How to start a real online store internet business

[estoreguide]

Hello all,

We have received numerous emails from visitors of this forum and a few others asking us questions on how to start an online store internet home business.

Here's a quick business plan to help anyone start an online store internet business from home.

1.Create your company name.
2.Register your name.
3.Form your business structure; Sole Proprietorship.
4.Obtain your business/occupational license.
5.Obtain your resellers license (sales tax license).
6.Choose a top-selling, niche-product market to specialize in.
7.Get signed up with the distributors for those products.
8.Read and learn as much as you can about those products.
9.Decide if you are going to build your own e-store or have a design firm build it for you. (building your own online store with FrontPage or Dreamweaver is the best way to go)
10.Choose your domain name.
11.Register your domain name
12.Choose a webhost provider and a hosting plan.
13.Choose your web development software.
14.Start building your online store.
15.Set up your merchant account.
16.Complete your online store.
17.Promote, market and advertise your e-store.
18.Then wait for the orders to start rollin in.

Of course it's not that simple but it can be if you just take it one step at a time. Write a simple step-by-step business plan just as you see here. Then follow each step and then scratch it off of your list as you complete it. Before you know it you'll be taking your first order.

If anyone has any questions then I will be more than happy to help you. You can email us at info@estorefrontguide.com

Kind regards,
Jorge Fernandez
www.estorefrontguide.com
Start Your Own Online Store

[mebreezy]

Hmmmm, sounds straight forward... Problem though. 6, 7 and 17 aren't that easy. They each have their own sub-factors involved.

6 - You cant just jump into a niche without prior research. See how saturated the field is. If there's 29839283942 other stores out there, that may make 17 that much harder.
7 - Can you bulk buy or dropship? Up front capital may be needed for this.
17 - One word... Targeting.

I do like the simple layout of the business plan though.

[New billionaire]

Hmmmm, sounds straight forward... Problem though. 6, 7 and 17 aren't that easy. They each have their own sub-factors involved.

6 - You cant just jump into a niche without prior research. See how saturated the field is. If there's 29839283942 other stores out there, that may make 17 that much harder.
7 - Can you bulk buy or dropship? Up front capital may be needed for this.
17 - One word... Targeting.

I do like the simple layout of the business plan though.

I am actually intending to setup an online store. The problem that I encounter is the same as stated by Mr. Mbreezy. It is indeed very difficult to get a niche and good product. I ti s too wide to think of it.
Anyone have any idea how to overcome this problem? Thanks.

[estoreguide]

Hello,

Yes, you do have a valid concern. Let me see if I can help here.

>6. First, to answer this question, the following product lines ARE the best selling products online according to the NRF/Forrester Online Retail Index, The NPD Group, The Media Metrix Online Shopping Index and other statistics providers.

Top selling products in order are:

1-Books
2-Computer Hardware and Software
3-Apparel
4-Toys
5-Video Games
6-Video Game Systems
7-Videos
8-DVD’s
9-Health and Beauty products
10-Consumer Electronics
11-Music
12-Jewelry
13-Office Supplies
14-Linens
15-Home Décor
16-Flowers
17-Sporting Goods
18-Footwear
19-Appliances
20-Tools and Garden
21-Gifts.

Now the next smart move to make will be to pick a niche within the niche. I.E. Instead of selling books, which is the number one selling product on the net, you would specialize in a certain category of books such as the best web design books. Then build a website full of valuable content yet having these books for sale as your main product.

Another example would be computer products. Instead of building a super online store selling computer products you would focus on a niche hot market such as digital cameras. Then build a webstore full of photo taking tutorials, forums, a free news letter, camera reviews and camera comparison charts etc...Content will always be king to bringing in customers and making customers come back to your site because they found it to be valuable.

>7. Drop shippers is a term I really don't like to use because if you do a search for dropshippers you'll find tons of websites claiming to be wholesale dropshippers but are doing nothing more than trying to recruit you as an affiliate for them by offering you a free online store.

There are however, quite a few genuine wholesale distributors who do offer drop shipping services but the best dropshippers are always the major distributors for those product lines.

Just about all distributors want you to purchase items in bulk. Most, close to 90% of major distributors will dropship one item at a time.

Up front money? Yes, and here lies the problem for most new comers. This may be called buying power. How much buying power do you have.

Most, just about all major wholesale distributors require for NEW resellers to pay up front. Let me back up here a bit...

After the customer orders the product from you (your online store) then you have to contact and order the product from the distributor by phone or from the distributors web site. The distributor will then ship the product directly to your customers location.

In the beginning of this business venture, if you are a new business with no
credit references then the distributor may offer you standard payment terms
such as pre-pay by credit card, C.O.D, wire transfer, direct debit. As your
sales volume increases then your pricing will become more aggressive as
well.

Furthermore, for resellers who spend an average of at least $3,000 in
product purchases per month, will be set up with personalized pricing, a
dedicated sales representative, free technical support and more.

After conducting business with most distributors for 90 days then they may also offer you net 30 terms and/or EFT (electronic funds transfer) in which you can purchase the product from the distributor today and then the distributor will debit the funds from your business bank account within 10 business days.

By that time your customers credit card money will already have been
deposited into your bank account therefore you would be using your customers money to buy the product and not your own.

Or, you can let all your customers know that their order will be shipped out
within 48 hours, such as is the case with Amazon.com. This way your merchant account provider will deposit the funds into your bank account within 48 hours and then you can pay the distributor with a direct debit bank card. Therefore again you'll be using your customers money and not your own.

It's allot less complicated than what it seems and most major wholesale
distributors offer many more services than what I have described here.

ok........

>17. Marketing is the hardest part but if one attacks this process in every angle then you are more than likely to succeed. Meaning...

You have to execute every means of effective internet marketing: search engine optimization, link building, keywords, articles, press releases, creating your own news letter and collecting subscribers, Email marketing, forums etc...

You have to learn and do the best you can in all of these marketing areas to truly make some serious money online.

There's a few more details that I would like to add but I have too much work to do now. But this should get you headed in the right direction for now. Go for it.

Kind regards,
Jorge Fernandez
www.estorefrontguide.com
Start an Online Store

[Kenix]

Hi Jorge,

Very informative post! Thanks

[brio619]

great thread. I think a recurring revenue model is KEY as well. You build it; they will come

[YPAL]

Please just go away, do you think people are that stupid! IDIOT!

[esearing]

I just installed an Amazon Store on my website using associate-o-matic. Using the Amazon NodeIds I am able to limit products to my niche "small biz". I wrote about it in my blog at esearing.com and the store is at biz-story.com

Takes about 2-3 hours if you are familiar with Amazon and its product categories. The rest is modifying the look of the page with the admin panel.

You still have to market your store and website.

[Scott Taylor]

argh, spam on this forum makes me unhappy

[Anthony.D]

Im new here to this forum, Im looking at several options to start my own internet business, when I get some free time from school.

[successcoach]

Another alternative is to either do an ebay store or to partner up with a direct sales company who offers you your own website and online store.

[Bestmiler]

whos spamming? and how?

[New billionaire]

Another alternative is to either do an ebay store or to partner up with a direct sales company who offers you your own website and online store.

Where do find a direct sales company that offers website? Looks good.

[sashg89]

7.Get signed up with the distributors for those products.

I wanted to know, when your just starting up and you want to sell products, how do you find good distributors that will be prepared to sell you stock in low quantity?

[mk3]

Good content and store is only junk if you are from wrong country. for example i'm living in lithuania and I met against many problems shipping is very expensive due to small rates of export for parcel services such as DHL, UPS, TNT, FEDEX. And if I send by post I'm facing cargo tracking problem. So being in USA or UK gives you big pluses, being USA makes you trustable and when I'm saying that I'm from Lithuania they say which part of the world it is, Africa?