Curate Your Own Online Marketplace
Welcome to Marketplace Curator s ecourse Welcome to Meylah s ecourse, Curate Your Own Online Marketplace. In this ecourse, you will learn about all of the rich tools and superb techniques available to you on Meylah and begin to use them to build and curate a phenomenal online marketplace! This ecourse is separated into 3 distinct sections: (1) Setting Up Your Marketplace, (2) Recruiting Sellers To Join Your Marketplace and (3) Attracting Customers To Your Marketplace. You ll find all the information very detailed and useful so keep this ecourse on hand as a great resource to draw from in the future. Each of these 3 sections follow a simple step by step path to success with helpful links to articles and resources in the Meylah Learning Center to help you build your marketplace. And, don t forget that we are here to help so feel free to search through our FAQ page or contact us at support@meylah.com with any questions. Good luck and happy selling! Unique Benefits of Having Your Own Marketplace Customize To Your Brand Customize your own online marketplace to your brand and even integrate it with your existing website if you choose! Curate Your Marketplace Curate your marketplace with your sellers and their products so you can sell together with your chosen community of peers! Automatic Product Listings Fill your marketplace automatically from your sellers independent online stores so you don t have lift a finger to load your marketplace with products! Generate Revenue Generate new revenue by collecting a transaction fee of your choice on all the products that sell in your marketplace! This is a Premium feature and subscription and set up fees apply. A Seller s Dream It s a seller s dream to sell in multiple online marketplaces from a single product listing from their online store! A Buyer s Paradise It s a buyer s paradise to shop year-round from a community of sellers they trust both locally and globally!
Setting Up Your Online Marketplace Setting up your online marketplace is all about customizing your online marketplace to represent your brand, your voice and your community s look and feel! We have separated this section into two areas; basic setup and advanced setup. Follow each of the sections below to setup your marketplace to your desired level. Basic Setup Marketplace ID: Your Marketplace ID is your online marketplace website address (URL) and will look something like this: YourMarketplaceID.meylah.com. Your choice for Marketplace ID can t be changed later, so choose wisely to be consistent with your brand and enter it into the appropriate section. Marketplace Name: Your Marketplace Name should be the same as your Marketplace ID so re-enter it into the available section. Don t worry, this can easily be changed later if you make a mistake here. Announcement Message: Your announcement message will appear at the top of your marketplace just below your banner. If you don't want an announcement message at this time, just leave the box blank. When you re finished, check the box that you agree to the Meylah Marketplace Terms of Use. Click the save button now! Marketplace Details: This section will let you share specific information about your marketplace with your visitors and customers. There are various areas of information that you can customize including the following: Rules for Joining Your Marketplace: You should create specific rules or policies for sellers participating in your online marketplace so they know what to expect. These rules should include information like the type of sellers you accept, type of products you allow, the transaction fees that you charge, etc. These rules are automatically shared with each seller before they apply or accept your invitation to join your marketplace. Simply enter any specific rules or policies in the available box that you want your sellers to agree to before they are able to sell in your marketplace. Marketplace Transaction Fee (%): You can charge a transaction fee for all the sales on your marketplace and earn revenue. Determine what percentage of each sale you want to charge your members and enter the number in the appropriate section. Please Note: This is a Premium feature only available by request (meylah@meylah.com) and requires a subscription fee of $19.95/month. Click the save button now! Marketplace Banner: Each marketplace has an option to include a customized banner across the top of the page. The banner dimensions are 870 pixels x 120 pixels and you can upload the banner as any image file (jpeg, png, gif or tiff). When you re ready, just scroll down to the section titled Upload A Marketplace Banner under the Marketplace Setup tab and click on the grey icon to upload your own customized banner. For more information, check out this FAQ.
Basic Setup Marketplace Categories: You can customize your marketplace product categories to organize the way you re the products are displayed in your online marketplace. You can create a parent category and additional sub categories under each parent category. For example, you might create jewelry as a parent category and then necklaces, earrings and bracelets as sub categories. For more information, check out this FAQ. Click the save button now! Marketplace Connections: These are the several online communication channels you ll want to set up so your marketplace visitors and customers can connect with you and can stay updated on your news and events. The channels available include: Social Media Channels: You can link up to 4 different social media channels that will show above your banner for your visitors and customers to connect with you. For example, Facebook, Twitter, Pint e rest and more! Just click on the tab Social Network to include your account profiles. For more information, check out this FAQ. Email Subscription: Your visitors and customers can also connect with you via email by subscribing to your marketplace email communications. To set this up, all you need to do is create a MailChimp account (it s free!) and then copy and paste your email list embedded code from MailChimp into the appropriate section titled MailChimp Embed Code under the Marketplace Setup tab. For more information, check out this FAQ. Click the save button now! Advanced Setup Marketplace HTML Banner: You can customize your banner with HTML code to integrate seamlessly with your current website or blog. Just paste the HTML code of your existing website s banner into the box titled Custom HTML Instead Of A Banner under the Advanced Settings section. For more information, check out this FAQ. IMPORTANT: Your HTML banner code may affect the current CSS format of your marketplace, so make sure that the HTML banner code is compatible and does not interfere with the rest of the webpage formatting otherwise the marketplace pages may not function as intended. Custom (Additional) Pages: You have the option to create up to 3 custom (additional) pages on your marketplace. These pages will appear in the left hand navigation of your marketplace and can be everything from an About Us page to a Contact Us page with a map graphic you choose! You can create these pages in the Pages tab. For more information, check out this FAQ. Advertising Space: There is advertising space on the additional pages and marketplace homepage for you to add custom HTML code to list advertisers, share information, showcase partners and more. This also requires knowledge of HTML code. For more information, check out this FAQ. IMPORTANT: The HTML code here may affect the current CSS format of your marketplace, so make sure that the HTML code used is compatible and does not interfere with the rest of the webpage formatting otherwise the marketplace pages may not function as intended.
Recruiting Sellers To Join Your Marketplace Recruiting sellers to sell with you in your online marketplace is very important to your long term success. There are many methods to recruiting sellers for your marketplace and we will cover each of them in the following sections of this ecourse. Recruiting Fellow Meylah Members to Join/Sell In Your Marketplace: If you know any sellers that are already Meylah members, you can invite them to join and sell in your online marketplace very easily. Just follow the steps below to invite your fellow Meylah members to join your marketplace: 1. Identify their Meylah store username. For example: www.meylah.com/storeusername 2. Login to your Meylah account and under the Applications & Invitations tab of your marketplace, click on Invite Meylah Members. 3. Enter the Meylah store username for each seller you want to invite and add a personal message in the box provided at the bottom. Then, click on invite button to send your invitation. The Meylah members will receive their invitations via email and when they accept the invitation you will receive a confirmation of their acceptance. Recruiting Non-Meylah Members to Join/Sell In Your Marketplace: You can also reach out to other sellers who do not currently have a Meylah store and invite them to join and sell in your online marketplace too. All they need to do is sign up for a Meylah account (it s free!) so they can open their own online store and then all they have to do is join your marketplace. Here are a few of the ways you can invite non-meylah members to join and sell in your marketplace: Email: Once you have identified potential sellers (through web searches, blogs you follow, Facebook friends, Twitter followers) that you think would be a great addition to your online marketplace community of sellers, you should contact them via email with a personalized message to share your goals and how they can benefit from being a part of your online marketplace. We have provided a few sample emails in the Appendix of this ecourse for you to use as a reference: click here Personal Network: You have a great network of fellow sellers whom you might have met at events, social gatherings, through referrals and many other places. Once you have a list of these sellers, you can reach out to them on the phone, email or in person and invite them to join your marketplace. Social Media: There are many fans, peers and community members connected to you through various social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Flickr and many more. Once you identify these sellers, you can reach out to them and invite them to join your marketplace. Your Website and Blogs: If you get regular visitors to your website and blog, make sure you share and post specific information about your online marketplace on the site so you can attract new sellers to join and sell with you.
Recruiting Sellers To Join Your Marketplace Create A Weekly Planner: Recruiting sellers to join your online marketplace and having your existing sellers list new products in your marketplace should be a continuous process. Creating a weekly planner (schedule of activities) to recruit new sellers and have them list new products will allow you to grow your marketplace and always offer your visitors and customers with new product options. Try to spend time each week recruiting new sellers to join your marketplace and messaging your existing sellers to list new products in your marketplace. If you stay organized, this shouldn t take much time at all and to help you, we ve created a sample weekly planner below for you to use as a guide to create your own click on it to download a PDF version. Approving and Rejecting Members to Join Your Marketplace: In order to accept or reject a seller s application to join your marketplace, all you need to do is login to your Meylah account and click on the Applications & Invitations tab. You ll see the list of the sellers that have applied to join your marketplace and you can click on their name to see their store and then click the accept or reject button next to the appropriate sellers plus add any message that you want to share with them and you ll be on your way! Removing Members from your Marketplace: In order to maintain the highest quality and customer satisfaction you may have to remove a member from your marketplace. You can manage this process very easily. Login to your Meylah account and click on the Memberships tab and you will see a list of all of your current sellers that have joined your online marketplace. Scroll through your list and click on the cancel button next to the seller s name. Immediately all products from this member will be removed from your online marketplace. If you need to add these members again, you can invite them or they can apply to sell with you as described above. Removing Products from Your Marketplace: In addition to managing your sellers, you can also manage specific products from each member that appear in your online marketplace. In order to remove a product from your marketplace, just login and click on the Content tab and then click on the Delete link to remove a specific product from your Marketplace. If you want to remove the member and all of their products from your marketplace you can also do that here by clicking on the Delete Member link.
Attracting Buyers To Shop In Your Marketplace Once you have setup your online marketplace, recruited your sellers and filled your marketplace with amazing products, then the final step is to promote your marketplace and attract buyers. Here are a 10 simple ways to attract buyers to your online marketplace. Blog: If you have your own blog, you are already web savvy. Blogging is one of the best things you can integrate into your online business and it s a great way to promote and showcase your marketplace and your members. With your own online marketplace, your visitors and customers can quickly explore and transact. The key to long term success is to be consistent and create a schedule for regular blog posts, announcements, product showcase so your readers and customers are consistently engaged. Email Campaigns: Email is still one of the best ways to communicate with your visitors and customers. Send out weekly or monthly email campaigns to your subscribers and they have never been easier to create and send. Meylah allows you to integrate MailChimp into your marketplace so you can collect email subscriptions automatically. You can also upload your current subscribers to MailChimp to build your subscribers list and communicate with your community on a regular basis. Email campaigns can be used for several occasions including: Product Announcements: You can create regular featured products from you marketplace to keep your subscribers engaged. New Member Announcements: You can create regular announcements to share new members and their unique products. Event Announcements: You can share with your subscribers where they can find your members in local fairs or other community based events. This will help your subscribers engage with your members and bring them back to your online marketplace regularly. Partnerships, Promotions & Contest Announcements: You can also share with your subscribers new partnerships, promotions and contests that are happening. These will also help you engage with your community on a regular basis and bring them back to your online marketplace. Email marketing is one of the most effective forms of marketing and it has virtually no cost. MailChimp has many pre built templates and they are extremely easy to customize. We have provided additional information in the Appendix with a few examples of these templates: click here Social Media: Social media is a great way to engage with your community and help grow your current network. Begin sharing your marketplace products on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. And, do this regularly sharing your marketplace products regularly will help your friends and followers become regular customers. And, it doesn't have to be just about what is for sale in your marketplace anything relevant to your community and their interests is great information. Join Online and Offline Groups: Joining online and offline groups and becoming part of the community based on the things that are most important to you is super easy and will be a great benefit to your business. By connecting and sharing your activities will not only bring new visitors and customers to your online marketplace but also new members who will sell with you on your online marketplace.
Attracting Buyers To Shop In Your Marketplace Events (Seminars, Classes, Fairs, Saturday Markets): Hold events that showcase your members and help your community become more aware of your business. There is money to be made by creating events and bringing people within the community together. The event can be a street fair or Saturday market to gather buyers and sellers in one place or even a seminar or class to unite individuals under a common theme where they can network and learn together. Partnerships: Partner with others in your community to leverage one another there is greater power in doing it together than alone. Think about showcasing another business on your marketplace with a special ad in return for a promotion of your marketplace in their place of business. Referrals: Reach out to your friends, family and existing members and give them an incentive for any referring customers to your marketplace. Maybe for every customer, they get an advertising spot on your marketplace for a day. Print Campaigns: Create a personalized marketing and promotional campaign for your marketplace it s becoming more and more popular and affordable with print on demand options today. Keeping printed business cards or promotional cards with you at all times is a great way to promote your marketplace and spread the word offline. PR: Public relations or publicity is a great way to attract customers to your marketplace to shop and the best way to make sure that they find out about you and your marketplace is to introduce yourself to them. If you sit back and wait to be found, you will likely be waiting a long time. There are many high-profile blogs and websites that feature online marketplaces so just reach out to them. Advertising: Place ads on blogs and other websites or use Google Adwords, Facebook Ads and more to attract new customers to your marketplace. The key to your long term success is to have a plan or strategy and be consistent with yoru marketing campaigns. Attracting buyers to your online marketplace should be a continuous process. By attracting visitors and buyers to your online marketplace consistently and growing will not only provide great sales opportunity for your sellers but also attract more sellers to your marketplace. Customers always come back and support their community and refer and recommend their friends and family. Keeping them engaged is the key to your long term success and here is an example of a weekly planner that you can use click on it to download a PDF version.
Appendix The following information provided in this Appendix is for sample purposes only. Please feel free to copy and/or reuse the following information for your personal communications. Inviting Current Meylah Members (Sample Email Content) If you only have an online marketplace, here is a sample email: Hello <Enter Invitee First Name>, We were exploring Meylah s members and we were very impressed with the products that you make and sell on <Enter Meylah Store Name>. We feel that your products would be a great addition to our online marketplace/gallery that we have created to promote and share with our community. Our mission is to bring visitors and customers to our marketplace through various marketing channels and we have successfully built our community over the past <Enter Duration> and we believe that by offering a curated list of products and artists, our community will support us and our sellers. Please contact us if you need any information and we look forward to accepting you into our marketplace. Just click on the sell with us button on the top left of our marketplace to join us. Our website address is: <Enter Your Website> and our online marketplace address is: <Enter Your Marketplace Website Address> Thank You, <Enter Your Name> If you only have a physical gallery or retail space, here is a sample email: Hello <Enter Invitee First Name>, We were exploring Meylah s members and we were very impressed with the products that you make and sell on <Enter Meylah Store Name>. We feel that your products would be a great addition to our online marketplace/gallery that we have created to promote and share with our community. <Enter Your Gallery Name> has been serving our community since <Enter Year>. With the addition of our new online marketplace, we feel that our visitors and customers will benefit by being able to connect with our artists at their convenience. Our online gallery also provides a means to showcase a larger number of product choices for our customers. Please contact us if you need any information and we look forward to accepting you into our marketplace. Just click on the sell with us button on the top left of our marketplace to join us. Our website address is: <Enter Your Website> and our online marketplace address is: <Enter Your Marketplace Website Address> Thank You, <Enter Your Name> If you re an event organizer, here is a sample email: Hello <Enter Invitee First Name>, We were exploring Meylah s members and we were very impressed with the products that you make and sell on <Enter Meylah Store Name>. We feel that your products would be a great addition to our online marketplace/gallery that we have created to promote and share with our community. <Enter Your Event Name> has been serving our community since <Enter Year>. With the addition of our new online marketplace, we feel that our visitors and customers will benefit by being able to connect with our artists at their convenience. Our online gallery also provides a means to showcase a larger number of product choices for our customers. Please contact us if you need any information and we look forward to accepting you into our marketplace. Just click on the sell with us button on the top left of our marketplace to join us. Our website address is: <Enter Your Website> and our online marketplace address is: <Enter Your Marketplace Website Address> Thank You, <Enter Your Name>
Inviting Non-Meylah Members (Sample Email Content) If you only have an online marketplace, here is a sample email: Hello <Enter Invitee First Name>, We were exploring the web and we were very impressed with the products that you make and sell on <Enter Online Store Name>. We feel that your products would be a great addition to our online marketplace/gallery that we have created to promote and share with our community. Our mission is to bring visitors and customers to our marketplace through various marketing channels and we have successfully built our community over the past <Enter Duration> and we believe that by offering a curated list of products and artists, our community will support us and our sellers. Please contact us if you need any information and we look forward to accepting you into our marketplace. Just click on the sell with us button on the top left of our marketplace to join us. Our website address is: <Enter Your Website> and our online marketplace address is: <Enter Your Marketplace Website Address> Thank You, <Enter Your Name> If you only have a physical gallery or retail space, here is a sample email: Hello <Enter Invitee First Name>, We were exploring the web and we were very impressed with the products that you make and sell on <Enter Online Store Name>. We feel that your products would be a great addition to our online marketplace/gallery that we have created to promote and share with our community. <Enter Your Gallery Name> has been serving our community since <Enter Year>. With the addition of our new online marketplace, we feel that our visitors and customers will benefit by being able to connect with our artists at their convenience. Our online gallery also provides a means to showcase a larger number of product choices for our customers. Please contact us if you need any information and we look forward to accepting you into our marketplace. Just click on the sell with us button on the top left of our marketplace to join us. Our website address is: <Enter Your Website> and our online marketplace address is: <Enter Your Marketplace Website Address> Thank You, <Enter Your Name> If you re an event organizer, here is a sample email: Hello <Enter Invitee First Name>, We were exploring the web and we were very impressed with the products that you make and sell on <Enter Online Store Name>. We feel that your products would be a great addition to our online marketplace/gallery that we have created to promote and share with our community. <Enter Your Event Name> has been serving our community since <Enter Year>. With the addition of our new online marketplace, we feel that our visitors and customers will benefit by being able to connect with our artists at their convenience. Our online gallery also provides a means to showcase a larger number of product choices for our customers. Please contact us if you need any information and we look forward to accepting you into our marketplace. Just click on the sell with us button on the top left of our marketplace to join us. Our website address is: <Enter Your Website> and our online marketplace address is: <Enter Your Marketplace Website Address> Thank You, <Enter Your Name>
Product Announcements (Sample Email Campaign Design) Sharing selected products from your marketplace gives your community more reasons to check out these products and remember to come back to your marketplace on a regular basis for their everyday needs. MailChimp has a very simple email template in which you can quickly copy the URL of the product from your marketplace and it automatically pulls the image of the product and creates the URL. This sample template below is called Products in the Ecommerce Designer Templates of MailChimp.
General Announcements (Sample Email Campaign Design) You can use the following template on MailChimp to share different types of announcements, progress reports, events, new members and more! Try and limit the number of actions or links in each email campaign to a maximum of two. A similar template can be found in the Newsletter Designer Templates of MailChimp.