Tips for Creating an Online Store

After over 6 months of working in separate cities and communicating through email and web conferencing, the three of us finally had the chance to get together in person in Chicago this past Saturday to celebrate Rishi’s sister’s wedding. The wedding was a beautiful event with wonderful people, amazing vegetarian Indian food, the fanciest dessert table I have ever seen, and even a giant ice sculpture of Ganesh. One highlight for me was Rishi’s hilarious MC presentation of speeches and dances by family and friends. Congratulations to the happy couple Reena and Mayank!

Rishi, Margo, Brian

Rishi at the Baarat

August 1 was also the official one year anniversary of the launch of Flying Cart. We’ve come a long way in just one year. Thanks to all of our customers and fans for your continued support.

People will buy from you if they can trust you.  They will purchase from you if they think you are the absolute best person to buy from.  If you are an expert in your product show it!

Here are some great ways to show off how much you know about your field:

1) Create a page on Squidoo.  (For example: Talk about reasons on buying organic cotton)

2) Create a page on Google Knol. (For example: If you sell Hair Loss Lotion, talk about Common Causes of it)

3) Make a video on 5min. (For example: Show a video of you making the painting you are selling)

4) Make a video on YouTube. (For example: Talk about how to detect a replica handbag)

Tell me about what you tried out in the comment section.  Would love to see all the experts we have on Flying Cart.

Check out the Daily Top 40 where we rank the top 40 products across all our stores.  Ranks are based on views, # sold, price sold at, and product performance.  If you happen to get on the Daily Top 40, you are doing something right… so keep it up!

What happens when you go to a store product page that has been deleted or hasn’t been made yet?  On most sites you would get an ugly error message… but not on your store!

Now you will get a friendly message telling your customer to get back to your store.

Here is an example of what your customer will see:

A new site called Fling It Girl launched this week.  The site allows people to “Fling” products and stories.  The more Flings a product or story gets the more likely it is to get to the top of the page.  Try to get your products Flinged.  This could be a great way to drive more traffic to your store.

Check out Dirty Hands – Harry Kim’s debut film. 5 years in the making.

Check out the trailer |Buy a Shirt | Friend them on Myspace

<— That guy is Robert Rodriquez. The man behind SplashyArt who started painting abstract art 5 years ago.

“Each painting is an emotional discovery based solely on color and mood. Spontaneous reactions with color” says Robert.

His favorite piece is the Red Dragon. “I was visualizing a highway and rehearsed it in my mind, the outcome was different than what I expected, but I was surprised by the result which was unexpected breakthrough.”

Robert is a relatively young artist at 42. His artist inspirations are Van Gogh and Andy Warhol. Van Gogh for his color depth, personal conviction, and struggle. Andy Warhol because he had well executed design, precise in his foresight, and being able to produce so much without agonizing was a victory in that sense. To be able to combine fine art with commercial success is any artist dream.

Robert’s ADVICE TO ARTISTS and THE WEB:

“The web is a great way to get worldwide exposure, but you have to be fast, computer savvy, and determined. Some people don’t understand it. But A LOT OF people do and respect it if you believe in what you do. Having a website is a modern way to reach an audience instantaneously, and we are more connected with that more than ever before. As with most jobs you have to be able to connect with your audience, and prove your namesake.”

If you don’t have a PayPal account installed on your store.  We will simply put a link to your contact us page to allow customers to directly email you right away.

Only want to ship your product to your country?  No problem.  We just added a new feature that allows you to do just that!

Under the “Shipping” section in your store headquarters.  If you check this box only the countries you specify will appear during checkout.

Check out Brand Habit I think it is a great site for fashion shoppers and enthusiasts to discover new designers and boutiques.  This is a great place to get your store listed if you are in the industry.

Would love to see some of our stores posted in their directory.  Let me know what you folks think.