黑料门

Everything you need to sell online

Set up an online store in minutes to sell on a website, social media, or marketplaces.

Listen

5 Power Tips to Build Your Business and Find Your Fans

45 min listen

Hosts Jesse and Rich spotlight the recent significant 黑料门 updates intended to super-power your store. Meet integrations for more cost-effective advertising on Snapchat and Pinterest, learn how Facebook Messenger may improve your interaction with customers, and easily create beautiful stores with the Instant Site and WordPress Version 5. All supported by 黑料门!

Show notes

  • Instant Site — themes and new site builder
  • WordPress Version 5 (Gutenberg) integration
  • Snapchat integration
  • Pinterest integration
  • Facebook Messenger and live chat.

Transcript

Jesse: What鈥檚 going on, Richie?

Richard: What鈥檚 happening, Jess? It鈥檚 that day again. Let鈥檚 rock it.

Jesse: We鈥檙e gonna rock it today. It is really the Jesse and Rich show today. We do not have a guest. I think that鈥檚 kind of liberating. We don鈥檛 have to integrate anybody鈥檚 audio. We just talk.

Richard: It鈥檚 cool. Although we love guests.

Jesse: Yes. Did that sound mean to the guests?

Richard: No, no, no. I think the real reason we don鈥檛 have guests today is just a lot of updates, a lot of stuff going on in 黑料门. We want to make sure people are on the loop.

Jesse: Yeah. I think this is a good opportunity because I am assuming everybody does not read every single email and every single update we send to them in their control panel, which pains me and it pains our content team that they don鈥檛 hang on every word that we send them. But yeah, sad but true. If you haven鈥檛 been reading every single email and haven鈥檛 done all the things we told you to do, this is your opportunity to catch up, and hear the highlights of the things that we鈥檝e done over the past few months. Some of these things actually haven鈥檛 been released. I usually know what鈥檚 going on in the beta programs or what鈥檚 coming. Sometimes I jump the gun on a few things. It鈥檚 happened before, but hopefully I don鈥檛 do that today. This is all stuff that depending on when you listened to this, it鈥檚 either available or super, super close. Richard, just me and you today. We talked on the phone about e-commerce all the time. That鈥檚 why we did the podcast. So it should be easy.

Richard: Yeah. This will be a piece of cake.

Jesse: All right, the first thing I wanted to talk about here, so everybody knows what 黑料门 is. It鈥檚 an online store builder. We have e-commerce functionality. We also have a website. A lot of people came to 黑料门, they used a different website, and they embedded 黑料门. We recently have totally revamped our site builder. We now call it Instant Site. Actually, this is very cool. I should be having a little more excitement in my voice because it鈥檚 a huge update, right?

Richard: Hey, sounded excited to me.

Jesse: All right, good. Good. We don鈥檛 have to edit this out. (laughing) A couple of things with the Instant Site. There鈥檚 now a whole bunch of different themes included. That means when you are ready to start building your store, you want to revamp your store. So people listening to here probably, maybe you want to revamp it. There鈥檚 a bunch of themes included. With a theme that means it鈥檚 the basic structure is already there. You鈥檙e not building from scratch. Like when you are going to do a word doc, it鈥檚 not blank. You just edit the things that you want to change. So a bunch of themes included. With that you can update the fonts, you can update the pictures, the calls to action. All the texts on the page, of course. Basically it鈥檚 opening up a whole new possibility here for building your basic starters. We used to call it the Starter Site. Now it鈥檚 the Instant Site, cause this is meant to be a really fast way to start building your site seamless. I definitely want to encourage people to check this out.

Richard: Yeah, that鈥檚 great. It鈥檚 more or less all one page, right?

Jesse: It鈥檚 all right there. I think there鈥檚 this idea that, “I need these super complicated themes” and blah, blah. You really don鈥檛, depending on where you鈥檙e at in the journey. If you鈥檙e just getting started, did you really want to pay a web developer to build a site for you? Probably not.

Richard: Probably not.

Jesse: Yeah. You just want to start selling some stuff. And there鈥檚 a lot of places you can sell stuff. You can sell it on Instagram and Facebook and whatnot. But, I would say anybody that even if they say, “I just want to sell on Instagram.” Okay, great. You should also have a site. This makes that process as simple as building your Facebook profile, if you will.

Richard: Yeah, I mean that鈥檚 more or less. Think about it. We talked about the state of the Internet, are people really hanging out on web pages? Sometimes when they have to, but they鈥檙e mostly hanging out on Instagram and Facebook and Google. And this is a way that you can have a hub that can bring them back to your place and have all your products and whatever it is that you want to describe on your website. But we鈥檙e really acknowledging that most people are hanging out on social and looking for things. And then you just want to have a place that you bring them back. That鈥檚 your own that you control.

Jesse: For sure. And this is that home base. You should be working on your Instagram profile and your Facebook profile and having the shoppable posts and things like that. But where do those things go? They go back to your site. And so for those people out there, and I talk to people at e-commerce all the time. So they say, “I just want to sell an Instagram.” Okay, great. Every time they want to buy something from you, you gotta workout, how are you gonna pay them? Or you can do Venmo, is it going to be bitcoin? And every single time you鈥檝e got to figure this out, that鈥檚 insanity. That鈥檚 just frankly dumb. Like just get an e-commerce platform, so that yeah, you鈥檙e doing a bunch of stuff on these social platforms, but eventually they want to get to a site and there鈥檚 a lot of advantages to a site. That鈥檚 where you can grab the emails. That鈥檚 where basic shopping cart functionality becomes important. So when people ask you how much does it cost, how much to ship to whatever (these questions that are annoying to me, having been doing this for a long time), the answer is check out the site, you plug in the product, put in your address. That鈥檚 how you know what it costs. That鈥檚 what a shopping cart does. That鈥檚 what websites do. Definitely I have always encouraged people to build their own site. And this makes it so simple. You could build a couple of them if you want to. It鈥檚 so simple. That鈥檚 great. Rich, we get you excited about building an Instant Site?

Richard: Yeah, I鈥檓 super excited. This always fires me up and we talk about it in various forms. It comes down to friction. There鈥檚 a lot of people who would love to have their own business, but there鈥檚 a lot of things to do. The sooner you can get something up, start testing the market, make it real easy. There鈥檚 just less, things you have to actually focus on and then you can do what鈥檚 important. We鈥檙e going to go over a couple of other things here, but part of why we mentioned this is just the state of the Internet. Internet right now where they鈥檙e hanging out on Instagram and hanging out in these places. If they鈥檙e there and you can set up super quick a site and you can test and you can sell on Instagram now and you can sell on Facebook now and it took you a day maybe to set that thing up. You might actually be into the e-commerce. But if you, to your point from earlier, if you鈥檝e got to go get a developer and you鈥檙e gonna decide, what exactly it is going to look like. Cause developers not just going to do it on their own. They鈥檙e going to ask you for your input. And it鈥檚 like, “I don鈥檛 even know yet. I don鈥檛 know where my customers are.” This is a way to get up, get started, get tested, almost no cost.

Jesse: Yup. This is just like a super fast on ramp to it. It is no cost by the way to do, do a full Instant Site with your own products. This is free, you get in, you log in, pick a theme. Don鈥檛 obsess over it that much. Change the words, it鈥檚 going to say something like “My awesome store”, whatever. That鈥檚 not the name of your store. I get that.

Richard: It鈥檚 funny you said it鈥檚 actually free. I knew it was free when I said almost no cost. It鈥檚 amazing how much people automatically assume I鈥檓 talking about money. I just meant the cost of your time.

Jesse: Sure.

Richard: Right. So a day and you literally could be鈥 If you don鈥檛 have a Facebook profile, you don鈥檛 have an Instagram but you don鈥檛 have any of these things, in one day you can be up and connected to those things and be ready to go.

Jesse: Yeah, and I think we could do a challenge here. Maybe we have people time themselves. I know that you can do this in five minutes but let鈥檚 just say a day, so you can obsess over some pictures and videos and stuff like that. You have these themes and there鈥檚 a bunch of stock photos. You have thousands of stock photos you can choose from. The better thing is you should have your own photos, right? If you have, take a picture of your workshop or maybe a little more of a lifestyle. It depends on the product. You should have your own product. Even better would be to take a video so you can have a video in the background of your store. Your front page be a video in the background with text on the top products below About Us sections. Really everything you need to get started selling online. Hopefully, if you鈥檙e listening out there, you鈥檙e thinking, “I think I should check this out” and you should. Okay, that鈥檚 good on Instant Site. We previously have talked about some other updates we鈥檝e made on, more on the shopping cart functionality. We鈥檒l call this the way the products are displayed. So that was updated maybe six months, a year ago. This in a combination where now there鈥檚 an Instant Site theme and now the way the products are displayed, so you can choose, do I want two across, three across, one, do I want drop shadows? Do I want to show the price on top of it? Like a ton of these different options that are all available by clicking a button. There鈥檚 no coding with this Instant Site. So don鈥檛 freak out about code. You can make all sorts of pretty cool customization without having to worry about code. Kinda on that same thought of the code free world, we鈥檙e going to go into a little bit more. This is not for the people who are just getting started. This is all like a more advanced level. There鈥檚 a ton of 黑料门 customers that are on WordPress. So WordPress like Rich, how many? I mean WordPress is pretty dominant.

Richard: I don鈥檛 know the exact hard stats right now, but I know over 50% of the sites on the Internet.

Jesse: Yeah, it鈥檚 a ton.

Richard: I want to say it鈥檚 closer to 70 but I know it鈥檚 over 50 for sure.

Jesse: I鈥檓 willing to bet lower. Maybe we can bet lunch on the over under here. So, all right, I鈥檓 going to go up. We鈥檙e shaking on this. I鈥檓 at an under on 50 but it鈥檚 pretty high though. Either way, I鈥檓 gonna look it up while you鈥檙e talking. All right. I鈥檓 betting the under, but WordPress is the dominant platform on the Internet. That is where a lot of the developers work in WordPress and so WordPress did an update. I think they are on WordPress version five right now. And the code name for this was Gutenberg. So you don鈥檛 need to follow all the things, all things WordPress, but just to let you know that they have made a big update to make it more of a code free back end, which means there鈥檚 a concept called content blocks. You can move things around very easily without being a developer to arrange your store. Maybe you鈥檙e using a theme and WordPress, maybe you鈥檙e not, maybe you just want to move things around. I know that sounded maybe a little confusing, but for the developers out there, they鈥檙e like, oh yeah. Gutenberg鈥檚 awesome. It allows to mix and match your site however you want. So what does 黑料门 have to do that? That鈥檚 probably the dominant platform in the 黑料门 world too. So a lot of people are on WordPress, and we鈥檝e made our platform, I would say I would call them Gutenberg friendly. Maybe. I don鈥檛 know if that鈥檚 a term out there. We鈥檙e going to start to coin the term. We are Gutenberg friendly. That means when you are in the backend of WordPress. And by the way, if you had never been in the back end of WordPress previously, like there鈥檚 a lot of code there, you can very easily break your store. I鈥檝e broken a lot of WordPress stores in my day or WordPress sites. So making it code free is a huge thing. The content blocks for 黑料门 means your design possibilities are limitless. So if you want to have like “Here鈥檚 my top product”, you want to have just one product card, you can put it in there. You want to have the search in your header on the blog, where maybe you didn鈥檛 have it in the blog before. You want to have the shopping cart in a certain area. Basically, whatever possibilities you have are now a possibility. Rich, we were talking about this prior, this isn鈥檛 the main reason, but let鈥檚 say you have a really long blog post. What鈥檚 a sample blog post here?

Richard: I think I get where you鈥檙e going here. Views. You鈥檙e talking about how you鈥檙e doing a fishing trip and you talk about all your fish and chips around the world, but you decide, one of the things I love to do is I have these lures and all of a sudden you鈥檙e like, “I got all these followers on my blog about my efficient chip, and they鈥檙e fishermen. I want to start selling some lures.” You can take these blocks and either put a picture right there to your product page or maybe a category page. It has all your different lures. Is that what you鈥檙e referring to?

Jesse: That鈥檚 what I鈥檓 getting at it. The possibilities are limitless. So anything in WordPress can now be moved around by using this content block, a functionality. There鈥檚 no code. For people that are developers, it鈥檚 not like an i-frame, it鈥檚 more of a little chunk of your store can now be moved anywhere you want inside of WordPress. So this is very important for people that have, we mentioned with the Instant Site, that was more of a simple website. Sometimes WordPress stores or WordPress sites can be fairly complicated. There might be 50 a hundred pages more than that. Now the e-commerce functionality can be mixed and matched wherever you want. It doesn鈥檛 have to be “Go to the store or the shop tab where everything lives.” It can be interspersed throughout it. Actually, we have quite a few bands that a lot of times use WordPress because they have, “here鈥檚 the tour dates, here鈥檚 the behind the scenes pictures”, and then they have like a merch store. A lot of times it might be just a merch store, but now opening up the possibilities that intermixed in the tour dates and then the blog section, there can be different ways that they can sell things from their store wherever they want.

Richard: Oh, that鈥檚 great. By the way, as we were talking about this, it looks like I鈥檓 getting your lunch. There鈥檙e various stats, some are getting pretty close to mine, but it looks like maybe everyone鈥檚 building these Instant Sites we were talking about earlier. Now that鈥檚 starting to outweigh WordPress.

Jesse: All right, good. I heard that, free lunch, alright. Pretty launch on Rich.

Richard: But there鈥檚 still a lot.

Jesse: There is a ton now.

Richard: It is for sure the dominant platform. Just so everyone is aware, 黑料门 is now Gutenberg friendly, has been for a while. It鈥檚 built into WordPress. Feel free, let your imagination run wild on WordPress. All right. Talked about a couple of different things with the website side of things. Now let鈥檚 talk about other platforms. As we mentioned, websites should be your hub, but that is not the Internet today. Rich just put his phone in his pocket. Internet is actually on your phone in many ways. Don鈥檛 think just websites and just desktop, think other platforms and mobile phones. One of that we have just introduced, I鈥檓 hoping this email goes out next week, and I鈥檓 not jumping the gun on this, but we now have a Snap integration. First of all, Rich, you鈥檙e not younger than me, but let鈥檚 say what Snapchat is for the older folks out there.

Richard: It鈥檚 just like a lot of these platforms, but before we get into what Snap is, let鈥檚 go back to why. Why did Jesse say, this is what鈥檚 going on the Internet right now is because this is where people are hanging out and we don鈥檛 know where your market鈥檚 hanging out. Your market might be hanging out on Instagram, your market might be hanging out on Facebook. And market might be hanging out on Pinterest. Your market might be hanging out on Messenger. WeChat, Snapchat, so now I鈥檓 going to go into, to Jesse鈥檚 point, for the most part, younger people are hanging out on Snapchat now. Just like everything in life, there鈥檚 always pretty much an exception to the rule. I鈥檓 sure there鈥檚 someone crushing it that鈥檚 an older person, maybe even older than us on Snapchat. But for the most part a younger demographic and whether it鈥檚 a video or whether it鈥檚 a picture, you鈥檙e doing something to stick with the theme of the name they have. It鈥檚 like here鈥檚 a little snapshot of my life. There鈥檚 a little bit of behind the scenes. It鈥檚 usually shot and behind the scenes, and they have a limited lifespan, and they鈥檇 disappear. Now there are other things that are going on.

Jesse: By the way, it is where Instagram Stories came from. The kind of stole it from Snap.

Richard: Yeah, they鈥檝e stolen a lot of stuff from Snap. Once Snap said, “No, you can鈥檛 buy us.” They鈥檙e like, “Okay, well we鈥檒l just start copying all the other stuff.” Sure. But the reason why I went back and started at the beginning that is there are different markets that are hanging out in different places and it鈥檚 still growing. It鈥檚 not as big as Instagram, but it鈥檚 still growing. There鈥檚 still a huge market there. So we鈥檙e not necessarily saying everybody, now that there鈥檚 this integration to Snapchat, that everybody鈥檚 supposed to start doing Snapchat. But if your demographic is a younger market and you think they鈥檙e on Snapchat, there鈥檚 now a way for you to be able to see if it鈥檚 worth your time to play on Snapchat. And how does that exactly work?

Jesse: Yeah, so the integration is a pixel integration. We鈥檝e been talking about this pixel. Everyone鈥檚 like, what the heck is a pixel? Why don鈥檛 I just define what a pixel is? It鈥檚 a tiny little bit of piece of code that you integrate. You put in your website and it basically tracks, attracts people. I guess the short answer might sound bad, but what that means is that if you install the Snap Pixel, for instance, and by the way, when I say Snap Pixel, that means you鈥檙e clicking a button and putting in some credentials. There鈥檚 no actual placing of the code here. That鈥檚 what we did. We made that part easy. I should make sure I throw that in there. But what it does is that you might already be getting traffic from Snapchat and you would have no idea. Maybe you鈥檝e installed Google Analytics properly and you鈥檙e looking there. Great. You should be doing that too. Let鈥檚 be honest, or you鈥檙e not looking in the right place. What the Snap Pixel does, it allows you to very easily see, who鈥檚 coming from Snapchat, how many people are coming. And then more importantly, for ecommerce store owners who鈥檚 buying, the whole goal here is to sell stuff, right? It鈥檚 not just to get traffic. You want to sell stuff, in order to track that properly, you need the pixel going further. That鈥檚 just tracking. That鈥檚 free. That鈥檚 just knowing the information longer term. If you ever have any designs on advertising on these platforms, so if you advertise on Snap, you need to have the pixel. You could do without it. Please don鈥檛 do that. Please don鈥檛 ever advertise on anything unless you properly install pixels and tracking. This is what pixels do. They allow you to track, track traffic and sales and help you advertise in the future. And even if you think you might advertise, there鈥檚 a tiny chance, install the pixel now.

Richard: Yeah, of course. We can make a crude analogy where it鈥檚 like you have kids, should you have started taking pictures of your kids when they were first born? Or you thought about it three years later and you wish you had pictures of your kids. It鈥檚 about information that you can鈥檛 go back and get later. It鈥檚 stuff you can鈥檛 go back and get after the fact. So to Jesse鈥檚 point, yes, you can advertise without them, for years and years and years. This is how traditional advertising work. Like you鈥檇 put a commercial on TV or you鈥檇 put a commercial on the radio or you鈥檇 put flyers out and you鈥檇 say, “Well, I guess it looks like more people are in the restaurant than there was last month.” But there was no real tracking unless it was “Hand this flyer to the waitress” or “Give us this code when you come in.” But now you can actually go try some advertising and you鈥檙e not going to know exactly necessarily all the information about this person. But you will know, “Hey, we put time into Snapchat and it looks now like 17 sales came through from Snapchat, and we made $587.” Now I don鈥檛 know what your margins are. I don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going on. But you now can make an educated decision looking at the data. Like if you spent 3000 hours on Snapchat, that might not necessarily be good. But if you spend a few hours, like you might want to spend a lot more time on Snapchat. So back again to Jessie鈥檚 point, this is a way for you to track whether you spent your time, effort, and energy on these other platforms that actually drove back sales to your business.

Jesse: And even going a little further on Snapchat, there are all sorts of very cool stuff going on there that Instagram will probably copy the next year. If you鈥檙e not on Snapchat, eventually, Instagram will copy it you鈥檒l get there. They鈥檙e probably more advanced on AR, like this face app thing that went around a couple of weeks ago, here鈥檚 you in 20 years. Snapchat鈥檚 been doing that for a long time. Everyone in Snapchat is probably like, “Oh, you guys finally caught on, we鈥檝e been doing this forever.” It鈥檚 basically AR. Maybe not AR, anyway, I won鈥檛 get into it. The AR stuff where you hold up your phone and there are things that are interacting in the real world.

Richard: You鈥檙e right. Both of those are AR, which is augmented reality. It鈥檚 not VR.

Jesse: Correct. It鈥檚 not VR. They got the geo filter, geo-fencing of filters, I don鈥檛 know what would be an example of using that?

Richard: Okay, so let鈥檚 just stick with the 鈥

Jesse: Going in deep here. Everybody, just hang with us.

Richard: You鈥檙e that fishing guy again and you got your fish and blog and you just went to a fishing conference, a fishing boat show or something like that. There are going to be people going around, and taking pictures, and they鈥檙e going to go on Snapchat, and they鈥檙e going to look for these filters that go over their pictures, and they鈥檙e going to send it to their friends, or they鈥檙e going to leave it on Snapchat. You could literally say, I want to place an ad, or I want to make this filter only available for people that are in this square footage of this conference. So you don鈥檛 have to waste your money everywhere else where there might not even be fishermen, middle of the desert or whatever. But right now on this day or two days or however long this is, there鈥檚 going to be a bunch of fishermen here and you want to market to people. You do this. You could show one of your lure, but the geo-fencing specifically is “I want to place an ad around this specific location for this length of time.” And it鈥檚 actually surprisingly cheap for some of these events. There鈥檙e bidding wars if it鈥檚 a big conference or something like that. Sure.

Jesse: And getting back to the demographic. Probably better for you if you sell surfboards and there鈥檚 a surfing competition. Always think of your demographic. If you鈥檙e selling to younger people, people who are a little more technically capable. This is the cool kids, right? This is potentially an option for you. And whether it鈥檚 geo-fencing or AR, all this crazy stuff, like they got the spectacles. They used to be crazy looking glasses, but it basically had a camera on it. There are new ones now. Better looking sunglasses. But they have two different cameras on them that are recording HD at all times. Is that going to be the thing for everybody? I don鈥檛 know. Maybe, maybe not. But they are playing on the cutting edge. They have a younger demographic that wants to be on the cutting edge. If you want to play in that world, we just gave you the tools. Get in there, there鈥檚 more coming on snap I guarantee in the next couple of months. Hang tight, get your pixel, be done with it. On that same note, Pinterest, completely different demographic. There鈥檚 probably people on both, but I would say it鈥檚 probably a very different demographic, a different platform. But we have the pixel integration with Pinterest. We talked about it in depth on our last podcast. If you want to go super in deep on Pinterest, go to the last pod. It鈥檚 number 50. We鈥檙e gonna talk way more in depth, but if you didn鈥檛 listen to it and you鈥檙e “Just give me the info.” Pinterest is for products that are going to be a little more visual in nature, I think are probably gonna work better there. The old demographic, which isn鈥檛 necessarily true, it鈥檚 going to be skew female, it鈥檚 going to skew a little bit older, a little more Midwestern rather than the coasts. That also was not completely true by the way. So even as I say that, I鈥檓 like, well, I live in California, I鈥檓 a male. I actually really think Pinterest is great. I think it鈥檚 pretty cool because you can choose your interests. Anyway, if Pinterest is another place where you can play, so the pixel integration is ready now going further on Pinterest, it鈥檚 the product catalogs that they have, which I think are the key. So product catalogs is, means that you basically, if you鈥檙e on 黑料门, you have a product catalog sitting there, all your products, your prices, the descriptions. That is a product catalog that鈥檚 great on your 黑料门 store. But that product catalog can be used in multiple different places. Google shopping, Facebook, dynamic ads, and Pinterest now. Depending on when you listen to it, there鈥檚 a couple different ways to integrate it. Right now you can use your Google shopping feed. There鈥檚 something coming there too, just a spoiler alert. But right now you can use your Google shopping feed to integrate into Pinterest, get your catalog in there and that enables rich pins. So rich pins is the main technology that Pinterest uses. So as people are re-pinning and looking at pin boards and scrolling their phone, the rich pin is what shows your price of the product and it brings people back to your site. That鈥檚 pretty short intro, discussion on Pinterest, but you already have a product catalog in your store. Why would you not get it onto Pinterest, get your pixel installed and just see what happens there.

Richard: And there is a lot, a lot of people on Pinterest and back again to your point earlier, if you think your product is highly visual and or people could be displaying the use of your product or an example of what it looks like when they have it in their home or just whatever. If it鈥檚 a visual product, you should definitely most likely be playing there. And again, go back, listen to the last podcast and check that out if you want to go deeper dive. But the theme here again is that people are playing all over the Internet. We don鈥檛 know where your individual market is. But 黑料门 is giving you the tools and one of these tools is this tracking pixels and obviously to your point there, to the product catalogs and that鈥檚 huge. There are millions and millions of people playing on this platform called Pinterest. If they can find your product catalog while they鈥檙e scrolling through that particular thing. Again, we don鈥檛 know what exactly you sell right now, but you can now see. “Wow, look at all these sales that are coming from Pinterest”. And if you don鈥檛 have these tracking pixels in place, you might be playing in the wrong playground.

Jesse: Yeah, you might be spending a whole bunch of time with your Facebook post which by the way, if you鈥檙e not spending ads on Facebook, people probably aren鈥檛 seeing those. Where you could be spending a little bit of time on Pinterest and just going to leave you with this. Pinterest traffic is generally way more valuable than any other traffic for an e-commerce store. I鈥檝e heard all sorts of different stats but I can tell you from personal experience as well. People from Pinterest are ready to buy, they鈥檙e looking at products that they want to add to a board which means they have an interest in buying.

Richard: It鈥檚 interesting you say that cuz they鈥檙e either ready to buy now or it鈥檚 something they aspire to buy. It鈥檚 in some ways unlike a tweet or Instagram posts or definitely a Snapchat that dies quick. These pins live on. sometimes they鈥檙e just like “I want to get this one day” and now they can come back. They鈥檙e either wanting to buy now or they want to buy this someday, but it鈥檚 definitely the visual, aspirational “I want this.”

Jesse: Yep, I agree and our previous guest Kim kind of disagrees a little bit, listen to more on that discussion.

Richard: Everyone doesn鈥檛 agree with this?

Jesse: They should but yeah, there鈥檚 a lot of projects that will work there. For sure visual products, apparel, very niche things.

Richard: So okay, you still should go back and listen. I don鈥檛 think she disagreed with us as much as she expanded upon that idea.

Jesse: Totally agree. I think she was trying to expand our thought process there. So anyway, the bottom line is to try it. If you think it鈥檒l work for your product. I think it鈥檚 like a hidden gem out there in the Internet world. You have the tools, you just need to spend a little bit of time integrating them and then report back to us. Like if you鈥檙e crushing on Pinterest, let us know. We鈥檒l bring it on the podcast.

Richard: What else we got?

Jesse: Next one we鈥檙e talking about. So this one is where we may be jumping the gun on this cuz I see the emails before they get sent, so don鈥檛 get mad at me if this hasn鈥檛 been released yet cuz that happens sometimes. Facebook Messenger. So Facebook Messenger is like this huge hidden platform where most people think it鈥檚 just a chat with your friends, like a texting platform but it is massive. Facebook Messenger is massive. What we have integrated right now is fairly limited. What we have integrated is the ability for your store to get that live chat symbol in the lower right-hand corner. It鈥檚 not actually limited, that鈥檚 actually awesome. Like I don鈥檛 have live chat, give me that.

Richard: I think maybe you meant it鈥檚 very focused on what it is. You鈥檙e trying to get done. It鈥檚 not limited. You should have live chat on your site. People are coming to your site and not everyone wants to call the phone number up in the corner. Not everyone wants to write you an email. They鈥檙e Usually probably going to leave. They鈥檙e either finding what they want or they鈥檙e bouncing pretty quick. But to Jesse鈥檚 point there, now with this integration, with Facebook Messenger, it has a little icon. If you don鈥檛 know what it is, you鈥檒l start to see it more but most people know that and someone clicks on that. And now they鈥檙e actually in your messenger platform. Unlike a live chat that isn鈥檛 using Messenger if they close that browser, they leave, that conversation disappears. But this conversation lives on. maybe they did in the middle of the night and then they closed. I know everybody鈥檚 dream to make money in the middle of the night, and eventually, you will but you still see that and you can answer in the morning.

Jesse: And even better. The customer will now see the response because it now lives in their messenger. For the live chat companies out there, they got to be a little bit scared about this because yeah, live chat is great. You should have live chat. The problem with it Is that as soon as somebody close that browser, it鈥檚 gone, disappeared. You as a merchant, if you鈥檙e not on it like 24/7, you鈥檙e missing out on an opportunity. when you have a messenger live chat widget, which is essentially what we have implemented here, you can now answer later. I have this on a site, people have questions all the time and sometimes I can answer right away. Sometimes it鈥檚 5 hours later and the conversation stretches over a couple of different days.

Richard: But it鈥檚 way better than they disappeared and you can鈥檛 get back in touch.

Jesse: Way better than disappearing and way better than having no idea what the question is. If you listened, a couple of times ago we had Andrew Warner on. His basic message was to talk to your customers, you don鈥檛 know what they want. But yeah, you launch the site, people aren鈥檛 buying. Why aren鈥檛 they buying? you have no idea.

Richard: That鈥檚 a great point, Jesse, I didn鈥檛 really think of it this way, but it makes sense. There鈥檚 data-collection. in the beginning, you鈥檙e not going to have a big sample set, but if overtime you keep seeing “Hey, what鈥檚 your phone number?” Maybe it鈥檚 counterintuitive to what we just said cuz they don鈥檛 want to call, but maybe you find out for your particular product, they want to call. And if 17 chats in a row just asked what your phone number is. Guess what you should probably do on your site. You should probably put the phone number there. Whatever. I just picked that out of, that can be anything. When you start to see the common thing that comes up in this chat or common themes that come up in the chat. And definitely you鈥檙e getting feedback from the people you鈥檙e trying to sell to and it鈥檚 definitely important to communicate with those people.

Jesse: For sure. It鈥檚 kind of like, why would she want this information? Why won鈥檛 you want a live chat? I can tell you that. You鈥檙e going to get some dumb questions too. So don鈥檛 prepare yourself for it. You鈥檙e going to get a lot of questions. Like “what is the price of an ax?” It鈥檚 right on the site. How do you not know? Ok, you just tell them the price. And then you see the sale come through a couple of hours later. That may be a bad example, I just wanted to prepare people that you鈥檙e going to get some dumb questions. That鈥檚 fine. Like just deal with it.

Richard: And the real question. You know me, trying to always stick up for everybody. It鈥檚 not that it鈥檚 a dumb question.

Jesse: I think it鈥檚 a dumb question. I鈥檓 just going to go on record as a dumb question.

Richard: But I鈥檓 just saying look at it from this perspective. You鈥檝e been working on your site, you know your business, you鈥檝e been updating it over and over again. They might have just found you for the first time. It might be below the fold. They might not know it. In your mind, it seems like a really super obvious question. I know where that is, but it鈥檚 also cuz you鈥檝e been spending time on your baby that whole time. So whether it鈥檚 a dumb question, whether or not a dumb question, it鈥檚 an insight as to what people are asking, who knows maybe that鈥檚 why there鈥檙e so many books for sale like books on Dummies stuff. (laughing)

Jesse: Very likely. Let me be on the positive side of that. I do see a lot of dumb questions to come in, the questions that I think are dumb, to put that in quotes. Now if I see multiple questions about the shipping price where I鈥檓 like “Man, that鈥檚 right there”. If I get like five or six people asking about the shipping, maybe that鈥檚 ding-ding-ding to me. Maybe I need to put on the top of my site, “Shipping is $25 until you do this”. or maybe I鈥檓 not being clear enough and I should be.

Richard: Maybe you鈥檙e the dumb one. (laughing)

Jesse: Maybe, right? This is information to learn.

Richard: The thing is, information helps keep you from being dumb.

Jesse: For sure, and selling more. I鈥檓 not trying to tell these customers that they鈥檙e dumb. I鈥檓 very nice on a live chat, by the way.

Richard: You would never actually say that to anyone, do you? This is a dumb question.

Jesse: I鈥檓 very nice, but I get frustrated when the kids want to go play and I鈥檓 like, “Well, this person is asking this question for the 20th time. I鈥檝e answered it all week.” Take that information and try to use it for good, say, I鈥檓 so sick of answering this question, my kid wants to go play. I鈥檓 going to change my header. And the headers now going to say what shipping is or where I鈥檓 located or the phone number. Whatever question is coming to you more often than you think it should be, figure out a way to answer that. Now Messenger too, maybe the question, you can answer it with the video. You can pop a link to a video in there. So whether it鈥檚 a YouTube video you made or it鈥檚 a video that shows how to check out. It could be so many different things. I wanted to lead into we had a bunch of a podcast we鈥檝e done on chatbots. So that鈥檚 what I meant, this isn鈥檛 chatbots necessarily. This is really going to start off with live chats, you start to talk to your customers, interact with them on messenger. That is awesome. Now if you are interested in chatbots, this is the first step in that. Of course, I鈥檓 interested in that, I would like to go ten steps deeper on this. Let鈥檚 just hold off on that. You can listen to a couple of different podcasts on chatbots and go further, but they generally work on messenger and this is basically messenger in your store. It is going to be so slick, it鈥檚 going to be a couple clicks to get it on your store and then you鈥檒l be able to talk to your customers real-time In messenger. I think I might drop right there.

Richard: We will close out going back cuz we鈥檙e nice people. We want to help you. The only dumb question is the question that you don鈥檛 ask. Get on support, write us emails, fill out the form and get on and ask questions. The reason we want to talk to you about the pixels and on Snapchat and on Pinterest and let you know about this is because the only thing that is dumb is to not pay attention to what鈥檚 going on. The rest of the stuff is just information and use that information to your benefit. Learn from your customers. I mean how many generations does the older generation think the younger generation is doing something stupid. We鈥檙e just in the new version of that. People do it all these crazy things online. Know your business, know what鈥檚 going on. And again, the only real dumb question is the question you don鈥檛 ask.

Jesse: So true. I think you鈥檙e calling me out there secretly and that鈥檚 fine. I appreciate it. Here鈥檚 what the thing I like about this podcast is here鈥檚 what we did not talk about today. We didn鈥檛 really talk about selling on Facebook and Instagram, we did a little bit. I guess we can talk about Google shopping or YouTube. Those are kind of the big dogs out there that we鈥檝e talked about a lot. They may work for you, they may not, but we want to keep giving you these tools. So these are new tools that are available. There鈥檚 an updated website, WordPress integration, Snap integration, Pinterest and now Facebook Messenger. Think of that as just that鈥檚 like live chat on steroids all tools that are available. We keep adding these new things. I know you鈥檙e reading every email course, but now you have it from Rich and Jessie. Rich and Jessie Show here.

Richard: Is it time for me to go to a Snapchat for my answer to the WordPress themes? I鈥檒l go buy you lunch now.

Jesse: I think that鈥檚 fair and I鈥檒l take a picture of that and put it on Pinterest and see if we can drive traffic to the rest. All right guys sell all sorts of new ways, start building your store. Get out there, make it happen.

Sell online

With 黑料门 Ecommerce, you can easily sell anywhere, to anyone 鈥 across the internet and around the world.

Stay up to date!

Subscribe to our podcast for weekly motivation and actionable advice to build your dream business.

Ecommerce that has your back

So simple to use 鈥 even my most technophobic clients can manage. Easy to install, quick to set up. Light years ahead of other shop plugins.
I鈥檓 so impressed I鈥檝e recommended it to my website clients and am now using it for my own store along with four others for which I webmaster. Beautiful coding, excellent top-notch support, great documentation, fantastic how-to videos. Thank you so much 黑料门, you rock!
I鈥檝e used 黑料门 and I love the platform itself. Everything is so simplified it鈥檚 insane. I love how you have different options to choose shipping carriers, to be able to put in so many different variants. It鈥檚 a pretty open e-commerce gateway.
Easy to use, affordable (and a free option if starting off). Looks professional, many templates to select from. The App is my favorite feature as I can manage my store right from my phone. Highly recommended 馃憣馃憤
I like that 黑料门 was easy to start and to use. Even for a person like me, without any technical background. Very well written help articles. And the support team is the best for my opinion.
For everything it has to offer, ECWID is incredibly easy to set up. Highly recommend! I did a lot of research and tried about 3 other competitors. Just try ECWID and you'll be online in no time.

Want to be a guest?

We want to share interesting stories with the community, fill out this form and tell us why you would be a great guest.

Your ecommerce dreams start here

By clicking 鈥淎ccept All Cookies鈥, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Your Privacy

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. More information

Strictly Necessary Cookies (Always active)
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources, so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies, we will not know when you have visited our site.