UKMadeVine, London, London (2026)

09/03/2024

Do your visitors make a dash for the exit, before they even get to know you? 🚪

E-commerce is like speed dating: another digital rendezvous is only a taps clicks away.

If your store isn’t instantly engaging, speaking to the needs and desires of your “blind date” 🥰, then… click — they’re gone!

Have you built store content to win the hearts and minds of your ideal customers? 🤔

Do they land and immediately think: “these guys can help me!” ?

I mean, when you land on an unfamiliar website, what’s your first thought? Probably something like:

“Is it worth looking here?”
“Do these people do/ have what I need?”

“Need” isn’t just a product. There’s so much more to it than that!

Get easy wins to make your store sell better using engagement; just comment “ENGAGE” for my free guide 📑!

Cheers,

Steve — the small store/ solopreneur e-commerce specialist with 19 years experience

07/03/2024

You don’t need a huge range to succeed selling online.

My business had far fewer than 50 products, when I took this photo showing a day’s dispatch.

It tallies with plenty of evidence customers don’t want more choice.

They actually want the right choices presented in the right way.

The “How” is part of free practical advice I’m giving away to move your business forward.

Comment “STUCK” for a free “how to” guide by me 📑.

Cheers,

Steve — the small store/ solopreneur e-commerce specialist with 19 years experience

06/02/2024

Your customers don’t value choice.

They’d prefer not to have to choose at all.

If one single option so obviously speaks to their “pain”, in their language and at irresistible value, that’s all they need.

Selling the benefits of features won’t break any conversion records.

Selling pain resolution is much more powerful, because it breaks through the virtual divide and really “speaks” to customers.

(By the way, hit the LIKE if this is useful!)

A couple of examples :-

*Weight loss supplement*
❎ Focus on the benefits of the active ingredients.
✅ Focus on the frustration of failed diets, the anxiety of getting on the scales, the tears from being shamed in public. And how your product can break that cycle of failure and free them from feeling self-conscious and missing out on life.

*Handmade christening gift*
❎ Focus on the handmade novelty and beauty of craftsmanship
✅ Focus on the buyers worries about giving a gift that reflects the value they place on the friendship/ relationship. That won’t be perceived cheap, tacky or unthoughtful. And that suggests you searched to the ends of the earth to find. Plus, is really hard to put a price tag on, because you don’t have a huge budget due to cost of living crisis!

These are just two quick examples. To do your own, you simply must get into the heads of your target customers.

I hope this helps?! Let me know 🙏🏻

FOLLOW for more free small store e-commerce advice like this.

Happy selling!

Steve - successfully doing solo e-commerce since 2005.

01/02/2024

Is your content creation a chore, instead of a huge selling opportunity?

Has writing about your products and photographing them become a “fill in the boxes” exercise.

It’s so easy to forget content is everything on your store.

If you fail to grab attention, generate interest and build desire you won’t sell a bean 🫘.

Only content can do that for you.

It doesn’t come magically built into Shopify, like they (almost) suggest.

A well-designed store is just an efficient path out the door without great content. It’ll just help people exit faster!

So, don’t leave your store an empty carcass of good intentions. Craft that content! Treat it like an exercise in perfectionism.

Take better photos. Take creative photos. Take more inspiring photos. Take photos that do more than show all three sides. Show products in use. Show benefits. Show reactions. Show aspiration.

Craft your words carefully. Omit pointless ones. Use interesting metaphors and active verbs. Avoid adverbs. Why say “go slowly”, when you can say “crawl”, “creep”, “trudge”, or “saunter”? And, use the second person “you” not “we” or “I”. They want to know what’s in it for them!

The more effort you put into your content, the bigger the rewards: free visitors from Google and a higher sales conversion rate.

This effort is an investment that goes straight onto the bottom line: profit!

Happy creating!

Steve - successfully doing solo e-commerce since 2005.

30/01/2024

Is your SEO activity laser focused on conversion?

Or, did you get swept up in trying to be “no.1 in Google” 🏆

Maybe you’re just ploughing the same keywords into every page, hoping to rank for something - anything! 😮

Has your ego taken over and now you’re all about number of visitors? 💪🏻

It is easy to get lost in SEO and forget what you’re really after: more sales and extra profit. 💵💶💷💴

You’re only going to get those by converting more visitors. 🛐

1000 extra visitors that never convert do more harm than good. Wouldn’t you be better off getting 100 more that do? 🤔

“Converting” means taking some action that moves them closer to being your customer, not just buying.

So, when you do you SEO, get laser targeted on the terms (the ones your ideal customer uses) and on converting those visits. 🎯

Then you’re doing SEO as a function of CRO. A seamless process from attraction through conversion to a sale.

Then your SEO will really start paying off. And you’ll realise you don’t need to dominate Google, just be the best answer for your ideal customer - whatever their search. 😇

Steve - successfully doing solo e-commerce since 2005.

25/01/2024

Is your store all looks, little substance?

Because, when visitors land on your store, it’s like a digital date. 🌹

Initially, they may be bowled over by your store’s drop dead gorgeous looks. 👀 🥰

But, like a stunning date with no chat, they’ll soon find themselves looking for a way out… 🚕

Unless you have the substance to back it up! 💪🏻

Drop-dead looks get attention, but you need something more to build a relationship.

We don’t marry the profile picture.📸

You need substance to be engaging.

Not least, because an alternative digital rendezvous is only a click away for visitors! ⬅️

It’s content that speaks to your ideal customer and their problems that makes your store more than nice to look at. 🤔

So, look at your store and ask yourself, “Am I hard work for a first date?” 😵

“Is it easy for visitors get to know my unique business and products?”

“Do I have personality?” 🥱

All the best,

Steve

Steve - successfully doing solo e-commerce since 2005.

24/01/2024

Is your e-commerce store underselling you?

Have you really set your stall out, so customers can’t miss how fantastic you and your products are? 🤑

Or, did setting it up turn into a box filling and ticking exercise? One you got kind of lost in? 😩

It happens. It can be such a big project that just getting something up feels like success✔️

But, you know, that store has a colossal job to do: it has to make people want your products and want to buy from YOU 🫵

It has to create such DESIRE 🥰 that folks:-

Happily part with their hard earned money 💴

Set aside any concerns that they don’t know you from Adam 🍎

Take the time to jump through all the hoops to complete their purchase 🧾

And more!

So, did you have the sole objective of creating compelling desire top of mind while you were:-

- Taking and uploading photos
- Writing about your products & business
- Producing all your content - from the “contact us” and “about us” pages up?

It’s so easy to lose sight of this, but the fact is: the more desire you create the more people will pay and the more they’ll put up with to get satisfaction.🙏🏻

Just ask an addict!

And nobody ever bought anything just because it was easy. 😌

So, pack more desire into your store and watch your sales soar. 🚀

Regards,

Steve - successfully doing solo e-commerce since 2005.

23/01/2024

Is your store overflowing with choice?

Are your visitors filtering and sorting their way through a vast array of alternative products?💻

Are they thanking their lucky stars 🌟 there’s a way to cut down on all the overwhelming options?

Or, are they looking at 5 snapshots on an otherwise near empty page, thinking “why would I ever need to sort these price descending?” 🙄

It’s not your fault e-commerce coalesced around the big store model. 🚛

It became the only model. A kind of one-size-does-not-fit-all-but-never-mind solution.

Nobody anticipated the soloprenuer phenomenon. And it still hasn’t clicked. 🫰

Do you expect to sell a range of over 500 products one day? 📈

Because that’s when the big e-commerce model starts making more sense.

Until then, it’s woefully underselling your products and you. 😞

If you visited a store page with 5 products on it, what would be more useful:

- Being able to sort them by price or alphabetically or filter some out?
- Or, knowing more about the products and who is selling them?

Fewer products is great - once we know why they’re special. Not drowning in choice becomes a benefit! 🤿

When we only have a handful of mugshots and not much more to go on. Well, it’s hard not to be underwhelmed and leave. 🛫

That’s why the ubiquitous e-commerce doesn’t work for small stores.

Do you agree? 🤔

Steve - successfully doing solo e-commerce since 2005.

23/01/2024

Do beautiful stores sell more? 🤔

Well, the biggest e-commerce stores in the world can afford the very best designers, analysts and experts. 💰

They can run tens or hundreds of split tests at once to optimise their sales conversion rate. 📊

If sheer beauty were a critical success factor, wouldn’t they have it in spades? 🪣

Objectively, stores like Amazon are not the prettiest, so they must be prioritising other factors.

Factors that actually make them a little…uglier! 😱

They choose to do these other things better instead.

But, the one thing they can’t do better than you… is YOU! 🫵

In fact, because they’re huge organisations, they struggle to project a consistent authentic “personality”, full stop.

You don’t have that problem. So, put you on your pages and into your store. That’s what I do on my stores.

Make selling personal, unique, characterful - like the charming deli on the high street vs. Tesco.

Dare to stand out and put yourself front and centre!

Steve - doing solo e-commerce since 2005.

01/08/2023

🔥 Unlock Your Store's Sales!

Crafting the perfect product pitch is like tailoring a bespoke suit - it must fit your prospect perfectly!

🥩 Selling steak to a vegan? 🌱 Not a chance! Understanding what truly interests your audience makes all the difference.

🔗 Download our FREE guide to the art of compelling online selling...

And watch your sales soar!🚀

https://woo.madevine.com/profit-power-ups-download/ to discover the secrets to irresistible messaging.

Steve - founder
19 years making a great living selling real products online

31/07/2023

Discover how you can grow 🚀 your e-commerce sales using omission bias

Human-beings incorrectly perceive doing nothing as less risky. 😬

This is omission bias.

We can't help believing in a stable status quo. ⚖️

In reality "situations" change rapidly. Time doesn't wait for us to decide.

Your digital marketing & selling challenge is to overcome our preference to procrastinate.

How?

Use Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) to nudge prospects into action... now! 😱

Educate potential customers on the *immediate* risks of doing nothing. Not long-term, because we heavily discount the future 🙄.

Get more advice in the free e-book download. 🔗Get yours here: https://woo.madevine.com/profit-power-ups-download/

Steve - Founder
Selling online for 19 years
WooCommerce store owner

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

28/07/2023

Does only bad stuff happen to you? Join the club...

Secretly, we're all pessimists. We rate the chances bad things will happen as much higher than good. And, we're motivated more to not lose, than to get extra.

How can you stop losing(!) sales in your WooCommerce/ e-commerce store knowing this?

***Sell the benefit of stopping loss***

"Stop losing money to high gas bills", "Don't lose your dream retirement, guarantee it with..." , "Don't lose your cool...", "Don't lose your precious time..."

I'm sure you get the idea. Just about any positive benefit can be flipped into not losing something instead.

Interested in learning how easy it is to convert more sales online using this and 11 more human psychological traits?

FREE no email required download link here: https://woo.madevine.com/profit-power-ups-download/

Steve - Founder
19 years selling real product online.
Follow for seasoned e-commerce advice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UKMadeVine

09/03/2024

07/03/2024

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25/01/2024

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31/07/2023

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