If there is a single secret to selling online, it is to work hard. Hard
work is the secret to succeeding in almost anything, but it is especially important on the
Web.
It's true what they say: the Web levels the playing field. A high school can make a better
Web site than a large industrial company. On a level playing field, how big you are
matters less than how hard you work.
There are millions of consumers out there, but lots of other Web sites are competing for
their attention. So you can't just build an online store and walk away from it. You have
to work hard to draw visitors to your site, work hard to create a site that those visitors
want to buy from, and work hard to give those buyers such good service that they and their
friends will buy again in the future.
So the bad news is that starting a business on the Internet is just like starting any
other business: work, work, work. The good news is that it is a lot cheaper.
The Web gives you something that has never existed before in history: an inexpensive sales
channel direct to consumers. Before the Web, if you wanted to sell direct to consumers,
you either had to build retail stores or do catalog mailings. In either case the entry fee
is hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars.
On the Web, you can sell direct to consumers worldwide for a hundred dollars a month. You
have to work hard to exploit this opportunity. But if you are willing to work hard, you
don't need a lot of money to get started. |
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