Part 3, Internet Marketing, Still a Viable Economic Alternative, Online Stores

Welcome back to the third installment of this four part series “Internet Marketing, Still a Viable Economic Alternative”. Today we’re going to look at online stores as income producers. First let me say that I have less experience in this area, although I do know many who have made a considerable commitment to this form of eMarketing. The concept is a simple one; you pick a platform to host your store, it can be hosted, or self-hosted and use the software provided by the parent company to acquire and process customers. The stores are pretty much third party retailers for wholesale distributors. From all accounts, you should not expect a quick return on your initial start-up investment, which, depending upon the type of store you opt to open can be as little as $600 to several thousands of dollars. It is my suggestion that anyone considering on-line stores as an option, do a thorough research into the types and options that are available, that you do not commit financial resources that you cannot afford to be without, that you make, replacing your current income the target before considering going full-time and finally, you give it at least a year before giving up on the venture, assuming that you can successfully operate financially. 

History

Michael J. Aldrich is generally regarded as the inventor of on-line shopping and marketing back in 1979 when he "connected a26” domestic color television to a real-time transaction processing computer via a domestic telephone line, put together a shopping transaction program and waited for someone to buy my idea. It was 1979. The IBM PC didn’t exist, nor Microsoft and the Internet was 11 years away. The idea today is called online shopping and it is probably the largest part of e-commerce."

Aldrich implemented the first Business to Business system that was used to order spare parts, check vacation reservations, check credit ratings and initiate bank transactions.

Aldrich noted the communication advantage of his system and that advantage holds true in 2014. According to Tristan Handy VP Marketing @RJMetrics, as of the summer of 2014 there are 110,000 on-line stores listed in the Alexia top 1m websites. The United States Census indicates that e-commerce retail production increased 13.6% from 2011 when it was $198 billion, to $225 billion in 2012 

So before we look at how to open an online store and the different types, let’s quickly look at why you should NOT open an online store.

Things to Consider when starting an Online Store

I don’t mean to lecture anyone about your motivations for starting a store. But here are some points by eCommerciafuel’s Andrew Youderian on ‘4 Signs you shouldn’t open and Online Store.”

You Need Money Fast

“If you need to make money quickly, starting an e-commerce business is a really bad idea. Building an online store is an involved process that takes months to research and launch, and usually years to build into a significant and sustainable income. If you need extra cash to pay this month’s rent or just don’t have enough to make ends meet, your best bet is to increase your income through a traditional job for the short term.”

You Need a Guarantee

Being an entrepreneur means taking action without that guarantee of success. You do it strategically and with a well-thought-out and researched plan, but at the end of the day you move forward despite your doubts. With every business I’ve ever started, I’ve had doubts and reservations as to whether it would be successful or not. And while some ended up doing nicely, others didn’t fare as well. But I’d never know if I didn’t overcome my fears and take the plunge. Educate yourself, research, agonize, and then make a decision despite your reservations. 

You're not willing/Able to take a step back

Starting a business requires a sacrifice of some kind, usually in the form of time or cash. You need to have one of these two currencies! If you’re not able to invest either, you won’t be able to build a viable business.

You’re not Web Savvy

                                            

…if you’d describe yourself as “not web savvy” (like Alice), you’re likely going to struggle.

Being “web savvy” is simply the price of admission for trying to get a viable business online. If you have a hard time setting up an email account, doing online banking or using Facebook, you’re going to become incredibly frustrated trying to get a store online, even with all the easy-to-use tools available. As simple as these tools have become, they do require a basic level of online competency, as will most other resources you’ll need to build/market/operate your store.

What type of On-Line store should I open and what’s the best?

The thing to remember is there are two kinds of stores. You can have a drop ship store or a pre-made platform store. I will not include stores where you can be an affiliate because to me that is Affiliate Marketing.

With Drop Ship stores you either keep your own inventory or place orders and have them drop shipped from a wholesale supplier. The key to remember about drop shipping from a real whole sale provider is that you’ll need to have a wholesale account and prove that you’re a legitimate company in order for them to take orders from you. If not they’re a retailer selling items at inflated prices and calling them wholesale. I have experienced this with as an Affiliate of an online electronics program professing to be an online store. For those on Facebook, friend Kerry Alison, owner of Ally Cat fashion LLC, has a drop ship company that she markets primarily from Facebook and word of mouth.  

E-Commerce platforms can be either Hosted, Shopify, Volusion, or BigCommerce,  or they can be Self-Hosted like Magento and WooCommerce. Forbes recently did a thorough assessment of all five of these platforms.

Here are some key links to more information about setting up your own e-commerce store. I am not an affiliate of either of these programs.

Easiest way to sale online:

Top 10 E-Commerce site Builders

Online Store Products I recommend

Our final segment of this four part series will be on MLM companies.  

Internet Marketing, Still a Viable Economic Alternative! - Blogging

Blogging

Day two of the Internet Marking series will focus on Blogging. Question, did you know that the Huffington Post was actually a blog and its originator, Arianna Huffington rakes in a cool $29,894 per day for that entity which, by modest estimates, is valued at $21.82 million. That’s quite impressive, however, there are other bloggers such as Pete Cashmore, the creator of Mashables, who earns $15,781 per day with his blog which is valued at $11.52 million.  

Of course these numbers represent some of the very best in blog earnings on the internet and a casual google of top blog earners and best bloggers 2014 will net you multiple lists of the movers and shakers in the blogging industry. But you might be saying to yourself, “That’s fine and dandy, but why should I be interested in blogging’?, Or perhaps, you might be thinking, “Jeez, I want to blog but those are some imposing standards to try and emulate or compete against; where does an everyday person like me go to get started and what can I expect”? Not to worry, there are as many reasons to blog as there are people who blog so there's no need to be overly concerned about competing with the top earnings in the industry, particularly when first starting out.  Which is why today we’re going to take a look at a. why you should blog, b. what type of blog should you have c. where should you blog and d. what expectations should you have when blogging. 

Why Blog?

1.  People blog for entertainment and personal expression. Time was when people kept diaries and logged daily events or important milestones in life. With the digital age, people have the convenience of simply hitting a few keyboard strokes and they’re blogging. 

2.  People blog to make an impression professionally or to establish their name as an authority. In fact, because companies check prospective employees’ internet activities when making hiring decisions, blogging is another way to expand your resume, and indeed there have been instances where people have been hired for positions based upon their blog content and performance alone. 

3.   People blog as a way of networking or meeting new friends. The internet provides the opportunity to communicate with people around the globe. Currently, 33% of the world’s population has internet access so a blogger can have connections from just about anywhere that has internet capability.

4.    People blog to market a brand or product. The internet is an effective way to market products or promote a service, and blogging provides a vehicle to keep clientele informed or updated on the latest happenings, both personal and promotional.

5.  Blogging can get your voice heard. People use blogs for advocacy reasons or to express an idea of concern. They blog about the changing climate and other environmental concerns. They blog about human and animal rights, and they blog about population control, you name it, and there are people blogging about it.

What type of Blog should I have?     

Like any venture it’s good to have an idea of what your mission and objectives are for starting a blog. For instance, you may have a special hobby like knitting, or baking that you would like to share with friends, family or even promote as business earning both direct sales and passive income.  I enjoy writing, but I also have an interest in internet marketing. It would make sense that an internet marketing blog would fit into my schematic planning, however, this blog serves a number of FUNCTIONS. It can educate individuals in the types of marketing that is done on the net. It can also service as a technical instruction vehicle, sort of an “how to” when it comes to setting up a blog, choosing a platform as we’ll see in a bit or function as a monetized hub that increases with earning capacity over time through traffic generating tactics like social networking, safelist, and  SEO, Search Engine Optimization. 

Where should I blog?

This simply means what platform or what vehicle should you use to host your blog. There are many to choose from. This blog is hosted through Google and Blogspot. However I am in the process of setting up two additional web sites through Word Press which I gained with a basic membership with Wealthy Affiliate and there are also blogging platforms available through the Wealthy Affiliate servers.

You will want to have your blog hosted under your own domain if you desire for it to be an income producing entity. A domain name and hosting can be purchased either annually or on a month to month basis. 

What should be my Expectations when blogging?

The expectations for your blog should probably coincide with your passion from starting a blog in the first place. Whatever spurs you to productivity will assist you in determining your expectations. Does that sound vague on my part? Well I say this because many will tell you not to go into blogging thinking that you’re going to make huge sums of money, become famous or generate large sums of traffic. Well, there are bloggers doing just that every day, and, as we’ve seen, some have probably exceeded even their initial expectations for their blogs. And who knows, if you’re patient and stick with it, perhaps your blog will strike it big, or perhaps, someone hire you to promote their product or service.

Happy Blogging!

Next up, we'll look at on-line stores and marketing groups.