Start a successful E Commerce Business on a budget.

Southwest Web Hosting www.swpcdirect.com

Start a successful E-Commerce business in 7 easy steps.

E-Commerce on a budget!!!

Starting your own e-commerce business can be overwhelming especially for a new start up company there are numerous questions you have asked yourself and do not know where to start. I will answers some of those questions and explain how anyone can start a successful e-commerce business in 7 easy steps.

1. The first and most important thing you should do is become a legitimate company get an assumed business name an employer id number and a resellers license. Without this information you cannot operate a business legally in most states, once you have obtained the required information start a business model be organized what do you want to accomplish with the business. Set goals and follow through with them if you just dive right in you may soon be overwhelmed with the daily chores of running your own business.
2. The Internet is a very useful tool if you know how to use it, do some searches see how many companies are out there selling what you want to market. Now that you have done a search take a look at the competition see how many companies are selling your products. With that done find a niche market, your target audience when selling online. Next do some market research on Ebay and the Internet find out what people are buying and sell that product.
3. Product Sourcing is by far the most important thing you need for a business and please do not waste your time and energy searching the web for wholesale companies the legitimate ones will not show up on web searches only the middleman waiting to take your money. Just use ONESOURCE they are more expensive than any other company but it is worth the price and you will instantly have access to thousands of products from legitimate companies. ONESOURCE also has free videos that are really helpful and explain how the company works and what they do check them out before you buy. Here is a link to ONESOURCE http://www.worldwidebrands.com/?kbid=22027&img=/wwb/images/PBanner4_full.jpg
4. Set up a business account at a local bank I have no recommendations just get the best deal out there and watch out for banks that will charge you a monthly fee. Make sure to get an account in your business name using your employer id number never use your personal account will only make things really complicated for you trust me. Keep track of all transactions including business expenses keep receipts and important information in a safe place a shoe box does not count please use a file cabinet or at least a folder.
5. Next you will need to setup a website I know you may not be a web designer have no worries there are many companies out on the web that have a really easy solution just do a search. I made my website with no prior experience using Site Studio it was very easy simply choose your template point and click away here is a link to the free demo http://www.swpcdirect.com/index.html. Next you will have to setup a merchant account I am going to be honest unless you are selling vast amounts of products just use Paypal it's free to sign up and best of all you are not paying any monthly fees. With Paypal you can start excepting credit cards on your website right away once you have verified your bank account and it also works with Ebay. This is a link to my web hosting company I offer really affordable web hosting starting at just $5.00 a month with free website building software check out my website at www.swpcdirect.com
6. So you have a website now what? do not forget to submit your site for indexing on major search engines like Google, MSN live and Alta Vista just to name a few. Submitting your website for indexing does not cost you a thing but be careful of the websites that chare you a fee they can seriously hurt your ranking and can even have you labeled as a spammer. Most of these companies will charge you between $25.00-$100.00 they do not care about you or your business and may just take the money and never submit your website for indexing. Here is a link to my website at www.swpcdirect.com where you can instantly submit your website to 20 search engines for free. I do offer a website submission service for $10.00 and will submit you site for indexing and even use your email address so you will get the proof that your website was submitted for indexing as promised.
7. Internet marketing will play a vital role in generating traffic to your website after all if no one visits your website you will not make any sales. I recommend taking a look at Stompernet they have free videos about Internet marketing that are excellent. I also recommend just doing some searches on the Internet for SEO (search engine optimization) and generating traffic to your website there is a lot of useful information out there. Advertise also on YAHOO and GOOGLE pay only for what you can afford as you start making profits invest some of that back into marketing this can get expensive so be careful. One very effective way to advertise is using Flyers you are in control of the message you are sending and it really does not cost more than $20.00 to make about 300 using your inkjet printer.

Please feel free to leave a comment and if I have left something out let me now about it take a look at my website www.swtpcdiret.com may be you can get some ideas, good luck and I wish you the best with your business.