At Main St. Merchants, we like to keep tabs on the state of the business sectors that we are involved in. Namely, credit card/payment processing, digital marketing, and tax services.
Recently we have seen a huge uptick in "entrepreneurial/get rich quick" programs being advertised on youtube, facebook, and other places, offering curious people the chance to earn "lots of income from home" by becoming a digital ad agency or consultant. These programs have spokespeople that show you how much money they have made, then they tell you that if you could just stop making excuses (and then pay them for their service/product), you too could be a multi-millionaire.
We have also seen dozens of programs offering the chance to "make it big" by setting up ECommerce websites, usually involving platforms like Shopify, Alibaba, and other "drop-ship" companies. The same sort of sales techniques and M.O. applies from above.
We have analyzed some of these programs, out of sheer curiosity and the desire to protect our clients and even friends and families. 90% of the time, the offering isn't really anything new - it is just someone teaching you a little bit about how websites and ecommerce works, in order for them to sell you SEO services, website templates, and other services, and a very high price. The other 10% of the time, they are selling black hat techniques or software that will actually hurt your website or your business.
We are all for breaking out of comfort zones and venturing into new areas. But please be careful out there. ECommerce and digital marketing is definitely now areas where "let the buyer beware" applies.
Let us know if you have any questions about setting up your ECommerce, digital marketing, or social media advertising for shopping carts. We can advise on every type of ECommerce trigger, whether it is SEO to website, Social Media to website or landing page, or specialty commerce.