Dropshipping Info

**Watch the video below for instructions on settting up a dropship account**

**Please note that there is a one-time processing fee of $19.99 for dropship accounts that must be paid at the time of application.**

Starting an Online Dog Boutique? Here’s a Great Deal from Doggie Designer!

Ready to start up your own online dog boutique? Take a look at what Doggie Designer can do for you for only $3997! We challenge you to find a better value out there!

• We build you a fully functional eCommerce website with Doggie Designer products preloaded (pictures and descriptions). It would be very similar to our http://www.doggiedesigner.net site so, if you like ours, you would like yours! You own the site and have full control once we build it for you.
• Full enrollment into an online mentoring program where you have access to over 100 webinar trainings discussing topics from blogging to video marketing! You learn how to market your own website and develop skills that very few people have. 50+ different marketing methods are taught in this program.
• Access to a minimum of 2 LIVE marketing training sessions per week! You even have the ability to interact with the instructor and ask questions. Trainings can be accessed via conference call or internet.
• One on one mentoring with marketing experts who can help you to design a program to specifically drive traffic to your website!
• Keyword Research is done for you every month to identify high traffic, low competition keywords that will help you to capture attention online! This is often the most critical, yet most overlooked, part of online marketing.
• Network with some of the top marketing minds in the industry

It is not uncommon for people to pay well over $5000 and not get anywhere near this much value. In fact, if you have paid more and received less than what we offer here, WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Just submit a comment to this post and let us know. Help us to prevent others from running into the same problem!

Of course, you will have monthly fees from your hosting company (as you will with ANY eCommerce website). There is also a small $99 monthly fee for the ongoing live trainings and monthly keyword research but other companies charge hundreds of dollars for this type of service.

No contracts to sign, no minimum requirements. Nothing but extreme VALUE from Doggie Designer!

Contact me directly if you have questions.

Online Dog Boutiques- How to Successfully Get Started

Online dog boutiques have become somewhat of a trend in the past few years. Perhaps this is because of the wide-spread (although somewhat inaccurate) belief that the pet industry is “recession proof”. I consider myself to be an expert on this topic not only due to the fact that I own and operate a successful online dog boutique, but also because I supply product for hundreds of other online dog stores worldwide. On a daily basis, I talk with experienced boutique owners as well as those who are just getting started. In the past few years, specifically, I have noticed a difference between those that survive and those that vanish. In this article, I would like to share some of that experience with you.

In 2009, my company had nearly 2000 people register with us as either brick and mortar stores or online dog boutiques. Sadly, only one year later, I find that roughly 70% are already out of business. So much for “recession proof”, right? Well maybe… Here’s the thing… Most of the “newbies” entering into the online shopping realm for the first time will believe that the way to get started is to build a site and find a number of good suppliers and invest a bunch of time, energy, and money into launching your online boutique. After all, this sounds perfectly logical and 5-6 years ago, I would have thought the same thing. The problem is that the internet is so vast that it is nearly impossible for anyone to find a new website. So, these unsuspecting souls spend thousands on their site only to see a small smattering of sales and the monthly maintenance ends up costing more than the generated profits. Discouraging to say the least.

There is a solution to this problem, however, and those who discover it can survive their freshman and sophomore years. It is so simple, yet so overlooked- proper marketing strategy. Sounds too easy, but it’s true. Most people that start online dog boutiques do so because they love dogs, not because they love their computer! They are usually complete novices to online marketing. But alas, all is not lost. After all, there are hundreds of companies out there that, for a fee of $300 to $2000 per month will “get you to the top of Google”! Boy, I wish I had $5 for every one of those phone calls I’ve received in the past 2 years. What they really should say is, “For about $500 per month, we’ll do some stuff that might get you to page one if we do it for a year or so, but it might not. Oh, and most of the stuff that we’ll do is stuff that you could do for free”!

Ok Greg, so now you’re saying that we need to market but what do we do?

Here’s my advice, and since my site ranks #1 or #2 in many keyword searches, I would say that it is sound advice.

If you want to start an online dog boutique, the first thing you should do is bone up on your internet marketing. You can take a class, maybe a few weekend seminars, or you could do what I did and join a mentoring program that allows you to work with top people in the industry on a daily basis. Most likely, none of these options will be free, but if you have an aversion to spending money on education, then you should stick to things that you already know how to do. Plus, educating yourself is far cheaper than paying other companies thousands of dollars for their promises. Now, once you successfully learn effective marketing strategies, then you go and set up your site. You will be able to build and market yourself at the same time and you should plan on putting MORE time into marketing than you put into developing your site.

Following this plan will give your online dog boutique a fighting chance of survival. I hate to see anyone fail or lose money. There’s enough of that going on in the world today, don’t become another statistic.

As always, I wish you the best of success!

My Response to Laura’s comment…
Laura sent me the following comment: “I am very interested in learning more about how I can have a successful online dog boutique. Thank you for any information and advice you may have for me.”

I already know that Laura has spent a ton of time, energy, and money developing her website but hasn’t really seen it turn into orders and revenue. I can’t tell you how often I’ve seen this EXACT scenario play out over the last 2 years. Truthfully, the number is somewhere around 1000+ people that I have watched spend a bunch of time and money to set up a website and then they are out of business within the first 6 months. Why? Doesn’t everyone say that this is a “recession proof” industry?

Ok, everyone… HERE IS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH (and sometimes the truth hurts).

I don’t care how great your website is, YOU WILL FAIL if no one can find you online! You absolutely MUST learn how to market your website online. I have been preaching this for months now but for some reason, most people would rather shut down their business instead of listen to this advice. Trust me here, I know what I’m talking about! Last year, in 2009, Doggie Designer had about 1500 people apply for dropship accounts. By April of 2010, 80-90% of them were gone! Here’s the problem, MOST PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW HOW TO MARKET ONLINE. It is ok for you to admit this to yourself. No one ever taught us how to do this. Up until about a year ago, I never really had a clue either. But I realized that if I wanted to survive this economy, I HAD TO LEARN!

You really have 3 choices:
1) Learn how to market yourself online (you will need to invest some time and money into this but it is cheaper than option 2)
2) Pay someone else to market you online (which is VERY expensive and you have to get lucky because most of these companies over promise and under deliver. But, if you do find the right company, it can work.)
3) Shut down your business

That’s it… those are really the only choices. I picked option #1 and we get thousands of unique visitors to doggiedesigner.net every month. You have to pick the option that is best for you. I’m not going to go any further with this post since it is getting long. But if you want more info, just contact me directly.

Laura, I hope this helps you 🙂