This post is re-posted from one of my readers, Suzanne Smith.
Spring cleaning haunts pack-rats, neat freaks, moms and kids alike. After cleaning out all of your unwanted junk, what do you do with it? Make a couple of bucks by reselling your unwanted goods on online auction sites or marketplaces.
What about going into business online? There’s something for you here too. Check out all the places to list your stuff and products or create an online storefront without breaking the bank.
Online Auction Sites
1. Sell.com Classifieds – This low-key alternative to eBay lets you sell everything from pets to houses.
2. iOffer – This site lets you import your profile and rating from eBay, and then enjoy an auction experience that takes no listing fees and focuses on negotiation.
3. OnlineAuction.com – Sell your products in this great eBay alternative, and enjoy creative marketing, such as the dedicated Youtube support.
4. Webidz.com – This great eBay alternative lets you sell just about anything to just about anyone.
5. HiBidder – This sleek eBay alternative helps you market your products to those who will enjoy them the most.
Handmade Arts and Crafts Online Selling Sites
6. Etsy – If you’re selling something handmade, look no further than this wildly colorful site.
7. Lov.li – If you’re selling something artsy, crafty, or handmade, this site will move your product in no time.
8. DaWanda – Another site emphasizing handmade products, this site also emphasizes community participation, letting you make sales and friends in one pass.
9. Handmade Catalog – This no-frills site helps you sell all of your handmade goods.
10. Artsefest.com – This crazy-colorful site is a great way to sell your handcrafted goods.
11. KinfolkCrafts.com – With a focus on community and originality, this site helps you sell everything handmade to those who will enjoy them most.
12. CraftMall.com – This virtual mall helps you sell your handcrafted goods to users from around the world.
Online Storefronts For Registered Users With Low or No Fees
13. Amazon – If you’d like users to be able to search the easiest-to-use sales site for your products, look no further.
14. The Talk Market – This picture-filled site focuses on unique organization, drawing buyers’ eyes to “daily finds” of awesome products.
15. eCRATER – Both a free online store builder and free marketplace, this site is a great one-stop shop for your online sales.
16. Big Cartel – The emphasis here is simplicity: create a store in minutes, track inventory, manage your sales, and enjoy that Big Cartel won’t take a penny from your profits.
17. Half.com – With an emphasis on used products, Half.com—part of the eBay network—will help you reach sellers around the world.
Online Classifieds
18. Kijiji – According to the site, you can “Use Kijiji to buy & sell new and used goods, look for cars and pets, find local real estate, and more.”
19. Craigslist – With sections for major cities all over the world, Craigslist helps you post stuff for sale in the world’s largest classifieds section.
20. LookCube – The emphasis here is “free,” and so the site provides free classifieds for your local area, throughout America.
21. Listasaurus.com – When regular ads just don’t do your product justice, use this quirky site to post video ads and auctions.
22. Oodle – This classifieds site focuses on bringing your products to the locals who wish to buy them.
23. OnlineClassifieds.com – This simple site lets your products reach out all around the globe.
24. Myspace Classifieds – Tap into the power of social media and sell your stuff to the thousands of Myspace users online.
25. Trader Online – Your classified ad can join the millions on this great, highly-organized site.
26. Stuff 4 Sale – If you’re selling in England, look no further than this no-frills site.
27. SellStuffLocal.com – If you’d like to keep your sales local, this site helps you find a buyer near you.
Build Your Own Online Storefront
28. OsCommerce – This open-source site helps you craft your own online store with easy-to-use features.
29. Yahoo! Small Business – This simple site gives you all the tools you need to start selling online through Yahoo.
30. Shopify – With affordable hosting and quick templates, this site lets you setup your online store in minutes.
31. GoodBarry – For a low monthly fee, Barry offers a package that handles your online shop and business e-mail while offering customers a “central console” to make shopping a snap.
32. BuyItSellIt – Another site helping you create your own online store, the emphasis here is making your site both simple and fun.
33. Volusion – Marketing itself as “the easiest way to open an online store,” this site will bring your sales into the 21st century.
Online Marketplaces
34. Bonanzle – The emphasis on this site is making it easier to sell your products, and even tie them to your instant messenger, meaning you can chat with clients immediately.
35. Garage Sale – If you’d like to sell your stuff through Facebook and allow users to buy it without leaving Facebook themselves, this site is for you.
36. U Shops – Build a store in minutes and then build an international customer base with this slick site.
37. Marketplace on Facebook – Reach thousands of potential customers with the power of Facebook.
Stock Photography and Art Online Stores
38. Zazzle – Got an awesome design? Sell it through Zazzle and enjoy royalties and bonuses for your hard work.
39. Cafe Press – This site focuses on customizability; put your artwork and clever quotes on mugs, t-shirts, and much more.
40. iStockphoto – If you’ve got stock photos to sell, this is the single best site to do so with.
Antiques and Collectibles Online Dealers and Stores
41. OnlineCollectibles.com – Bring your awesome collectibles to the collectors who want them with this colorful site.
42. A-Z Collectible Classifieds – If you’re looking to sell an antique or a collectible, this amazingly thorough site will help you post the classifieds that will make a collector somewhere very happy.
43. GoAntiques.com – Join the 1,300 other dealers from over 31 countries to sell your antiques.
44. atOncer – Another collectibles site, this page helps you organize the collectibles you’re selling, ensuring that buyers will be able to find them.
Specialized Online Stores and Marketplaces
45. SellVideoGames.com – They’ve been in the game selling business for 20 years, and they’ll be happy to help your games reach a happy game boy (or girl) out there.
46. Game Pawn – If you’re sick of waiting for sellers, then sell your games directly to Game Pawn using this simple site.
47. The Parts Trader – If you need to sell or trade automotive parts, this is a great place to start.
48. Performance Parts Trader – If you’d like to get the most profit from your used car parts with the least hassle from an online merchant, the search stops here.
49. Fashion Auctions – This simple site is all about selling clothes to customers who will look almost—but not quite—as fabulous in them as you do.
50. ClothesAgency.com – If you’re sick of auctions, sell your clothes directly through this colorful, easy-to-use site.
Now you’re almost in business. Get your stuff, camera and computer together and set up your new online market at the site of your choosing.
Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.This is something I’ve wanted to touch on for a little while. In fact, I had to create a new category to host this (and future topics) of business management and growing your business. This is not related necessarily just to internet marketers, but really can be applied to any business.
The concept of building strategic alliances with similarly aligned business models will be vital to the long term success of your business. Having grown my business from the ground up, and learning much about entrepreneurship along the way – I can say this is one area that I have been rather successful. I will use my business as an example, and then give some other examples with people I have had encounters with.
As a company that focuses on internet marketing, I brought in a business partner to help lay the foundation for a more national approach. We spent several months developing our plan, and a large part of that plan was to start building relationships that catered to our offerings. So, naturally, as an internet marketing company we wanted to establish relationships with web designers. We then looked at other avenues such as video production, tradeshow display companies, graphic designers, and believe it or not, other SEO firms. We knew our price points are rather lower compared to other firms, and we saw us being a quality outsourcing partner for those bigger firms. We’ve built relationships with IT people, branding experts, and more. My point being, they were going to be able to help bring in direct clients because they were people that already had established relationships (trust) with their customers.
I have found that I often times spend time helping business owners build their business by being a consultant and giving advice on things that have absolutely nothing to do with internet marketing. I always look for ways in which you can build relationships with other businesses. I happen to have a great offering, that I can exchange services with just about every company. Some businesses are very niche specific and don’t have that luxury, so it will be a little harder to penetrate. Chances are though, you have something that fellow businesses can appreciate (or else why are you in business?). So, let me just give a couple other examples outside of internet marketing.
One client of ours deals with building restoration. So if there’s a flood, fire, etc, they will come in and take care of the mess. So then you start to look at what customers they are targeting and build a customer profile. This business typically works with homeowners, and sometimes business owners if their building experiences damage. If you have a toilet that overflows, pipe leaks, etc…the customer will call a Plumber most of the time. So I suggested that they build relationships with plumbers. Even landscapers would be a good partner to have because they are in front of potential customers already. You just have to figure out what you’re willing to do in order to build relationships. Maybe some plumbers will just give referrals for nothing, but typically they will probably want some sort of finders fee. It’s worth it – you wouldn’t have gotten that business without them.
Another entrepreneur I met is an interior designer. She was doing it all herself and really had not looked at building partnerships. Well, her ideal customer is one that is remodeling, or else a new home owner. So, you think about who those ideal customers will be talking to. Realtors? Painters? Contractors? These are all ideal partnerships that need to be explored.
So now the next question after you decide you need to build more alliances is; “How do I find/establish relationships with these people?” Well, you can start by joining social networking sites like LinkedIn and finding people/groups in that fashion. Another option you want to explore is finding networking events in your city. This can be done by joining your city’s Chamber of Commerce. If you’re lucky enough to be in the Phoenix area, there is also an amazing website that has a great calendar of various networking events over at www.networkingphoenix.com. If you have not done a networking event, it can be a bit overwhelming at first. You just have to remember these are people that have the same goal as you – to establish relationships and build connections. Be approachable, smile, and be yourself.
So, start building those relationships. It’s a win-win!
Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.As huge as Twitter has become, it does go down time to time for scheduled maintenance. I found this topic covered at TechCrunch and thought I would re-post here for convenience. I know some of you that follow this blog are dedicated Twitter users, so here you go…
Twitter just went down. Don’t worry, it was planned
. It should only be offline for about an hour today but there’s another downtime planned for Monday as well. I’m sitting here not quite sure what do with myself, as I’m sure many of you are. So I’ll go ahead a prepare a list of alternative activities for today and Monday, in order of importance/likelihood:
And here are some other alternatives inspired by commenters:
[thanks Orli]Source: TechCrunch
Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.
The Novice Guide to Google Analytics http://t.co/BDpfRfy5
