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Sell Online The Secrets Of Ecommerce Revealed
Category: InternetSo you want to sell online and make money. Whatever your goal you can achieve the financial freedom you are looking for by selling online. But where do you start? How to avoid scams and what are the pitfalls? Ecommerce is the pinnacle of online marketing. The success stories are always told and the failures are swept under the carpet. More people fail selling online than those that are successful.
Successful Steps for selling online. The first and often most difficult is finding products to sell. How competitive is the field? If you select something like jewelry there are thousands of online stores selling jewelry but don’t let that stop you. You must have the mentality that there is no competition. How do I find jewelers who will sell to me or drop ship for me? Search extensively for manufactures and distributors who will drop ship for you. There are always manufacturers looking for more distribution. Whether you want to sell jewelry or Viagra you can find a supplier. Many people have success making and selling their own jewelry on line as well. Once you have found products to sell, its time to get a name. Finding a domain name that is left is frustrating but those who are creative will succeed. It is helpful to both the search engines and the consumer to have a domain name with the type of products you sell. It is not necessarily and all out end if you can’t find a domain with the field in it but something like widgetsandjewelry.com is available at the time this article was written. You still have all the other extensions like .net .us etc that you can use. After you have found a domain name before you purchase it check with government for any trademark or word marks. If it is available purchase the domain then go for your own trademark on the domain. As I stated before it is not necessarily a kiss of death if your domain name does not reflect the products you sell.
Your success depends on how you market your products and site. I know how to sell products but I can’t write web pages or don’t know anything about it. Search the net for online store and there will be a multitude of companies offering ecommerce websites. Look through the packages and compare the ready made templates. You will notice how simple it is. Select the colors of your website enter your company name or a sentence of what your site is about. If you were not able to get the domain you wanted you can enter a title that will appear as the name you wanted like Widgets Jewelry Store. write a short paragraph about your site. Divide your products into sections, if you are selling jewelry you might divide it into earrings, necklaces, etc or into gold jewelry, silver jewelry and precious gemstones etc. Just remember to keep it simple and categorize the site the way you would look for items. When creating the sections you will write a short paragraph on the types of jewelry you will be selling in that section. Make sure you mention keywords no more than 3 times. Search engines pick up on keywords and phrases but if you use it more than three times they will think you are spamming and will disallow the page. Write the paragraph for the consumer as well. Example: category is Gold Jewelry. Unique collection of gold jewelry, necklaces, gold rings and earrings from the world’s foremost jewelers. White gold jewelry with diamonds and emeralds with matching earrings and necklaces. Note the keywords jewelry, gold, earrings, necklaces, diamonds and emeralds are all listed in the beginning sentences yet they are not repeated more than 3 times.
Now you are ready to add products. The ready made forms will simply tell you to add an item or product to the category you just created. The forms are made into fill in spaces just like when you place an order online and fill in the info for your name and shipping address etc. The first line on your item form will ask for the name of your product. Next enter a description of the product. Never use the same wording from the manufacturer or from another website, always put it into your own words. Remember to add keywords for the product into the first 2 lines. Keep the description simple yet informative while “selling the sizzle” using exciting words like “unique” and “stunning” sparks the buyer’s attention. Use powerful words and convince the customer that this is what they want. Example: “You will look stunning wearing this unique diamond studded necklace”. Notice how the word “You” is used to give the customer a feeling of owning it, convincing the buyer that she will look not only better but “stunning” with her new “Unique” necklace. Always tell the truth about the product and never be misleading. If a product is gold plated do not state that it is solid gold. Next you should enter the weight and dimensions of the product. Usually the next lines to fill in will be the product # and the price. The product # can be the sku assigned by the manufacturer or any number used to order it.
The price most manufacturers have a MSRP “Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price” you can list this price then a discounted sale price that you wish to sell it at. When pricing your products be aware that many manufacturers have MAP prices, “Minimum Advertised Price” which you are not allowed to sell below. Shop around as to what other websites are selling the products for and price yours accordingly. Don’t be afraid to sell your products higher than the other websites. Most of the time if you sell your products too cheap the customer thinks they are cheap. If you sell them higher and use good descriptive words, offer excellent customer service, and a great return policy you can demand the higher prices.
Most sites offer you a choice of words on the purchase buttons, Buy Now, Purchase, Order, Add to Cart etc. I like Add To Cart, we are all trained that when we enter a store we get a shopping cart, we walk up and down the isles and we add items to our cart. Notice I said “items” to the cart; it is not that often that we put one item in the cart and go to the check out. We keep shopping because we have a cart to fill up. Shoppers already have this mindset and when you say buy now or order it sounds final and they are done shopping.
Next determine the shipping. All carriers such as the USPS, UPS, FedEx etc go by weight, box size and where it is going. You can ship a 50lb item across the country for around $18 to $22. The average would be $20. If the item is less than 1lb you are around $7 on the average. You could just add this to the price and offer free shipping. Yes it’s not really free but since you are discounting the product from its retail price you can add the average cost of the shipping back in. This makes it easier for you and the customer. Everyone hates to decide to purchase an item then get hit with shipping charges. Most customers want to know what the cost is before they make the decision to make the purchase.
Next you are asked to enter your keywords. This is the part on the fill in form where you tell the search engines which words or phrases to match with your site. Now just add a picture of the product to the website and move on to the next product. It is that simple. Once you have entered a few products you can go live and publish your site to the web. Your door is open and you are in business!
Next is advertising your website so that your customers know you are open. There are many places to advertise your site. You can choose the search engines such as google, yahoo, or MSN which are the top 3. There are many shopping sites such as yahoo shopping, dealtime and nextag. Determine a monthly budget and select which ones you prefer.
Tags: drop ship, ecommerce, secrets, sell on line