Andrew Youderian • May 15, 2013 It’s really hard to find quality eCommerce content with the individual entrepreneur in mind. Too many sites are targeted only toward large enterprise businesses, have poor content or don’t have first-hand experience running an eCommerce store.
That’s why I’m bringing you a list of eCommerce experts who need to be on your radar. I picked these individuals based on their experience, the information they share that’s applicable to smaller merchants and because I often find myself trolling around their sites and/or listening to their podcasts.
Dan Andrews and Ian Schoen – The Lifestyle Business Podcast
Dan and Ian ho
st what has become my favorite podcast. It chronicles their adventures running eCommerce businesses, manufacturing products in Asia and traveling all over the globe. Over the past five years they’ve built up a seven-figure, location-independent eCommerce business, as well as a large following online. Their Lifestyle Business Podcast is one that consistently entertains AND delivers value, which is a difficult combination to find.
To Learn More: Visit The Lifestyle Business Podcast website or Subscribe in iTunes. You can also Follow Dan or Ian on Twitter.
Billy Murphy – ForeverJobless.com
There are two things I love about Billy’s website: his long-form articles that are incredibly valuable, and headlines like “How to Buy a Ferrari for $20K” that make me want to dedicate a year of my life to becoming a better copywriter.
Originally the founder of a successful poker training site, he’s become much more involved with eCommerce and shares his real-world experiences at ForeverJobless.com. In his post How to Get “Lucky” in eCommerce, he discusses how he scored an incredible deal on an eCommerce store – and how you can, too. He doesn’t post super regularly, but when he does, his articles are well worth the 15-minute time investment to read.
To Lean More: Visit ForeverJobless.com or follow Billy on Twitter.
Steve Chou – MyWifeQuitHerJob.com
Steve runs a successful wedding handkerchief store that he started so his wife could stay at home with their children. Within the first year, the store cleared over $100K in profit and has been growing since. He’s blogged for more than four years and shares valuable first-hand experiences from his own businesses to help others succeed. On more than one occasion, I’ve found myself knee-deep in his archives, reading article after article.
To Learn More: Visit MyWifeQuitHerJob.com or follow Steve on Twitter
Linda Bustos – GetElastic.com
Of all the individuals listed, Linda focuses the least on small eCommerce merchants. She consults for larger eCommerce operations and focuses on eCommerce research at GetElastic. But because the content she publishes is such quality, useful information, I had to make an exception and include her on this list. Even if you’re not running a Fortune 500 eCommerce operation, the articles and research she provides are very insightful.
To Learn More: Visit GetElastic.com or Follow Linda on Twitter
Dave Huckabay – GrabApple.com
Dave is a true eCommerce veteran and has been running successful online stores since the late 1990s. He owns numerous stores that focus on industrial equipment and he’s a testament to what’s possible to achieve with a single-person in-house team. Dave’s also written an incredibly comprehensive eBook on starting an online store, The GrabApple Guide to eCommerce.
To Learn More: Visit GrabApple.com or see my interview with him.
Mark Hayes – The Shopify Blog
Mark is the head of PR at Shopify and is responsible for their well-known eCommerce blog. I’ve worked with Mark on numerous occasions, including on The Ultimate Drop Shipping Guide that we co-authored and released this spring. If you haven’t checked it out, I’d highly recommend it; it’s the most comprehensive guide to drop shipping you’ll find anywhere.
Apart from the guide, Mark consistently publishes high-quality content to help store owners get the most out of their businesses.
To Learn More: Visit the Shopify blog, see The Ultimate Drop Shipping Guide or follow Mark on Twitter.
Gary Vaynerchuk – GaryVaynerchuk.com
Gary is so widely known for his books and support of social media that most forget he originally started with eCommerce by building WineLibrary.com. He’s not actively involved in eCommerce today, but the core values he promotes (insane levels of caring, building a brand, cultivating customer loyalty) are increasingly becoming critical to eCommerce success.
In a world where Amazon is becoming the de facto source for anything you can imagine, building loyal customers will be absolutely essential to growing a small eCommerce business in the future.
To Learn More: Follow Gary on Twitter or check out my interview with him.
Terry Lin – BuildMyOnlineStore.com
Terry launched the Build My Online Store podcast a year ago, and he regularly interviews store owners and related eCommerce experts. His interviews provide great inspiration to those just starting out, as well as insights for merchants looking to get more out of their existing stores.
To Learn More: Visit BuildMyOnlineStore.com or Follow Terry on Twitter.
Ezra Firestone – SmartMarketer.com
While I didn’t know Ezra when putting this list together, it didn’t take long for me to realize the mistake I’d made! From the numerous comments mentioning him below to getting to know him personally, Ezra definitely is a top eCommerce expert you should be following.
He runs more than a dozen eCommerce stores – including Boom by Cindy Joseph – and writes about marketing and eCommerce at SmarkMarketer.com
To Learn More: Visit SmartMarketer.com or Follow Ezra on Twitter
I’m sure there are other eCommerce experts sharing great content that I missed. Who else do you follow? Let me know in the comments below.
Photo by mpilote.
Post by Andrew Youderian
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