Practical eCommerce

barose · **Date:** Sun Jul 01, 2007 12:18 pm **Subject:** Starting an online retail store

I am in the very beginning stages of this operation: website, business plan, research, etc and I feel lost in the sea of information out there from business licenses and local requirements to SEO. I have one book on the subject so far How to Start a Home-Based Online Retail Business by Jeremy Shepherd; and its a good start, but I need more. I'm reading reviews on other books on Amazon and it doesn't look promising.

I feel that finding a way to network with like-minded individuals is the way to go. I stumbled across this site a few days ago, but I noticed the forum section is a bit slow. I even started a Yahoo group for my local area, but it could take months before I can get a lot of traffic.

Does anyone have ideas for networking? Other forums with more traffic? Ways to network in person? I'm searching for local resources, classes, groups and so on, but I'm not turning up anything yet. Does anyone have any ideas or a direction to point me towards?

TIA!

Carla

dean0088 · **Date:** Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:19 am **Subject:** Networking

Hi Carla:

Are you looking for a network to help grow your business or a network of people in the same industry to bounce ideas off?

If you are looking for a good network to help grow your business you should check out BNI (Business Network International) it's a worldwide business networking group, they should have a local chapter in your city. I have been a member for 5 years and get 80% of my business from it.

Hope that helps

Dean Iodice
www.zanzoodle.com
e-commerce for business owners

RobotCollector

Its Probably worth checking out some eHow and WikiHow articles on how to start an online store -- I'm pretty sure that there will be some tips there on how to start an online store:

http://www.wikihow.com/Start-an-Online-Store

Would you mind keeping us up to date as you search for information progresses?

thanks,

The Robot Collector

harrisguide · **Date:** Sat Aug 11, 2007 10:08 am **Subject:**

Hi Carol,

I'm sure you already know networking is a big part of marketing a business. Below are some resources that should point you in the right direction.

small-business-forum.com
smallbusinessbrief.com/forum/index.php
smallbusinessforums.org
startupnation.com/pages/community/forums.asp
internetretailer.com
internetretailing.net
www.retail-blog.com
ducttapemarketing.com/blog/
retail.about.com

schumi · **Date:** Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:11 am **Subject:**

thanks harrisguide very much,

that's very helpful.

and i add one ,
www.businessforum.net

LifeofEgypt · **Date:** Fri Nov 23, 2007 2:23 pm **Subject:**

Do some google research on the words "starting online retail business". There is a lot of good info out there that you can get for free. Asking this type of question in a reputable forum helps and the answers are FREE.

123 eCart · **Date:** Wed Jan 02, 2008 10:07 am **Subject:**

Hi Carla,

I think you're wise to look for like-minded people.

When we started our first online business, I was approached by a competitor who asked if I'd like to be a part of a small group of people in the same business who banded together for mutual cooperation.

The benefits we received were incredible. Although we were, and still are, competitors.

Best of luck in your new venture!

123 eCart · **Date:** Wed Jan 02, 2008 2:01 pm **Subject:**

Hi Carla,

A couple of our clients recommend the following two sites:

http://digital-women.com/
http://www.dotcomwomen.com/

fred333 · **Date:** Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:55 am **Subject:**

My wife visits those sites. She really enjoys them.

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