As an online marketer, it is important for you to know how to sell your products online. Most of us have a lot of products we sell online.
We use the best copyright on our sales letters and put all our ducks in a row right down to getting the visitors to our page to buy.
We think we have thought everything out to the last nut and bolt, but have we really?… What about the product itself.
Is there a demand for the product?… Is the market saturated with the product?… Is there a special group of people who want this product that will benefit?… and where are they?
Any good marketer who is out to make money should know the answers to these questions before you even consider investing time and money into promoting the product…Unless you like losing money!
Getting a product ready to sell is the easy part. If I had a dollar for every product sales letter I had with a marketing campaign in mind I would be a millionaire without even batting an eye.
The fact is that the final, most important goal a marketer has, is to get people to buy the product.
Before you start your niche, nurture the idea and know who wants your product…How do you do that you say? Simple as pie…just ask!
Start a survey, run a poll, check-in forums or where people group that need this product.
Forums are really a good way to find out what people want and will solve their problems. Start by finding a forum related to your niche, read previous posts, then bring up the topic of your product without trying to sell to the forum members, to see what response you get and try to keep the topic alive.
One way to get positive feedback is to offer people something to try for free. Say you have an information ebook you could offer members a free report, sample or even the entire ebook to see what they think of the product.
The feedback you get will benefit you and tell you whether your product is something people are interested in and let you know of a thing that may need to be added or modified to make it saleable.
If your getting a positive response you can assume you have a product that will sell…Then and only then should you create a terrific sales letter, marketing campaign and invest your hard-earned money and time.
Choose The Right Product
The first question most of us ask when starting a new business is what to sell. There’s not necessarily a right or wrong answer.
That being said, considering the niche market you want to target is vital to the success of your business. Smaller niches will have less competition, giving you a better chance of connecting with potential buyers.
On the other hand, your pool of customers will be smaller. Spend some time thinking about your niche and balancing the level of competition with the size of the market.
Setup Your Business
So you’ve got all the ingredients ready to launch your online business, now you just need to make everything official.
Every country has different requirements when it comes to setting up a business, so it’s always a good idea to speak to an accountant to get professional advice.
However, to make sure you’re getting started on the right foot, here are the four main things you need to consider when setting up your business.
Choosing a business name: Make sure it’s something you feel comfortable broadcasting via your social channels as well as in person.
For example, don’t name your business “Miss Kay’s Underwear Store” even if you’re selling underwear.
Who’s going to want to share (or even click on) a store’s social page if they think it’s a joke? Make sure your business name is on-brand. Even better, choose something original so that the .com domain name is still available.
Setting up payment options for your store: When you launch your online store, you want to be ready to start accepting money.
That means you need to offer a range of payment options for your customers. These days, it’s common for online stores to cater for credit cards, Paypal, Stripe, Afterpay. You don’t need to be signed up for every payment option, but the more flexible you are, the more sales you will make.
Work works
Selling products online is unique because of the massive range of customers you can reach.
In some ways, this evens the playing field, but remember, the millions of potential customers you can reach also have possibly thousands of competitor websites fighting for their attention.
First, you have to drive traffic to your site, then deliver great service and great products.
The good news is, your overhead cost selling products online is significantly lower than opening a physical store.
Things will probably move slowly as you are first getting started, but the more time and effort you put into creating and promoting your online store, the more sales you will see.
Keep in mind that you will need to build multiple channels for marketing your products. Social media, content, SEO, and paid to advertise all take time, tweaking, and a little bit of work every day.
Don’t worry if this sounds overwhelming- we’ll get into helpful resources for these approaches later in the post.
Know that you will need to gradually invest energy into your store to grow your customer base and get to the point where you are mostly focused on upkeep
Choose What Platforms To Sell Your Products On
Now that you know what you’re selling and your business is set up legally, it’s time to choose where you want to sell. There are a lot of options, but how do you know which is best for you?
What Is The Best Platform to Sell Online For You?
I wish I could tell you that a specific online marketplace is the best one for you, but it really depends on what you’re selling and what you’re hoping to achieve with your business.
Each platform has its own pros and cons, so it pays to do a bit of research into a few different platforms before deciding which one you will use to start selling online.
What to Look For in an Online Store Solution?
How many users does that platform have? The more users, the more potential customers for your business. That’s almost always a good thing!
How many sellers does that platform have? The more sellers (particularly sellers in your niche), the more competition you’ll have. It’s a good idea to weigh up the number of sellers against the number of potential customers.
What seller’s fees do you have to pay? Every fee eats into your profit margins. Do the calculations to see what the platform will cost you.
What type of goods are you selling? Some platforms are more suited to specific types of products. For instance, Etsy has a reputation as being great for arts, crafts, and creative goods.
How reliable is the platform? Are you confident the platform will exist 10 years from now? It’s hard to know, but if you build your business and customer base on a particular platform you want to be sure it’s going to stick around.
How much flexibility does the platform allow you? Some online marketplaces have strict guidelines you have to follow. If you make a mistake, your account can be suspended. Whereas, with your own website, you have complete freedom.
It’s up to you to decide what’s best for you.
Where Can I Sell My Products Online?
There are a lot of platforms where you can sell your products, but the two biggest players are definitely eBay and Amazon.
However, there are plenty of viable alternatives, including setting up your own website with the help of SaleHoo, Shopify, or WooCommerce. Let’s look at some of the best online marketplace options for your new business.
eBay – You’re probably already familiar with eBay being the big daddy of the online auction sites. eBay is great for selling all kinds of products, such as used goods and great for one-off items you’ve purchased from liquidation sales (that’s when a store is getting rid of a bunch of old stock or going out of business).
The thing with eBay is that prices can be pretty low, and for many products, it can be hard to make a profit. You’ll need to make sure you’re choosing the right product when dipping into the eBay marketplace.
Amazon – Amazon is a bit more “high end” than eBay, mainly because they have a rigorous screening process you have to go through just to sell on their platform.
That said, you can sell products at a much higher price than eBay. They also have more site traffic and people will see you as an actual store, rather than just a Regular Joe selling bits and bobs from around the house.
Let’s not forget that Amazon has its FBA (fulfilled by Amazon) program which you can use to have them store and ship your products for you. This can allow you to grow your business without needing to hire more staff to help you pack and ship goods.
Your own website – Having your own store gives you greater freedom, less competition, and no seller fees, but it’s a little trickier to set up. See our article, setting up your own webstore, to figure out whether this is something you want to do.
Other alternatives – Other online platforms such as Etsy and Bonanza can also be used to build successful eCommerce businesses. Check out our complete list of alternative online marketplaces here.
Make It Easy For Buyers To Purchase
Visitors to your website or blog tend to have a short attention span, so you generally have about 10 seconds to grab their attention when they first land on your page.
Don’t put obstacles in their way or make them overthink. Many visitors will leave your site the moment they hit a snag.
Three golden rules are:
Don’t force visitors to register when they first visit your website
Don’t make the navigation on your website or blog complicated to use. Put the navigation at the top of the page and keep it consistent.
Don’t make the buying process long and don’t try to collect a lot of information from buyers. The more steps and information requested, the greater the friction, and the more sales you will lose as buyers abandon their purchase.
A lot of e-commerce software isn’t easy to use from a buyer’s perspective, forcing them to pause and fight their way through to the eventual purchase. Hint: try buying your product as a prospective buyer would. Can you do it quickly and easily without too much thought?
Offer Great Customer Service
When consumers consider purchasing from a website, they are looking for reassurance before they buy. Help them shop with confidence.
Fact: News of bad customer service reaches more than twice as many ears as praise for good service experience. (Source)
One technique for selling, regardless of whether the business is online or brick-and-mortar is to offer a guarantee that if the customer is not satisfied, you will refund them with no questions asked.
Make sure your site is secure
Another is to show that your site is secure and verified by trusted third parties like Symantec or McAfee.
If you are planning on handling credit card information, your website or blog will need to be on a secure server and PCI compliant.
This takes a lot of work, time, and investment. A better alternative would be to build your store via an e-commerce platform. Selz securely handles the credit card payments for you without requiring you do anything to your blog or website.
If you sell digital products, the delivery should be automated. If you sell physical products, prompt shipping is important, as is providing the buyer with the ability to track their shipment.
Keep in mind that just because you think you have a great product it is the people that have the final say and are the ones that will buy your product…So ask and listen before putting the cart before the horse and you might just profit!
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