How to Start a Small Business Selling on the Internet
The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce estimates that nearly $40 billion in retail e-commerce sales took place during the second quarter of 2010 alone. Starting a small e-commerce Internet store may be a smart business step to take, but you must first carefully plan the details before you get started. To set up an Internet business, you need much more than a shopping-cart website.
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Instructions
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Write a business plan, which should include what you want to sell and where you'll acquire your products. Using business-to-business directories such as ThomasNet or KellySearch, research suppliers and find where you can buy the items you want to sell. Outline some of your major competitors, if any exist, and express how your e-commerce store is going to be different. Describe the type of people you want to attract. Define the advertising models and methods you want to use in your business, such as direct banner advertising, affiliate advertising and pay-per-click advertising. Come up with an approximate figure for advertising and for startup costs associated with acquiring products and outsourcing work.
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Go to your state's online website. Fill out the necessary forms to solidify a "doing business as" name for your company, and register your business as a sole proprietorship, limited-liability company, partnership or corporation. Contact the appropriate state department to determine whether an online business in your state needs a sales-tax license and what other special licenses and permits you need to sell on the Internet.
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Set up an office from which to run your store. A small home office can work if you're dealing with a limited amount of inventory and don't require much, if any, face-to-face interaction with customers. But if you need a place to store your inventory and interact with customers or employees, look into renting some office space.
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Hire a Web designer to set up your site, or select an all-inclusive e-commerce shopping-cart package from providers such as Web.com, Intuit Small Business or Volusion. Hiring a Web designer means you'll need to implement components such as website security, merchant accounts and payment gateways on your own, but all-inclusive services usually take care of these steps for you or at least assist you with the process.
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Acquire your starting inventory. Create categories for your products on your website. Upload images of your products, and write detailed and accurate descriptions. Customize product pricing and shipping charges for order quantities, and set up the sales-tax module according to the requirements in your state. Now you're ready to list items for sale on your website.
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Advertise your Internet business. Hire a professional Web marketer to help with or consult on advertising or website-optimization methods. Pay for pay-per-click campaigns that can help your site get traffic from search engines. Submit your site to, or list your products on, product websites such as Google Product Search or Amazon.com. Sign up for an email marketing program or service, and place an opt-in box on your website to start building a list of customers to which you can advertise and email special offers. Start a blog for your Internet business. Set up social-networking accounts at sites such as Facebook and Twitter, where you can interact with and advertise to customers and prospects.
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Respond to inquiries from potential customers and provide customer service to buyers. Set up an online help-ticket account that's connected to your website, so that customers can submit status inquiries about orders. Implement a "Live Help" feature on your website to provide on-demand assistance and answer questions.
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