We continue to get a lot of questions from Store Coach members who live outside the USA. Most of you are asking the same questions about how to make Store Coach work for you. Let me try to answer all of them in this post (which will probably be quite lengthy, but hopefully very helpful).

Question: I live in __________. Will the Store Coach process work for me?
Answer: Yes! Over the last few years, we've coached and mentored dozens & dozens of people living outside the United States. They have been very successful using the Store Coach process, either to build stores targeting online shoppers in their own country or to build stores targeting the US market (more on that below). The process we teach works no matter what country you live in. You can be very successful with Store Coach.

Question: Should I target the US market or my home country?
Answer: The US market is the largest online shopping market in the world. Thus, building a store that targets the US market gives you the most upside potential for sales & profits. As a foreigner, there are a few extra steps you may (but may not) need to take to set up a store targeting the US market... but it's worth it! Many people before you have done it and are reaping the benefits. And we provide a lot of resources (see below) to help you do it yourself. Now, do you have to target the US market? No! Zulu Cart, our premier online store platform, works perfectly for non-US stores (with all the necessary language, currency, localization options). So if you want to build a store targeting your home country, you can definitely do so.

Question: Does Coach's Keyword Tool work for countries other than the USA?
Answer: At this time, our keyword only shows US results. The 'Daily Searches' numbers shown are the average # of searches per day at Google.com (USA results). Also, the 'MOS' scores shown are based on an analysis of the top 10 ranking sites at Google.com (again, USA results). We may, at some future date, make other versions (for other countries) available. But as of now, the tool only shows US results. If you plan to launch a store targeting the US market, just use Coach's Keyword Tool (it doesn't matter that you yourself are not located in the US).

But what should you do if you plan to launch a store targeting your home market? You will need to use Google's keyword tool to find out the daily searches for keyword phrases. On this page, make sure to do the following:
1) Change the country to the country you plan to target
2) On the left side, in the 'Match Types' box, make sure that only '[Exact]' is checked (un-check the other options)
3) After you run a search, look at the 'Local Monthly Searches' column (NOT the 'Global Monthly Searches' column) and divide the number by 30 to find out the 'Daily Searches' for your home country

As far as MOS goes, do NOT pay any attention to the 'Competition' column shown on Google's keyword tool. That has to do with competition within AdWords itself, which has nothing to do with how easy/difficult it will be to get ranked in Google organically. What you're going to need to do is manually analyze the top-ranking sites when you search for that keyword phrase in your country's version of Google. Read this article to understand what factors Coach's Keyword Tool looks at when analyzing the top-ranking sites. You'll want to look at these same factors yourself, but you'll have to do it manually. (At this point, you may want to re-consider your decision about whether to build a store targeting your home country instead of the USA.)  

Question: If I target the US market, do I need to set up a US business entity? If so, what are the tax implications?
Answer: It depends on whether the supplier(s) you're trying to get an account set up with require you to have a US business entity or not. The only reason you would need a US business entity is if your supplier requires it. Some suppliers based in the US won't require you to have one, but some will. It just depends on the supplier. I'd recommend contacting the suppliers first (before setting up a US business entity) and inquiring about it (towards the end of the conversation, after they've already said they'll dropship for you).

We've provided simple, step-by-step instructions for setting up a US business entity (a Delaware LLC) in this article. The total cost is around $200 - $300. The state of Delaware does not charge sales tax, so you don't need to worry about collecting or paying sales tax. Also, since you are a non-resident of the USA and do not have any physical presence in the USA (no assets, no employees, etc.), you are not going to have to pay any tax to the US government (IRS). You will still having a filing requirement each year, but you won't have to pay any US taxes. You'll just need to report your earnings to your own country's tax agency. See this forum post for more discussion about the subject. (Legal note: We're not lawyers or international tax accountants or anything like that. We *believe* the above information to be true, but we cannot be held liable if it turns out to be incorrect. You should talk with your own local accountant or attorney. Use the info at your own risk.)

Question: I really want to build a store targeting the US market, but I simply cannot get a supplier to dropship for me (because I'm not in the US). What can I do?
Answer: First off, have you set up a US business entity? If not (and if you really want to work with this supplier), you should consider doing so. If you do have a US business entity, I wouldn't even tell the supplier that you yourself do not live in the United States! They don't need to know that. All they need to know is that your company is based in Delaware & that your EIN # is XXXXX and your state license # is XXXXX. You're a legitimate, licensed US business! What about having a US mailing address and/or a US phone number? See this article for help with those issues.

What if you still can't get US-based suppliers to work with you (even with a business entity)? There are 2 good options. The first is to find a NON-US supplier who ships to the US. The second is to become an affiliate for other sellers, rather than trying to sell the products yourself. Many companies have affiliate programs, where you can earn commissions by sending customers (who end up purchasing a product) to their store. Besides store owners within a specific market, huge online retailers like Amazon.com have affiliate programs as well. You can sign up as an affiliate (which is almost always free) and promote their products (as if they were your own). Zulu Cart has a very slick, easy-to-use affiliate product feature that allows you to easily indicate that a particular product is an affiliate product & enter the URL (which will contain your unique affiliate ID so you get credit for generating the lead/sale) to the store/page where customers can purchase the product. (Note: Later on, once your store ranks well in Google, you can always go back and contact the supplier(s) again and see if they're willing to work with you at that time. You'll find that many of them will say yes once you've established good rankings & get a lot of traffic.)

Question: How do I pay US-based suppliers?
Answer: That's covered in this article. There are a lot of different options... at least 1 is bound to work for you.

Question: How do I collect payments from US customers who make purchases at my store? Do I need a US bank account?
Answer: You do NOT need a US bank account. For those living in Canada or any country in Europe, our friends at Durango Merchant Services can set you up with a very low-cost merchant account that will allow you to accept all major credit cards right on your website (you can accept payments in USD & then have them deposited into your local bank account). Canadians apply here; Europeans apply here. For those living in some other country, WorldPay may be a suitable option for an international merchant account. People in all countries should set up a free PayPal Business account to be able to accept PayPal (if nothing else).