I need advice about starting my first ecommerce site to sell small product.?

i want to get the most for my money and get as much exposure on search engines as possible. should i hire someone to build my website? or use something popular like ebay stores or yahoo storefronts? what is my best option?I need advice about starting my first ecommerce site to sell small product.?
Ah, the decision greatly depends on the product, your target customers and your budget for marketing and design expense.





Here's a great place to ask questions directly related to eCommerce and online marketing. There is also a categorized page with common questions from previous merchants who wondered many of the same things you are asking about.





http://www.ecommerceoptimization.com/faq鈥?/a>





Hiring someone depends on your budget and your site functionality needs. Do you need something simple or complex. If you need features that are not standard then you will most likely have to have someone build it or learn yourself. If you don't need anything too complex you could probably use an out-of-the-box solution.





I would stay away from just an eBay store unless you already do tons of business on eBay, but the good news is there are other choices.





There's Yahoo Stores, Prostores, Shopify, Wordpress, etc.





It would also depend on whether you would be selling tangible items or digital products.





Here's a good response to your question about hiring a designer ...





http://www.ecommerceoptimization.com/art鈥?/a>





Here's a good response to your question about using just an eBay store ...





http://www.ecommerceoptimization.com/art鈥?/a>I need advice about starting my first ecommerce site to sell small product.?
using ebay stores or yahoo storefronts would be a much cheaper option. With a website like ebay you wouldn't have to be paying a monthly fee and you only pay for products you have posted online and what you have sold. You would also be more likely to get more exposure without having to spend a lot of money in advertising.


With building your own website, your visitors would know where to find you and you would be able to start building a brand name or recognition. Although you would be paying money for web-hosting, you would have the advantage running your website with www.yourwebsitename.com. But you would then need to spend money in the building and promotion of your website and products.
I would create my own website rather than do the ebay stores thing. You can get a domain, shopping cart, and SSL certificate at http://www.doggydomains.com The shopping cart lets you design a site without having to know all the programming. Alternatively, you can pay to have it designed but that would cost more up front.