Member Article

The ten crucial steps to selling online

Selling products online has never been easier. Here, we look at some of the steps you can take to flourish in the marketplace.

Identify the product(s) you want to sell
You’ll need to identify products that are in demand and that you can sell for a profit.
If you already have an idea, begin researching demand, profit margins and competitors.

Find your target audience
Learn more about identifying the right target audience in this guide.

Perform market research
Learn more about conducting market research in this guide.

Identify suppliers
If you’re planning on buying products to re-sell at a profit, you’ll need a reliable wholesaler.
If you’re planning to bring a completely new product to market, you’ll need a reliable manufacturer.
Furthermore, if you’re planning to create products, you’ll need a reliable source of raw materials.

Decide how you will sell your products
You’ll need to get your own e-commerce website, use an online marketplace or do both.

Building an online store
It is now easier than ever to build a fairly large e-commerce site without any technical
knowledge.

GoDaddy’s Online Store package allows you to add up to 1500 products.

Selling your products through an online marketplace
You could consider selling on third-party online marketplaces, such as eBay, Amazon, Facebook or Etsy.
But competition is fierce, and you may not have full control over how your product is presented.

Add your products to your chosen platform
Check your chosen platform requirements for each product you plan to sell. You’ll probably
need:

• A unique product name
• A unique product description
• High-quality photos
• Product specifications
• Pricing details
• Shipping details/cost

Set up a payment system
Your payment system will likely depend on the method you’ve used to get your website online.
For example, GoDaddy Online Store offers PayPal, Square and Stripe as options.

Choose your shipping methods
You’ll need to work out how to get your products from supplier (if required) to you and then your customers.
You’ll also need to work out how much to charge for shipping.

Market your products
You’ll need to actively market your products.
Here is a short list on how to do so:

SEO
This guide will help you get started with ecommerce SEO.

Search engine ads
This guide explains how to get started with search engine ads.

Social media marketing
This guide explains how to get started with social media marketing.

Email marketing
You can learn more about getting started with email marketing in this guide.

Giveaways
This guide explains more about how to market your business with customer giveaways.

Authored by Will Stevens for GoDaddy

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Bdaily Publishing .