Posted by Internet Marketing Coach, Fione Tan

Want to open an online store? Thinking if you should rent a store online to sell your merchandise? Here are some tips:-

1. Find popular online shopping malls that rents online stores eg Yahoo stores or eBay stores

- certain shopping malls require you to meet certain profiles before you are allowed to open a store online eg to open an eBay store, you need to have a ebay id that either have 20 Feedbacks or ID Verify

- your ebay account must also have a credit card in file, with a verified paypal account. To get a paypal account, you can register for a Premier or Business account here

2. Compare the online store rates

- not just looking the store rental rates, but also is there additional charges per product placed in the store?

- online shopping malls might also take a chunk of your selling price income, therefore your sales transactions will also be subjected to a percentage or flat fee rate for each item sold via that online store

3. Check out the competition for various products in the shopping mall

- if there are 10,000 stores already selling the similar merchandise you have in your mind, then you can either :-

a) sell another range of of merchandise or products

b) sell complementary range of merchandise (eg if there are 10,000 stores selling Apple Iphones, then you can sell Apple iPhone casing, or Apple iPhone ear phones)

c) go to other online shopping malls of various target locations and rent a store in the location with the least competition

4. Offer Value-Added Services or Products in Your Online Store

- rather than just sell the same items as what others are selling, you can have an edge by UnderPromise, OverDeliver

- Sample : When no one else gives free shipping, you can do so

5. Connect with Your Store Visitors

- the Internet is also one big NETwork of humans that are just making purchasing decisions via their mouse clicks online. If the visitor likes YOU, likes your BRAND, and feel that you are somehow connected, they would rather do business with you

- keep your customers posted on your updates eg like ask them to follow you on Twitter eg Follow us at http://www.Twitter.com/e1Net

- find prospects and customers via social networking sites like Facebook eg Become our Fan at http://www.facebook.com/pages/eOneNetcom/66058467867

Extra Tips : You need to be aware that you will mainly just be a tenant in the online shopping mall, and your online store can be cancelled at any one point, so you REALLY should have your own website with your own .com eg http://www.2Sars.com where you can control your own profit margin (no need to give a slice out to the store portal), and where you are guaranteed that your Google and Yahoo search engine rankings, directly benefits your own brand. Learn how to get top rankings in search engines for FREE via our advanced internet marketing course at http://www.InternetMarketingCoaching.com