Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links
Many people are looking for an extra source of income. Perhaps you already have a product you can sell, or maybe you don’t. Either way selling online is going to be your best bet. Aside from the fact you can sell globally in most cases, you can manage it from home. It is always worthwhile to remember that in most cases, selling online takes some time to get going. There is usually less risk involved because you don’t need to have storage for products in most cases, you aren’t paying the rent on a shop, and there are many options for selling.
Let’s dive into some tips for success!
Products
Although you might be having dreams of laying in bed with a coffee watching the cash roll in from your online store – that isn’t going to happen unless you know what you are going to be selling. You need to think about the profit margin you are looking for – and always remember that you will be up against the much cheaper competition. If you don’t already sell anything specific, then the world is your oyster here. What do you have a lot of knowledge in, access to or can produce yourself? If you choose an item that you are passionate about, it won’t feel so hard on the long days.
Name
If you are freelancing already, then you probably have a brand name that you can work with. If you don’t, then think about the future and not just now. If you have plans to expand one day, you are going to want to make sure the name will fit with that growth. It also needs to fit into a domain name and all of your social media channels. Easy to say, easy to read, gives a lead (into what you do).
Where
This is where many people get a bit lost. You can choose to have your goods only on your own website, but really you are going to be looking for those big audiences that you can get from Shopify, 3dCart, Amazon and more. Though it doesn’t hurt to have your own site too. But you should always remember that each of those points of sales has rules, and if you break them, you are going to be looking to get help at appealasap.com. Be sure you know what you are signing up to, what the costs are and what the benefits are for you.
Promote
Once you have all of the basics set up, you are going to need to promote your store and products often. Using the very same social media accounts, we just spoke about. Learn about social media marketing, email list building, SEO, and paid advertising to make the most of what you can do. It is the promotion that is going to do the heavy lifting on the growth of your business….
The other large chunk of work is going to be from you always delivering on time, always responding to customers (consider chatbots for this if you are working alone). And really leverage that email marketing list for the upsell.
Growing Forward 