How to sell stuff online

Selling stuff online is one of the best ways to make money from a small or home based business. Learning how to sell stuff online is also one of the best ways to make money blogging.

The Internet makes it just as easy to sell books online as it is to sell electronics online - in fact, you can sell any product(s) you like. Sell other companies' products through advertising and affiliate links, or sell your own products through an eCommerce store.

This quick guide to selling stuff online will provide the information and resources you need to sell anything.

How to sell other people's stuff online

Selling other people's stuff online is really easy because you don't have to worry about building an eCommerce store. There's no inventory list, no logistics, manufacturing, warehousing, transport, delivery, or any of the headaches that go into creating, selling and delivering products in the traditional sense.

Driving traffic

Selling other people's stuff online comes down to how well you can market! If you can drive traffic to your website or blog, you can make money by selling stuff to those visitors. It's as simple as that.

There are a few different techniques you can use to drive traffic to a website or blog:

1. Content
2. Advertising
3. Social media
4. Marketing (Internet, and traditional)

Of these options, content is the most effective and has a long lasting and cumulative effect. In fact the other three techniques all rely, in some way, on the presence of high quality content.

In order to drive plenty of traffic, it is crucial for your to know how to create high quality content that is optimized for search (SEO - Search Engine Optimization). The following blogging, marketing, social, and SEO articles and resources will help you learn everything you need to about driving and converting traffic to sell stuff online effectively:

• 5 best Internet marketing services for small business, 2012
• The top 5 marketing ideas for small business, 2012
• Small business SEO & Internet marketing strategy guide, 2012
• Small business SEO tutorial: How to attract higher quality Google traffic
• List of must-read SEO and Internet marketing articles for business
• The latest Internet marketing techniques & SEO tips using Google analytics' Real-Time
• Small business SEO tutorial: How to implement a financially viable SEO strategy
• How to make money blogging
• Local SEO guide: How to refine local search terms to master Google search
• Small business SEO & Internet marketing strategy guide, 2012
• How to research SEO keywords: Five SEO tips from top SEO experts
• Five top SEO tips for small business bloggers
• Anatomy of a blog post: How to get more traffic and social engagement from your content
• The top five tips that teach you how to rock social media
• Talking about other people is the most powerful way to get more traffic

By creating a website or blog that drives plenty of high quality traffic using all the tips, tricks and techniques discussed in the articles provided, you put yourself in a position to make plenty of sales.

Converting traffic into sales

It's very important to "convert" efficiently in order to maximize the amount of money generated by your content. The following articles and resources discuss how to maximize conversions and increase ROI (Return on Investment):

• How to make money blogging with Google Adsense and affiliate marketing
• Comparing Return on Investment (ROI) for paid traffic (PPC) vs. blog and organic traffic
• Affiliate marketing practical: CTR, EPM & EPC
• Return on Investment (ROI) calculator for blog and business content
• Content revenue calculator for bloggers and businesses

How to sell your own products online

Selling your own products online follows the exact same principles of content, marketing and SEO discussed in the previous section. The difference lies in the requirements of your website because it must be able to handle eCommerce transactions.

Fortunately, it is easy to create powerful, full-featured eCommerce websites and online shopping carts by using customizable eCommerce software and website builders. You don't need technical or Web development experience in order to build an eCommerce store.

The following articles provide in-depth information to help you decide on the best eCommerce platform to suit your business, and where and how to set up your online store:

• The best eCommerce shopping carts, online store builders, and business resources
• Choose from the best eCommerce & shopping cart business solutions

By using the principles of driving and converting traffic (discussed in the previous section) combined with the best eCommerce and shopping cart platforms for your business, you will be able to market, sell, and fulfill orders to generate revenue.

Additional considerations for selling online

Unfortunately, Internet startups come with plenty of other challenges that we haven't discussed in this article. If you want to learn more about how to start an Internet business, check out the following articles:

• Top 10 best home based business ideas to make money online in 2012
• Small business startup problems? Here's advice and solutions for the five top startup problems
• The five stages of launching a successful Internet startup
• Small business startup guide to effective PR

While this article focused on driving and converting traffic into sales using your own website, blog or eCommerce store, these aren't the only ways to sell stuff online. Plenty of people make good money selling via third party eCommerce sites like eBay.

Building your own sales platform that drives traffic is the ultimate goal for online sales, but you might want to consider integrating your own web platform sales with sales from sites like eBay or Craigslist, etc. But that's a topic for another time...

Are you thinking of setting up a small online business to sell your own products? Do you sell stuff via your blog already? Share your online sales experiences and ideas in the comments below or join the discussion by following on LinkedIn or Twitter.