E-commerce is here to stay. eBay has made such a huge inroad, sometimes it’s hard to remember that there are other alternatives, but there are, such as overstock.com, ubid.com, bidz.com and Google checkout. In fact, any website that is connected to an electronic shopping cart can be called an eCommerce site.

     eBay still remains the prototype for auctions and general internet sales. They make money by charging commissions and fees. Since the expenses are much less than having a real world store, eBay has become extremely popular in some markets, particular items imported from China and other low cost labor areas and also items that don’t necessarily require a service contract.

     Before you totally immerse yourself in the eCommerce world, it’s good to get acquainted with eBay, and even to buy a few small and inexpensive items that attract you or you need. You’ll get an idea of how eBay sellers handle buyers and then you can try to be an eBay seller too. Try selling some odd items around the house, many experts estimate that an average household has $1200 worth of saleable items lying around that they don’t need. That includes unused gifts and old cameras. Once you get the hang of selling on eBay, or the other various auction sites, you can rent a virtual store for a fairly low monthly rate. 

     If you are just starting a business, the next big question is what to sell on eBay or similar sites. You can just start selling your junk and try to recruit people in your neighborhood and sell their junk too, for a fee. Try to think what items or field of merchandise interests you. Are you a collector of something? Interesting in high fashion and clothes or jeans and t-shirts? Think about items you know about from school or work.  The idea is sell something you like and are interested in. That can make it easier.

     Since every website can install a shopping cart and go into business, you don’t necessarily have to use eBay or similar sites. You can increase your site’s visibility on the search engines and have customers come right to you. You can use the keyword tool used in Google Analytics, Yahoo Search market ads, etc, or just buy an online keyword tool. You can use a service like Wordtracker which can cost some money, but you don’t need it indefinitely. Use your key words all over and everywhere you can on your website, including in the source code. You can also write articles, submitted to various article websites, usually about 500 to 600 words about your services or in general about your industry. Be sure to include an anchor link or two that goes to your website in the article or at the end in the author credits. These articles are picked up and put in sites all over the internet. When people search for information, they will get your article and then they can link to your site. The better and hotter your article is, the more search engine action. If your sportswear glorifies the joys of San Francisco Bay, write an article about all the groovy happenings in San Francisco, California, with your links in it. The article submission sites can be found with a search for “submit articles” and similar terms. Submitting articles is a good way to get quality traffic to your site. Internet ads are good, but are much less engaging than articles.