A lot of people will tell you that there is no sense in looking into how to start dropshipping for free. They will tell you that there is absolutely no point, because this is a business, and if you want to be successful in a business, you need to spend cash. We are telling you that their statement is wrong. If you want to start up a free dropshipping store, you can. Bear in mind it is going to be ridiculously hard work, but there is nothing that says that you can't do it. You just may need to do things a little bit differently from normal. We hope the information on this page helps.
Start a free dropshipping store
Your first step in learning how to start dropshipping free is to have a website that you can list your products on. This is perhaps going to be the hardest part of the process when it comes to learning how to start dropshipping without money. This is because of the vast majority of free solutions being awful. In all honesty, the best route to go down when doing free dropshipping is to take advantage of the 30-day trial that Shopify gives you. Although, you may struggle to gain enough free traffic in those 30-days to fund your subscription for the next month. That being said, you do have scaleability if you stick with Shopify.
If you do not think that you can afford to pay for a Shopify subscription in a month, then do not go down that route. There are other ways to start a free dropshipping store. Weebly and BigCartel are good options here. While they are never going to be as good as something like Shopify, they are going to be able to provide you with enough tools (and information) to start selling online today. We doubt that you will be able to scale up into a massive business, but a lot of what you are doing when dropshipping will be niche selling, so once you have the basics down and the cash flowing in, then you can move onto other options.
Alternatively, you could always set yourself up an account on eBay or Amazon and send products from there. While these are great ways for how to start dropshipping without money, you do need to be aware that both of these methods will have a ton of competition and it can be tough to stand out from the crowd.
Work with a reliable dropshipping site that is 100% free to sign up to and use
This is the part where a lot of people become stuck when learning how to start dropshipping without money. The problem is that the vast majority of dropshippers, or services that tell you about dropshippers, are going to charge you for their services. This means that if you want to know how to start dropshipping free, you are pretty much going to be stuck at a dead end. Thankfully, you also have options. It is one of the better options too, and you may even want to use it even if you are not considering free dropshipping. Let us introduce you to saleyee.com.
SaleYee allows you to sign up for free. There are no subscription costs either (so, you really will be learning how to start a dropshipping business for free!). There are over 200,000 products in stock at all times, and the shipping is reliably fast. Honestly, with the number of products that SaleYee allows you to search through, you could easily scale up your business from here. This is a resource that you are going to be using a lot, whether you are learning how to start dropshipping without money, or with a couple of thousand dollars in the bank. This is a site that will work for you. Just make sure that you choose your niche and price up your products well.
If you are not planning to use SaleYee, then at least use a dropshipper that offers free sign-up and membership. There is no need to work with a paid dropshipping company.
Free Online Courses for Dropshipping
Now that you have your site and your products, you need somebody to tell you what to do. No. You do not need to spend thousands of dollars on a course here. There are a few free ones that we genuinely believe are going to be good for you. They provide enough information to start the cash flowing in, and you may get a couple of tips on improving your learning experience. In this section, we want to look at the ones that are most exciting for us.
2Dropshipping
Many people swear by 2Dropshipping. This isn't a surprise for us. If you want to know how to start dropshipping for free, this is a site that has guides for pretty much everything. It doesn't so much as focus on getting the site set up, but more on actually making sales. We love this. Sure, they are going to try and sell something to you on occasion, but the bulk of the information will be free.
MIT OpenCourseWare
A course put together by one of the best universities in the world? Yes, please! No. There are not any specific dropshipping courses here. However, there are some top eCommerce marketing courses put together by some of the finest minds in the marketing world. Not every tip and trick you will be taught will be free to put into action, but you could feasibly get enough information that you have a better feel for how to successfully run your store.
Udemy
At the time of writing, there are close to 200 free courses on Udemy specifically about dropshipping. These courses are pretty in-depth too and they will cover absolutely everything that you need to know about the dropshipping process. This includes information about shipping certain products, setting up your store, and the marketing side of things. Remember, this is just 200 free dropshipping courses. There is also a ton more information on writing sales copy, gaining free traffic, and email marketing (which you can use when you expand your business). If you are learning how to start dropshipping for free, then Udemy is going to be the best resource for you.
8 Free Ways to Advertise Your Store and Product
A lot of this will be covered in a quality dropshipping course you will pick up. However, we are still going to provide you with a section on how to gain free traffic for your site. Remember; you can have the best website and the best prices, but if you have no traffic, you won't sell a thing. The traffic sources in this section are going to last you long beyond your free dropshipping career. They will, essentially, set you up for every dropshipping business you run from here on out....so pay attention!
These are pretty much going to be your staple methods for generating traffic to your site for free. The reason why we are listing them here is that the vast majority of dropshipping courses don't tell you how to do anything beyond Facebook advertising. If you are looking for dropshipping for free, then this is simply not good enough. Facebook marketing can get wildly expensive. We want to show you just how easy it is to generate traffic...even if these methods can be a little bit slower to put into action.
1. Search Engine Optimization
This is the absolute staple when it comes to free traffic generation. If you want to make cash online, then you need to be at the top of the search engines for your selected keywords. The top three results for any search are going to get the most clicks. If you aren't there, then you need to be there.
So, what is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Well, to put it simply, it is the process of getting your website ranked at the top of sites like Google. This is how the vast majority of people find what they need online, right? You will need to put in a lot of effort here, and SEO is going to be a long term process, but it is probably the best way to get traffic when you are looking for how to start a dropshipping business for free.
2. Guest Posts
If you find another similar site in your niche (not an eCommerce website), then you may want to offer to write some free content for them. The major benefit here is that they will get content, and you will have a link to your website put in front of people that you know are interested in what you are selling. If you do things right here, then this could easily generate your sales overnight.
3. YouTube
Why not start a YouTube channel where you talk about some of the products that you have on offer? You may even just want to talk about your niche a little bit. YouTube is a fantastic way to drive traffic to your website. It also helps to establish you as an authority in a niche. This means that you are going to be able to increase your sales based on knowledge alone.
4. Utilize Social Media
You need to be on all of the main ones here. This includes Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. However, over time, you may want to look into social media sites that are relevant to your niche. Make sure that you learn how to cultivate a following on social media. Talk to your potential customers. Create shareworthy content. If you can do this, then you will be rolling in sales. Again, something that could take off overnight, but most people find that it takes months for the social media traffic to start properly rolling in. Luckily for you, we are saying that you should start today. So do that!
5. Find Question & Answer Websites
Quora is our 'go-to' website here. If you can find questions related to your niche, then answer with a nice little link back to your website. Many dropshippers have found that a single link on a popular question has given them substantial traffic for years. Just make sure that you offer a decent answer, or nobody will ever see it. You can also use forums in your niche, but make sure you follow the rules so you don't create a bad impression on your target market!
6. Affiliate Marketing
You probably know how profitable affiliate marketing is in the world of internet marketing, right? You may have considered advertising people's products before to make a bit of commission. if you run a dropshipping store, then you will find yourself on the other side of things. You will be the one paying out commissions. This method can be a bit tougher to set up, but when it works, it works. You can sign up affiliates, then pay out a commission to them whenever they create a sale for you. The best part is that they will need to spend money on advertising, and you won't need to spend a cent!
7. Email Marketing
Here, we suggest that you create a sign-up form on your website which allows you to collect email addresses. Use a free email marketing company for this (most will work with eCommerce websites). Every so often, send out a couple of offers and people will come flying to your website. We are not going to go into the intricacies of email marketing here, just know that it is probably going to be one of the most profitable traffic generation methods outside of SEO.
8. Write an eBook
This is another route you can take to build up your credibility. If you have a lot of knowledge about the niche you are dropshipping in, then put together an eBook and give it away free of charge. Don't forget to include your link in it. You can give the eBook away on sites like Amazon, as a bonus for signing up to your email list, ask your affiliates to give it away, or however you choose.
Your eBook doesn't need to be too long. A book that is 10-20 pages long is fantastic, and may only take you a few days to put together.
Conclusion
It is important to remember that if you are looking into how to start a dropshipping business for free, you should always be planning to spend cash later on down the line. This is how you expand the amount of cash you can make. For now, free dropshipping is a perfectly viable option, and the information on this page will help. Just bear in mind that it is a far slower process, and you will need to work a whole lot harder.