Choosing a Marketplace – Where to Sell Online

Thursday, April 26th, 2012 by admin
Bookmark and Share Having a web presence is essential in this day and age where ecommerce is such a prevalent part of business. One of the first steps to establishing such a presence is by having a website that showcases your products. However, simply creating a website does not mean that you are automatically going to have buyers flocking to your site and sales flowing in. Search engine optimization (SEO) and linkbuilding are important strategies to help you get some traffic, as is using social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Another easy way to get your product and business brand in front of many eyeballs is to list products on online marketplaces.
When exploring which online marketplaces you might like to try, there are some essential criteria to look at. They are:
  • Cost
  • Traffic and Popularity Ranking
  • Permitting links back to your website
  • Public seller profile
There are over 60 marketplaces in our directory that are free to list products on, and of those, more than half are completely free (no selling commissions, monthly subscriptions, etc.). If you are on a tight budget or just starting up, cost may be the most important factor for you. However, not all free marketplaces are created equally. It is important to also check the sites traffic and popularity ranking, because if no one is browsing these marketplaces, what difference does it make if it is free or not?
Marketplacester shows you the Alexa ranking and the Google PageRank of each marketplace.This is the ranking from the Alexa service, which ranks the popularity of websites on the internet against each other. For example, an Alexa rank of 1 means it is the most popular trafficked site on the internet. The major marketplaces will be in the top 1000 Alexa rankings, while websites with medium levels of traffic will be much higher. This field can be used to measure the relative traffic and popularity of any particular marketplace as compared to any other. The lower the Alexa rank is, the better visibility and traffic the website has.
The Google PageRank is the ranking that Google gives to the specific marketplace domain name, and is a beneficial feature to know when evaluating a marketplace. It will range from 0-10, and the higher number indicates a higher value site with higher traffic volumes. If you are looking for more popular marketplaces with higher traffic volumes, or if you are trying to build your own Search Engine Optimization through your marketplace listings, look for those with a higher PageRank value.
Another factor to evaluate is whether or not a marketplace allows you to link back to your website from your product listings. This provides an advantage to you as a seller by directing buyers to your primary website to purchase from you directly. It also aids in your Search Engine Optimization and search rankings by providing a valuable link from a related site, further increasing your visibility in search engines through link building. Many of the larger sites, and any that have selling commissions do not allow this however, as it takes away from money they would otherwise be earning.
Many marketplaces will give you a public merchant profile page when you create your account as a seller. This can add value to you as a merchant in several ways, providing an additional web presence for your store and business as a reputable seller online. In addition, it can potentially give you a SEO advantage by providing content about your business name and other keywords on another external website. This field in the directory tells you quickly whether or not the particular marketplace provides you with a publicly available merchant profile that you can use and reference.
You will probably not find any sites that meet all of these criteria, but knowing the important factors to look for will help you determine which ones might be worthwhile for you and your business. Since long term commitments are not required, there is no harm in experimenting until you find the right fit for you.
Review all online marketplaces for free and easily see all of the above factors for every online marketplace with Marketplacester’s free directory of online marketplaces.