Online Store

Hey everyone, I'm looking to start up an online store. Basically, buy from wholesalers and sell on my own website!

-How do I get traffic to my website?
-How do I start a website?
-Anyother tips?

THANKS!

 

Don't you think you should have researched this before you came to the conclusion you were starting your own site? I think you should start by selling things on Sythe or perhaps eBay or Amazon, to see whether you think you could cut your own site/store. If you don't know how to set up a basic website, how do you think you'd get on running the whole store/business venture?

 

I've already done ebay / kijiji.
Well, you have to start somewhere and I'm looking to get all the tips I can from my fellow sythe members
thanks.

 

Maybe you want a pre-made website build then, I've heard good things about http://website.1and1.com/?__reuse=1351366140670

 

Open Cart is a free system that is pretty much a pre made shopping cart.

 

I know nothing about website building and I created mine from scratch using OpenCart.

www.expressgp.com is the url

check it out, its also for sale if youre interested.

 

1. Advertisements, and word-of-mouth. Your best bet is to become a social butterfly and invest a lot of time in purchasing advertising space on large, heavily-trafficed forums and by networking with people who have a lot of friends interested in what your online store has to offer.
2. Assuming you don't know how to create a website (since you're asking how), it'll probably be an annoyance to you. I'd recommend starting with a simple free-website that offers an online store, such as Webs.com - since I used it for an online store in the past, or you could take a risk and invest capital into the business and purchase a professional website and either work on it yourself or pay a programmer/developer to do so for you.
3. I don't really know what your product is, and I don't really want to try to micromanage your online store for you. This could be a simple hobby or you could be trying to legitimately create a business that you rely on for income, I don't know. My only advice I can offer broadly is that owning a business is not easy, you will face a lot of barriers - but that doesn't mean give up. Learn from your mistakes, do a TON of research before opening the business, and always have a plan.

All the best,
Philosophic​

 

Its always the prior objective of entrepreneurs to get more people to visit their online store. Generally, there is no way to generate traffic quickly unless the business has a sound advertising budget. For this purpose its important to lay a solid foundation which means that your business brand is to be strong, which will automatically generate traffic gradually with the passage of time.

 

Buy a domain and hosting for around $10/month +$10/year for domain and set up opencart.
Works easily enough and it's simple to use.
You can get decent hosting and domains off Hostgator.com or use Axiohost which is owned by TBT here on Sythe and is a bit cheaper.

 

Also, one question you need to think to yourself. What makes you different to everyone else.