As a small business owner, I disregarded the importance of core values until we made our first hiring mistake.

At the time, we were a close-knit team of four employees. We hired a fifth employee that the team was split on as a candidate. I made the decision to proceed with hiring the candidate anyway because of a gut instinct. Three months later, I had to fire the candidate and another employee to help save and maintain our company culture.

After that experience, we formed core values to avoid future mistakes and base judgments on foundational elements. Five years later, the company experienced a successful acquisition. Establishing core values was one of the reasons why I think we were able to build a company worth acquiring.

Core values help guide the decisions, actions, and behaviors of a company. As workplaces have gone remote, hybrid, or remained in-person, a company’s core values have served as a North Star for employees and executives faced with tough decisions.

But what are some examples of small business core values, and how do they impact a company?

We asked CEOs, founders and company leaders for their best recommendations. From “sisterhood” to “dedication to customers,” these strategies may help you develop or add to your core values.

17 examples of core values in small businesses

1. Be the human your dog thinks you are.
2. Strength in numbers.
3. Go the extra mile.
4. We believe in family.
5. Dedication to customers.
6. Balance.
7. Confidentiality.
8. Team members always come first.
9. Enjoy the ride.
10. Sisterhood.
11. We embrace change.
12. Transparency.
13. Grit is powered by love.
14. Radical candor — care personally, challenge directly.
15. The company wins when the team members win.
16. Sense of adventure.
17. Be a radical giver.

1. Be the human your dog thinks you are

“Be kind, show care for your colleagues. And even if you’re an expert, give others context, reinforce the positive and help them understand. This ideology helps us create an inclusive environment where our employees are comfortable asking questions, and productivity is heightened as a result.”

— Joe Spector, Dutch

2. Strength in numbers

“Employees wear a lot of hats when working at an early-stage startup. There are always lofty goals and never enough resources to achieve those goals alone or working independently. Strength in numbers — which we define as utilizing all available resources — inspires us to rely on those around us to accomplish our work, together. One example of this is operating in an Agile environment and using Kanban workflows, where a team member can easily jump in on a bottlenecked area to make sure things keep moving.

“There’s a good quote behind the value as well: ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’ By working together and relying on the creativity of our community, a strength-in-numbers approach enables us to go much further as a company.”

— Adrian James, Terkel

3. Go the extra mile

“To highlight when a team member goes the extra mile for a client or another team member, we share kudos messages in our monthly internal eNewsletter — often in the form of verbatim praise from the client or a direct quote from a colleague. This newsletter goes out to our team across Canada and at our virtual quarterly meetings.

“Since we are mostly remote, it’s important to communicate those successes to the whole team and ensure people know their work is valued. We want to recognize when someone goes out of their way to solve a problem, puts in extra effort, and sees an initiative through beyond the typical amount of work required.”

— Colton De Vos, Resolute Technology Solutions

4. We believe in family

“Since 1977, our business has been owned and operated by commercial finance brokers, who also happen to be family. While there are many challenges to having a family business, there are also many benefits. As a family of commercial finance brokers, we are real people providing real solutions for our customers for generations to come.

“Family-owned businesses have always been the backbone of our economy, and we are proud to be a part of that.”

— Carey Wilbur, Charter Capital

5. Dedication to customers

“We always act in the best interest of the client. We are a customer-centric company and we go above and beyond to make sure that our client strategies and recommendations provide the most value based on their needs. Some companies focus more on sales numbers, but our dedication to our clients has been the hallmark of our success. We take the time necessary to build a rapport and understand our clients’ needs.”

— Chris Abrams, Marcan Insurance

6. Balance

“It’s so hard to choose one core value above the rest, however, our core value of balance is integral to the framework, functioning and philosophy of Miss Details. It permeates every aspect of the work we do, from balancing data and design to create effective sensory branding, to mapping out a marketing strategy fueled by both logic and emotion. Personally and professionally my goal is to have and promote a healthy work-life balance for my team — which is a little more difficult as an entrepreneur!”

— Tanya Gagnon, Miss Details

7. Confidentiality

“When talking to clients about their finances, they want to ensure that they are in a safe space where I will not share their personal information with others. At the onset of the coaching relationship, I guarantee that clients know that their conversations with me are treated confidentially. This lets them know that they can speak freely without holding back on their struggles with their finances or their relationships. Ultimately, clients can talk comfortably and start making strides in accomplishing their future goals.”

— Annette Harris, Harris Financial Coaching

8. Team members always come first

“I run a digital online company using a team of virtual assistants. Keeping employees happy across multiple geographies can always be a challenge. But one core value I use is a quote from Richard Branson which goes: ‘Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.’ This helps keep employees motivated, and improves retention and overall productivity — thus improving the business’s sales and revenue.”

— Mogale Modisane, ToolsGaloreHQ.com

9. Enjoy the ride

“I work at an IT solutions company called Electric, and although that product might not sound fun, working here certainly is. One of our core values is to enjoy the ride and I think the company does a great job of promoting it. We’ve done Drag Queen Bingo over Zoom, taken happy hour boat cruises on the Hudson and members of our team even met Dan Levy when he was a keynote speaker at our big annual event. There’s a culture of fun and excitement here and I think it energizes us to perform better and make work more enjoyable.”

— Ryan McSweeney, Electric IT Support

10. Sisterhood

“In a primarily female industry, sisterhood is a company value that keeps our culture supportive and empowering. This value helps share our passions and connects us within the company and to our clients. These deep connections are powerful in maintaining a positive employee experience and an exceptional customer experience.

— Vanessa Molica, The Lash & Sugar Company

11. We embrace change

“If the last decade has shown us anything, it’s that change is occurring faster than ever. To sustain your small business in the long run, it’s crucial that you embrace this change and learn to adapt to it. While many small companies hate change and want ‘business as usual,’ avoiding updates to their processes at every turn or having to pivot, our company embraces it. Learning to love change and embrace it makes us more nimble and flexible. This allows us to more quickly adapt to changing customer preferences and modes of doing business. To me, this core value has been especially pertinent and important during the last two years of the pandemic.”

— John Ross, Test Prep Insight

12. Transparency

“In this remote work environment, it can be easy to hide mistakes or feel the need to cover up why you weren’t at your computer. Fostering transparency as a core value ensures no one tries to cover up their mistakes or feels the need to fib. Being a 100% remote organization, this is something we make sure our team feels confident in from day one.”

— Alison French, Emerged

13. Grit is powered by love

“Being an entrepreneur takes grit. Grit is powered by love. You must love what you are doing or you’ll never ever have the strength to get through the challenges.

“This is our core value that drives everything we do. We work hard to develop recipes, engage with readers and maintain brand awareness, but it would be impossible without genuine love for cooking, interacting online, and having a vision for our brand. It is a grind, but because we love what we do and love our readers, it makes it so much easier to tackle inevitable challenges.”

— Sylvia Fountaine, Feasting at Home

14. Radical candor — care personally, challenge directly

“Radical candor is the idea that you should share opinions directly and openly with your team. With smaller, growing businesses there is not a lot of room to hide your thoughts or feelings, both in the sense of physical space but also in the sense of being able to scale and build effectively. Radical candor forces us to lay all of our cards on the table — even if it may be uncomfortable. It allows us to uncover things that need to improve, small issues that if left untreated will become larger problems at scale. By having your entire team practice radical candor you work together to build a better business and are constructively forced into looking at things from multiple perspectives and be more successful because of it.

— Sam Gallen, collystring

15. The company wins when the team members win

“At Mashman Ventures, one of our core values is to ‘Always chase after your vision.’ Everyone on the team is constantly encouraged to chase after their own goals in business and in life. When the team meets, we ask each other about recent wins at work and beyond to celebrate them. We ask each other if there’s anything we can do to help, offering our expertise to each other. We also emphasize personal growth for everyone on the team.

“Our founder, Isaac Mashman, likes to say that ‘At the center of all achievement is personal growth.’ When everyone on the team is eating well, the company must be doing well. In creating this culture, all of us on the team grow professionally and personally, have a great support system, and the company benefits as a result.”

— Eric Chow, Mashman Ventures

16. Sense of adventure

“My favorite core value is our sense of adventure. It’s what we built our company on, and we still live by it. Successful entrepreneurs don’t wake up one morning and decide to become one. They’ve always had an entrepreneurial mindset. Don’t be shy if you have a business idea or project; try it. ‘You’ll always miss the shots you didn’t take.’ Without my sense of adventure, I would not be where I am today.”

— Ouriel Lemmel, WinIt

17. Be a radical giver

“On January 1, 2018, I made ‘giving’ my word of the year for 2018, and that decision has had ramifications in my business and ripple effects across the people I serve. My entire team approaches business from the perspective of serving more and giving more value to everyone in our audience. Although it’s not the reason we give, we’ve found that the more we give, the more we get. Giving is no longer my word of the year; it is the essence of my business.”

— Bobby Klinck, BobbyKlinck.com

Creating core values for your small business

As you can see from these examples, creating core values for your company can be a fun and incredibly impactful way to shape an organization and guide employees.

A perfect core value aligns with the beliefs of a founder and the employees who work within a company. If everyone can buy-in, understand, and get inspired by a core value, then you know you’ve found a winner.

Use these core value examples to get inspired and create the guiding principles for your small business.

With over 152 million shoppers worldwide and 19 million sellers on eBay, there are plenty of opportunities to sell your products but also a lot of competition. As of 2022, there are a jaw-dropping 1.5 billion seller listings on eBay, and each day the marketplace becomes more and more saturated.

With more merchants selling the same items, eBay sellers have to strategically create their listings to stand out and attract buyers. Visibility, pricing, and photos are a few of the vital components that influence your shoppers and whether or not they will ultimately make a purchase.

To help boost your sales, we cover 10 tips to craft a top-selling eBay listing that builds buyers’ trust in your products and encourages them to make a purchase.

How to create a top-selling eBay listing

The key to securing your online sales, eBay or otherwise, is building buyers’ trust in your business. When trust is high, shoppers focus less on the potential risks of online shopping and feel ready to make a purchase.

How do you build that buyer relationship? Appeal to shoppers’ intuitive reasoning.

According to Harvard Business Review, people rely on their associative reasoning system—based on personal experience and intuition — when making risky decisions, such as an online purchase. This finding means that the intuitive factors of your eBay listings — aesthetics, professionalism, visibility — often have the biggest impact on whether shoppers purchase your eBay products.

Considering this research, we’ve outlined 10 tips that speak to shoppers’ associative reasoning. By improving the intuitive factors of your listings with these strategies, you’ll build buyers’ trust in your eBay business and give a boost to your sales.

1. Use high-quality photos

Because online eBay shoppers can’t see your products in person, your item photos matter a great deal. Through color, image quality, and more, product photos help buyers assess whether they want to purchase the item.

To make the right first impression, here are a few tips for curating your eBay product photos:

• Use high-quality photos. Well-lit, colorful, high-res photos build buyers’ confidence in your products—they can clearly examine your items’ details, so they feel ready to make a purchase.
• Make sure they’re sized correctly. eBay requires photos to be at least 500 pixels on the longest side. Pictures should be 1600 pixels on the longest side to optimize for mobile.
• Offer a selection of photos. Include a variety of photos that show off your products at different angles to provide shoppers with a better sense of your items.
• Keep your images minimal. eBay asks that sellers keep product images clean with an uncluttered background and no text or borders. Besides meeting the marketplace’s guidelines, following these rules eliminates distracting elements and keeps buyers focused on your products.

With a curated selection of product photos, your listings will give shoppers a clear idea of what to expect from your products. Shoppers then have the knowledge they need to feel confident in making a purchase.

2. Apply SEO to your listings

Online shoppers don’t want to browse through pages of products. To save time, they’d rather opt for one of the first results they see. With this reasoning, a listing that ranks high in eBay’s search results will likely attract greater sales than one with a lower ranking.

These search rankings are determined by eBay’s search engine, Cassini. In deciding which listings will rank highest, it considers which would be most relevant to the shopper.

A key factor in determining this “relevance” is keyword usage. When the keywords in your listing match your buyers’ search terms, Cassini considers your product to be more relevant for that shopper.

There are a few key ways to find out which keywords your buyers are frequently searching.

• Use a keyword research tool. You can take advantage of the eBay-specific keyword tool Terapeak or use a more general keyword tool, such as Ahrefs or Google Keyword Planner, to generate a list of keywords that buyers are frequently searching.
• Conduct your own eBay search. Do a search on eBay for products that are identical and similar to yours, and note which keywords are most frequently used in the top-ranking listings. Since these listings rank high, these keywords are most likely searched frequently by buyers.

Once you’ve compiled a list of keywords, you can narrow down your list to the most popular words and phrases. Then, incorporate those keywords throughout your listing.

• Title
• Description
• Catalog specifics
• Listing specifics

While you want to distribute these keywords throughout your listing, avoid keyword stuffing. If you aimlessly add keywords that are frequently searched, Cassini will detect that your listing isn’t relevant to your buyers. Add keywords where meaningfully appropriate to keep your listings’ rankings high.

With a relevant distribution of keywords, your listing will be ranked high in target buyers’ search results and will, through greater exposure, achieve greater sales.

3. Promote with eBay advertising

Beyond SEO, you can improve your listings’ visibility with eBay Promoted Listings. Available to Top-Rated Sellers and eBay Store subscribers, this paid advertising program allows you to place your listings where they’ll get more exposure, such as the top of a search rankings page.

Shoppers can easily find Promoted Listings with their advantageous placements, so they’re more likely to buy those items.
But because Promoted Listings isn’t a free service, you want to ensure that you’re getting the highest value possible from the investment. Here are a few strategies for effectively placing promoted listings.

• Pick items that would benefit most from greater exposure. Items that are expected to receive a lot of attention, such as bestsellers and new items, will attract even more buyers with greater visibility through promotion.
• Pick a time for your campaign when shoppers are especially motivated to buy. Launching Promoted Listings when people are especially ready to make purchases, such as the holidays or special events, will most likely result in greater returns.
• Find an ad rate that boosts your ad’s chances of winning without hurting your budget. Consider your expenses and evaluate these average ad rates for eBay promotions to find an amount that works for your business.
• Test and track your results. Monitor your Promoted Listings dashboard in Seller Hub to determine if you need to improve the quality of your listings or adjust your ad price for greater returns.

Since it offers greater visibility for your products, eBay Promoted Listings allows you to attract more buyers to your items and generate more sales.

4. Maintain a high seller rating

Beyond SEO and promotions, visibility can also be impacted by your eBay seller rating. If you have negative feedback, the Cassini search engine will lower your listing’s ranking.

To ensure that your listing is visible (and that you’re keeping customers happy), you should always aim to meet eBay’s Top Rated seller benchmarks:

• Defect rate: Less than or equal to 0.5 percent, with three or fewer defects from unique buyers
• Cases closed without seller resolution: Less than or equal to 0.3 percent and two or fewer cases
• Late shipment rate: Less than or equal to 3 percent and five or fewer late shipments
• Shipping: Tracking uploaded within your stated handling time; carrier validation for 95 percent of transactions with U.S. buyers

Meeting these benchmarks consistently requires planning and diligence. Clearly understand what areas of your performance need improvement with these tips:

• Regularly monitor your ratings in Seller Hub. Check the performance metrics mentioned above in Seller Central consistently, and you’ll be able to catch if one is starting to slip and hurt your rating.
• Set a reminder to check messages from buyers. Shoppers value when sellers respond to their issues promptly. If you often forget to check buyer messages, set a daily reminder to respond.
• Convey an accurate dispatch time and shipping fees. Shoppers are quickly disappointed if shipping takes longer or costs more than originally expected. To keep buyers happy, always communicate accurate dispatch times and shipping fees.
• Ask buyers for feedback. Unless a major issue occurs, shoppers usually aren’t motivated to leave feedback. Give them some encouragement by sending a follow-up message one week after their purchase to request that they leave feedback. As a backup, you can use various tools to set up a feedback reminder to automatically request input from customers.

Implement these strategies, and you’ll be able to maintain a positive seller rating that keeps your listings’ rankings high.

5. Offer generous shipping and returns

When online shoppers are hesitant to purchase, they can often be convinced to buy when offered free shipping and fair return policies. If they end up not liking the item, they will appreciate that it won’t be costly or time-consuming to have it shipped back.

eBay buyers are no exception. The marketplace found that more than 60 percent of shoppers check return policies before completing an order.

If you don’t currently offer free shipping and free returns, consider how and why you might be able to switch to these policies and attract more shoppers.

• Evaluate your costs and whether any could be lowered. Are there any expenses that could be reduced? Finding room in your budget to accommodate free shipping and returns can be worthwhile if it helps you attract more sales.
• eBay now protects sellers who offer free returns if an item is returned damaged or used, enabling them the option to only offer the buyer a partial refund. Top-rated Plus sellers are required to offer free 30-day returns.

Switching to free shipping and return policies may seem risky and costly at first, but the investment is worthwhile. With the protections of these policies, reluctant buyers will have more confidence in your business and make a purchase.

6. Create a custom listing with software

Shoppers are attracted to listings with a professional look. A high-quality design builds buyers’ trust in your business as they associate a polished look with credibility.

Achieving this style, however, can be hard if you’re not a designer. Rather than hire an expensive freelancer, you can save money and still create a professional listing with software. Online programs, such as CrazyLister, provide templates to easily craft an eBay listing at an affordable price.

To take advantage of this listing software, choose your templates carefully.

• Avoid templates with too much clutter. If a template has too many elements — colors, text blocks, CTA buttons — shoppers are going to be distracted from your product and, as a result, might abandon the listing.
• Make sure the template is responsive with mobile devices. To keep your conversion rates high, it’s essential that your eBay listings are mobile responsive. According to BigCommerce, 6 percent of all U.S. retail sales in 2021 can be attributed to mobile ecommerce sales, and as Statista forecasts, that number is expected to jump to 10 percent by 2025.
• Highlight pictures more so than text. Visuals engage people more than text, so make sure your template showcases high-quality product photos to attract buyers.

Use custom listing software templates along with these suggestions, and your listing will have a professional look that builds shoppers’ trust and encourages sales.

7. List with eBay’s catalog

As an alternative to using custom listing software, you can achieve a professional look by listing items through the eBay catalog. Rather than creating your own unique listing, the eBay Catalog lets you share one with other merchants who are selling the same product.

For each catalog listing, eBay selects the product photos from sellers’ submissions, and the product info is presented in a standardized format. With this uniform look, eBay catalog listings look professional in the eyes of shoppers.

To list with the eBay catalog, your item needs to be brand new and match an identical item in the catalog. If your product isn’t already included, you can request that eBay add it in.

Offering a professional and refined look, the eBay catalog can help you impress and delight buyers, so they’re ready to make a purchase.

8. Select item specifics strategically

To maximize your products’ visibility, you’ll want to include relevant item specifics when creating listings. Item specifics are unique identifiers — color, brand, size — that help you distinguish your listing from similar products.

Item specifics will make it easier for buyers to find your item in a few ways:

• Item specifics help buyers find your items on eBay. Using the Refine column on the left of a product search, buyers can select item specifics to help them find your product.
• Item specifics help buyers find your item through a Google Product Search. For your eBay listings to appear through a Google Product Search, you need to include unique product identifiers that the search engine requires.

With more item specifics, buyers are more likely to find your listings through search engines — whether it’s eBay’s Cassini or Google — and move toward placing an order.

9. Have a competitive price strategy

As shoppers scroll through eBay listings, they’re comparing pricing, among other factors. To attract buyers while staying mindful of your finances, you want to find a price point that’s both competitive and fits your budget.

Finding that effective price point boils down to a few steps:

• Determine the cost of your product. Gaining a full sense of the expenses associated with your item will help you determine a price that’s profitable.
• Find out what competitors’ prices are. Search for your product type and note the prices of the top-ranking listings. You can find out pricing insights on your competitors in the Seller Hub. Keep current with updates on pricing guidance by checking out Seller Updates.
• Use psychological pricing to motivate buyers. Different methods, such as the Left Digit effect, can influence how shoppers perceive the value of your product and their willingness to pay. Understanding the psychology of competitive pricing will help you up your game as a seller on eBay and in ecommerce, in general.

After you’ve found a competitive price, you’ll want to consistently reevaluate your competitors and budget to make sure your price still works for your business and buyers. With a competitive price, your listing will attract shoppers and bring them one step closer to purchasing.

10. Make sure your listing is compliant

At the very least, your listing can’t attract shoppers if it’s not legally compliant. Failure to meet these standards can result in your listing being removed by eBay and disrupting your business.

eBay doesn’t pre-approve listings, so it’s your responsibility to make sure your listings are legally compliant. Examples of these legal requirements include:

• Not plagiarizing text or using images from other eBay listings without the owner’s permission
• Using brand names appropriately
• Making sure the listing is accurate to avoid intellectual property concerns

Review the full list of guidelines here for legally compliant listings. By being aware of these standards, you’ll be able to ensure that your listings are all compliant and won’t be removed, and your customers can keep shopping.

Follow these steps for long-term success

It may take some trial and error, but with these tried and true tactics, you’ll start to get the hang of which strategies work best to yield more clicks and purchases. With a strong foundation of listing best practices and tweaking as needed here and there, you will be set up for long-term success and greater profits in the future.

Image by: Bench Accounting on Unsplash

If you plan to launch an ecommerce store this year, you’ll need a strategic sales and marketing plan to help you stand out. You’ll also need to know where to source the best products if you don’t manufacture them yourself. These types of businesses need to know how to find products to sell online.

The competition for online consumer traffic and sales has never been steeper. Many small businesses (SMBs) have recently launched ecommerce stores to reach customers who prefer to shop online, with 92% of online SMBs claiming they had a significant sales growth in 2021.

How to find products to sell online

Let’s explore how to find products to sell online and ensure they fit with your overall business strategy and budget.

1. Identify products that you’re passionate about

It’s essential to have a profitable small business. But it’s hard to stay committed to it long-term without a passion for what you sell.

As you embark on your online business journey, start by identifying those passions. Do you love books, fashion, food, jewelry, or technology? Do you have a hobby, like buying art or collecting dolls, that you’ve always wanted to turn into a business by helping others do the same?

More than 65 percent of participants in a Customer Thermometer study said that “being emotionally connected to a brand made them feel like the company or business cared about people like them.”

So the more you’re able to align with and communicate your passion for your digital or physical products through your online business, the better you’ll attract like-minded, loyal shoppers.

It’s also critical to think about what the products that you want to source and sell will say about your business and brand.

For example, if you decide to sell organic, fair-trade coffee beans, you’re promising to deliver a product that is healthier for your customers while showing that you care about the people who grow and package that product.

If your potential customers also care about those values, you know they’ll be looking for a site like yours to purchase those products.

That’s why you must identify the right product niche and target market before you source the products you want to sell online.

2. Align those passions with a niche product-market fit

Business News Daily defines a product niche as “a specialized or focused area of a broader market that your business serves specifically.”

Taking the time to identify your niche properly will help you to stand apart from your competitors in a crowded online marketplace.

For example, if you love jewelry inspired by or from the 1920s and 1930s fashions but can’t find it all in one place online, you could build a small business that caters to that niche.

Or, perhaps you want to sell trendy costume jewelry for young women to wear to work. It all comes back to your passions and which customers you want to target online.

When choosing and searching for your niche items to sell online, you should also consider:

• The size and weight of your physical products: To keep shipping costs down with lighter and easily packable products
• The selling price of your sourced products: Especially when getting started — to be profitable and to cover the cost of returned items
• Product durability and quality: You don’t want products to spoil or get broken en route to your customers
• Trends in your chosen niche: For example, search terms for “nostalgia” have grown over the past few years and is reflected in everything from current fashions to music, TV, and toys

Profiling your niche customers

Try to get as specific as possible when defining your niche target customers. Include everything from demographics like age range, occupation, and household income to psychographics like their personality traits, lifestyle, special interests, and values.

Using the costume jewelry example from earlier, your target customer could be a single woman in her 20s and 30s who works in advertising or PR and makes $30,000 to $75,000 a year. She likes to go out with her friends after work, belongs to a book club, is a foodie that watches baking shows, and cares about climate change and product sustainability.

Once you’ve completed your customer profile, research how they’re likely to shop for your products online. Small business owners can start by reading free blogs and consumer studies published on online marketing sites such as eMarketer, Econsultancy and MarketingCharts.com.

You can also get a lot of free information from ecommerce news sites like Retail Dive, Digital Commerce 360, and the National Retail Federation.

Look for trends that reveal where your potential customers spend most of their time online and try to learn how they discover new products.

For example, are they more likely to research vintage jewelry through search or fashion and celebrity websites? Do they follow influencers on social media sites like Instagram and Pinterest? If so, which ones and what are those influencers saying about those products and styles?

You can also send out an online survey to friends and family who fit your niche customer profile using Survey Monkey or Google Forms. You can ask them specific questions like:

• What do they love about that product niche?
• Which niche product trends are they looking for right now?
• What products in that niche are they most likely to research or buy online?
• What’s missing from that niche market that they’d like to see filled?
• How much would they be willing to spend on a specific niche product?
• Where do they typically learn about new niche products online?
• Which competitor sites do they currently buy from, and what do they like or dislike about those ecommerce sites?
• Do they buy their niche products from local, national, or global competitors?
• Would they prefer to have products shipped to them if they buy locally, or would they like to purchase products online and pick them up in-store?
• If they buy products nationally or globally, how much would they be willing to pay for shipping?

Giving them specific answers to choose from, rather than asking them open-ended questions, will make it easier for them to fill out your survey. Although, a combination of the two is often necessary.

It’s also helpful to offer an incentive to get them to complete your survey, like gift cards and discounts when shopping with your online store.

Once you have all of your answers, it’s time to look for the right products that meet all of their needs.

3. Find the right products to sell online

As you prepare to source your physical products, think about the type of ecommerce business you want to create.

For example, many small business owners start with a dropshipping business model where you don’t need to make or store any inventory yourself physically. Instead, you’d source and curate the niche products on your site while your suppliers would store, package, and ship the items for you.

With a dropshipping business model, your suppliers will take a bigger cut of the profits.

However, dropshipping is a flexible and scalable way for a small online business to get off the ground quickly and affordably, with lower overhead costs.

As your business grows, you can potentially add your own manufactured products to sell on your site to make a larger profit.

Identifying products for your dropshipping business

Where you source your dropshipping products depends on your chosen product niche.

According to SixAds.net the top dropshipping niche categories last year were:

• Home decor and home improvement
• Jewelry
• Health and beauty
• Fitness
• Pet products
• Boho clothing and accessories
• Phone accessories

To find the top trending niche products right now, SixAds recommends looking at:

1. The top Amazon Bestsellers for your niche product category.
2. eBay Watch Count to see what the top eBay shoppers are adding to their “watch list” by keyword.
3. The SaleHoo Market Research Lab uses data from Amazon and eBay to help you find highly profitable dropshipping products to source and sell.
4. Google Trends: Since most people start their shopping journey with a search, you can look at growth trends for specific product keywords over time.
5. AliExpress Dropshipping Center to discover the top niche products to source and sell online via AliExpress.

Sourcing those products via dropshipping suppliers

You have many options to choose from when sourcing products for dropshipping.

Access a network of sellers via ecommerce marketplaces

One of the most common places to start sourcing your products is via an ecommerce marketplace that connects you to a large network of manufacturers and sellers. As mentioned earlier, the AliExpress Dropshipping Center is a good place to start.

Additionally, you can research and contact niche dropshipping marketplaces like BrandsGateway for luxury brands, Buy2Bee for clothing and footwear, UniqBe for IT and electronics products, Gold-N-Diamonds for jewelry, and Wholesale Interiors for furniture.

Choose high-quality niche products via wholesale supplier directories

Directories like InventorySource.com give you access to thousands of high-quality wholesalers and suppliers for niche product categories.

Keep in mind, however, that they charge a monthly subscription fee to integrate and automate the SKU data onto your site. However, some let you look at the content for free to decide whether or not you want to invest in a subscription.

Go straight to the source with brand manufacturers

You can also go straight to your favorite niche brand manufacturers to negotiate a dropshipping partnership. Keep in mind that not all of them will be interested in dropshipping, and this can become a laborious process as you add more partnerships.

Be sure to ask about their revenue share model (e.g., how much of the sales revenue they would keep to store and ship the physical product to your customers), and compare prices among a host of your favorite niche brands.

You’ll need to factor that number into your price, along with the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP), to make a profit. Refer to our post on product pricing for help when developing the right ecommerce sales strategy for your small business.

Enable manufacturers and sellers to come to you

You can also make it possible for niche product creators to post and sell their wares through your site.

For example, Society6 created a platform for artists to affordably upload photos and sell their designs (e.g., prints on mugs, t-shirts, and socks) to the world. In this way, artists can reach out to them and post their own products on the ecommerce site.

Sourcing products for your general online store

If you already own a retail store and plan to launch an ecommerce site, or you’re an online retailer that buys commoditized physical products (e.g., high-demand, essential items) and/or niche products to store in a warehouse, then you have some additional options to consider.

In addition to the resources listed above for dropshipping sources, you can purchase your niche products from ecommerce marketplaces like: Alibaba.com and Amazon wholesale. You can also purchase inventory from wholesale partners like Costco.

To decrease your overhead costs, since you’re renting out a physical warehouse and covering your shipping costs, look for discounts when purchasing large product quantities in bulk.

Additionally, keep in mind that suppliers are currently dependent on manufacturing capabilities during the Covid pandemic. Check-in regularly with your suppliers to make sure you don’t frequently sell out of items and keep customers waiting for long periods.

Related: Top-notch shipping tips for your online store

4. Identify and integrate online product sales channels

Once you’ve sourced your digital or physical products, it’s time to decide where and how you’ll sell to customers online.

First, you’ll need to develop and launch your online business website. If you don’t have one already, there are a variety of options out there and many ecommerce platforms, like GoDaddy Online Store, can help you to:

• Buy a domain name
• Build your site with affordable mobile-friendly templates
• Process payments quickly and securely
• Host it all on one integrated platform

Use GoDaddy Online Store to build your site and sell everywhere

If you’ve already done your research on where customers are likely to discover and buy your products online, working with GoDaddy will enable you to sell directly from your website or your customers’ favorite platforms and marketplaces, like eBay, Etsy, Amazon, Facebook or Instagram.

Plus, GoDaddy Online Store integrates with GoDaddy Payments to help you process payments securely — both online and in-store.

Your payments will arrive in your business account as soon as the next business day, and GoDaddy offers the lowest fees in the industry per transaction, compared to leading competitors.

GoDaddy Payments processes all major credit and debit card transactions — both online and using our POS devices. If you use our Smart Terminal and Card Reader devices in-store or in-person, we also provide contactless payments via Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Finally, you can access all of your orders, inventory, reviews, and customer emails — across all of your online business sales platforms — from one easy-to-use online dashboard.

Add WooCommerce to our managed WordPress ecommerce platform

If you already have a WordPress website and want to add ecommerce functionality, you can do so using WooCommerce extensions — choosing from over 50,000 WordPress plug-ins and  10,000 site design templates.

GoDaddy’s managed WordPress Ecommerce platform with WooCommerce gives you the freedom to sell anything, anywhere online — from physical products to digital downloads, services, and subscriptions.

It also seamlessly integrates with GoDaddy Payments, giving your customers more ways to pay you, and helping you get paid faster.

Related: 6 types of products you can sell with WooCommerce

Launch, test and iterate on what’s working

Once your site is live, it’s important to track how each product is performing on your website, so you can offer more of what your customers want, and consider removing products that aren’t driving sales.

First, you’ll need to install an analytics tool like Google Analytics on your site to track your customers’ online shopping behaviors. For tips on what to track and which reports to use, read:

How to use Google Analytics enhanced ecommerce features to gain more customers.

Next, consider using A/B testing on your homepage, product pages, and check out to see which design features and copy can be improved to increase sales (or conversions) on your site.

Essentially, A/B testing is a split test between two variations of the same page. At the most basic level, you can test whether a checkout page with a green button will outperform a red button to drive more sales. However, you can get a lot more sophisticated with what you want to test.

Related: The what, why, and how of WordPress A/B testing

5. Your online customers are out there

Once you’ve found the right digital or physical products to sell online and launch your ecommerce site, it’s time to build your brand and promote your online business.

From search engine optimization (SEO) to email, social media marketing, and online advertising, the GoDaddy blog can teach you how to launch, market, and advertise your small business ecommerce site to potential customers.

We also cover case studies on how businesses like yours are succeeding online and provide insights into consumer behaviors, seasonal strategies, and more.

If you don’t have a large budget, start with one or two marketing strategies that you know are likely to reach your potential customers and convert sales, based on your consumer research.

Then, test and improve on what works. As your business grows, so too can your budget to drive more traffic and sales to your site.

Whether you’ve been an entrepreneur for five decades or five weeks, you know the importance of getting the word out about your business. One way to earn credibility and set yourself up as a subject expert is to get featured in the media. If you know how to use HARO (an online service that connects journalists and sources), you’ll be better equipped at getting your business noticed both offline and online.

But, what is HARO and how can it get your business media attention? I’m sharing everything you need to know about HARO below, along with how you can use it in your business practices. Keep reading to learn more.

What is HARO?

HARO stands for Help a Reporter Out. It began as a Facebook group in 2008 to help reporters and journalists gain feedback directly from the public. It later transitioned into a mailing list and was ultimately acquired by Vocus, Inc., which later merged with Cision Inc.

Before HARO was around, businesses often had to pay a publicist or public relations firm thousands of dollars to be featured in a media outlet. They may have also written and sent out their own press releases in hopes of getting lucky enough to get the attention of a journalist.

These days however, getting media attention can be as easy as answering queries sent to your email via HARO. It’s essentially a media and source matchmaking platform, where people can sign up as either journalists or sources.

A business can benefit from both options by strategizing connections accordingly. I’ll explain how to use HARO in more detail below.

How to use HARO as a journalist

When journalists sign up for the platform, they can post queries related to content they are developing. This content can be:

• Podcast episodes
• Radio programs
• Web content
• Newspaper articles
• Magazine articles
• Television programs and more

If you’re learning how to use HARO for the first time, it might help to view a visual breakdown. Here’s a peek at what a blank query looks like from my own account:

The journalist shares what media outlet the content is for and the outlet’s URL. They can then choose whether to remain anonymous or publicly share where the content will be published.

Next, they will include a short summary of what they are looking for, followed by a more in-depth query. The section beneath the query is reserved for requirements that sources must meet if they hope to be selected as a contributor.

Finally, journalists will fill out the deadline and submit their queries to HARO for approval. If they are approved (and not all of them are), the queries are then sent out to an email list of potential sources.

Typically, HARO will approve or deny the query about one or two business days prior to the deadline. If a journalist has a quick deadline and needs answers the same day, they can click “Urgent” and HARO will post the query on Twitter to get instant responses.

How to use HARO as a source

When a source is exploring how to use Haro for the first time, they’ll begin with the three step sign up form. Here, they can choose the frequency of emails they receive. Emails are sent out Monday through Friday in the morning, afternoon, and evening. They are then broken down into different categories that include subjects like:

• Business and Finance
• High Tech
• Biotech and Healthcare
• Energy and Green Tech
• Lifestyle and Fitness
• Sports
• Entertainment and Media
• Public Policy and Government
• Education
• General
• Giftbag
• Travel
• UK

The queries in the emails vary greatly depending on what journalists are seeking sources for. Some sample topics might include:

• How to be successful with cryptocurrency
• The best holiday gifts for men over 40
• Tips from relationship counselors on how to find a date using online dating services

I’ve also seen generic queries and ones that are so hyper-specific, I wonder if the journalist was able to even find a source at all! You honestly never know what will pop up as a query. Plus, anyone can sign up and learn how to use HARO for free.

Alternatively, Cision also offers premium subscriptions starting at $19 a month. This paid option gives you additional opportunities to increase your chances at getting featured. But It’s worth noting that a paid subscription doesn’t guarantee you’ll be chosen as a source.

My experience using HARO

As a journalist, I’ve learned how to use HARO for many different types of stories — including this post. Some of the queries I’ve sent out include:

• Podcast promotion tips
• Travel agent success ideas
• Tax deduction advice for small business owners and more

The reason I love HARO so much is because you can be as specific as you’d like with your query. You can then find the exact sources you’re looking for to help enhance your content and add credibility to your posts.

Why I like HARO’s anonymous feature

One you understand how to use HARO a little better, you might decide to utilize their anonymous feature in the settings. I always opt to make the outlet I’m gathering materials for as “anonymous” because I don’t like to share posts until they are live – or at least guaranteed to go live. Sometimes stories get killed midway through production and it can be very frustrating when you get an email from a source wondering what happened to the post.

Breaking the news that a post never went live could be quite disappointing for any sources involved.

I’ve also noticed that disclosing your outlet’s name sometimes skews the responses you get. For example, everyone wants to respond to a query from Forbes, but they may not want to respond to a query from a smaller website.

Note: If you are a journalist representing an online-only or business website, make sure to check out the HARO rules for journalists before getting started — especially if you’re not sure how to use HARO. You don’t want to violate any rules that could deny your query or ban your account.

Keys ways HARO has helped me

I’ve also used HARO as a source for both myself and for clients I ghostwrite for. It’s a fabulous tool for:

• Getting backlinks to your website
• Establishing yourself as an expert in your field
• Contributing to the content that matters to your niche

When the  queries go out in the morning, afternoon, and evening, there could be 50 or more responses per email. Again, queries are all broken down by category, so sources can skip to the subjects they want to contribute to.

I’ve never personally paid for HARO’s premium plans, and don’t know anyone who has either. But if you want to know how to use HARO with additional subscription-based features, here’s a glimpse at what they look like and what they offer:

What niches benefit the most from HARO?

I’ve yet to see a niche that wouldn’t benefit from learning how to use HARO. Because of the different categories, and the wide variety of queries created across all of the categories, I would bet that any business could find some kind of query to respond to – even if your business isn’t directly related to a category.

And, if your business doesn’t have anything to contribute the first time, you can always expect a new query within the next day, week or month.

It’s okay to hold out for the best queries you feel are a match.

Now that we’ve covered the basics of HARO, let’s take a closer look at how to use it to get your small business in the news!

How to use HARO to benefit your small business

First, the bad news. Don’t jump into HARO expecting to land a feature in Forbes the first day. While this can certainly happen, it’s highly unlikely. There are many small business owners just like you who know how to use HARO to get media attention.

Perhaps Sharon Geltner, a successful multimedia journalist who’s written for publications like Forbes and the New York Times, says it best:

“I won’t kid you, using HARO means I kiss a lot of frogs before I meet the prince. But it is well worth sorting through amphibians to eventually ascend to national media outlets – which would otherwise be very hard to do.”

With this in mind, here is my best advice on how to use HARO to get in the media:

1. Have a website up and running. Make sure to have an “about” page available, so journalists can learn more about you.
2. Sign up for an account as a source on HARO. This will grant you access to media queries you can respond to.
3. Choose the frequency of emails you would like to receive. Email newsletters are sent out to sources three times a day and can range from 10-100 queries.
4. Create a plan of attack. Think about what your business is all about, what market you are trying to serve, and which outlets align with your business values.

Editor’s note: If you need help setting up a website, check out GoDaddy’s Website Builder to easily get started with no tech experience necessary.

Pro Tip: Don’t respond to every query!

Instead, choose the ones that most resonate with your ideal audience. Seek out queries that you would be best suited as a source for.

Once you start receiving queries, read them carefully and start responding.

Be prepared to respond quickly!

Some journalists get dozens of pitches and don’t have time to read each one. They may decide to stop accepting pitches after receiving a few decent responses. Pitches that come in too late risk getting buried at the bottom of their priority list.

For example, one of my most recent HARO queries had 56 responses and I was only able to use 11. Though I got a lot of great responses, I went in the order I received them and chose the first 11 that worked for my content. I didn’t even read the rest!

However, that’s not to say you should rush when responding to queries – not by any means. Always give thorough and well thought out responses, but don’t wait several hours to figure out who you want to respond to.

Real world examples of how to use HARO for your business

To help you determine your plan of attack, let’s look at some real world examples of sources that know how to use HARO successfully.

Hugo Guerreiro, The Men Hero

Hugo Guerreiro, founder of lifestyle and men’s fashion blog The Men Hero, says that HARO has been wonderful for building his domain authority with backlinks. He says, “It’s free and takes less time than pitching to other websites to provide you with a link or write a guest post. I have built all my backlinks with HARO, since my answers have been chosen multiple times. I would advise anyone who wants to improve their blog authority to answer HARO questions.”

Jackie Blanchard, Fortress Development Solutions

Jackie Blanchard is a social media marketing specialist for the construction development company, Fortress Development Solutions. She says HARO has been great at getting “niche industry opportunities” and adds that it has also helped her company “get in front of a national audience.”

“The more articles we can collaborate in, the more opportunities our potential customers will have to find us. HARO is very user-friendly and we get emails daily with potential opportunities. I scroll through and if we’re a good fit I reach out and share our story.”

Her best advice for sources looking to get selected is to be open. “The more information you share, the more likely you will get chosen for follow-ups.” She also notes that it helps to get email notifications, so you can be among the first to respond. “Always answer all questions and offer your company for future needs.”

Additionally, your response should be thorough, yet straight to the point. I’ve gotten responses that were as short as one sentence and as long as three pages. The three pages were overkill!

Stephen Curry, CocoSign

Stephen Curry is the CEO of the online signature platform, CocoSign. He says that HARO has become the best means of getting his business featured in the media and that it has “proven to be the best backlink generation technique.”

His best advice for sources is to:

“Read the requirements that the reporter has given. If you feel that you have a unique point of view and insight on that query, use your best words to describe it as clearly as possible, and you’ll see that query getting accepted in no time. The chances of getting selected as a source get much higher when you provide credible content in less time.”

Related: How to get backlinks to a small business website

Patty Malowney, Badass Web Goddess

Patty Malowney is the social media marketing and SEO expert for Badass Web Goddess. Her best advice on how to use HARO is to:

“Use HARO consistently every day. They send out queries three times a day. Go through every single one of them. If you miss one, you could miss an opportunity. When you find a query that interests you, respond back promptly. Make sure what you write is quote-worthy. Think about whether or not the author can easily use what you say in a quote. If not, condense what you have to say into a bite-size quote.

Don’t get discouraged. You have to send pitches regularly and be patient. Sometimes you won’t hear anything back for a month or longer. If you stick with it, you’ll get better at your pitches and will be selected more often.”

Alex Shute, FaithGiant

Alex Shute, founder and chief editor of the Christian lifestyle website FaithGiant, says, “HARO has been a reliable source of media attention for our website and the best way to utilize HARO is to choose queries that are related to your website’s main topic and interest.”

His best advice for getting selected as a source is to write answers that are “straight to the point yet incorporate your own experiences related to the queries.” He also adds that your goal for answering should be “both helpful and genuine.”

When it comes to the length of your answers, Shute recommends aiming for a happy medium:

“It’s all about finding the right balance between one that’s short enough for both the recipient and the would-be readers to not lose interest easily, but also be long enough to be informative, engaging, and compelling. This can be the difference between someone opening it or sending it to the trash. A well-written answer to the HARO query can save the day.”

Remember, the end-game is to offer answers with substance in a timely manner.

Greg Jenkins, Bravo Productions

Greg Jenkins, founder and partner of Bravo Productions, has been using HARO for the last 13 years. He says “it has been a great experience in not only getting our company’s name out to global audiences, [but] it’s also been beneficial in educating consumers and various audience demographics about the profession.”

To highlight his point, Jenkins notes that “topics run the gamut” and can include examples like:

• Quick party fixes for Health & Fitness Magazine
• Budget tips for websites like Brides.com
• Super Bowl party tips for publications like the Atlanta Journal & Constitution
• Party planning advice for Costco Connection Magazine
• Security and risk management advice for publications like Smart Meetings

He takes things a step further by sharing any content his company is mentioned in on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more. This helps Jenkins:

• Build up his social fan base
• Set himself up as an expert in event planning
• Increase brand awareness

Knowing how to use HARO helps give your small business the upper hand in marketing and Jenkins reports:

“We find using HARO is a means to distinguish our company from the masses and competitors. There are a plethora of event and party planning companies in every city. When included in an article, it’s one way to distinguish our company from those who may not receive the same media exposure.”

His best advice for a source is to, “Be specific in your answers. Vague responses to questions will not help the journalists or the end reader if your input adds little to nothing in the story.”

Jenkins also adds that you’ll want to make sure you edit and utilize spell check for grammar before sending responses to journalists. He suggests keeping an eye out for typos and making yourself available for any follow-up questions.

Linda Pophal, Strategic Communications

Linda Pophal, founder and owner of Strategic Communications, uses HARO as both a source and a journalist. She says the most important thing is to “only respond to pitches that you are truly qualified for.”

Pophal also notes that HARO, in her opinion, has been overrun “by trash responses from people [clearly] seeking only to attain backlinks.” She adds that these responses often use content generation tools to develop their responses, which typically don’t offer any valuable insights to her queries.

“If you don’t have the credentials [or] expertise the reporter is looking for, don’t respond. If you do, and do so repeatedly, you’ll fall off their radar screen and likely be blocked. I have a number of names I’m now familiar with that I now delete responses from without even looking at them because their input has been so irrelevant or off the mark.”

Finally, she acknowledges that journalists are busy and more likely to use “detailed written responses than to take time to interview sources.”

“Providing relevant detailed information can boost the odds that your input will be used. A side benefit is that, since you’ve actually documented your response you’re more likely to be quoted accurately.”

Ryan Stewman, Break Free Academy

Ryan Stewman, founder of Break Free Academy, reports that the two most important things for him are consistency and delivering value. He says:

 “I’ve been using HARO for three years now. I answer one to two email queries daily. If you add it up, that’s 700 or so opportunities per year to get published from HARO.”

When it comes to getting published, Stewman says his experience as a source is to “give the reporter the information they are looking for.”

“Most people fail to get published because they made their replies about themselves, instead of about the needs of the reporter. The key to getting the most out of HARO is to consistently answer queries daily, and answer them according to what you think the reporter wants information on, not about yourself.”

Key takeaways and next steps

To close things out, I’ve rounded out some final tips to get your business featured in the media using HARO:

1. Don’t wait. Start learning how to use Haro right away. There are hundreds of opportunities every week, and your business might have the exact insights journalists (like me) are looking for.
2. Give thorough and valuable responses. Read queries carefully and answer all questions appropriately. If you want to get selected, holding back won’t do you any good.
3. Answer truthfully and don’t hype yourself up. No one likes to find out their source isn’t as amazing as they claim to be. It’s also a quick way to land yourself on a blacklist for many websites.
4. Have a bio and headshot ready. Many journalists will want to feature your information alongside your quote or answer to a query.
5. Don’t forget to include contact information. Add this to your emails in case a journalist wants to follow-up.
6. Keep pitching via source requests. You never know who is looking for a source, or which pitches will be selected.

What are you waiting for? Sign up for HARO and start working on getting your business in the news today!