by Diane Wolf

Created on: June 28, 2009

Whole books could be and have been written on the subject of selling products and services online. I will limit this to some basic first steps for those who want to set up their own website and start selling on a shoestring. You must first ask some basic questions for each step in this process.

What am I selling?

This may seem obvious but what you decide to sell affects the type of website you build. If you plan to buy wholesale products and resell them, you will probably be handling a whole catalog of products from your wholesaler. You will need some kind of dynamic, ecommerce website with a shopping cart and the ability to process credit card payments. If you are making your own products, you will need your own website with an order form and payment buttons or a shopping cart or someway to take payments. Here is a list of questions, by no means exhaustive, to ask yourself about your products:

1) If I am buying wholesale, will I buy the products, store them, then ship them out myself?

2) If I am buying wholesale, will I have the products dropshipped to my customer (the customer places the order with you, you place the order with the wholesaler, and the wholesaler ships the product to your customer with your name on it)?

3) If I am making my own products, how will I store them, price them, and ship them?

4) How many products will I sell?

5) Do my products have variations such as size, color, etc.?

6) Will I sell digital products?

7) How will I take payments?

Again, how you answer these questions will determine the type of website you build. For instance, the answer to #5 may determine what shopping cart you use.

Can I build the website myself or do I need a professional?

If recording on a VCR seems frightening, you probably should find a web designer. You can find a wide range of pricing-just try a Google search. If I were going to find a designer, I would probably stick with someone local unless I found a really great price. You just never know what you might get on the Internet and end up paying more than you can afford. Building a website yourself is really not as difficult as it seems, and there are a lot of choices. Costs can run from a few dollars a month to nothing but your time and labor. You should decide if you want to pay for web hosting or find a free site. There are pros and cons for both:

Paid Web Hosting: You can get some good deals at decent web host companies such as Host Monster, Blue Host, Lunarpages, etc. There are lots of choices but don't get overwhelmed.

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