Finding your carefully researched niche is important for several reasons. With the likes of Amazon and Barnes and Noble as competition, you have to carve out a very specific small piece of the online bookstore pie and serve it with whipping cream. In other words, your bookstore needs to be a focused niche with something those huge sites miss out on - your special, personalized touch.
The Pros of Owning an Online Bookstore
I have chosen affiliate programs as the basis of my bookstore because I don't have to deal with receiving payments, accepting credit cards, processing orders, storing inventory, taking back orders, shipping, and so on and on.
I have my own website, customized and under my control, I don't have to dress up, do my hair, makeup etc. to go to work, my store is open 24/7/365 to customers around the world, I never meet cranky people face to face (just sometimes in emails!) and my store is private and always peaceful (no cranky kids!).
I had two options for running my online bookstore, I chose the first. I can simply fill my site with quality, relevant content pages and encourage visitors to click through to the merchant's website to purchase, or I can use a data feed to create a carbon copy of the original store on my website. My main job is to write unique content and to build my site quickly. It needs to update automatically. Visitors then don't need to leave my website to make their purchases.
The Cons of Owning an Online Bookstore
Of course there are always arguments against shopping online; the cons are that bookstores provide a wonderful customer experience. There are book signings, readings, and the joy of finding a few interesting books, taking them to a comfortable chair, and giving them a good look before deciding whether to purchase. And of course, online sites malfunction more often than stores have to unexpectedly close.
Affiliate marketers need to write content that overcome the obstacles potential customers present: their lack of trust, annoyance with difficulties, and reluctance to make that final click.
If your customer knows exactly what they want, no problem, but if they want to "window shop" the process can be painfully slow as they move from page to page. If they like to "scan and let something pop out at them", they can become frustrated at only being able to view what fits on one page at a time.
When it's time to pull out the plastic, they may question the security of ordering with their card online, wonder if they want to pay high shipping costs, and what happens if they need to return an order?
How I Made My Decision
Most of the cons can be compensated for or avoided by careful choosing of affiliate programs. Few online book companies simply offer books. They also offer reviews, contests, coupons, and ways to participate in what feels like a community.
Website design with care taken to make navigation clear and simple can make browsing and comparison shopping easier, and of course stores with great track records, testimonials, and security in place make all the difference with consumer confidence.
For me, love of my niche combined with love of books convinced me that I'd made a great choice, and success is almost assured as my next love, writing, makes it easy to write book reviews. If this all makes sense to you, then you must might want to try an online bookstore.
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