Let’s say you’re a newbie to the world of
online sales and are looking to make money online, but you’re starting with a small startup budget. With the blinding wealth of information available for new business owners, knowing how to spend your limited funds can be a bit intimidating.
Here is a five-step checklist to help get you started and guide you toward success. 

1. Spend time getting feedback on what you’re selling before launching.

Don’t rely on affirmation from friends and family to validate that you have a unique and salable product or service. Chances are, these people are emotionally attached to you, and they’re more likely to think every idea you share is the greatest thing since Nutella. Getting feedback from people who are emotionally attached to you is a “disaster from the start,” says Adam Callinan, founder of BottleKeeper.
Get market validation from potential customers who aren’t in your social circle. Some entrepreneurs use the “will they pull out their wallet” test before investing money in a business. Callinan, who’d come up with a prototype for an individual beer bottle cooler, ran a crowdfunding campaign on Fundable to gauge pre-orders for his product. His campaign raised nearly $14,000, 280 percent of his $5,000 goal.
Besides Fundable, there are a number of crowdfunding platforms to choose from including Kickstarter, Indiegogo andRockethub.
Other ways to get people’s feedback, says Sujan Patel, vice-president of Marketing atWhen I Work, is using customer insight survey tools, such as Qualaroo and Client Heartbeat. If you’re just starting out, surveys are a chance to find out what the customer is hoping the product/service will solve or do for him or her. If you’re already in business, surveys can ask how the customer found out about the product or service, whether the customer is willing to be a return customer and why.  
Or if you’re in a job in the industry you plan on starting a business in, get feedback from the people at your job -- your manager and clients -- says Steve Tobak, founder ofInvisor Consulting. 

2. Have a website.

You must have a website, says Joel Widmer, founder of Fluxe Digital Marketing. Not only for the obvious -- to have something to refer customers back to -- but having a website builds your brand’s digital footprint. Keep your site simple and copy-driven with opportunities for email captures on every page.
Three easy steps to having your own website to sell products without spending a lot of cash are:
  • Select a content management system (CMS), such as WordPress, which is popular for its user friendliness and is free.
  • Register a domain name and subscribe to a hosting service, such as GoDaddy orBluehost.
  • Customize your CMS with ecommerce-enabling plugins and themes. WooCommerce offers free ecommerce themes for WordPress, such asStorefront. Also, WP eCommerce andMarketPress are additional free ecommerce plugin options.
  • Or for anyone setting up an e-commerce site, both Shopify and Squarespace are easy e-commerce platforms that allow you to build an e-commerce site yourself.