Do free web stores work?
One reason free web stores don't work is there is not enough buyers. Not only that but the services offered by these companies is not user friendly. When you want to buy something you want to click Buy Now and have the option to buy now, no search our partner's website for that book you were looking for.
This is why amazon makes all the money in this gig. They understand buyer's habits. The only ones making money from free web stores are people who get a ' ton of visitors' provided the product converts well. And the people running the adsense account, that they supposedly allow you to 'revenue share' in. The owners make money when sales are completed, but do you know whether you are truly getting paid?
A way to test an affiliate program and if they are paying is to ' ask for a payout ', secondly, you can do a test buy from the site. And then wait and see if your ' account ' is credited. And pay attention to the terms of the agreement in regards to how much money you have to make them before you will get paid. Buyers also want trust, not many free web stores can provide a storefront that even remotely looks worthy of trusting their credit card purchases to.
So what is the real solution to all of this? Set up your own web store, its harder in the short term but its a good real life test of whether your concept will work in the big time. Use Buy Now buttons, as a way for customers to actually buy now without waiting. Make site searches clear and precise. If someone is looking for socks, don't suggest shoes until at least 3/4 of the way into the buying process. Build a site that looks good, works good, and doesn't have any ' this page cannot be displayed ' links ANYWHERE on the site. Use a credible merchant account like paypal or something else acceptable. And then, watch the money roll in.
Jason Hill - Profit Index (c)opyright 2008