There’s still a lot of money to be made online. One great business model is to create an online niche store. A niche is a specialized topic or product. For example, smart phones might be a niche. Blackberry smart phones would be an even more specialized niche. Repurposed Blackberry Smart Phones is even more specific.
Niches work well because you don’t have the same amount of competition. And you know that people who come to your website are interested in your specific product. There’s a higher rate of conversion. This translates into more sales for you.
If you have an idea for a niche store, here are a few tips to make it a reality.
#1 Plan it!
You want to have a solid plan before you launch a store. Go into business without a plan and you may end up with a mess. Your plan doesn’t have to be formal. Instead, write it for yourself and anyone who will be working with you. Include:
* Vision and mission
* Your goals
* Your available time/schedule
* Your business model. For example, will you be a reseller? Are you going to join a direct sales company?
* Are you going to outsource work or hire employees?
* Who is your market and how will you reach them?
* Who is your competition and how will you beat them?
* How are you going to test and track your products, systems and strategies?
* How will you receive payment and fulfill orders?
#2 Your Storefront
This decision is important because it can be difficult to change your mind later on. How are you going to sell your products? Will you create an eBay store? Sell on Amazon? Or will you create your own storefront and host the site yourself? WordPress makes it easy – if you find the right theme that integrates with available shopping carts. (We recommend elegant themes, specifically the estore or boutique themes, which areabsolutely gorgeous and offers easy integration with ecommerce and shopping cart plugins.
Review your options and make a decision that supports your current and long-term business goals.
#3 Choose a Good Store Name
Your store name, and URL or website address are important. You want people to be able to find your products and storefront quickly. For example, if you’re going to sell repurposed blackberry phones you might want to make sure those keywords are in your storefront and URL – Www.repurposedBlackberries.com for example.
Building a niche storefront can be a fun and fulfilling way to make money. Research your idea and find a niche that has good demand and little competition. Decide how you want to set up your business and storefront and start making money online!
Here are more resources to help you get started:
How to Start a Home-Based Online Retail Business (Home-Based Business Series)
Price: $18.95
All the information you need to get online and selling, from creating a winning website to writing a business plan, software choices, security issues, taking credit cards, taxes and record keeping, marketing your business, legal matters, and how to grow your business.
Start Your Own Retail Business And More: Brick-and-Mortar Stores, Online, Mail Order, and Kiosks
Price: $15.56
In every community large and small, you’re likely to see a variety of stores: clothing boutiques, gift shops, bookstores, specialty food shops, hardware stores. Their inventory may be totally different, but the steps involved in running them are much the same. Whether you want your own storefront, a kiosk in a mall, an e-commerce store or anything in between, this essential guide covers everything you need to know. Learn how to discover your niche, establish inventory, set pricing, create policies, reach customers, and more! Plus, gain priceless tips, tricks, and insight from successful retailers sharing hard-won advice and cautionary notes. Learn how to: Choose from popular retail niches specialty items, clothing store, gift shop, kiosk, and more Discover the right sales avenue for your products Select merchandise that flies off the shelves Set prices to maximize profits Boost brand recognition using social media, public relations and other marketing strategies Efficiently manage inventory and supplies for easy order fulfillment Hire a staff that will help you succeed And more Retailing is a trillion-dollar industry-grab your share today! Entrepreneur Press is a leading small to midsized business trade publisher, provides aspiring, emerging, and growing entrepreneurs with actionable solutions to every business challenge-ultimately, leading them from business idea to business success.
Build Your Own Online Store In Yahoo: Start Your Own e Commerce Business and Build Your Online Store Using The Resources Of One Of The Most Powerful Search Engines In The Internet
Price: $15.95
Yahoo has come up with a very successful solution to helping out business-minded people all over the world. It is well-known now as the Yahoo store, ever since more and more people worldwide have become successful business owners by simply using this ingenious service. The Yahoo store is a very clever and resourceful channel to start selling your products or services online particularly if you are very adamant in starting your own business but do not have the cash outlay to put up a retail store, not counting too, the global market reach that one of the major search engines of the internet can provide you with. The Yahoo store has very flexible merchant plans you can choose from to fit your budget and a wide-range of resources you can utilize to get your business started. The building process is easy: prepare your store content information, choose your store design that is best suited to your business needs, layout your content, set up your payment methods, your shipping service offers and, there you have it, you’re ready to start selling. Yahoo doesn’t stop there, though. They help you out further with growing your business by providing you with the latest web tools and current advice on internet marketing such as online promotion, advertising, customer relations and measuring success.
Building Online Stores with osCommerce: Professional Edition: Learn how to design, build, and profit from a sophisticated online business.
Price: $30.67
The book can be read from front to back, but each chapter is self contained so the reader can skip chapters to read those that they are interested in. Each chapter will move from basic to advanced where applicable and also relate what the administrator (reader) is doing to how this affects what the client sees on the site. So, for example, the customization chapter will start off with a discussion on the concept of design and how to relate this to your business. Once the reader has a clear idea of what they need to do, we look at some really simple changes such as modifying the site’s language, before moving to some advanced modifications which may involve some PHP programming. At the same time the discussion will demonstrate how the changes made affect the site. Throughout the book, much consideration is given to the “right” way to doing things. Readers will have the great advantage that they begin, from the very start, doing things properly. This will save them a lot of time and effort in the years to come as they build on and modify their site. Utilizing best practices and sound methodologies is a great asset for beginners and experienced users alike. At all times, the coverage given in this book pays homage to the fact that, ultimately, the reader has a business goal in mind. To this end, the material never gets bogged down in technical issues or long discourses, but rather focuses on what is practically important for the online business and then moves on. To complement this, there are plenty of suggestions and hints as to how and where to look for further information. This book is written for anyone who: Already uses OSCommerce. Would like to use OSCommerce. Would like to make a website for their business. Is charged with administering, running and maintaining an OSCommerce site. Is interested in learning how an eCommerce application is created and maintained.
OpenCart 1. 4 Beginner’s Guide: Build and manage professional online shopping stores easily using OpenCart
Price: $39.99
Murat Yilmaz, Paperback, English-language edition, Pub by Packt Publishing
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