Speaker:okay, that's going to be my unique differentiator.
Speaker:So my best advice for people is like,
Speaker:you have an idea,
Speaker:but you want to figure out how you can be different
Speaker:from everyone else.
Speaker:You don't have to come up with an idea from scratch,
Speaker:but like you want to do something that's a little bit
Speaker:different. And so that was my differentiator was my bandanas and
Speaker:bow ties and the boxes.
Speaker:And that ended up being why my business grew was because
Speaker:that's what people liked about the box that I had.
Speaker:And it was like my unique thing that no one else
Speaker:was doing.
Speaker:So again,
Speaker:just like a little bit of like backstory on how I
Speaker:ended up doing like the high end subscription box for like
Speaker:the pampered dog that they liked accessories.
Speaker:Like it was pretty specific,
Speaker:but it works and it's very saturated space.
Speaker:And I see even today it's even more saturated,
Speaker:which is a little bit scary,
Speaker:True. And I think a lot of our industries are like
Speaker:that, but there's two things in particular.
Speaker:I want to underline about what you talked about.
Speaker:I don't know if everyone caught this,
Speaker:but right.
Speaker:When Carrie first started talking,
Speaker:she did not go out and look for loans or anything
Speaker:like that.
Speaker:She let the company grow as it could,
Speaker:right? No loans,
Speaker:no extra money.
Speaker:You built it in that manner.
Speaker:So that's the first thing that is doable.
Speaker:The other thing I really like is what you were talking
Speaker:about at the very last part,
Speaker:which is because our industries are so saturated,
Speaker:there are so many people making pretty much everything that you
Speaker:all are making right now,
Speaker:but you don't need to make something better.
Speaker:You need to make something different.
Speaker:So you have something,
Speaker:you can talk about a twist in what you're doing,
Speaker:which is what you did.
Speaker:Carrie, you did some research,
Speaker:you figured out,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what was already out there.
Speaker:How could you be different that you really liked?
Speaker:Like the thing that you wanted and overlaying your own experiences.
Speaker:So good too.
Speaker:Yeah, that's exactly it.
Speaker:Like I wasn't trying to reinvent the wheel,
Speaker:but like one thing that I noticed and I worked with
Speaker:a lot of different people in my different programs and stuff.
Speaker:And so I hear the same thing over and over.
Speaker:And oftentimes people jump,
Speaker:it's like a race to the bottom.
Speaker:They're like,
Speaker:oh, well,
Speaker:all my competitors are charging $20 for their candles.
Speaker:So I'm going to charge $19 for my candle.
Speaker:Instead of being like,
Speaker:maybe I could charge more money,
Speaker:but have a more high quality or have like a higher
Speaker:end brand or something.
Speaker:And that's what I did.
Speaker:I literally said,
Speaker:okay, screw it.
Speaker:Like everyone's like having these $20,
Speaker:a dog subscription boxes with junk.
Speaker:And I started the most expensive subscription box for dogs and
Speaker:it was,
Speaker:everything was high-end and I focused on quality.
Speaker:And that was like such a huge part of my brand
Speaker:from day one.
Speaker:But I think a lot of people just race to like,
Speaker:I have to be cheaper.
Speaker:I have to more affordable and people will always pay for
Speaker:high quality.
Speaker:Like there's a reason luxury brands still exist in like the
Speaker:brick and mortar scene.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Yeah. We will invest in certain things and dogs is one
Speaker:of them.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:I always say competing on price is like racing to the
Speaker:bottom because it's just so easy.
Speaker:Then you can play back and forth,
Speaker:lower, lower,
Speaker:lower, lower,
Speaker:and all of a sudden you might as well just give
Speaker:your product away.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So we could continue talking about the dapper dog box.
Speaker:I could take this interview just down that angle,
Speaker:but I think the best thing we should do right now
Speaker:is really talk about what always is such an issue,
Speaker:Carrie, with our people.
Speaker:And I know you know that because that's why you built
Speaker:your business around it,
Speaker:but e-commerce and how to get sales and traffic online.
Speaker:And of course we all our ears perked up without a
Speaker:dime on advertising.
Speaker:So let's start going down that route a little bit and
Speaker:talk through that,
Speaker:but to do that best.
Speaker:And I'm just taking what I've been seeing in my Facebook
Speaker:group and questions that people are having at the point where
Speaker:they're first considering an e-commerce site,
Speaker:how do you decide what platform to start with?
Speaker:So let's say we've got our product going.
Speaker:Maybe this is someone who has been doing craft shows and
Speaker:face to face.
Speaker:So they know their product can sell,
Speaker:but they're looking for another avenue of revenue coming in and
Speaker:they knew that they would have to get online and e-commerce
Speaker:at some point.
Speaker:Okay. So how do you decide what to start with?
Speaker:Cause we just said we don't want all that overwhelm we'll
Speaker:get fancy later.
Speaker:How do you decide what to start with?
Speaker:You'll hear Carrie's response to this right after a short break
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Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I think especially if it's like a handmade or maker type
Speaker:product, I mean,
Speaker:Etsy is always probably the easiest place to start.
Speaker:It's definitely not my favorite platform,
Speaker:but I sell digital products on Etsy.
Speaker:So I really do like Etsy.
Speaker:And obviously a lot of my clients and students are on
Speaker:Etsy and I do think they make it super easy to
Speaker:get started.
Speaker:You can literally sign up on,
Speaker:headsy put out a couple of product photos,
Speaker:put your descriptions and you can start making money.
Speaker:So Etsy is a great,
Speaker:great, great place for anything.
Speaker:That's handmade.
Speaker:My platform of choice.
Speaker:And the one that I always recommend to people is definitely
Speaker:Shopify. And that is because when it comes to selling stuff
Speaker:online, you want to have a balance between platforms where you
Speaker:control things and platforms that just make it easy for you
Speaker:like a marketplace.
Speaker:So for example,
Speaker:Etsy is a marketplace.
Speaker:Amazon handmade is also a marketplace because they have their own
Speaker:audiences, people list products on there.
Speaker:And then the best part about listing on a marketplace is
Speaker:that people will just find you based on what they're searching
Speaker:for. So someone goes to Etsy and they search for let's
Speaker:see, I know you have like a lot of your audience
Speaker:are people that have hand maker and makers and things like
Speaker:that. So again,
Speaker:we'll kind of use the candle example.
Speaker:I think a candle is a great product and I know
Speaker:a lot of people have candle company.
Speaker:So people go to Etsy and they search for Balsam for
Speaker:candle or like soy natural candle or something.
Speaker:And then a bunch of stuff shows up.
Speaker:So that's the benefit of a marketplace like an Etsy or
Speaker:Amazon handmade is because it's easy for people to discover you.
Speaker:However, you also want to be in platforms that you control
Speaker:the experience and you control everything.
Speaker:That's going to be a platform like Shopify.
Speaker:Shopify is definitely the platform.
Speaker:I a hundred percent recommend.
Speaker:I love I'm like team Shopify.
Speaker:I always say I should be like a Shopify marketer because
Speaker:I literally just market them all the time.
Speaker:I'm so with you,
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:If people who've been listening for a while,
Speaker:they will definitely be like,
Speaker:okay, another check in the Shopify column.
Speaker:But honestly,
Speaker:both of these platforms and let's just talk about at T
Speaker:and Shopify.
Speaker:I think that's a good combination to talk about here for
Speaker:a second.
Speaker:They attract different audiences.
Speaker:So, you know,
Speaker:yes, you start with one.
Speaker:And I liked that idea,
Speaker:Carrie, as we say about starting easier,
Speaker:you can start and get acquainted with the online field through
Speaker:Etsy, easy,
Speaker:easy. And it doesn't mean you have to put up all
Speaker:of your products,
Speaker:either put up a few things.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you want a shop that looks full and like you're in
Speaker:business, et cetera,
Speaker:but getting the feel of orders coming in online,
Speaker:packing up and shipping out products,
Speaker:which has been different from if you were just doing shows
Speaker:where you're handing over the product,
Speaker:right. So it's not a bad place to start at all.
Speaker:And I would say like,
Speaker:to your point,
Speaker:Carrie, like Etsy is more people searching by product.
Speaker:And then when you get to a Shopify site,
Speaker:which then next we'll talk about why Shopify would be the
Speaker:thing to do,
Speaker:but, but then they're looking for your business.
Speaker:So I would say that's a differentiator.
Speaker:Do you agree?
Speaker:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker:Like I know that we're going to probably talk about like
Speaker:how to drive traffic and all that.
Speaker:Yep. That's the most important part of this whole thing.
Speaker:Yeah. Like when it comes to driving traffic,
Speaker:there's a lot of different ways that people can find you.
Speaker:And we'll talk about that,
Speaker:but in,
Speaker:we'll kind of like,
Speaker:I can definitely break it down a little bit more,
Speaker:but when it comes to like Etsy vers,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:your own website,
Speaker:you have to drive that traffic.
Speaker:Like you have to create a brand and we can talk
Speaker:about that as well and drive traffic to your store where
Speaker:Etsy, or like an Amazon handmade people discover you because of
Speaker:the platform.
Speaker:So it's stuffy a very different way of driving traffic.
Speaker:But I totally think that Etsy is a really good place
Speaker:to start if you're doing handmade things,
Speaker:because it's just easy.
Speaker:Like I said,
Speaker:I don't sell physical products on Etsy.
Speaker:I sell digital and I was able to sign up and
Speaker:figure out quite quickly,
Speaker:how to do the product listings and all that.
Speaker:It's just easy.
Speaker:And so I definitely think a good place to start is
Speaker:Etsy because it does get you,
Speaker:like you said,
Speaker:it gets you acquainted into this whole,
Speaker:like how do I sell products online?
Speaker:Because it's very different than if you have a brick and
Speaker:mortar store or you're doing shows or markets and things like
Speaker:that. It's totally different.
Speaker:You have to take that experience of selling a t-shirt at
Speaker:a trade show or like at a farmer's market and take
Speaker:that experience and put it online and get people to see
Speaker:the value of your product,
Speaker:where in person you have all the senses,
Speaker:you can touch the shirt or the candle,
Speaker:you can smell it,
Speaker:you can hold it.
Speaker:You can see what it looks like up close and online.
Speaker:It's a different,
Speaker:you have to create that online,
Speaker:which is not always super easy.
Speaker:So definitely a different experience,
Speaker:Definitely, but a good place to start just to get a
Speaker:feel. And once you have perfected that,
Speaker:feel comfortable with that,
Speaker:and you get to the point where you're ready to do
Speaker:our Shopify site.
Speaker:That doesn't mean you shut down your Etsy store.
Speaker:You just open up your Shopify site and I'm going to
Speaker:let you take over Carrie and talk about all of that.
Speaker:But it's just a companion that you can have two different
Speaker:sources online.
Speaker:E-commerce doesn't have to be a singular location.
Speaker:Yeah, it definitely doesn't end.
Speaker:Like I have a lot of people that I work with
Speaker:where they have Etsy stores,
Speaker:they also sell on Shopify.
Speaker:They also sell on Amazon and you don't have to do
Speaker:this when you first start a store.
Speaker:But like you want to get to the point where you
Speaker:have multiple,
Speaker:I would call them like channels of customer acquisition or multiple
Speaker:sales channels.
Speaker:So if you do in person markets,
Speaker:awesome, that's one channel.
Speaker:You have Etsy,
Speaker:okay. Now we have two channels.
Speaker:And then you have your own website where you can drive
Speaker:traffic. Now you have three channels.
Speaker:And so these are three different ways of making money in
Speaker:your business.
Speaker:And you're not putting all of your eggs into one basket.
Speaker:So if you can have like an Etsy store,
Speaker:cause obviously Etsy is only for the things that are,
Speaker:you can't like buy spreadsheets from China and then resell them.
Speaker:Well, I guess you could actually,
Speaker:I don't think so.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I feel like with Etsy,
Speaker:like you have to make the product,
Speaker:right? Yeah.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I think a few have slipped in which I know has
Speaker:been frustrated to some people,
Speaker:but the other thing is you're attracting different audiences in different
Speaker:places and you're marketing differently in different places too.
Speaker:It's a whole different strategy and let's,
Speaker:we'll merge off of Etsy.
Speaker:I've got a number of podcasts already where we talk about
Speaker:Etsy, but I am dying to go into Shopify and I'm
Speaker:going to start with one and this isn't where you have
Speaker:to start,
Speaker:but I want you to put it in somewhere here or
Speaker:focus on it is I have a lot of people who
Speaker:are like,
Speaker:okay, my Shopify site is up.
Speaker:I'm not getting any sales,
Speaker:that's it.
Speaker:That's all they say.
Speaker:Yep. So somewhere that may not be where you want to
Speaker:start, but that is what I hear.
Speaker:So Yeah,
Speaker:no, I cared the same thing from,
Speaker:and I kind of laughed chuckled when you said that.
Speaker:And I don't mean that in a rude way.
Speaker:It's just,
Speaker:I hear the same thing every single day we have a
Speaker:website and we're like,
Speaker:okay. And there's some famous quote.
Speaker:I think it's like,
Speaker:if you build it,
Speaker:they will come.
Speaker:I don't know who said that.
Speaker:I feel like someone famous,
Speaker:but it's true with your website.
Speaker:Like you build a website and you're just like,
Speaker:oh, okay,
Speaker:well it's here.
Speaker:Why aren't you coming?
Speaker:And I want anyone who's feeling that way and listening to
Speaker:take comfort that we hear it often,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you're not alone.
Speaker:It's not a mistake you're making,
Speaker:you're going to learn here today.
Speaker:So don't worry if that's where you're at.
Speaker:We literally like every single person here who has launched an
Speaker:online store,
Speaker:unless there's two like exceptions to this one is that you've
Speaker:already had some sort of a business,
Speaker:probably like an online store or like a coaching business or
Speaker:a service business.
Speaker:And you already really,
Speaker:really, really have a good understanding of how to get people
Speaker:to your website or you are an influencer or you have
Speaker:like a really big audience of people that are already ready
Speaker:to buy from you.
Speaker:So if you're not one of those two people,
Speaker:you have to work hard to build that foundation of traffic.
Speaker:And I agree with what Sue said.
Speaker:Like, I hear this from every single person that I work
Speaker:with or student in my program,
Speaker:you don't start off knowing what to do.
Speaker:Like when I launched my business,
Speaker:I literally had no idea what I was doing.
Speaker:And I'm definitely very transparent about my journey.
Speaker:And I'm an open book in terms of like,
Speaker:it wasn't all roses and sunshine with my business.
Speaker:And I had to learn how to drive traffic.
Speaker:And it's not something that we know how to do.
Speaker:And I know a lot of people,
Speaker:I hear this all the time.
Speaker:They're like,
Speaker:I'm a maker,
Speaker:I'm not a marketer.
Speaker:So often from people,
Speaker:they have a really hard time.
Speaker:They love making the product,
Speaker:but they have a really hard time like selling it and
Speaker:marketing it and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker:So I totally understand that.
Speaker:It's not an easy thing to do and it can be
Speaker:really, really frustrating,
Speaker:but hopefully I can give you some good takeaways.
Speaker:Okay. So I think the biggest thing is,
Speaker:and this is sort of like the framework that I teach,
Speaker:because this is what I did for my business.
Speaker:And I can just give you like a quick backstory.
Speaker:So I launched my first business in 2016,
Speaker:the depre dog box.
Speaker:I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.
Speaker:My background was in marketing,
Speaker:but my background was in in-person marketing.
Speaker:I would travel overseas to trade shows and meet with students
Speaker:and parents and give them like the pamphlets for my school
Speaker:and talk about all that.
Speaker:So we didn't do a lot of stuff online actually.
Speaker:So even though I'm a marketer for a long time,
Speaker:I had to learn how to market a product online,
Speaker:which is very different than in person.
Speaker:So I had no idea what I was doing,
Speaker:but I was like,
Speaker:oh my background's in marketing.
Speaker:And I love dogs.
Speaker:Like this should be so easy.
Speaker:Of course,
Speaker:like, no,
Speaker:it's not easy.
Speaker:Well it's Sometimes it's better not to know.
Speaker:Right? Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:you have to,
Speaker:like I said,
Speaker:I talk about this all the time.
Speaker:It is a journey having a product business,
Speaker:the more you learn and the more you're willing to try
Speaker:new things,
Speaker:like you'll figure it out,
Speaker:but it is a learning curve.
Speaker:And if it was so easy,
Speaker:everybody would be doing this type of business.
Speaker:But guess what?
Speaker:They're not because it's hard.
Speaker:And so you're already doing so many good things because you
Speaker:have your business.
Speaker:So I just want to say that too.
Speaker:But like the first year of my business,
Speaker:what I did was I focused on one platform.
Speaker:I didn't start my business and say,
Speaker:okay, I have to be on Pinterest and Instagram and Facebook
Speaker:and do all these different things.
Speaker:I chose one.
Speaker:And the one that I chose was Instagram.
Speaker:Again, this is 2016.
Speaker:Instagram today is very different and it's,
Speaker:that's like a different conversation,
Speaker:but it's a different platform.
Speaker:It was a little bit easier than,
Speaker:and it was,
Speaker:I would say more simple.
Speaker:You had photos,
Speaker:you had your captions,
Speaker:you had hashtags and Instagram just kind of worked well.
Speaker:So I focus on Instagram.
Speaker:That's where my customer was.
Speaker:And so another really important thing to ask yourself is not
Speaker:what platform do I like being on it is what platform
Speaker:are my customers on?
Speaker:Where do my customers go to find things that they want?
Speaker:And that's the platform that you want to focus on.
Speaker:So for me,
Speaker:the first one was Instagram.
Speaker:My product was very visually appealing.
Speaker:Like I had beautiful packaging.
Speaker:I spent a lot of my time focusing on products that
Speaker:photographed with it really well together.
Speaker:And so my product looked really well on Instagram,
Speaker:but that's where my audience hung out.
Speaker:So I doubled down on Instagram.
Speaker:The first,
Speaker:I would say nine,
Speaker:10 months.
Speaker:I got customers.
Speaker:I learned the platform.
Speaker:I figured out how to kind of use the platform.
Speaker:I talked to my customers.
Speaker:That's like the best part of Instagram today still is that
Speaker:you can actually,
Speaker:literally your customer can tag you in a photo or a
Speaker:video and you can literally reach out and say,
Speaker:Hey, thank you so much for buying for me.
Speaker:I really appreciate you.
Speaker:Here's a coupon for a future purchase.
Speaker:Or like,
Speaker:Hey, I was just curious,
Speaker:like, I really appreciate you buying from me.
Speaker:Do you mind sharing a little bit of,
Speaker:I'm trying to understand how to improve,
Speaker:like the experience for my customers.
Speaker:Could you tell me like,
Speaker:why you chose me and not a competitor or something like
Speaker:you have the opportunity to talk to people and there is
Speaker:no other platform that allows you to actually have conversations with
Speaker:your customers.
Speaker:Like in quick,
Speaker:real time,
Speaker:that feels very personalized.
Speaker:And so that's what I did.
Speaker:I literally would like message people and say,
Speaker:oh my gosh,
Speaker:like, thank you for buying for me.
Speaker:How did you hear about me?
Speaker:Like, oh,
Speaker:you found me on Facebook.
Speaker:Cool. Like,
Speaker:was there a Facebook group?
Speaker:Or they would say,
Speaker:oh, I found you from this gift guide that you were
Speaker:featured in.
Speaker:So I would literally like reach out to customers and ask
Speaker:them, how did you find me?
Speaker:And I had a list.
Speaker:This was like a little bit of 2016.
Speaker:So I had like a proper notebook where I would write
Speaker:down all the different places that people were telling me that
Speaker:they would find me.
Speaker:And I get it.
Speaker:Now I know more information on,
Speaker:well, okay.
Speaker:If I'm getting all these customers from like a Facebook group
Speaker:or something,
Speaker:well now I'm going to do more in Facebook groups just
Speaker:as an example.
Speaker:So that was like my first nine,
Speaker:10 months of my business was I focused on one channel
Speaker:and I really made that channel work really well for me.
Speaker:I didn't distract myself with feeling like I needed to be
Speaker:doing like a hundred different things,
Speaker:which I think is oftentimes what we do in the first
Speaker:half of our business is like,
Speaker:well, I have to be on 25 different places.
Speaker:And then you end up getting overwhelmed or burnt out and
Speaker:then you don't do anything effectively.
Speaker:I agree.
Speaker:So, yeah.
Speaker:And what are you doing here?
Speaker:You're building your business.
Speaker:So you don't have to throw everything up at one time,
Speaker:but just like you were saying,
Speaker:Carrie, like get good at that,
Speaker:get where it has traction.
Speaker:And then you'll go further.
Speaker:I wanted to understand a little bit better.
Speaker:What types of things you were posting?
Speaker:Was it all just product photos or what did your content
Speaker:look like?
Speaker:And to be honest with you,
Speaker:like when I first started my business,
Speaker:I had not used Instagram before I had used Instagram in
Speaker:my personal life,
Speaker:like minimally and to be audited,
Speaker:like, this is kind of funny now,
Speaker:now that it's 20,
Speaker:22, but in my head,
Speaker:like Instagram was like this kind of like photo editing app.
Speaker:And I don't know if you used to use it like
Speaker:back in the day where you could make those filters on
Speaker:the photos.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:I didn't really use social media in my personal life at
Speaker:all. So I had to also learn social media.
Speaker:But anyway,
Speaker:so when I first launched Instagram,
Speaker:I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.
Speaker:So I started posting like sneak peaks and the businesses launching
Speaker:and I would post like,
Speaker:oh, this dog treat company is going to be in our
Speaker:first box and kind of like,
Speaker:it would be what today is like meet the makers kind
Speaker:of thing.
Speaker:And then so as I started experimenting and trying new things
Speaker:and all that,
Speaker:the content that I started to post a lot of that
Speaker:first was more product.
Speaker:Like here's the box buy the subscription box.
Speaker:It was very much like buy my product,
Speaker:buy my product.
Speaker:And I learned quickly that does not work.
Speaker:So I started making it more fun for people to kind
Speaker:of follow me.
Speaker:And that was like my strategy after a few months,
Speaker:like, okay,
Speaker:people aren't resonating with like my,
Speaker:like I would post a picture of like the subscription box,
Speaker:like with a background,
Speaker:like some kind of a background.
Speaker:And I would just talk about it.
Speaker:Those posts would get like,
Speaker:no traction,
Speaker:no likes,
Speaker:no comments,
Speaker:nothing. But then if I posted like a picture of my
Speaker:dog and I told like a story like,
Speaker:oh, you know,
Speaker:my dog as a puppy,
Speaker:she had allergies.
Speaker:So we had to start getting grain-free treats.
Speaker:And like,
Speaker:I really love these brands.
Speaker:And that's what,
Speaker:one of the benefits of the dapper dog boxes is that
Speaker:we have all natural grain-free treats.
Speaker:My dog Asha is the test taster.
Speaker:And I put that in all of my signatures for the
Speaker:first, like one or two years of the business,
Speaker:the emails would always come from Asha,
Speaker:who is my dog,
Speaker:my black lab.
Speaker:And those posts,
Speaker:I noticed like people would comment and they would be like,
Speaker:oh, like my dog has an allergy to,
Speaker:so the point here that I'm making with this piece of
Speaker:information is content that starts conversations is your best friend.
Speaker:If you're just posting stuff,
Speaker:like buy my product,
Speaker:buy the box,
Speaker:buy this,
Speaker:no one wants to be sold to 24 7.
Speaker:But when you can use storytelling and kind of like weave
Speaker:personal things in with your product,
Speaker:but that starts a conversation with people.
Speaker:That's the kind of stuff that really,
Speaker:really, really will get you some traction.
Speaker:And I discover that pretty early on with Instagram was like,
Speaker:when I'm posting stories and things like that,
Speaker:people are commenting.
Speaker:I'm getting like people to DM me.
Speaker:You want to start like,
Speaker:and I know a lot of you are like,
Speaker:well, I don't really want to talk to people.
Speaker:You have to think of it as like it's all market
Speaker:research. You're trying to figure out,
Speaker:you're trying to hop into the brain of your ideal customer
Speaker:and understand what is going to get them to buy.
Speaker:And that's your job with social media is like,
Speaker:well, really it's your job with your whole business.
Speaker:But yeah.
Speaker:So I started doing,
Speaker:do you ask me about content?
Speaker:I was hoping that you would make the point here that
Speaker:it's not just product image after product dimension.
Speaker:And so I think we've got that and let's move on.
Speaker:Cause I want to make sure that we get everything in
Speaker:here with our time together.
Speaker:So. All right,
Speaker:perfect. So we started with focusing on one social media platform
Speaker:only. Yup.
Speaker:And so again,
Speaker:for me,
Speaker:that was Instagram,
Speaker:I think in 2022,
Speaker:my recommendations are Instagram or TechTalk because those are,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:tech talk in particular is just the fastest growing pot forum,
Speaker:but you have to do videos.
Speaker:So it just depends where you're at.
Speaker:But for me,
Speaker:I did Instagram.
Speaker:And then what I started to do next was I started
Speaker:to get into SEO.
Speaker:So SEO is something that a lot of people are very
Speaker:scared of.
Speaker:So SEO stands for search engine optimization.
Speaker:And so the real simplified way of explaining this is how
Speaker:do you get your business,
Speaker:your product,
Speaker:your brand,
Speaker:your website,
Speaker:to show up on Google.
Speaker:So when someone types goes to Google and they type in
Speaker:gluten-free pizza recipe,
Speaker:or like gluten-free pizza,
Speaker:you get a list of things that will pop up.
Speaker:Generally, it's going to be YouTube videos.
Speaker:It's going to be blog posts.
Speaker:It's going to be websites.
Speaker:So your job is to get your business to show up
Speaker:on Google search.
Speaker:And so that comes from doing a bunch of different things,
Speaker:which I can talk about a little bit more in detail,
Speaker:but the overall like overarching of this is it's called SEO.
Speaker:So you want to do things that get your business on
Speaker:Google. And so it was a right about a year into
Speaker:my business.
Speaker:When I discovered SEO,
Speaker:I had no idea what the heck SEO was.
Speaker:And quite frankly,
Speaker:I was very confused by it.
Speaker:And now I love SEO and I love talking about it.
Speaker:And I know my students,
Speaker:when I start talking about SEO,
Speaker:like their eyes kind of glaze over,
Speaker:they're like,
Speaker:oh, I don't want to do it.
Speaker:But again,
Speaker:do one thing like just get started.
Speaker:Yeah. So like my husband's friend actually had a marketing agency
Speaker:and he specialized in SEO.
Speaker:So I basically had like one or two calls with him.
Speaker:Oh, you got some inside skinny direction and all lucky you,
Speaker:okay. Yeah.
Speaker:So this one's like an,
Speaker:I didn't get that in my business at all.
Speaker:This was like literally the one time in my three years
Speaker:where someone knew this like really awesome thing and they shared
Speaker:some advice with me.
Speaker:And so that was this moment.
Speaker:I didn't have any mentors or coaches,
Speaker:which was a big mistake by the way.
Speaker:But this guy,
Speaker:he was like my little saving grace and yeah,
Speaker:he was like,
Speaker:you gotta start,
Speaker:you gotta learn about SEO.
Speaker:You gotta learn about keywords and you have to learn about
Speaker:how to create blog content so people can find you on
Speaker:Google. And I was like,
Speaker:oh, that's so cool.
Speaker:Okay. Awesome.
Speaker:And I did a little keyword.
Speaker:So with SEO,
Speaker:like the most important thing,
Speaker:and I want to make sure I keep it like kind
Speaker:of simple because I know SEO is really complicated.
Speaker:It's all about keywords.
Speaker:So understanding what your audience would be searching for to kind
Speaker:of find or discover your brand.
Speaker:So for me,
Speaker:I sold dogs,
Speaker:subscription boxes.
Speaker:And so for me,
Speaker:the first things that I was doing would be to use
Speaker:a couple tools and understand what people were typing into Google
Speaker:to find dogs,
Speaker:subscription boxes,
Speaker:what kind of questions were they asking?
Speaker:And so I started doing a little bit of like keyword
Speaker:research at the time I was using S E M or
Speaker:rush, but honestly like Uber suggest www.ubersuggest.com
Speaker:is way better.
Speaker:And it's very,
Speaker:very, very cheap and affordable.
Speaker:And it's like magical for research and anything SEO related.
Speaker:And I did some keyword research and then I was like,
Speaker:okay, cool.
Speaker:Now I'm going to start creating blog content.
Speaker:And so with blogging,
Speaker:like the biggest thing,
Speaker:and a lot of people are like,
Speaker:oh, blogging is very outdated.
Speaker:It's archaic,
Speaker:but it's really not blogging.
Speaker:It is one of the most powerful ways to drive traffic.
Speaker:So I know that we're going to talk about this episode
Speaker:is very much catered to how to drive traffic to your
Speaker:website or your online store.
Speaker:Logging is your best friend.
Speaker:And we've been talking blogging here.
Speaker:So regular listeners are going to be aware of this too
Speaker:already. Yes.
Speaker:And blogging is like,
Speaker:it is king for driving traffic.
Speaker:So that's what I started doing for my business.
Speaker:I started with my business.
Speaker:One of my ideal customers was a golden doodle dog owner.
Speaker:And so I started creating blog content around that topic.
Speaker:And soon enough,
Speaker:I had one blog post that ranked number one on Google.
Speaker:And I talked about this on my own podcasts,
Speaker:like probably a hundred times.
Speaker:And I love talking about it,
Speaker:but it was the best dog toys for golden doodles or
Speaker:like the five best dog toys for golden doodles.
Speaker:I wrote that blog post.
Speaker:And then within a few months I was ranked number one
Speaker:on Google.
Speaker:And so what happens when you're ranked number one in Google,
Speaker:as you probably talk about it in your podcast is you
Speaker:drive crazy traffic.
Speaker:And that's what that did for my business is I started
Speaker:to get a ton of traffic from blogging.
Speaker:Okay. And how far into your business where you at this
Speaker:point? So this was maybe like a little over a year,
Speaker:so some of the new,
Speaker:Okay. So only a year in you write an article that
Speaker:hits the right keywords to get visibility and you end up
Speaker:driving a ton of traffic to your website where miraculously,
Speaker:all your products appear.
Speaker:Yes. So my first year of that blog post,
Speaker:and I know that you like specific stories.
Speaker:My first year of that blog post,
Speaker:it drove 20,000
Speaker:website visitors,
Speaker:20,000. That's like a stadium full of people.
Speaker:Yes. It is like,
Speaker:that's why I tell people all the time.
Speaker:Like, I think people just assume blogging doesn't quite work,
Speaker:but it really does because you want to be visible on
Speaker:Google. It is the most important thing because one blog post
Speaker:or one YouTube video,
Speaker:it continues to drive traffic years down the line,
Speaker:unlike an Instagram post,
Speaker:which basically dies after a week.
Speaker:And so that's a huge part of my framework that I
Speaker:really teach people is how do you build your business or
Speaker:set your business up today for future success.
Speaker:And that's going to be through like your SEO activity.
Speaker:So creating blog content or YouTube,
Speaker:or just even like optimizing your website with those keywords.
Speaker:So if you're doing Shopify,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:at the bottom of every Shopify page,
Speaker:there's like a,
Speaker:literally a little section called,
Speaker:like, I forgot exactly what the word is,
Speaker:but it's something like search engine or something and you title
Speaker:your pages.
Speaker:And if you put like high-end dog toys,
Speaker:handmade, soy Kindles made in Nebraska,
Speaker:like you put those keywords in there and that's how Google
Speaker:knows you're selling basically.
Speaker:So it's like,
Speaker:Google's kind of like the matchmaker between a product and what
Speaker:people are searching for.
Speaker:So when someone goes to Google to find something,
Speaker:they say,
Speaker:oh, like,
Speaker:Sue makes soy candles in Nebraska or what I'm using a
Speaker:silly example,
Speaker:but, and they match you with the brand.
Speaker:So that is the power of like the Google stuff,
Speaker:which is going to be blog content or YouTube.
Speaker:So I'm such a huge advocate of choosing one of those
Speaker:platforms. And again,
Speaker:like doubling down your content.
Speaker:Perfect. And then another easy way.
Speaker:So now we talked about social media,
Speaker:we talked about blogging for SEO,
Speaker:and then another thing that your audience can completely do,
Speaker:which is what I did was I got really like,
Speaker:my customers love my brand.
Speaker:I put a ton of time and energy into creating an
Speaker:awesome customer experience for them.
Speaker:So when they got the product in the mail,
Speaker:they had a beautiful unboxing experience.
Speaker:Everything was great.
Speaker:They got great emails from me.
Speaker:And so I would get customers that like,
Speaker:just love the brand.
Speaker:They would email me,
Speaker:they would post on social media.
Speaker:They would tag me and stuff and they would literally be
Speaker:like, we just love this so much.
Speaker:Like, or if there was a customer service issue that I
Speaker:resolved, which I put a very high premium on customer service,
Speaker:they would say,
Speaker:oh my gosh,
Speaker:like, thank you so much.
Speaker:I would turn like these angry customers into happy people.
Speaker:And so I started realizing like,
Speaker:okay, you're getting a lot of people that they really like
Speaker:your brand.
Speaker:And it's not just a product that you buy an Amazon.
Speaker:They like you,
Speaker:they like your brand.
Speaker:And they,
Speaker:like, they knew me by name,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:like I was the owner of the company and I would
Speaker:do all the customer service,
Speaker:emails and everything.
Speaker:So I started to say,
Speaker:okay, how can I leverage what's happening here?
Speaker:My customers really like the brand.
Speaker:And, you know,
Speaker:as, you know,
Speaker:dog people,
Speaker:they tell their friends about products that they like.
Speaker:And so I said,
Speaker:okay, I need to start like a customer referral program.
Speaker:And so super,
Speaker:super scrappy.
Speaker:As I mentioned before,
Speaker:I just,
Speaker:every time I would get one of those happy people,
Speaker:whether it was a customer that I served a customer service
Speaker:issue for them,
Speaker:or with someone on social media who would tag me in
Speaker:a product photo or something,
Speaker:I would reach out to them.
Speaker:And I would basically say,
Speaker:Hey, did you know that we have a customer referral program?
Speaker:If you refer a friend or family or whoever,
Speaker:we'll send you a free box,
Speaker:if you want,
Speaker:like, if you're interested,
Speaker:I can make a coupon code for you that you can
Speaker:share. Let me know if you're interested.
Speaker:And like 95% of people would write back or message back.
Speaker:And they would say,
Speaker:oh my gosh,
Speaker:yes, we would love a code.
Speaker:Could you make mine called?
Speaker:And they would usually do it like with their dog's name,
Speaker:but that's how my customer referral program started.
Speaker:It was very scrappy.
Speaker:It was not like a $200 a month app or anything.
Speaker:It was just literally like,
Speaker:I can make you a coupon code if people use it,
Speaker:I'll give you a free item.
Speaker:And I got a ton of business from that one little
Speaker:strategy. So it was almost like you provided them an affiliate
Speaker:link, but it was really a referral that went back to
Speaker:them. I'm not even that.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it was even less intricate as that.
Speaker:It was literally like,
Speaker:if you give your friend like my website and you use
Speaker:your individual coupon code,
Speaker:like SU you get 10% off,
Speaker:I would just go into my store.
Speaker:And like,
Speaker:literally, and again,
Speaker:this is,
Speaker:if you're doing scrappy things,
Speaker:You're starting,
Speaker:I would just check the codes like,
Speaker:oh, okay.
Speaker:The code Sue was used three times.
Speaker:Okay, awesome.
Speaker:Now I'm going to go into her account and I'm just
Speaker:going to add,
Speaker:I had some other coupon that I would add in,
Speaker:and it would give you a free box.
Speaker:So it would almost like reduce your charge for the next
Speaker:one, but you can do it as simple as that without
Speaker:even having an affiliate program or giving people custom links,
Speaker:it's literally just like,
Speaker:here's a coupon code.
Speaker:If people use it,
Speaker:you get a reward or an incentive.
Speaker:And for me,
Speaker:that was wildly,
Speaker:like one of my best ways of getting customers was through
Speaker:customer referrals.
Speaker:And I think anything to do with like handmade companies or
Speaker:things like that,
Speaker:it works really well because people will tell their friends if
Speaker:they buy a product from you,
Speaker:when they really like it,
Speaker:they will share it on social media.
Speaker:They will tell their friends and they will buy it as
Speaker:gifts for other people,
Speaker:which is another like,
Speaker:huge way to get customers.
Speaker:Absolutely. Totally agree with you.
Speaker:Okay. These have been three absolutely fabulous ways of driving traffic.
Speaker:And then obviously a portion of that traffic converts over to
Speaker:sales. We've talked about them,
Speaker:but I'm going to summarize them again real quick here,
Speaker:focusing on one social media platform at a time until you
Speaker:get really proficient and see results to do things on the
Speaker:SEO end,
Speaker:such as keywords,
Speaker:which lead to how to determine how you could blog YouTube
Speaker:videos, that type of thing.
Speaker:Because then on Google,
Speaker:you're going to be SPE seen by people who you would
Speaker:never even know how to reach anywhere else.
Speaker:And then three what's the experience your customers having when they
Speaker:buy your product.
Speaker:And that could have started way at the top with the
Speaker:first point that you were DM-ing them in social.
Speaker:When you've started to develop a relationship,
Speaker:and now they feel like they're your friend,
Speaker:and then they buy something from you and then OMG,
Speaker:they get your unboxing.
Speaker:And it's so beautiful.
Speaker:And so such a wonderful experience,
Speaker:which by the way,
Speaker:allows you to charge more,
Speaker:especially if you're an upscale product,
Speaker:that whole experience that you give justifies a higher price,
Speaker:your on the higher end.
Speaker:So you would expect that the experience would be such,
Speaker:they fall in love with your brand and carry this referral
Speaker:program is brilliant.
Speaker:When you're talking about how easy it can be to get
Speaker:it implemented,
Speaker:it can be manual.
Speaker:At first,
Speaker:you can fancy it up later,
Speaker:but right in the beginning,
Speaker:just getting it started,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:w let's face it.
Speaker:We all want to know what's in it for us.
Speaker:Sometimes it's just the feel good.
Speaker:But when you have the feel good,
Speaker:and then you get something tangible,
Speaker:like a free box in return,
Speaker:that's even better,
Speaker:even better,
Speaker:right? Yeah.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I noticed so quickly that customer referral thing that I had,
Speaker:it worked so well because people like your brand and like,
Speaker:just like you just said,
Speaker:people want something for themselves,
Speaker:which there's no shame in that.
Speaker:But the second I said,
Speaker:like, you can get something for free.
Speaker:It was like,
Speaker:oh my gosh.
Speaker:Okay, cool.
Speaker:And like,
Speaker:people jumped at that.
Speaker:Yeah. They're in fabulous.
Speaker:Well, listen,
Speaker:we have covered three points pretty well.
Speaker:So you're going to walk away with these and these are
Speaker:things based on what you already have in place or not.
Speaker:You can start implementing today.
Speaker:And if you go over and listen to Carrie's podcast,
Speaker:again, it's the six figure product business podcast.
Speaker:I'm sure you're going to be able to pick up more
Speaker:tips along this line.
Speaker:So definitely go and do that.
Speaker:And Carrie,
Speaker:where else can people find you?
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:So people can find me on Instagram.
Speaker:My handle is K E R R I E.
Speaker:Dot a dot Fitzgerald and go to my website,
Speaker:Carrie fitzgerald.com
Speaker:or definitely a good place to find me is definitely my
Speaker:podcast as well.
Speaker:So like Sue just said the six-figure product business podcast.
Speaker:And I have,
Speaker:most of my episodes are very much marketing focused cause I
Speaker:love marketing.
Speaker:Yeah. If anyone has any questions or is curious,
Speaker:but anything that I talked about on this episode definitely reach
Speaker:out to me.
Speaker:I am an open book.
Speaker:I share everything and I want all my product is equal
Speaker:to be making lots of money and getting a lot of
Speaker:traffic. So I'm definitely here to help.
Speaker:Absolutely. I love that.
Speaker:Well, I feel like we have compatible podcasts.
Speaker:It's like we have to listen to both of them and
Speaker:you're going to get great stuff if you need each place.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:Wonderful. Carrie,
Speaker:thank you so much for coming on today and sharing with
Speaker:us, your tips and secrets for how we can drive more
Speaker:visibility to our business.
Speaker:So, so important.
Speaker:I really appreciate it.
Speaker:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker:Okay. Which one is it?
Speaker:Which of the three ways of driving traffic to your website?
Speaker:Are you going to run with,
Speaker:do me a favor?
Speaker:Don't do each one just a little bit.
Speaker:Your results will then be random at best.
Speaker:Pick one,
Speaker:get it going strong with consistency and then go for another.
Speaker:And if you want to chat about it,
Speaker:as you get things in place,
Speaker:a great way to ask questions is in the Facebook group
Speaker:gift biz breeze.
Speaker:You'll hear more about that at the very end here before
Speaker:you move on to your next activity today,
Speaker:make sure to get your name on the list for at
Speaker:least one gift biz bash.
Speaker:You can see the dates and times for upcoming sessions and
Speaker:get signed up over at gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash bash.
Speaker:And if you're enjoying the podcast and would like to show
Speaker:support a rating and review would be wonderful.
Speaker:It helps spread the word about the show too.
Speaker:So it's a great way to pay it forward.
Speaker:There's also another way to get something tangible in exchange for
Speaker:your support.
Speaker:Visit my merch shop for a wide variety of inspirational items
Speaker:like mugs,
Speaker:journals, water bottles,
Speaker:and more featuring logos images and quotes to inspire you throughout
Speaker:your day makes a great gift to,
Speaker:and we've just added some new products for the season,
Speaker:which is my favorite design right now.
Speaker:It's a toss up with that gorgeous lemonade image and a
Speaker:quote about refreshing and the beautiful butterfly design.
Speaker:What yours turnaround is quick and the quality is top notch,
Speaker:nothing but the best for you.
Speaker:Take a look at all the options at gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash shop.
Speaker:All proceeds from these purchases helps me offset the costs of
Speaker:producing this podcast and now be safe and well.
Speaker:And I'll see you again.
Speaker:Next time on the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook
Speaker:group called gift biz breeze.
Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and our community to
Speaker:support each other.
Speaker:Got a really fun post in there.
Speaker:That's my favorite of the week.
Speaker:I have to say where I invite all of you to
Speaker:share what you're doing to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week to get
Speaker:reaction from other people and just for fun,
Speaker:because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody
Speaker:in the community is making my favorite post every single week,
Speaker:without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what,
Speaker:aren't you part of the group already,
Speaker:if not make sure to jump over to Facebook and search
Speaker:for the group gift biz breeze don't delay.
