Last Updated on Mar 11, 2020 by James W
The great thing about the Internet is that there is a growing number of users surfing the World Wide Web each year. Most web users will purchase products and services online as it offers them the convenience to browse and compare choices in their own time, regardless of the time of day.
Businesses and individuals are keen to make money on the Internet as it is more cost-effective to sell stuff online than it is offline. There is also the fact that selling online introduces you to a global marketplace – something that is hard to do offline.
If your business or organisation wants to start selling online, here are some examples of the best ways of doing so.
Set up your own website
Perhaps the most-obvious way of selling online is to do so through your own website! When consumers want to learn more about what you do and what you sell, they will invariably try to determine this information by searching for your website.
After all, what better place to find out more about a brand than from the horse’s mouth? There are several options open to those that want to set up their own website:
- Go down the DIY route – smaller businesses and organisations will often attempt to build a simple website for free (or very cheaply) in order to gain an online presence. However, the problem with that approach is the end result can often look mediocre at best;
- Go down the website builder route – rather than starting from scratch, some people might use an online website builder. In a nutshell, you simply click and choose the components you want on each page. Not recommended as it often gives a “cookie cutter” look;
- Hire a website designer – those of you that live “down under” might seek the services of a web development company in Perth to design a professional website or e-commerce site to advertise and sell products and services online. It is the preferred option for people that are serious about making money online.
Set up an eBay shop
One of the major challenges faced by anyone that sets up a brand new website is that no-one knows about it! It can also be a big problem if you intend to sell your products directly on your website.
A popular solution to this problem is to set up an eBay shop. We all know that eBay is the premier online auction for many countries around the world, and so it can make perfect sense for a number of different businesses and organisations to tap into an existing audience.
Despite the obvious advantages of using eBay, there are some downsides to using the famous online auction service:
- Fees can be expensive, especially if payments are made through PayPal;
- Fraud can be a big problem for those selling big-ticket items;
- Not everyone uses eBay, or wants to use it.
Social media
Some savvy entrepreneurs can even take to social media services such as Facebook to sell products directly on those websites.
With millions of regular users, this can be useful if you want to target a specific audience.
