• Register your domain. I use Netfirms for that. Choose a catchy domain name, preferably one that contains a keyword or two that describe your site. Mugsandmegs isn’t the greatest example, since I often have people asking me if I sell mugs – which I don’t usually. But you must admit it’s catchy.
• Always try to purchase a domain name with a .com ending. Stay away from .info extensions- they are cheaper, so often used by spammers. And you don’t want to be included in their number. Note: the www is not included in your domain name, since it will automatically be added. I mention this because one of my students wanted a particular name, say it was’ fastcomputers.com’ and that wasn’t available. When he typed in ‘wwwfastcomputers.com’, that was. If he’d registered it, the domain would have looked like ‘www.wwwfastcomputers.com’ – not what he wanted. If you absolutely have to have a specific name, try hyphens. For instance: fast-computers.com.

• Find an inexpensive hosting service that has all kinds of neat features, really easy to use, and has fast, reliable servers . My favorite is Hostgator. Show off your photos, display your ebay or craft items for sale, share valuable content and build a community of people who have the same interests.
• Add an autoresponder. By using a service such as Aweber, you can add an opt-in form so people can subscribe. Opt-in simply means that a person signed up for your newsletter or website updates. Double opt-in is the term used when they not only sign up, but they click a link sent in a follow-up email to confirm that they did indeed want you to send the material.
• Include adsense ads on your site as a bit of extra income. Adsense are those little ads by Google that you often see at the top, bottom, side, or in the middle of the content of a page. When you click one of those links, the person running the site -me, in this case – will get a few cents. When I say a bit of extra income, that’s exactly what I mean. Unless you have hundreds of sites, don’t expect to get rich that way.
• Become an affiliate for products and services advertised on your website. An affiliate link sends your readers to a page where if they purchase a product, you get commission on it. For instance, the above links to Netfirms, Hostgator and Aweber are my affiliate links. You pay the same price either way, but by purchasing through my link, I also am paid a small amount. To do this, you first sign up for an account with the merchants you want to represent. Often, that information can be found by scrolling to the bottom of a merchant’s site and looking for a link that says ‘affiliates’.
• Of course, to sell online you also need a way to collect money. The easiest thing to do is sign up for an account with Paypal if you haven’t already. You will need a Premier account in order to accept payments. That way people can easily pay you using a charge card without you having to fork out money for an expensive merchant account.

• Technorati Tags: hosting, selling online, beginner Internet marketing

I’ve also been off to Atlanta to an Internet marketers workshop and took a little video of an interview I did with Kevin Riley. Kevin is a marketer from Japan and an expert on creating how-to information products. Thanks to him, I’ve been able to start creating my own guides. I believe that every one of us has experiences and skills that others could benefit from, and creating an info product is the best way to share our knowledge.

Here’s the video. As you can see, standing beside Kevin looked like a scene from Land of the Giants.

Technorati Tags: creating info products, Kevin Riley

Please tell me what you think. Do you have trouble reading this blog the way it’s designed right now?

Update: I think I am sticking with this computer theme. Easy on the eyes and easy to find things.

Dutch: an auction where more than one of an item is available.

Feedback: positive or negative comments left about other users on eBay.

Mint: in perfect condition.

Non-paying bidder: a bidder who wins an auction but does not then go on to buy the item.

PayPal: an electronic payment method accepted by most sellers.

Rare: once meant hard to find, but used so often on eBay, it’s now meaningless.

Reserve: the minimum price the seller will accept for the item.

Shill bid: a fake bid placed by a seller trying to drive up their auction’s price (not allowed).

Snail Mail: the post, which is obviously very slow compared to email.

Sniping: bidding at the last second to win the item before anyone else can outbid you.

BIN: Buy it Now. A fixed price auction.

BNWT: Brand New With Tags. An item that has never been used and still has its original tags.

BW: Black and White. Used for films, photos etc.

EUR: Euro Currency.

FC: First Class. Type of postage.

GBP: Great British Pounds Currency.

HTF: Hard To Find. Not quite as misused as ‘rare’, but getting there.

NIB: New in Box. Never opened, still in its original box.

NR: No Reserve. An item where the seller has not set a reserve price.

OB: Original Box. An item that has its original box (but might have been opened).

PM: Priority Mail.

PP: Parcel Post.

SH: Shipping and Handling. The fees the buyer will pay for postage.

USD: United States Dollars Currency.

VGC: Very Good Condition. Not mint, but close.

• Largest single on-line marketplace
• Perfect entrepreneurial breeding ground
• Over 700,000 people make primary or secondary income

• Use it to expand your market
• Develop a company brand
• Liquidate inventory
• Acquire customers
• Sell lower priced products (even at a loss) to gain a life-time customer – for example 99 cent ebooks

For example, a person selling televisions should write a guide about buying TV’s and sell it for 99 cents, then drive that person to his website.