When I started my gift basket business, I thought all I had to do was create a website and the sales would come pouring in. Boy was I wrong!

After 6 months of being online and wasting $600 on a web designer, I still had zero traffic. Desperate for an online presence, I decided to educate myself on owning an online business.

Yes! When you decided to create a website where customers can make purchases, you are now the proud owner of an online business. To avoid the mistakes I did...

DON'T
Use free websites- search engines will ignore you.

Use too many graphics- they do not add value to your website and search engine spiders can not recognize them.

Hire a web designer before you have basic website knowledge.

Use music- music does not mix with all websites. People seeking to send a gift do not want to hear music.

Allow popups- they quickly annoy website visitors.

DO'S
Register your own domain name.

Choose a web hosting company.

Write good content for your website.

Build your own site with some type of web software.

Hire a web designer- caution: If your site requires constant updates, make sure you have complete control over your site. Having access to your website files helps you avoid calling the web designer to do updates and paying maintenance fees.

Tags: online gift basket business advice sales news

Labels: advice, gift basket business, news, online, sales