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How to Sell Online


Online sellers from all over the world have access to a wealth of opportunities through the realm of eCommerce or the selling online of goods and services. Selling online is a lucrative business venture as online selling offers you a route to success without facing the dangers associated with investing in real estate and opening a physical store.

Starting an online selling business involves several processes. Before selling online, you’ll need to decide which industry you want to focus on, your company name, and the kinds of clients you wish to attract with your products to sell online. All these may first appear difficult, but here, we offer you a how to sell online guide so that the online selling procedure will become a lot more manageable. Main Social Media will be the one who will help you jumpstart your success in the online selling business.


Starting an Online Store

The ability to have a work-life balance while running an online store is what makes selling online an enticing business venture. As an online seller, you can manage your online store from anywhere and expand at a pace that suits you. As an online seller, you also have creative control over your online selling business and work towards the vision that you have for it.

Regardless if you’re a business owner who is currently selling offline or someone who’s looking forward to creating an online selling business, creating your online store helps you reach a wider audience. Your online store also helps you attract more consumers, and highlight the distinctiveness of your business as you have complete freedom of the style and theme that represents your brand.

Opening an online store or starting your journey of selling online can be intimidating but, this how to sell online guide will help you understand the process of starting your online store.

Create Products to Sell and Find Your Online Selling Niche


As an online selling beginner, other than how to sell online, one of the things that you might not know is what to sell. But if you’re a business owner that’s looking to add an online selling platform for your goods or services, then you still might want to read on as the following information that we’re going to reveal will include new insights on how you could reach your ideal customers.

When it comes to knowing what to sell online or knowing what products to sell, the first order of business is to consider your interests.

How to sell online becomes easier if you know where your interests lie as you’re likely to know that area. Even determining what kind of product to sell based only on the potential profit still requires you to learn more about it.

Other than considering your interests in the kind of products to sell, you also need to consider whether you want to create your goods yourself.

As an online seller who creates your products, your items would be exclusive to you. As a result, the kinds of products that you sell differentiate you from your industry rivals. There’s also the chance that people will be eager to follow your online selling platform because of your uniqueness.

In determining what to sell on your online selling platform, you also need to consider the practical restrictions of your products such as your inventory space, cost of materials, cost of warehousing, and safe and reliable shipping.

Conducting market research could also help you in determining what to sell on your online selling platform.


Market research gives you knowledge on what product sells, where it sells, and when it sells. Moreover, market research helps you see what product trends come and go. Custom mugs and shirts, for example, are the products to sell during the Christmas season as they serve as perfect gifts for your loved ones. How would you get this done, you may ask? You can check out the website of ProPrintPress.com. We have over 18,000 high-quality custom print options. So, if your product to sell are going to be custom mugs, custom tshirts, custom tote bags, or anything custom printed, Pro Print Press is your go-to. You can submit your own graphic design and we, at Pro Print Press, will do the printing for you.

In the case that you don’t have much time on your hands to do the graphic design for your products, you could book the graphic design services of Main Social Media. Aside from taking care of your graphic design needs, Main Social Media could also help you in creating your new business logo or revamping it.

You can find out more about the products to sell based on their regional or seasonal popularity by researching on your own. But in the meantime, here are the best products to sell online 2022.

  • Home Décor

First on the list of the best products to sell online 2022 is home décor. This is because people spend most of their time at home hence, would want to make a purchase that makes their home feel and look good.

  • Electronics and Accessories

Another item category on the list of best products to sell online 2022 is electronics and accessories. This includes ring lights, tripods, phone cases, wireless chargers, power banks, and more.

  • Fashion Items

Next on the list of best products to sell online 2022 are fashion accessories and jewelry. This is because the product has never-ending demand among female consumers as it adds to their beauty element.

Hence, selling online products such as scrunchies, hair clips, dainty and minimal jewelry, nail extensions, belts, and more won’t disappoint you as you’ll see an increase in sales on your online selling platform. Nowadays, apart from the ones mentioned, custom print shirts are of high demand. With that said, you could sell custom statement shirts, fandom shirts, couple shirts, event shirts, company shirts, and more. Pro Print Press will help you manage all your custom printing needs.

  • Health and Fitness

The best products to sell online 2022 also include health and fitness items since people today prefer to stay fit at home rather than go to the gym. This item category includes yoga mats, resistance bands, dumbbells, and more.

  • Stationary

The best products to sell online 2022 also includes stationery items that are perfect for both student and grown-ups. This item category includes planners, notebooks, paintbrushes, colored pencils, canvas papers, and more. Nowadays, people want their stationery items to be personalized. With that said, you could use the help of Pro Print Press in creating custom pens, custom notebooks, custom postcards, custom greeting cards, custom envelopes, custom roll labels, custom stickers, and more.

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Learn from Your Online Selling Competitors


When it comes to how to sell online, you need to take note of your industry competitors. Researching what your competitors do on their online selling platform provides you with information on how you could do better to entice your target audience and become the best online seller.

You can research your competitors while thinking about what to sell as it also contributes to your decision. This is because you see the potential problems that come with how to sell online. In turn, however, you’ll know how to deal with the problems of how to sell online. If researching and assessing businesses is something new to you, you could book the help of Main Social Media. As a digital marketing company, Main Social Media uses a website traffic checker to analyze the online selling sites of your industry competitors. With the help of Main Social Media, you will be provided with in-depth information regarding their business and will be advised on how you could proceed with yours in such a way that you’ll be able to overtake them and stay on top.

Specify Your Online Selling Niche

When it comes to how to sell online, narrowing your business focus makes it easier for you to top your chosen industry field. For example, instead of branding yourself as an online seller for the best kitchen appliances, you can specify that you are an online seller for microwaves.

By specifying your online selling niche, your online store has a better chance of becoming known. After knowing what niche you want to focus on, you could contact the help of Main Social Media. As a digital marketing company, Main Social Media will help you rank on top of your industry niche. After all, although you have less competitors now that you’ve narrowed it down, it’s not advisable to be complacent.

Allotting a Budget

Online selling not only requires you to know what to sell and how to sell online, but it also requires you to create a budget for your possible expenditures. Depending on your online selling specifics, you might want to take into consideration the cost of materials to produce that product to sell, the cost of eCommerce efforts, the cost of office tools and software, the cost of shipping materials, employee wages, and more

Online sellers from all over the world have access to a wealth of opportunities through the realm of eCommerce or the selling online of goods and services. Selling online is a lucrative business venture as online selling offers you a route to success without facing the dangers associated with investing in real estate and opening a physical store.

Starting an online selling business involves several processes. Before selling online, you’ll need to decide which industry you want to focus on, your company name, and the kinds of clients you wish to attract with your products to sell online. All these may first appear difficult, but here, we offer you a how to sell online guide so that the online selling procedure will become a lot more manageable. Main Social Media will be the one who will help you jumpstart your success in the online selling business.

Photo of  an Online selling platform

How to Develop Your Online Selling Platform

After knowing what to sell, learning about your competitors in selling online, specifying your online selling niche, and allotting a budget for your online selling platform, what you want to do is follow the steps below.

Pick a Domain Name

One of the essential things to note on how to sell online is choosing the right domain name.

Customers would enter your domain name or URL into their browser to access your online selling platform. In picking a domain name for your online selling platform, pick one that accurately describes your business and steer clear of issues like choosing a business name that is already taken.

The selection of the right domain name is crucial in selling online. With that said, your domain name ought to be simple, memorable, and unambiguous. Moreover, for search engine optimization reasons, you should add your most significant keyword to your domain name if the name of your business doesn’t already contain it.


As part of how to sell online, your domain name should also be simple to utter aloud. When discussing your business with potential customers, you don’t want to go into great depth just to clarify how to spell your online selling platform’s domain name. Moreover, avoid using hyphens, numerals, similar-sounding words, or difficult terms.


For domain names, you can get one through WebSafeKing.com. Web Safe King offers domain forwarding and masking, wherein any domain name you control should point to your website. That domain name takes everyone who puts it into their browser right to your online selling site. Web Safe King also offers domain locking to keep anyone from rerouting your nameservers and prevent unintentional or deliberate changes of domain ownership. Web Safe King also provides total domain nameserver control, wherein from a single control panel, you can manage your DNS records, email, FTP, sub-domains, and website placement. Web Safe King also offers change in registration, status alerts, and auto renew protection. Moreover, in the case that you plan to have multiple domain names for multiple online selling business, Web Safe King offers bulk registration of up to 500 domain names. If you already have a domain, you could also opt for domain transfer or bulk domain transfer via Web Safe King.


An alternative for Web Safe King is ThisBizWorks.org. If you have a higher budget allotted to the development of your online store, This Biz Works offers a $199.9 per month value package. This includes domain name and host, search engine optimization and mobile friendly design, search engine submission, email and phone support, and 1 hour of tech support and updates per month.

Building Your Online Store

Because they are concerned about their lack of technical expertise, many new online sellers are reluctant to begin building their online store.

However, an easy way to build your website is to use Web Safe King. With Web Safe King, you can create your own online selling site in less than an hour. You could take advantage of their thousands of designs created for your industry and edit it in your own creative ideas.

However, these days you can seek the help of a digital marketing company that will input all that is required of your online stores such as adding your items, developing a checkout method, about page, and other necessities. Main Social Media is a digital marketing company that could help you with building your online store – from website set-up, product listings, SEO, to social media integration. Main Social Media has a $199 per month business web hosting package that allows you to load up to 10 products per month, has a 99% uptime guarantee, has HTTPS encryption, phone and email support, and back office access.

Main Social Media also offers a business hosting platinum package for $349 per month. This package additionally includes 5-7 page design, ability to add up to 15 products monthly, content set up with 15 keywords, and monthly monitoring.


Main Social Media also has a business website creation package for a $2,500 one-time fee. The difference from the other packages is that this allows you to load up to 25 products. But, if you’re looking for a more advanced option, don’t hesitate to contact Main Social Media for a free consultation and a quote.


For a cheaper alternative, you could opt for This Biz Work’s packages which range at $99 per month to $1,499 per month.


This Biz Work’s business package includes a stand-alone website designed or redesigned, members only network area, searchable listing, up to five product categories, no ads on listings, add real estate properties, and the ability to publish events and articles. Meanwhile, This Biz Work’s value pack includes domain name and host, SEO and mobile friendly design, search engine submission, email and phone support service, 1 hour of tech support and updates per month, and a $1,499 set up fee. On the other hand, This Biz Work’s business platinum package contains all business level features, standard local or national SEO, 4 hours a month of VA updates on the website, Google My Business integration, one web hosting and two maintenance per month, up to 10 product categories, social media integration management, and SSL certificate and backups. All this with no setup fee.


You could also opt for a cheapest yet limited package for building your online store via Web Safe King.


Web Safe King offers a website builder personal for only $5.99 per month and already includes responsive mobile design, website hosting, rapid page-load performance, blog creation, security, and 24/7 support service. They also have a website builder business package for only $10.99 and includes the already mentioned features plus PayPal Buy Now or Donate button and search engine optimization (SEO). You could also opt for Web Safe King’s $14.99 per month website builder business plus package, which additionally includes social media integration and online appointment setting.


When it comes to how to sell online, it is important to choose the right online selling site where you will build your online store. This is so you won’t pay extra for needed features and your business may expand without being limited by software constraints.

Web Listing

Listings are your company’s web entries. The job of web listing is to make it easier for your clients to locate you offline and online. They contain for basic information about you: your name, address, phone number, and website.

This Biz Works will help you set up a correct, consistent, and easily accessible web listing so as to direct your customers straight to your company’s door steps. Moreover, with the help of This Biz Works, your customers will have more faith in your brand as compared to your competitors.


Moreover, by setting up accurate listings with the help of This Biz Works, you create transparency between you and your customers in the form of reviews. In turn, it can assist boost in your business’s exposure.


Search engine optimization is also important for every online selling business as it boost your ranking on search engine results page. Take advantage of the power of search engine optimization through getting your listings done accurately via This Biz Works.


The stand-alone website design or redesign, members-only network area, searchable listing, up to five product categories, no adverts on listings, the addition of real estate properties, and the capacity to post events and articles are all included in This Biz Work's business package. The value pack from This Biz Work, meanwhile, comes with a domain name and host, SEO and mobile-friendly design, search engine submission, email and phone support service, 1 hour of tech support and upgrades each month, as well as a $1,499 setup cost. The business platinum package from This Biz Work, on the other hand, includes all business-level features as well as standard local or national SEO, 4 hours per month of VA website updates, Google My Business integration, one web hosting and two maintenance visits per month, up to 10 product categories, social media integration management, an SSL certificate, and backups. And there is no setup charge.

Set Up Your Online Store’s Payment Methods

In how to sell online, an essential step that you need to take is establishing a payment method for your online store. In doing so, take note that some payment methods are faster and easier than others.


Among the payment methods used by online sellers are credit cards and alternate payment providers like Paypal. Online sellers also use digital wallets like Amazon Pay, Visa Checkout, Apple Pay, Google Play, and Masterpass.


Other payment types that you might want to consider for your online store are cryptocurrency, customer financing, and more.

Web Safe King also has a $26.99 website builder online store package which additionally includes a built-in shopping cart, allows you to sell physical and digital products, set up a payment method and shipping options, set up discounts and promotions, and manage inventory.

Determine Shipping Methods

Shipping is at the core of selling online. This is because along with knowing how to sell online, you need to know how to get your products to your customers.

With that said, selling online requires you, the online seller, to decide which shipping couriers you want to use. You can base your decision on their reliability, rates, and shipment methods.

Free delivery is very common for online stores however, do not that you’ll still have to pay for the costs. Therefore, if you’re a new online seller, it’s advisable to start by using the real-time prices that your shipping courier provides. These real-time rates are determined automatically as your customer assembles their purchase. This is so that when it comes to selling online, you can avoid overcharging or undercharging your customers.

As mentioned, Web Safe King offers a website builder online store package wherein you are offered flexible shipping options.

Promoting Your Online Store

Knowing how to sell online means knowing how to promote your online store. This is an essential step on how to sell online as it ensures your business has a steady flow of customers. With that said, the best business promotion tactics for your online store include the use of social media, email newsletters, search engine optimization, and paid advertising. As part of your online store’s promotion efforts, you could also set up product discounts and coupons.


Among the promotion tactics on how to sell online, the use of social media platforms such as Facebook is a good decision. This is because selling online via Facebook gets your name out there and helps you to easily interact with your customers.

How to Sell Online for Free via Facebook

In how to sell online via Facebook, you need to create a business page for your online store. Then, you need to input your company’s information, supporting images, and a link back to your online selling platform.


Other ways how to sell online apart from Facebook are through Instagram and Pinterest, social media sites that are just as popular.

How to Sell Online for Free via Instagram

When it comes to how to sell online via Instagram, the easiest way is to set up your Facebook business page and connect it with your Instagram business profile. To start selling online using this social media platform, you need to get approval for shipping. After that, you need to turn on product tagging and go on highlight your products in every post that you make. Since Instagram is an image-focused site, selling online would be more effective if you create content that is heavily focused on visuals.

How to Sell Online for Free via Pinterest

Regarding how to sell online via Pinterest, you need to know how each type of pin works.

On Pinterest, there are buyable pins, rich pins, promoted pins, and more. Each of them works differently in getting your products to be seen. Of the several types of pins available, the most commonly used in selling online is the Shop the Look pins.

Selling online using the Shop the Look pins is perfect if your business focus is on fashion and décor. This is because the Shop the Look pin helps your customers buy the right items that enable them to duplicate the look they want.

How to Sell Online for Free via eBay

Selling online is also made easy for you through eBay. When it comes to how to sell online via eBay, you need to set up listing templates for your products, along with their pricing.

How to Sell Online for Free via Amazon

Regarding how to sell online via Amazon, your success as an online seller depends on the types of products that you sell and whether they can be found on the site. To do so, you need to integrate the products you have on your online selling site onto the Amazon platform.

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How to Sell Online for Free via Etsy

How to sell online via Etsy is easy. However, you may encounter some problems selling online due to the platform’s limitations. One of which is its relatively hefty fees. To avoid that, how to sell online via Etsy requires you to just use the platform to exhibit your products and relink your customers to your main online selling site.


How to sell via Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Etsy, and more, may sound complicated when you’re new to online selling or not really a tech-savvy person. In that case, Main Social Media is here to help you out. As a digital marketing company, Main Social Media is equipped with all the tools to help you strategize and carry out the promotion of your business. Their digital marketing services at Main Social Media include social media management, search engine optimization, business web design and hosting, graphic design and print, marketing and advertising, and website traffic checker.


For Main Social Media’s marketing and advertising services, the monthly package ranges from $999 to $4,999. The small business starter package is recommended if you’re a small online selling business that’s making under $150K. Meanwhile, the standard marketing package is great if you’re a more advanced online selling business. In other words, this is recommended if you earn around $200K, and have high ticket products with larger profit margins. On the other hand, the business growth package is recommended for online store owners who want all marketing and advertising approaches covered by a virtual in-house team.


Main Social Media also offers social media management services that range from $999 to $3,499 per month. The basic business starter package only includes the handling of one social media platform, one social media agent, and a 48 hour emergency response. Meanwhile, the standard professional management package includes the handling of two social platforms, two social media agents, and a lesser emergency response time which is 24 hours. On the other hand, the full-service management package includes all features of the standard plan, a team of phone support agents, and an even lesser emergency response time which is two hours. For an executive full-service management package, your could reach out to Main Social Media and discuss the inclusions.


Moreover, since we’re talking of how to sell online via various sites, you may have decided to dominate several of them. Do note however that it would be difficult to manage everything by yourself. You need a virtual assistant to help you keep track of orders, client requests, respond to inquiries, and more. OffSiteReps.com is the site that could help you take care of your need for a virtual assistant for your online stores.

Grow Your Business

After knowing how to sell online, what you want to do is to continue growing your business. Keep those orders coming in and fulfill them as quickly as possible. Although the growth of your business may come off as a challenge, you just need to ensure that you can balance your time spent on different tasks. Be prepared by using staff administration tools, using website security systems, polishing your purchase order system, and more.


Employing the help of a digital marketing company like Main Social Media is the best decision that you could make. As a digital marketing company, Main Social Media knows how to harness the power of the web in such a way that your business will dominate the top searches on popular search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. With the digital marketing efforts of Main Social Media, your business will see an increase in leads, customers, sales, and ROI.


And as your online selling business grows, you’ll find the need for virtual assistants who could take time to answer numerous phone call inquiries, help you close deals, respond to your business emails, keep track of your client list, and more. But finding a virtual assistant is not an easy task. With that said, you could employ the help of Off Site Reps. 


How to Sell Digital Download Products Online

You’ve come to the perfect place if you’re looking to learn how to sell online your digital download products such as music, software, ebooks, photographs, and movies.

Selling online your digital downloads is one of the simplest methods to start your first online selling business and earn a little extra money.

  • Build an Online Selling Site

Learning how to sell online your digital downloads entails knowing how to establish an online store and make use of its available features.

  • Use a Strong Software

As part of learning how to sell online your digital downloads, you should take note of strong software suites that you can use to manage your library of digital products.

  • Choose Your Design

Similar to the points mentioned above, selling online requires you to choose a design for your online selling site that best fits your business’s brand image and the style of your target audience.

  • Select payment and shipping methods

Similar to what was mentioned above, selling online your digital downloads requires you to choose payment gateways and a reliable courier.

For getting an online site for your digital download products, you could purchase a domain via Web Safe King. Afterward, you could either build your own website by purchasing any of the templates they have available or employ the help of Main Social Media, a digital marketing agency that will cover everything for you. From website creation, social media management, to marketing and advertising, and search engine optimization.


How to Sell Online Checklist

As an online seller, here is a checklist that you could use to track all the things you need to do for your online store:

  • Obtain the necessary licenses for selling online
  • Ensure your online selling site’s security to protect the information of your customers
  • Choose an online store design that goes well with your brand
  • Set up the product categories on your online selling site
  • Add all the available products that you have on your online selling site
  • Post your policies, FAQS, shipping, and returns information on your online selling site
  • Set up a payment option on your online selling site.
  • Set up a shipping method on your online selling site
  • Set up correct tax rates
  • Post your contact information on your online selling site

Remember that for the products you want to sell, Pro Print Press is always available to provide custom print orders. These range from custom mugs, custom pens, custom notebook, custom magnets, and more. Also do note that Web Safe King offers domain purchases. Then, you can either use one of their templates to create your own website or hire a digital marketing company like Main Social Media who will cover everything from developing website to search engine optimization.

 

Moreover, for web listing, This Biz Works could assist you with creating an accurate simple online listing that will lead clients right to you, allows clients to trust you more, and helps you climb up to the search engine results rankings.


Then, as your business grows or you want to expand you reach through other online selling platforms, you could employ the help of a virtual assistant via Off Site Reps.


Why You Should Know How to Sell Online

All business owners must now have an online presence to compete in the market. Online presence is especially crucial for small businesses as it helps them reach their customers and opens up the opportunity to expand nationally and internationally.

With that said, here are the reasons why you need to learn how to sell online:


Knowing How to Sell Online Provides You with Cheap Costs in Building Your Startup

Anyone who manages a physical store is aware of the expenses related to daily operations such as rent, utilities, and salaries. However, knowing how to sell online means you won’t have to deal with a landlord, energy bills, or recruiting people to handle tasks like inventory or managing operations.


You are still going to spend money in building your online selling site. However, knowing how to sell online is a lot cheaper than physical store costs.


Knowing How to Sell Online Gives You Freedom

Knowing how to sell online means that you will not be confined to selling your goods or services in a specific location. In other words, knowing how to sell online enables you to sell to customers at the local, national, and international levels.


Knowing How to Sell Online Allows You Wider Reach

Knowing how to sell online means that you will not be hindered by barriers. A small business owner has a great potential to connect with a vastly expanded audience as a result. International shipping may be more expensive but selling online may expand your customer base and increase your business’s revenues.


Knowing How to Sell Online Allows You Scalability

Knowing how to sell online means you can easily keep track of what you have sold, determine which ones are successful, and add and delete items as needed in real-time.


Knowing How to Sell Online Allows You 24/7 Earning

Knowing how to sell online means that you can earn while sleeping. Since the internet is always active, your business is always open. Orders can come in at an unlimited period. Since there is no downtime for your customers, your sales and earnings may be increased.


Knowing How to Sell Online Provides You with Better Margins

Knowing how to sell online means that you are free of the overhead costs of a physical business. As a result, your margins often increase when selling online.


Knowing How to Sell Online Allows Tracking of Shipment and Business Updates

Knowing how to sell online means that you can help your clients keep track of shipment updates regarding products. And in your case, you are also able to keep track of your sales through the use of analytics software, inventory management, and logical systems. This then helps you decide what to sell, how to enhance client interactions, how much to charge for certain goods or services, and how to monitor delivery rates. By doing all these, both your efficiency and bottom line will improve.


Knowing How to Sell Online Allows Smooth Transition from Ads to Shopping

Knowing how to sell online removes the inconvenience on the part of the customers. Rather than making time to visit your physical store after seeing an ad placement about your business, selling online enables your customers to immediately land on your online selling site when they click your ads.


Keep in mind that in your online selling journey, Pro Print Press is always ready to give custom print orders for the goods you wish to market. These might include personalized magnets, pencils, notebooks, mugs, and more. Be aware that Web Safe King also sells domains where you could establish you online selling site. You could also employ the help of Main Social Media to handle everything from website development to search engine optimization. Additionally, This Biz Works can help you create an accurate, straightforward internet listing for your business that will draw customers to you, increase their level of trust in you, and boost your position in search engine results. Then, when your company expands or you wish to widen your clientele through other online selling platforms, you could use Off Site Reps to hire a virtual assistant.

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