Simply the Best Way to Build an Online Store Free

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by Holly Janion

I hadn't planned on writing an article today, but after coming across this fantastic site and redesigning all my own stores, I was so impressed, I just had to share it with you. I have discovered the best way to build an-online store, selling the products my customers want, with the look and feel I want, absolutely free.

If you have a web site and want to include a storefront, you have two options.

1. Build your own store with a shopping cart script, using a merchant account, paying for your stock upfront and either fulfilling it yourself or using a drop ship company.

2. Use an outside resource which allows you to customize the look and feel of your store, selling their products and earn commission on either sales or referrals.

I have used both of these and to be perfectly honest, the first method was a nightmare. Building your own store is what you need to do if your sole business is your store, which mine isn't. Carrying the stock, tracking orders and fulfillment are difficult enough but to spend time on this when it is not necessary, is just pointless.

The second option is to use an outside resource who have tried and tested systems already in place to provide your customers with an excellent service. There are various companies on the net that will let you customize the look and feel of your new store, add products etc. When your customers order, they will handle everything for you and simply pay any commission due as per your sign-up agreement. This is obviously much easier, especially if the store is only an added-value service you are offering and not the main focus of your business.

I have tried using a few of these other store services which are also very good and useful, but I was never completely happy until I discovered Affinia. Wow! What a product and so easy to use. For example, on my WWW Treasure Hunt site at http://www.wwwtreasurehunt.com, I wanted a store filled with treasure related items. My visitors are interested in treasure hunting so this makes sense. By supplying your customers with what they are already interested in, the more likely you are to make a sale. Before I used this service, I had to include the usual products which could be found anywhere, on anyone's site and hoped my customers would be interested in buying these other goods such as toys or flowers, but now I have a store filled with products my customers want and need, with the look and feel of my site and Affinia do all the work for me. If you have a site about flower arranging, you can choose products that will specifically be of interest to your visitors and the same goes for any other theme.

What I liked best about this site was the easy was you could choose your products. This is important because you want to sell products in your store that you know your customers are interested in which relate to your site. For example, I typed in treasure hunting in the search box and it returned loads of products I could include from different sections e.g. books, toys, games, software etc. etc. I then could choose whether to simply include them only or to draw special attention to any particular item. I could even include a personal review of a product!

Site traffic and usability is always important and Affinia provide various reports including detailed product page views, merchant referrals and of course commission earned. This is great because you can see which products are just taking up "shelf" space and remove them and replace them with other products all without ordering anything, carrying stock or spending money.

If you've been thinking about adding an on-line store to your site or want to find products that relate to your site only as I did with the WWW Treasure Hunt site, take a look at Affinia.

Affinia understand the importance of promoting your store and offer useful advice and tips on how to do this.

This is a first class service which I found easy to use and I know will be of enormous benefit to the small business owner. I no longer have to worry about carrying stock, fulfilling orders and spending money. I have more time to focus on my core business whilst at the same time earning money from my store and I have happy customers who can easily find products that they are interested in. I only wish I had found Affinia sooner.

You can find them at http://www.affinia.com