Tuesday's Tip - Selling on the Internet

The winner of yesterday's Mamalicious Monday contest is #1 Krystyn. Congrats!!! ;)

Welcome to the 7th week of my "Launching A Business" series! Click here to learn more about it.

The things we have discussed so far:
1. Researching your product to see if there is a market for it.
2. How to price your product.
3. Finding time to work from home with small children.
4. The different venues to sell your products: retail, wholesale, consignment, etc.
5. Making & selling your product.
6. Exposing your business to local media.

This week I want to talk about the different ways to sell your product on the Internet. Again, if you have suggestions you want to make in addition to this, please feel free to leave a comment and share!

1. Website
Of course, the most common way would be to have a website. That is probably going to be the easiest way for customers to shop & purchase products from you. There are some great affordable web hosts out there. Ask around, or take a look at some of your favorite sites to see who their host is. I believe I paid around $10 per month for a very basic site and I used a company called Verve Hosting. Unless you know someone willing to cut you a deal on designing your site, or can do it yourself, that is where it is going to cost you the bucks....the designing of the site.

2. Blog
Another way you can sell your products, and not invest a ton of money into designing a whole website, would be to sell through your blog. You can set up paypal for people to order off your blog, or have them email you orders. If you don't have a huge budget to start your business, or want to "test the waters" before you invest more money, this would be a great way to do it. There are lots of great blog designers out there, but I use Tracy from Sweet Cheeky Designs. She is great to work with, can do just about anything, and she is fast!

3. Social Networking
Social Networks online can be another great tool to make contacts, and eventually sales. I know tons of people on Facebook. I wish I had the time for it and maybe I just need to carve some out! I know there are a lot of companies on Facebook, and it can be a great way to promote your product. Others would be My Space, Twitter, & other social networks where you can visit chat rooms, etc. Anything you can join to get your company name & products out there is beneficial.

Got business tips you want to share? Please leave a comment here!

Interested in a link exchange? Please email me at heatherldt at bellsouth dot net

Have a blessed day!