This leaves many ecommerce sites scrambling to build credibility.

Narrow the Niche

Once the niche is picked then narrow it. The site may sell to dog lovers, but building an internet business for dogs will not build credibility. The site needs to narrow the niche. While ‘brick-and-mortar' stores want to cater to everyone, successful internet businesses cater to a narrow audience.

Instead of dogs, think of a small niche like; small housedogs, hairless dogs, or terriers. The internet is so vast that websites will draw thousands readers to any niche, not matter how small it is. The trick is to learn how to keep visitors returning.

How many websites have you visited once and never returned? Those websites failed their marketing goals. A good website will draw someone in and hook them for a long time. This is accomplished by building a niche community.

The following are some ways to advertise socially, and free. However, the value of these is their ability to build a 'social network' that will build credibility for the ecommerce site.

Methods of Online Advertising

Once you have an idea of the niche you want, it is time to learn how to advertise. Each type of website is advertised differently. The big audience web sites like ebay need to pay a lot of money to AdWord and other advertising so they can get massive exposure.

Content Advertising - Smaller websites can advertise free. One of the #1 methods of advertising is writing free content for websites. You write an article, post it on a free content site like www.ezinearticle.com, www.get-free-content.com or www.amazines.com . There is a link to your website at the bottom. Each article works like a television commercial, broadcasting your web site on other sites.

Video Advertising - Youtube.com has become a major advertising venue. The dating site may video people at the clubs. The small dog website may video different breeds of small dogs wearing the products for sale.

Social Network Advertising - Myspace.com is a great place to publish your videos. As of Sept 2006, myspace.com drove more users to internet business websites than MSN search engine. Millions of people use myspace.com.

Search Engine Advertising – The internet is full of PPC programs. The most popular are the ones owned by Google, Yahoo, and MSN. However, if you want more control, then the next best is www.adbrite.com

Link Building – As far as Google is concerned, only backlinks, or inbound links, are important. However, it is almost impossible to get a ‘real' backlink from Google. There are sites with thousands of backlinks from hundreds of websites with similar content – but Google doesn't count any of them as real.

Thousands of successful online-businesses only receive a few hits from Google.

Link building is a great method of advertising. Exchanging links with similar websites will increase a website's exposure. One great way to build links is by writing free content.

Viral Advertising – this type of advertising takes advantage of current social networks like www.myspace.com, www.squidoo.com, and hub. You can also take part in sites like www.helium.com, www.writingup.com ( a community disguised as a blog), and yahoo forums.

Joint Ventures - Ebay and Commission Junction are two great joint ventures. Avoid the online joint venture schemes that promise to link hundreds of portals and communities with people who have a product. After paying $50 - $500 to join, members only find a few thousand people trying to sell ebooks.

Networking – Networking is a better way to build a joint ventures. One company may manage the online store, someone else focuses on marketing, another may be a writer. Once the costs are paid, the profits are divided. This type of venture can launch an ecommerce business in one tenth of a time it normally takes, and at a fraction of the cost.