Simply The Best Way To Build An On-line Store Free

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 customise 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 fulfilment 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 customise 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

About the Author
Holly Janion is the Webmaster for Wade's World, a UK internet solutions
company. Holly's latest creation, the WWW Treasure Hunt, can be found
at http://www.wwwtreasurehunt.com. Holly can be contacted by
sending an e-mail to mailto: webmaster@wadesworld.co.uk