Top eCommerce Resources To Subscribe To
The eCommerce market can be difficult to keep up with. To stay ahead of the online competition, it’s a wise idea to adopt a mindset of continual learning for your business.
Of course, you’ll learn a lot through mistakes and experimentation, but the good news is that you can also learn a lot through reading, listening to and actively engaging in a host of different eCommerce resources. Consulting different resources can help you learn more and stay on top of trends in the industry.
We’re going to share some of the best eCommerce resources for business owners. Again, we know that sticking to just one channel can be boring, so we’re trying to include various media for eCommerce owners. This will include websites and blogs, podcasts, videos and online courses for your eCommerce store.
Websites/Blogs
- Have you heard of HubSpot? Uniquely, it’s an all-in-one CRM solution but it also features an extensive list of resources including blogs, ebooks, courses and research papers. HubSpot was started in 2005 and today is centred around helping businesses grow on a daily basis, and offers incredible solutions for eCommerce efficiency and optimisation.
- Moreover, ShoppingFeeder is a multi-channel marketing tool that features hands-on management. Did you know that we’ve also got a bunch of insights for you to read? This includes everything from how to set up a Shopify store from scratch, current news and industry guides. It’s a great resource for those looking to build an eCommerce store, or if you need a boost.
- While Shopify is well-known for its popular eCommerce platform solution, it also features an extensive blog that is updated regularly. A lot of content is geared towards Shopify users, but it also includes current news, general tips and tricks for eCommerce stores, case studies on successful businesses and guides for selling specific products online. This is an all-encompassing blog that will keep you up-to-date with current eCommerce affairs.
- Practical eCommerce is a website that is filled to the brim with resources. It covers everything from Amazon selling, B2B strategies, Design, SEO and Marketing. There are new articles written almost daily covering a range of different categories, which can be useful for your business. Some examples of its content include tips for cross-border eCommerce, how to lower inventory costs, email marketing features among many other topics. As you can see, this is an essential resource that can benefit your eCommerce site in a number of different areas.
- Copyblogger is one for all of the aspiring writers out there, as it focuses on content marketing and copywriting for businesses. While its main offering is a training service, Copyblogger’s blog is extensive and covers a lot of topics that will help your content marketing strategies. Some of its content includes tips for personalising writing, fixing common writing and proofreading errors and advice for creating content that is captivating and resonates well with your audience. It’s certainly worth looking at if your website’s copy and content need a boost.
- As a competitor to HubSpot, HootSuite offers a similarly engaging host of resources for its viewers. It’s also primarily a CRM solution but features a well-written blog that includes social media trends and up-to-date reports, advice for strategy and tactics, case studies on institutions and businesses and current toolkits for businesses.
- A Better Lemonade Stand is one of the top eCommerce newsletters in operation, with over 30,000 monthly subscribers. They’ll send quality content to your inbox and provide you with handpicked offers for apps, tools and services. It features a vast blog page, with articles that are geared at helping your business grow with actionable data. They’ve also prepared a comprehensive package of resources including case studies, guides, video training, recommendations and articles – however, you’ll need to subscribe to access these. Subscribing to A Better Lemonade Stand is free, as you’ll simply need to enter your email address to start receiving top-quality content and stay ahead of your competition.
- Mailchimp, one of the most popular email marketing platforms at the moment, has a great email marketing guide for new eCommerce business owners. It features everything you need to know to get started with email marketing, including creating an email campaign, designing eye-catching emails and measuring the performance of your email marketing strategy. It’s very useful to anyone who hasn’t yet ventured into the world of email marketing and is easy to follow.
- While Magento is an eCommerce platform in its own right, it features a ton of eCommerce resources for viewers, including an extensive resources library. This library includes everything from webinars, white papers and guides to infographics and reports. A fair bit of its content is created for B2B eCommerce businesses, but many of its guides feature exceptional instructions on improving customer experience and omnichannel marketing which are relevant for any eCommerce owner.
Podcasts
- The Unofficial Shopify Podcast by Kurt Elster
This one’s a no-brainer if you’re using Shopify for your eCommerce business. Kurt is a senior eCommerce consultant and Shopify Plus Partner and spends time discussing new opportunities for owners to grow their stores.
This podcast features new episodes every week and includes guest appearances from many business professionals. The themes covered include everything from case studies, laws, current news and tips for your website. You can expect a rounded podcast that includes eCommerce news as well as actionable data.
2. eCommerce Marketing Podcast
This is a great choice for beginners. The eCommerce Marketing Podcast features specific industry-related episodes that are directly related to growing your website. Some topics covered include SEO, product launches, content marketing, multi-channel marketing, cash flow and customer experience.
Each episode is presented by various entrepreneurs; all of them have different business experience but agree on best practices for eCommerce marketing. This is a useful podcast for all things marketing. It features many useful tips and tricks for your eCommerce business including tackling marketing.
Duct Tape Marketing is great for small business owners who are looking to operate within a strict budget. John Jantsch runs this podcast weekly and includes interviews with experts, authors and industry leaders. It currently features almost 60 pages worth of podcasts, which is sure to help you learn about your eCommerce business!
Online Courses
Online courses are more popular than ever before. In a COVID-filled world, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use this platform to aid your business ventures.
For those who want to build their own website, we like Udemy’s PHP for Beginners: How to Build an eCommerce store. This course cost around R182 and includes lessons from an experienced developer, who has taught over 500,000 students.
This course covers your system’s front end, product and contact pages, shopping cart, payment processing, back-end admin, reporting and more. You’ll need to dedicate some time to work through each lesson, as it includes over 14 hours of lessons!
If you’re looking for a free option, we like Coursera’s overview of Digital Business Models. While this course is not as in-depth as some of the paid options, it presents an interesting overview. We enjoyed it because it discusses relevant topics with regards to adopting an eCommerce business model.
It’s presented by Lund University in Sweden and only requires around 2-3 hours per week to complete.
Videos
We love HubSpot in all forms. Their videos include short demonstrations related to marketing and business growth, as well as customer insights and new projects. They’ve also got a HubSpot Academy account which includes slightly longer videos that are more informative and provide easy-to-use tips and tricks.
We’d also recommend Curious Themes – Shopify Experts. This channel is run by certified Shopify experts who aim to help entrepreneurs set up their Shopify stores. This channel focuses on expanding businesses through eCommerce.
They’ve got a whole playlist of up-to-date Growth Strategies, Pinterest tutorials, Shopify guides and Dropshipping lessons. They’re an amazing resource if you’re looking to start using Shopify for your eCommerce business.
Conclusion
It’s clear that there’s no shortage of resources available for eCommerce owners! We’re lucky that we’re living in a time where information is abundant and easily accessible over the internet.
There are tons of videos and online courses to sharpen your eCommerce skills. Whether you like reading or if you learn better through audio, there’s an option for you. Regardless of what you’re looking for, you’ll surely come across many tips to help your eCommerce business expand.
Resources for eCommerce owners are available from leading eCommerce platforms and services, such as Shopify, ShoppingFeeder, Magento and HubSpot.
This article is presented by ShoppingFeeder, an all-in-one multichannel marketing plugin. ShoppingFeeder can help you grow your business with simple integration, inventory management, analytics and more.