How to Open an
Online Store
by
Beth Neilson as told to WorkAtHomeDivas.com
I wanted to share
my experiences with opening and operating an online store because I
know there are many people who are interested in doing this, but most
often they are going about it completely the wrong way (been there!).
And there are
people who consider opening an online store, then when they look at
what appears to be involved, it appears very daunting, and they
decide it would be too difficult for them, so they abandon their dream.
As I have
discivered, there is actually a very easy and inexpensive way to
successfully launch an online store that relatively few people know about.
I hope you'll
allow me to share my story with your readers because I believe this
will be very helpful for anyone wanting to know how to open an online store.
I had wanted to
open an online store for the longest time. Probably for about two
years before I actually made it happen.
I'd made a few
attempts during that time, but each time it just never went anywhere.
I had problems with shopping cart software, I had MAJOR problems with
hosting providers, complications getting set up to accept credit
cards online, and I could go on and on.
And then I had to
wonder, if I ever acutally got all of the technical aspects in place
and working smoothly, where were my customers even going to come
from? I knew I'd still have a long road ahead of me in terms of
marketing, getting people to my website and store, getting found by
the search engines, etc.
One afternoon I
was waiting to pick up my daughter from ballet class. One of the
other mothers in the waitng room was talking to the person she was
with about how incredibly well her online store was doing.
Online
store?! My ears perked up. I don't normally do this, but
I went over to her, excused myself for eavesdopping, and asked if I
could ask her a few questions since I'd been STRUGGLING like crazy to
start an online store of my own, and I was on the verge of gettting
completely discouraged and giving up once and for all.
Fortunately she
was very friendly and was very open about sharing her experiences and
advice with me. By the time we were done talking, about ten minutes
or so later, based on everything she'd told me about her experiences,
I couldn't wait to get home to order the book for myself. As I left
the waiting room with my daughter, my newfound mentor called out
after me, "Get the book and you'll do great".
As she had
explained to me, there is a huge benefit to putting up an e-commerce
store on Yahoo! She said she gets ENORMOUS amounts of
traffic by being a Yahoo! Store.
She explained that
the book she recommended reveals all of the "trade secrets"
I'd need to know to quickly and easily start operating a very
successful Yahoo Store online.
Did you know that
you don't even have to carry an inventory for your store? You
can use what's called a drop-shipper and never even have to see or
touch the items you're selling.
My online store
has enabled me to quit my job and work at home, so I'm there for my
kids all the time. Its been a dream come true. I am actually earning
more now with my online store than I was in my job as a dental
technician or when I worked as an administrative assistant.
And I carry no
inventory, I dont worry about issues like web hosting, search engine
optimization, credit card processing, shopping carts - none of that.
Also very importantly, I dont have to worry about how I'm going to
find customers, Yahoo supplies me with TONS of customers for my
online store.
I hope this
information is helpful to other aspiring "Work at Home
Divas"! (or anyone wanting to start an online store). After
someone was kind enough to point me towards this information which
has allowed me to live my dream, I feel inspured to "pay
it forward" by sharing my experience with others who may be
interested in starting an online store.
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