How to Sell Products and Services Online

A Montana saddlery ships boots to an urban cowboy in New York City. A Florida nursery ships exotic orchids to Alaska. The Internet has revolutionized selling for small businesses and individuals with home businesses. You no longer need a physical store to sell your wares and reach many more interested buyers. Use existing venues or set up your own online store.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Sell through existing venues

1. Go to sites like Amazon.com or Half.com to sell used books, CDs and other items at a fixed price. You can list items in exchange for a percentage of the sale. Avoid sites that charge you a fee to post an ad.
2. List items that are hard to ship (like a pool table or futon) on local sites such as Craigslist.org or in regional online classifieds, so that the buyer can pick it up.
3. Use online auction sites to sell collectibles, antiques, out-of-print books and anything else you find in the attic or garage. (See How to Use Online Auction Sites.)
4. Get listed in local directories and on referral Web sites if you have a professional service for hire. These sites conduct background checks and refer potential customers to you for a fee.

Set up cybershop

5. Set up an online store. A substantial investment is required for start-up costs, which include domain name registration, site hosting, e-commerce software, site development and maintenance, marketing, credit card transaction fees, Internet access and customer service. There's also the time spent on design, taking photos of inventory and updating the site (see How to Hire Someone to Design and Build Your Web Site).
6. Design a sleek, professional, easy-to-navigate site that loads quickly at both dial-up and broadband speeds. Or, check out Amazon.com, eBay.com and Yahoo Shopping (shopping.yahoo.com) for turnkey solutions for building an online store--the bonus is that you tap into the heavy traffic of these popular sites and take advantage of search engines.
7. Include concise, informative copy and photographs to bring traffic to your site. Update it frequently to keep the content fresh.
8. Register your URL on all the major search engines (including Google.com and Yahoo.com) to make sure your site shows up in relevant searches. Include keywords in meta tags in HTML files to increase the chances of getting hits from search engines. You may, however, find that paying for placement results in more traffic.
9. Advertise your Web site on heavily trafficked sites and through banner swaps (see How to Buy Advertising on the Web).
10. Establish trust. Post your privacy policy prominently. Have customer service information clearly displayed, including third-party recommendations, and provide quick response. Set up a secure server to handle credit card transactions. Answer customer queries by phone or e-mail promptly, effectively and courteously.
11. Use discretion: Obnoxious, blinking ads and spam e-mails drive away customers.

What to Look For:

• Existing venues
• Regional sites
• Capital investment for e-commerce
• Web-site design
• URL placement

Tips & Warnings

• Image is everything when you sell online. Post copy that is impeccably written and free of errors. Include high-quality, well-cropped photographs of your products.
• Beware of individuals or companies that offer to sell instant access to wholesale inventories for your commerce site. Finding wholesale inventories isn't easy, and anyone who says differently is misleading you.