What is your best tip about selling online?

I would recommend asking your hosting provider for a free trial then figuring out the system, and specifically how to add inventory with an excel spreadsheet. Once you know how to import using excel, you can get your inventory entered in a spreadsheet without having to pay for hosting. I made the mistake of paying for an e-commerce provider for 3 months while i set up my store, in hinds sight i would of figured out the system with a free trail.

Start a list of products you want to sell and constantly add to it. What may be your best seller one quarter may not take you in to the next year. Evaluate all of your products before you buy them and make sure they fit with your site.

Also, as another poster suggested, take advantage of google base. It's free. Also, do try some adwords advertising when you launch. Unless you have a customer base to draw from already, it will be the easiest way to get traffic.

Make sure you do your research about compeitive factors.  One site we started a while back without really understanding our competition, and the site is buried in organic listing because there is such strong competition.  Another site we started late lasst year gets thousands of visitors a month and several sales per day because we picked a niche with less competition and we've been able to get good organic traffic because of it.

Good luck!

I do agree with you Julia Dalton, before selling online we need to analyze the product line, marketing strategy and financials etc. I think, the 3c’s (company, customer and competitor) report would be of some help. Info provided is worth reading. Thanks for the post.

My tip is this; advertise but advertise smartly, not necessarily costly. I have actually been involved in Internet marketing (i.e. selling online) since 1995 which is practically the beginning. I can tell you how often I've fallen for costly advertising that results in no sales.

However, you can avoid some of the mistakes I made my reading the following article I came across less than an hour ago titled "Which form of advertising is more effective" by an expert in search engine marketing/optimization. This is an unsolicited endorsement.. I'm happy someone finally wrote such an article as this news that exposes the lot of the underhanded tricks companies -even reputable companies such as Yahoo.com- are using to what amounts to stealing their customer's money.

The URL to the article is...

http://www.seobook.com/which-advertisement-more-effective

Having an 800 number visible on every page enhances your site's credibility... I would also have a security seal on every page.  Live chat is excellent for customer service and increasing your store's conversion rate.  Great product images and simple site structure will also boost your site's performance.

dont waste your time with any seo companies. just add as much content as you can and keep updating and word product descriptions in a way that describes the purpose of your website. tags, meta keywords....most modern engines(including google) ignore these but there are still plenty of companies willing to take your money and update these useless features. a network solutions tech even told me to update them in a call meeting and i just kind of sat there. content is king.

An unprofessional appearance may lead to a bad customer experience and kill your chances to sell online. slow-loading page may simply drive customers away to click on to the next site. it’s a good idea to determine how much traffic your Web site can support. You can’t sell online if customers can’t reach your site. Offer Top Gift Suggestions or Best-Sellers to improve sales and drive impulse purchases. More buying choices means more chances to sell online.

I highly recommend this blog which I just read today and it talks about the topmost priority in an online business.

here's the link  (just copy& paste onto your URL)

//onlinemarketingresource.blogspot.com/2009/10/topmost-priority-in-s.html

hope it helps!

thanks!

Boy, do I agree with Kristian Becker. Went through the 1&1 grind about 3 years ago. Super cheap, tons of features, lots of free stuff......... boils down to slow - lousy cs - almost impossible to contact ....... and oh yes, anybody try to cancel them?? Absolutely scary to have guys like this have access to your bank account. Run, don't walk to the nearest exit.