Guest Author - Scott Prock

Do you have a product you'd like to sell on eBay, but aren't sure where to start?

With thousands of internet businesses popping up every week, it's not uncommon to feel overwhelmed by the competition and many choices for how to go about setting up your eBay business.

But by answering a few basic questions, you will be able to narrow the choices and determine your basic eBay business needs.

Do you know who your target audience is?

Aside from having a viable product to sell, this is one of the most important aspects of your business. Without knowing who you are selling to, whether it's a particular region, niche, or demographic, you may not be reaching your audience.

This has to be identified in the early stages of setting up your eBay business. Once you know the typical profile of your customer then you can begin figuring out how to reach them.

Do you have a name for your online store?

Another important aspect of opening your eBay business is having a name that is easily recognizable and easy to remember.

To avoid confusing your customers, you will want to have a domain name that is as close to your online store as possible. This will also make it easier for customers to find your website.

Are you actively promoting your eBay business?

Whether or not your business has a brick-and-mortar presence (a physical location), you will want to embark on promoting your business in an aggressive manner by printing your web address on your receipts, brochures, business cards, invoices, sales literature and promoting gift certificates.

Are you taking advantage of cross selling to increase your online sales?

Have complementary products displayed on the right hand side of your website for every product you sell. The idea is to try to up sell customers by offering products that complement the original product they were going to purchase.

For example, if you sell candles then you might also want to offer candle holders.

Consider an affiliate program to drive your sales. Find a website whose customers might be interested in your products and offer them a commission for traffic that is generated from a link on their website.

Some examples of compensation with affiliate programs are pay-per-sale, pay-per-lead, and pay-per-click. The cost of using an affiliate program provider will vary and could require a one-time fee or a flat monthly fee.

Have you used a search engine to find something on the internet?

This is something to consider and is relatively easy to do. By registering with all of the major search engines your business has the best chance of being found by online shoppers.

Does your website utilize meta-tags?

Meta-tags are another way you can push your site up in the search engines. If you are not familiar with them, they are the descriptive words buried within your website's HTML that influence the words that search engines associate with your site.

Many internet users rely on these search criteria to determine which sites to visit. A meta-tag is essentially a list of keywords related to your eBay business.

Are you maximizing exposure for your business by linking to other sites?

One of the least expensive marketing techniques and perhaps the most effective is to get links to websites that sell products or services related to your business.

You might also contact any industry associations you belong to and see if they would be interested in linking to your business. To see which websites are linking to your eBay business visit linkpopularity.com to do a free search.