How to Make Money Selling Vitamins Online
Step 1. Choose a model
There are different ways to operate an online vitamins store, depending on how much you have to invest and how much effort you are willing to expend. Three common models include retail, drop shipping, and affiliate marketing.
The retail model simply involves buying vitamin supplements from a manufacturer or wholesaler and mark up the price to make a profit from your sales. To operate your online vitamin store based on this model, you will need a safe place to store the products.
Drop shipping is a cheaper alternative. Simply arrange a drop-ship agreement with one or more companies that produce vitamin supplements. Basically, you will sell the vitamins via your site, forward the orders electronically to the vitamin producer, and they fulfill the order and ship directly to your customers.
Affiliate marketing requires even less startup costs. You simply market vitamin supplements online and you get a commission for each sale made through your efforts. You won’t have to forward orders to the manufacturer because customers will be directed straight to the manufacturer’s website once they click on your affiliate links.
Step 2. Set up your website
Regardless of which model you choose for your online vitamin store, you will need to set up a website. The process involves choosing a suitable domain name and having it registered with reputable registrars like Namecheap and GoDaddy. This usually costs around $10 per year.
You will also need to purchase a hosting package. This will provide the space to be occupied by your website on the internet. Hosting service providers offer a range of packages that you can choose from depending on your needs. Examples of these providers include Hostgator, Bluehost, Arvixe, and GoDaddy.
After registering your domain name and purchasing a hosting package, set up your website and upload pictures of the products you want to sell. It is highly recommended that you hire a professional website designer to handle this aspect for you.
Step 3. Set up your payment handling systems
If you are operating the retail or drop shipping model, you will need a merchant account for receiving payments from your customers. Contact your bank to create a merchant account that will help you accept credit card payments. In addition, register a merchant account with PayPal, so you can receive payments via PayPal, too.
In addition to your merchant account, you will a payment processor, such as Verisign. This service will be responsible for linking up customers’ credit cards with your merchant accounts, transferring payment requests, and authorizing transactions.
Step 4. Hire employees
You won’t need any employees if you are starting out as an affiliate marketer. But if you are operating based on the retail model, you will need to hire employees to process orders, handle shipping, and handle other necessary tasks. If you will need to hire employees, ensure that they are dedicated, skilled and experienced.
Step 5. Market your business
Regardless of which model you are opting for, attracting customers will be your biggest challenge when you are starting out. There is a lot of competition in the market, so you need to really devote a lot of time, effort, and money into marketing if you really want to attract customers.
There are many online marketing strategies you can adopt. These include pay-per-click ads, social media marketing, search engine optimization, content marketing, and email marketing. Be sure to test each of these strategies to know which ones are good for your business and which ones are not.
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