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Simply_The_Best_Way_To_Build_An_On line_Store_Free
| Simply The Best Way To Build An On-line Store Free
I hadn't planned on writing an article today, but after coming
across this fantastic site and redesigning all my own stores, I
was so impressed, I just had to share it with you. I have
discovered the best way to build an-online store, selling the
products my customers want, with the look and feel I want,
absolutely free.
If you have a web site and want to include a storefront, you
have two options.
1. Build your own store with a shopping cart script, using a
merchant account, paying for your stock upfront and either
fulfilling it yourself or using a drop ship company.
2. Use an outside resource which allows you to customise the
look and feel of your store, selling their products and earn
commission on either sales or referrals.
I have used both of these and to be perfectly honest, the first
method was a nightmare. Building your own store is what you need
to do if your sole business is your store, which mine isn't.
Carrying the stock, tracking orders and fulfilment are difficult
enough but to spend time on this when it is not necessary, is
just pointless.
The second option is to use an outside resource who have tried
and tested systems already in place to provide your customers
with an excellent service. There are various companies on the
net that will let you customise the look and feel of your new
store, add products etc. When your customers order, they will
handle everything for you and simply pay any commission due as
per your sign-up agreement. This is obviously much easier,
especially if the store is only an added-value service you are
offering and not the main focus of your business.
I have tried using a few of these other store services which are
also very good and useful, but I was never completely happy
until I discovered Affinia. Wow! What a product and so easy to
use. For example, on my WWW Treasure Hunt site at
http://www.wwwtreasurehunt.com, I wanted a store filled with
treasure related items. My visitors are interested in treasure
hunting so this makes sense. By supplying your customers with
what they are already interested in, the more likely you are to
make a sale. Before I used this service, I had to include the
usual products which could be found anywhere, on anyone's site
and hoped my customers would be interested in buying these other
goods such as toys or flowers, but now I have a store filled
with products my customers want and need, with the look and feel
of my site and Affinia do all the work for me. If you have a
site about flower arranging, you can choose products that will
specifically be of interest to your visitors and the same goes
for any other theme.
What I liked best about this site was the easy was you could
choose your products. This is important because you want to sell
products in your store that you know your customers are
interested in which relate to your site. For example, I typed in
treasure hunting in the search box and it returned loads of
products I could include from different sections e.g. books,
toys, games, software etc etc. I then could choose whether to
simply include them only or to draw special attention to any
particular item. I could even include a personal review of a
product!
Site traffic and usability is always important and Affinia
provide various reports including detailed product page views,
merchant referrals and of course commission earned. This is
great because you can see which products are just taking up
"shelf" space and remove them and replace them with other
products all without ordering anything, carrying stock or
spending money.
If you've been thinking about adding an on-line store to your
site or want to find products that relate to your site only as I
did with the WWW Treasure Hunt site, take a look at Affinia.
Affinia understand the importance of promoting your store and
offer useful advice and tips on how to do this.
This is a first class service which I found easy to use and I
know will be of enormous benefit to the small business owner. I
no longer have to worry about carrying stock, fulfilling orders
and spending money. I have more time to focus on my core
business whilst at the same time earning money from my store and
I have happy customers who can easily find products that they
are interested in. I only wish I had found Affinia sooner.
You can find them at http://www.affinia.com
About the author:
Holly Janion is the Webmaster for Wade's World, a UK internet
solutions company. Holly's latest creation, the WWW Treasure
Hunt, can be found at http://www.wwwtreasurehunt.com. Holly can
be contacted by sending an e-mail to mailto:
webmaster@wadesworld.co.uk
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