Selling stuff on the internet?

I’ve been on the road this week extolling the virtues of selling your products and services on the Internet to groups of people who have only really got experience of selling through traditional channels, normally via printed catalogues.

The Internet is rapidly changing the way their market moves and to some it can be a bit of an upheaval. Having worked in an industry for many years, the thought of exposing your business online can be a daunting one, especially if your local web geek blinds you with science and big words you really don’t want to understand. But if you don’t act now, you could see your business disappear.

Many people have ‘tinkered’ with selling their products online and have simply given up because it’s too difficult or they didn’t get the right advice. Trouble is, they’re up against a bunch of professionals, often decades their junior who are lapping this stuff up and raking in thousands a day without having all the hassle of setting up a shop or even holding stock.

One of the examples I gave in my talk was a website I set up on the 28th of December 2008 which is already number one on Yahoo for a search term used 44,000 times a month and is rapidly making its way onto the first page of Google.

I started to beat established businesses who have spent thousands on optimisation and websites with a site that cost about a tenner to create. Granted it took time and effort (and I’m expensive!), but the actual cash outlay was tiny. Nevertheless, there I am next to the established sites.

What gives? Why are people able to do this and why so cheaply? It’s because the Internet has changed everything and there is help available to people who are just willing to look for it.

In my talk I gave the example of a site selling bird cages. It’s making thousands a month for a guy who sits on his backside and just accepts the cheques. Tough work. Can you imagine setting up a shop in the High Street just selling bird cages?!! You’d last a week.

But what do you sell? Well, I was prompted to write this blog because I just saw someone elses about this very subject. You see, it is incredibly easy to set up a shop and sell stuff if you just know what to sell and Steve Webber has outlined how it can be done here: http://www.weberinternetmarketing.com/sell-internet.htm

So, if you’ve got a business and you’re resisting going online or even investing anything in online marketing, then look at the link above. Someone could be raking in the cash selling products like you and they don’t have your headaches of delivery, stock control or salaries to pay.

At the moment, if you’re not online you’re simply missing out. In a few years, you’ll be dead – and it doesn’t matter what your business is.