"Selling What You Make, Online" by Jeremy Pellani page 3

It can be quite easy to start a website. I’ve used Yahoo’s site builder software to build a really slick website. The software is free and it is easy to use. You can register a domain name and buy the web space or hosting through them. These are things you will need to do anyway.

Here is where it gets tricky. They make it so easy to promote, accept credit cards, track your sales, print shipping labels and their software allows even a novice complete creative control of the site. They will charge you a yearly fee to register the site in your name (you’ll have to do this anyway). And they will charge you monthly/yearly for their hosting (you can find it cheaper elsewhere but you will need to buy it anyway). They will try to get you to buy many, many services you may or may not need. I would predict that if you buy all of their services you will be working mostly to add to the stock value of Yahoo.

It’s not all bad though. If you are careful about which services you buy you probably can build a profitable business. The big catch is this: if you use their site builder (it’s really great), you can only host the site on Yahoo’s hosting. If you take the bait and use their site builder you are choosing to host with Yahoo for the entire life of your site. If their prices rise or policies change you will have to grin and bear it, or restart your business elsewhere.

For reasons I will not go into now, having portability for your website can be very important. Several years ago I paid $60 a month for their hosting in their “merchant solutions” product line. This is pretty expensive, but convenient. After several months, I cancelled the service as the business did not work out and it was too expensive for me to keep going.

There are many companies that offer all of these same services out there. I’m describing my Yahoo experience to point out that these companies are in it to make money. Likely, the more convenient it is, the more expensive it will be. You should also be on the lookout for a catch. I would still recommend this route for some people. I myself may try using a company like Yahoo again. Reason being: it is quite convenient and I like having creative control.

Having a website built for you can be quite expensive. If you are a novice you may also need to hire someone to maintain the site for you. If you are not careful these costs may suck all the would-be profit from your business. Don’t be discouraged. You may know someone who would be willing to do the work. I’ve successfully partnered with relatives and neighbors who are willing to build me a website and maintain it in exchange for an ongoing commission for each item sold off the website.

It is important to be realistic and clear when entering such an agreement. I like this option because I only have to pay if, and to the degree that, we are successful. This is great chance for the web builder to get a residual income. It may also be a good opportunity for an aspiring web designer to get some practice. However you accomplish building your site, it will only be successful if people can find it. That is why my main consideration when starting a website is getting that website seen.

Your strategy for exposure will determine the ways you’ll want to go about building your website. In almost any aspect of starting and promoting a website there is someone willing to help you out for a fee. I’ve talked to people who have paid handsomely for a website that looked professional and they have paid to have it promoted only to find that the are not making sales. Depending on your skill level you may want to hire someone to help you with some of the aspects.

When I’m shopping online, I’ll go to Yahoo or Google and type in what I’m looking for. Think of the last time you were looking for something online. When was the last time you looked on the second page? Often, I don’t even scroll down to see the second half of the first page. Of course, people do make it to the second page sometimes, but probably not if they can find what they need on the first page). My point is this: you need to be seen in order for customers to buy your product.

For the most part this means you need to be high in the search engine rankings for the “keywords” that people will type in order to find your site. To my mind, this is key to being successful with your own site. You can have a well designed site with a great product, great customer service, and low prices; but, if nobody sees it, nobody will buy things from it. This is why the fees paid to eBay and Etsy are worth it. Your product gets seen the day you post it by lots of people that are looking for just such an item.

(continued)

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