Pictures

ALWAYS use pictures to help sell your goods. There are many online sources for images (always check you have copyright permission to use them!), or you can take your own. Folk often pass articles with no image!

Free Image editor

If you don’t have an image editor then GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages. I’ve seen a report that rates it alongside PhotoShop!

Free trial ($24 to buy) GIF editor (Moving images)

GIF Construction Set Professional represents the state of the art in GIF animation software. It will assemble your original animations effortlessly through its Animation Wizard; squeeze them down to as close to nothing as possible with its Super compressor; create eye catching banners and animated transitions; manage your GIF files; add transparency to existing graphics and a lot more.

Free online picture space

Upload all your photos, videos, and images to Photobucket for free. Make slideshows and remixes. Link your media to your social network profile, auction sites, web sites and blogs. Share by email, IM, or mobile phone. Give it a try! The real benefit with PhotoBucket (apart from being free) is they provide you with the URL’s (universal resource locator, a fancy way of saying links) to the individual pictures so you can just copy/paste to your advert.

Two ways to produce covers for E-books.

There are two ways to produce E-book covers, design the cover yourself or get a program to do the bulk of the work for you. The former gives a higher quality product (and, usually, bigger files = longer downloads), the latter is a lot quicker, and produces acceptable results.

To Instantly Create Simple e-book covers in only 3 easy steps you will need to buy this program ~ I do not know of another product with similar capabilities.

A graphics tutorial is well beyond this article, however an overview of the process is;

Take a picture of a book, ideally using a digital camera so you do not have to scan the results.

Remove the background and the words

The image is still recognisable, so you’ll need to blur it (you have the copyright to your image, but not to the image on the book. NB to save the above stages you could simply reverse the dust cover)

Add your own exciting text

Of course, its always better to use your own image, especially if it has proved popular on the Internet, but this is a time consuming way to add a book cover!

Next Article: Basic HTML (The Internet language)

This article assumes you have bought an on-line store, for example e-books, although the principles are good for any market. A later blog assumes you are simply intending to enter affiliate marketing and give some different (more advanced) triacks for getting customers to those sites. Does it work? As I said before you are reading this so something must be working!

Your now in the catch 22 that we have all seen. You cannot attract customers without good links to other sites (and some good advertising). You can’t get good links unless you have a good site with high “footfall” ( = customers ) Also, if you followed the above recomendations, although you have a stock of 50 book they are all a bit tired, have been round the block several times and are generally for sale at around £0.99p.

You have spent some cash getting to here, and really want to break even before investing in more stock, however if you have a tired site you will not get repeat business, which is one of the keys to your success.

You need a plan ~ I suggest this is it;

Stock

You have to face the situation and get some stock ~ this does not have to be a lot, initially, but you must have something new to attract and retain, purchasers. Search e-bay for stock you do not have. (Check their feedback, if they are selling loads go for that one, if they are not selling any take the hint. Always check if you have resell rights.)

You can also search any search engine for e-books (or ebooks, or E-Books etc). Take care with “free” offers ~ sign our newsletter list and we will send you 30 free e-books”. Some are good offers, some are real junk. If you can look at the free list and search for a few on E-bay. Once you find a good source, e.g. www.paulscorner.co.uk , bookmark them and return from time to time to see what they have recently bought.

A modest target is to add one item of stock every day ~ 7/week, 365/year. If you want a stock that will last you a lifetime try my warehouse store ~ I’ve listed every title you get, cracking value at £50GBP. Gotto be a proffit here.

Affiliate links

Lots of opportunity exists for selling product not owned by you. For example you may find your host is good (as mine is) and want to help by driving traffic their way. Many such product owners are happy to pay you a (small) percentage of the sale for this trade (which they would not otherwise get). You sign up with the provider as an affiliate and receive a link that recognises you, and pays you every time a sale is confirmed. Hover your mouse over “as mine is” and you can see my link for this affiliate is http://www.bigfatwebhosting.co.uk/?ref=BigPaul

This can be as profitable as selling e-books, indeed using my hints and tips it can be easier.

There are some affiliate links in both the shop and the direct seller programs recommended above. You can also search any search engine for affiliate links or affiliate resellers.

Some people like to hide their links (to stop them being disassembled). This piece of software creates cloaked affiliate link redirects with a few clicks. Allows you to create as many redirect pages as you like, with no coding required, because it generates the redirect page instantly in HTML or PHP format.

Reverse links to your site

When you create new web site in any niche, you face one BIG problem. It’s not your design, not your hosting, not shopping cart or affiliate program software. This problem is how to get targeted traffic for your web site.

The most effective links are hand-crafted links to complementary sites of slightly better standing than you own. E.g. a towel manufacturer might want links to towel rail manufacturers sites. Both sell things that complement the other without clashing.

You can also buy programs to create links based on things like keywords etc ~ better than nothing (and certainly much much quicker) but you ought to invest some time in hand crafting links. (Take care, the Internet is packed with tons of fantastic solutions that promise to handle this problem for you: different submitters, million times re-written e-books, traffic exchanges, primitive list builders – best to go with a recommended tool than strike out on your own).

Write an e-book yourself on a topic you know.

Depending on the content you can a) make a little money of the sale of each book and b) create some links to your site which drives potential customers towards you. This blog is an example, it could easily be an e-book.

There are some really shoddy e-books out there, with E-bay Feedback being a good example. Is a three page book which does show a working process, good value for money, or should you go for something like this blog with fact-pack content mostly containing hyperlinks to useful sites? If your hoping to build a loyal customer base I suggest you a) add relevant content b) add relevant images and c) add relevant hyperlinks. (Did you spot the word relevant?)

The usual format for an e-book is .PDF (Portable Document Format is the de facto standard for the secure and reliable distribution and exchange of electronic documents and forms around the world), originally designed by Adobe who will happily sell you a PDF writer. Fortunately there are free alternatives.

Free PDF writer

CutePDF Writer (formerly CutePDF Printer) is the free version of commercial PDF creation software. CutePDF Writer installs itself as a “printer subsystem”. This enables virtually any Windows applications (must be able to print) to create professional quality PDF documents – with just a push of a button!

FREE for personal and commercial use! No watermarks! No Popup Web Ads!

Installation Requirements

Supports Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP (x64)/2003 (x64)/Vista (x64).
Requires PS2PDF converter such as Ghostscript (recommended).
You can get the free GPL Ghostscript 8.15 here.

Advertise (e.g. by selling on an Auction site)

Creating your own auctions selling digital goods on popular auction sites is a great way to market your product to a purchase-minded audience. Digital goods provide the added benefit of instant satisfaction through immediate product delivery making them very attractive to consumers. (you did read the blog on automatic delivery didn’t you?)

E-bay is used here, as a working example, but do not limit yourself to one auction site. In just the same way that different search engine turn up difference results, different on-line auctions have different customers. eBay, Yahoo! Auctions, uBid.com, Amazon Auctions, MSN Auctions, BidVille ~ the list is almost endless. My advice is to get your feet wet with a few of the bigger sites, but be willing to try some others.

If you buy anything be sure to use a link to your website in your feedback ~ load of folk read this. Use the same link in your e-mail signature, any blog accounts your raise, any profiles you write. The key is consistance, and exposure!

Keep your URL’s (Internet addresses) SHORT

A good way to get a short URL is www.tinyurl.com. Take my blog http://www.paulscorner.co.uk/blog/ becomes http://tinyurl.com/lsxm2a. Nice and neat and doesn’t take up much real estate (Screen).

E-bay basic rules (Valid for most auction sites)

The policy eBay has towards the sale of digital goods is confusing to say the least. Their Downloadable Media Policy can be seen here. You should review the selling digital items FAQ before listing your item. This advice applies to all sites ~ check the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) before listing.

One particular thing to note. E-bay appears to be very strict on the category where you sell digital items. Choose somewhere in this area Everything Else > Information Products. E.g. Everything Else > Information Products > How-To Guides

Free E-bay submission tool

Turbo Lister is an easy-to-use software program that helps you create item listings in bulk on your computer and upload them to sell at eBay.

Create professional-looking listings easily using a design editor and templates (no HTML knowledge needed).

List multiple items all at once and save listings to re-use again and again.

Add photos and preview your listings without being connected to the Internet.

Insert payment terms, tax, shipping and any messages you want to include.

List faster by duplicating your primary listings and editing those copies to create new listings.

Phew ~ nearly 1,400 words in this artilce, time to pause for breath …..

Next article: Some (often free) tools you will need

Not essential, but automatic delivery is a bonus.

Allow 1 day installation if this stage is needed. Also allow at least 2 hours customisation time, perhaps a little longer if you are a total newbie. Must have bought some land before you start this section.

You can skip this step, however many folk who buy electronic books expect delivery to be near instant. The traditional way is to get home from work, see what has been sold, and manually dispatch the orders. I’m suggesting you invest in a process which automates that, checking the right money has been paid, then sending the goods, perhaps even while you sleep.

Again there are many such programs, however this one integrates with both the above shop, the suggested host and E-Bay (one of the UK’s largest auction sites). Set-up instructions are clear and the whole site is easy to use.

< < OK STOP HERE > >

Well, perhaps not. This has a basic infrastructure in place, some basic stock and a basic route for money to bank. However there are no customers! Damn. This is where you start to work

Next Article: Getting some customers

The shop infrastructure

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO THIS STEP. This article series assumes you want to sell something electronic (e-books). It may be you simply want to sell affiliate links (more later). If you don’t need an online shop skip the next two articles.

Allow 1 day installation if this stage is needed. Also allow at least 10 hours customisation time, perhaps a little longer if you are a total newbie. Must have “bought some land” before you start this section.

As always there are a number of folk out there who sell e-book shops. If your searching the technical term is turnkey business. (All you have to do is turn the key and start). www.paulscorner.co.uk uses a store called DownLoad Shop which provides 50 e-books to get you started.

You will need to heavily customise the site before you trade (for example the prices are a bit inflated, and the currency converter is not set to today’s rates) however everything is very straight forward, and you simply have to work methodically down the list of options on the left, making the style choices you like.

The owner has heavily customised the program with help text and it is all fairly straightforward.

[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y130/s21023/onlineebooks.png[/IMG]

Next article: Automatic delivery

Next you have to buy the land you want to build on

Allow 15 minutes set-up if this stage is needed. Must have completed the article on signposts before you start this section. c£6/month

The Internet is a vast digital plain ~ fortunately there is lots of land available for all, and lots of people willing to sell it to you. There are also “free” areas, but there is no such thing as a free lunch and you ‘pay’ by having their adverts in your space. Price of space is low so it is better to buy ad-free server space.

The usual term for these sellers is “Host”. There are really two things to consider, how much space is available, and how much traffic the host will allow on their roads. You measure space in Megabytes (Mb). To give you an idea, at the time of writing www.paulscorner.co.uk takes about 50Mb. The host (Estate agent) I use allows 500Mb so I have some room for expansion!

Traffic (how much data is sent back and forth to the site, including sales downloads) is known as bandwidth and is measured in Gigabytes (Gb). (there are 100Mb in a Gb). My host allows 20Gb/month so I can sell the whole contents of my site 400 times a month ~ don’t I wish business was that good?

Who to pick? It is really a price/size/traffic balance, and 1&1 (mentioned above) are good and fairly priced. If you are planning to follow this guide and install the programs below then I recommend this host as they were VERY helpful in setting things up for me (they did it all really, I just went in and set up my bank account details etc).

Next Article: The shop infrastructure

Allow 15 minutes set-up if this stage is needed. c£2 every 2 years
{WARNING: Please read all articles before choosing a name}

Just as your house has a street name and house number so your site will need a signpost so folk can find your on-line location. E.g. my stores signpost is www.paulscorner.co.uk, this blog’s signpost is www.paulscorner.co.uk/blog/.

These domain names (did you spot the switch to techno-speak?) are unique and you have to buy (and maintain) one from a global register. As always there are many sellers in this market, however I have found 1&1 to be consistently reliable, and there is help here if this is a new area to you. (Note: I only buy the domain name (signpost) from 1&1, see next article for buying the space you need)

Again if your not based in the UK simply search for domain name in your favourite search engine and you will have a host of choices.

As before, part of your customer perception is in the name. Would you buy from Rip-off Merchants.com? Ok, that is an extreme example, to make the point, but you really need a short, pithy, relevant domain name.

Next article: Renting some Internet space

(e.g. PayPal or ClickBank)

Allow 15 minutes set-up if this stage is needed. Usually a physical bank deposit confirmation is needed which takes a few days, or longer if you do not have an on-line bank account. £FREE

I have raised this here because it takes a little while for the process to set-up.

The programs I use for e-book selling, and auctions etc, all use PayPal. This should not be an issue for foreign readers as this banking facility is worldwide. I have used it on many occasions converting to several different currencies at very favourable rates.

If you do not have a PayPal account get a free one here, it is a great way to transfer money internationally and safely. There are three types of account, for this to work well you need to select the Premier account. You can always upgrade to a business account later

Personal Account
This account is ideal if you shop online. Make secure payments on eBay and merchant websites using your credit card, debit card or bank account. Check out PayPal Personal Account Fees.

Premier Account
The account that is perfect for both buying and selling. Make secure payments on eBay and merchant websites. Plus, accept credit card, debit card and bank account payments for low fees.

Business Account
Make the right choice for your online business. With a Business Account you can accept credit card, debit card and bank account payments for low fees.

If you want to make money from affiliate accounts [selling other peoples services] a common account is the American ClickBank. Curiously you can set this to pay into your PayPal account, however you often cannot use PayPal directly on the various ClickBank sites. Go figure!

Finally, If you want to advertise your own work by setting up affiliate accounts (other people selling your services) and you find ClickBank a bit heavy you can alweays try PayDotCom which is also a source of affiliate material if you need it.

Next Article: Signposts (Domain name)

Allow 15 minutes set-up if this stage is needed. Usually a postal confirmation is needed which takes a few days. £FREE

This is not essential, however it is a good idea to enable an on-line account to whichever real life bank account you have.

Transfer of money (and checking it has arrived) is easy and pain free. Security is good, and time saved is vast.

Several on-line accounts (PayPal, Adsence etc) send a token amount to your account when you first set up an account and need you to tell them what that is (to prove the account is valid).

With on-line banking that process is very easy, you simply log into your account and look at your statement. Without on-line banking you have to wait a month for the next paper statement, or visit the bank and ask!

To find your banks on-line facility simply search for them in any search engine.

TIP: Read Strong memorable passwords before you create an online bank account (although many banks insist on you using their passwords )

Next topic: On-line payment

On-line mail is known as E-mail (Electronic Mail).

Allow 10 minutes per mail address required

{WARNING: Please read blog post on Signposts before selecting an e-mail name}

You really need to have an online “Post Office”. This will provide a point of contact between you, your customers and your bank. You probably have an e-mail address with your Internet connection; however, I would recommend a separate account for your business.

Think about your business name and try and include that in your e-mail ~ e.g. if your selling e-books (electronic books) perhaps choose EbookStore.

Hint: Do not pick “funny” addresses ~ this is your business and a “funny” e-mail address puts your customers off. Also after you have typed it a hundred times and expplained it another hundred it ceases to be funny. Trust me, learn from my mistakes!

Do not use this address for testing things, for personal use or anything but your business (the longer you can keep this mail location SPAM [junk mail] free the better.

Customers expect e-mail to be near instant. Usually that means the same day. You need to gain the habit of regularly checking your in-tray (and being ruthless with SPAM, a topic in its own right.)

There are several free on-line Post Offices. I’ve used www.hotmail.com for years without any problem, however there is also www.Yahoo.co.uk, Google Mail and many others.

In fact it is so easy I recommend you have a few sacrificial e-mail addresses NoJunk2008 etc ~ you can use these to test sites, try things and when they become infested with spam you can simply abandon them and get another sacrificial address. It is not so easy to change your main business address, as you can tell from my own e-mail.

Why the warning above?: Later we will discuss (“discuss” is too strong, skim?) site optimisation. One of the things suggested is consistency so you should choose your e-mail, domain name and site title either to use similar words or to use complementary words. E.g.

Consistent
E-mail: EbookSales
Domain: www.EbookMegastore.com
Site Title: Ebook (UK) Megastore

(Ebook runs throught the set)

Inconsistent
E-mail: Harrys E-mail
Domain: Online book store
Site Title: Cheap E-books

Next topic: On-line Banking

A short post, but you do have an Internet connection don’t you?

Allow 2 to 4 weeks if this stage is needed £Various dependant on the options you choose).

Probably a stupid question, but just to check, without an Internet connection at home you are on a hiding to nothing trying to run an on-line business. You can do it from an Internet café, the library or you might even do it from work (with a forgiving boss) but you really need a home connection.

There are a number of business competing for your money, if you are starting from scratch, or have not changed providers for 18 months or so, its worth checking uSwitch for the best price for a local service. (If your reading this outside the UK you will have to do your own on-line search, however here is a starter for 10.)

Really, for the price these days, you should be thinking about broadband. You can work via a modem (slow speed connection, usually cheaper), however the time taken to transfer data to and from the Internet (I will show you how to do this in a later post ) quickly becomes onerous.

Many Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) offer a free modem (the gizmo that connects the computer to the telephone line) however you need to check if Broadband is available in your area before committing to a service. UK users (Isn’t it nice to find a UK centric site ) can do that shere.

Next topic: E-mail? What’s that?