How to sell Online

Firstly, Welcome. This Blog is going to run through how to sell products and services on the Internet. Im going to write it in a way that could apply to either physical items, digital goods, or services. I am also making the assumption that what you are wanting to sell is NOT a one off item, it is something that you aim to sell over and over again, either by buying the item or manufacturing it yourself or by providing a service.

There are several different distinct types of people who sell on the Internet and my aim is to cover most of them over the next few months. Although not all in the first post. You'll have to read through the descriptions to figure out which type you are, then look at how you can benefit from selling online and how to make it work for you.

Product Types: There are pretty much only two different types of product. Tangible and in-tangible. Tangible goods, are typically physical items which could be sent via the mail. In-tangible goods include digital products, like music and software, but also service related products, eg VOIP calling, or tax accounting.

There are only a few major things that ALL businesses have in common, regardless of size, location, what they do, or how they do it, and the biggest is this:

They have to sell something. And to sell something, implies that you need to have somthing to sell.  Make sense? Selling is not a dirty word, and you can be pretty sure that any business that advertises itself as "no selling" is either kidding themselves or they are trying to kid you.

Selling is simply the process by which goods or services are turned into cash. Hopefully more cash than it cost to get/create the item that was sold. Selling, traditionally, is hard to do. You have to find a person who needs/wants what it is that you have, then you need to convince them of its value, they have to have available funds to purchase and finally there has to be the facility to make the transaction. Unless all these points are fulfilled, the transaction will fail.

The Internet is a tool, that can be adapted for a wide range of uses. Specifically, what I will talk about is how to use the internet as a selling tool.

So looking at the example above, there are some items that are essential to being able to sell online. These are:
1.A means to obtain something that has value to others, and you are prepared to sell
2.A means of finding someone who wants what it is that you are selling
3.A means of describing the items value to the potential buyer.
4.A means to deliver the product
5.A means to receive payment.

Now when I say in #1, "a means to obtain", this is because you could be selling something that you have made yourself, or you are reselling, or you are providing a service, it really depends on your item.

There are "analog" ways to do these things and there are "digital" ways. For example, the analog way to find a buyer, is to use an ad in a newspaper. The digital way is to use online advertising like 'adwords', a banner, or just a listing in a directory. There is no right or wrong way, just different. Some may cost more, some less, some be easier or faster etc. The trick is to "Test & Measure". Test and Measure is where you try different methods to see which ones work the best.

So if you are wanting to sell online, you need to be able to cover these 5 areas as best you can.
#1 - product
#2 - find buyer
#3 - describe value
#4 - deliver product
#5 - receive payment

To get started (and have a free trial) please visit this link and complete the form.

http://www.discountwebdeals.com.au/
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Problem #1 - Your Product

#1 Product - this is up to you, your skills, resources and time.

Problem #2 _ Finding Buyers

#2 finding buyers, you will at some point have to let people know what it is that you do or sell, this can be as simple as talking to someone about it, or as complex as filming a TV advert.

Problem #3 - Value Proposition

#3 follows on quickly from #2, where you try convince the buyer of the value that your product has. It really helps if you know what it is that they want, so that you can tailor your sales pitch to satisfying their needs

Problem #4 - Deliver the Purchase

#4 again depends greatly on the item, and where your buyer is located. Essentially you have a few options, deliver in person, get someone else to deliver (eg post/UPS) or deliver electronically, or a combination.

Problem #5 - Receiving Payment

#5 receiving payment, when the time comes to getting paid, again you have some options. You could wait on a money order, or personal check, get cash, bank check, EFTPOS, Credit Card, or receive payment electronically. Each one of these would suit a particular product, and type of buyer. What you prefer is irrelevant, its what the buyer is comfortable with. Some methods are harder to deal with, some are easy, some have costs involved. Either way, if you dont offer a way that the buyer is comfortable with for them to pay, you will end up losing the sale. Having more that one method of accepting payment is crucial, you dont have to offer them all, just have some options.

Getting Noticed - Writing Product Descriptions

Now turning our attention back to how to sell online.  OK, so how do you actually make your listing better?  

Well probably the first thing to keep in mind is this:  

Make yourself easy to find.

How? you may ask, well, what words do you think a buyer would use to describe your product?

Start off by making a list of about 5 or so "keywords".  You will want to use these keywords a few times each in your product name and description.

For your description, the more detailed it is the more likely it will rank higher in the search results when someone does a search on your keywords.  Make sure you use your keywords twice each.

Also the product name is important, use the keywords here again.  Trying to be as detailed and brief as possible. 

For Example:

If you are selling candles, dont put 'candle' as your product name.  It is far too broad and the chances of a buyer typing in 'candle', in the search engine, your product being ranked on the first few pages, the buyer clicking on your link, looking at the item and then choosing to buy is, unfortunatly, remote at best.

Instead, try something like 'Scented Soy Candle in a Frosted Glass contiainer with fitting lid', assuming of course that your product meets all these criteria.

This phrase is much more likely to get ranked higher because it has more detail, and more chances for a match.  The buyer might search on 'scented candle', or 'soy candle', or 'candle in frosted glass container', or even 'frosted glass container with lid'.  Ok, the buyer has clicked on your link and is looking at your product, you have been found.  Thats the first hurdle. 

The next hurdle is convincing them to buy YOUR product instead of continuing to search.  

The first thing here is, after you have gained their attention, you need to keep thier attention.  This is the job of the description.  A description is like a long jumpers run up.  It needs to be long enough, to get enough speed,  and timed just right to get a good long jump.  If the run up is too long, it is tiring, too short and there is not enough speed.  If the jumper doest time their last step properly they either lose distance (at best) or are disqualified (at worst).  Just like in selling, if your pitch is too long, many people wont finish reading it, if it is too short, there is not enough information to base a decision on.  If the words are not used well, it can either confuse people, or put them off.  The aim of the description is to get them to click the BUY button. 

Imagine that you had 45 second to describe your product over the phone to someone.  Thats your descrtiption.  Write down all the important things, eg height, weight, uses, benefits, what its made from etc etc. and then at the end put an emotional benefit statement, something that the buyer is likely to connect with.  Say you were writing an ad for an engagement ring.  You put in all features first, then an emotional hook at the end like this:  "1.1ct solitaire diamond, princess cut, set in a swriled 18ct gold claw setting... when getting a Yes! really matters."   Then you back up your offer with several good pictures.  Obviously it depends on what you are selling, but remember, dont cut corners right at the end.  You may have worked for a long time to create / buy / build /grow etc what you are selling.  

Pictures

Pictures:

The picture's job is usually a supporting role.  You have carefully worded your descritption, the buyer has pretty much made their mind up, and then there is a picture of..... a turkey (??)  what!?  Getting your pictures right is really important.  If the buyer goes through with the transaction, and then receives the item and its not what they thought it was... its refund time.  So it really is important to have a few good quality, detailed, close up if necessary, IN FOCUS pictures to support the description that you have written.  Make sure you attach the correct photo.  This actually happened to me...  I was cruising around an auction site, looking at land in the US, mainly out of curiousity.  I came accross a block in who-knows-where, for maybe a few thousand dollars, and to my surprise it said it was "a few blocks from the 'Peace bridge".  I emailed the guy, who was not as greatful as I expected when I advised him that he had a picture of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

This was the picture he had, I wish I had the whole ad to share with you.

Different Business Types

Different Business Types:
There are several different types of people and business that want to sell on the Internet, and how they do it is very different, depending on the products that are being sold. The most common, is someone who is already in business and trading somehow. For example, they could either run a retail store, or run a service related business.

Retailer/wholesaler: ranging from a stall at the local market to an established chain of retail outlets, or an international warehousing and wholesale operation. You want to expand your reach beyond the local area that you currently service. Great! But how? This type of business lends itself exceptionally well to moving online, as most of the systems are in place already, all you have to do - and I say that like its easy - is get orders coming in, process the payment, then post off the items. Easy - NOT! But this is certainly very close to being able to sell online.

Service Provider: This depends on how your service is delivered. If you attend the client in person, it will be hard to expand your reach further afield. However, it is possible to sell your service on the Internet to generate more business from the local area. If it is irrelevant where your services are performed, that is ideal. For example, my accountant is located in another city (I used to live there and then moved, but kept the accountant because they did a good job). So a tax accountant could potentially find business online and then deliver it's services. On the other hand, a garden maintenance business could find business via the Internet, but could not not deliver its product.

OK, so lets say you own a physical goods business of some sort. You have a premises, stock, and the facility to make a sale somehow. How do you move this operation online? Well selling online is basically a fancy way of doing mailorder. Whereas mailorder is "analog", ie it relies on customers to select items from a catalog, fill in a paper form, and then either mail in a cheque or or fax in their order with a credit card number, that then needs to be manually banked or as with credit cards, keyed into an eftpos machine, in order to receive payment.
Selling on the Internet is the digital version of this. ie there is a catalog - but it is presented online, and if it is going to be effective it needs to have lots of information, product specs, good quality pictures. There are forms to fill in, but they are online, and customers type in their details, and then there is the payment, usually either a credit card or PayPal (or something similar), the payment is then processed immediately and payment is deposited into the merchants account automatically. Then with digital goods, the product is made available to the buyer straight away. For physical goods the order is received by the merchant, who then packages up the goods ready for shipment.

What I do, via my website, is provide you the ability to sell online - easily.  In fact, membership to the site effectively covers 4 out of the 5 things that you need in order to sell online.  The only thing that it doesnt cover is the product, which I presume you already have.

So What Next?

So, where to from here?

I am currently looking for businesses who want to sell online, but are either turned off by the costs involved or the skills that they lack.  Yes, there are some very good (read - expensive) options available, and there are some reasonable "Free" options aswell.  DiscountWebDeals offers a comfortable middle ground.  A way of getting started in online selling, without costing too much, and without many of the headaches that you'll need to deal with if you try to set something up yourself.

I will provide you with access to sell on my website, where you can upload and sell as many items as you want, with multiple pictures, lots of text, variable pricing options, cross selling with similar products.  As far as support goes, I am usually availble on the other end of a phone, or you can email me.

To get started (and have a free trial) please visit this link and complete the form.