How to Start an Online Clothing Store in 12 Steps

This article is meant to be a very rough outline in the process of starting up an e-commerce based clothing store or boutique. In the high-paced and competitive world of fashion retail setting up your store is just the first step and quite honestly has little bearing on how successful your store will actually be. For example, Bluefly.com has an estimated monthly traffic of 840K, but since going public in 1998 has never made a single year of profit. As of December 31, 2009, Bluefly has an accumulated deficit of 7,468,000. Your guess on how they remain in business is as good as mine, but think of it this way. Even if you only make .00 of profit your first year of business, then you are technically doing better than Bluefly.

Please note, many of these steps can be done concurrently. For example, while you are filing your legal forms, you can work on your web design. This is especially true if you are depending on a third-party to design and set-up your website. They may work on a longer time frame than you initially anticipated. I do highly suggest that you just focus on the business plan initially. For example, if you decide that you are going to design your website with a specific concept while you write your business plan, then you just might find after researching that your concept is not what you're going to move forward with. In this case, you probably spent 40-60 hours on non-productive output.

1. Write a business plan.

How to Start an Online Clothing Store in 12 Steps

To be honest with you, when my girlfriend and I launched our website, we did not have a business plan, but we did write one eventually. The simple fact is that if you are planning for success, then you must write a business plan sooner or later. In business school, you write it sooner than later. The business plan is important because it forces you to do research about the industry, your competitors, and your resources. Additionally, it forces you to think deeply about how you are going to succeed in this highly competitive industry. If you think that you are going to be just like Modcloth, then why would you expect to be successful compared to Modcloth when they are working with millions of dollars of venture capitalist funds for a workforce, marketing, inventory, etc. I don't have an answer for you, but my point is that you have to come up with a plan before investing your life's savings into this new venture. Also, the business plan is important because it also forces you to estimate how much money you will need and where that many is coming from. The reality is that unless you have real background in finance, you will not be able to build a 5-10 year projected Discounted Cash Flow Model and figure out your WACC, but having some kind of rough idea of your cash flow is better than nothing.

You should also include a plan on how you are going to initially set-up your website. For example, using a subscription-based shopping cart will change your budget than if you decide to use an open-source shopping cart. Also, you should also do your initial research on web hosting companies since they can range from /month to over 0/month. My only suggestion is that you get the fastest and most reliable that your budget will allow. Please note, that all I'm suggesting is that you plan what you are going to do as far as web design and hosting is concerned, not that you go out and pay for these services right now. The only expense that you may want to consider at this moment is that for registering a domain name. That's because they are relatively inexpensive to register and you don't want to possibly miss out on registering your wanted domain.

You should come up with a budget and plan for marketing, public relations, and search engine optimization. These will most likely be your largest expense heading into the future. Remember, buying inventory is not an expense, it is an asset.

Last, but not least, you also want to plan on order fulfillment. This is just a fancy way of saying how you are going to pack and send your product, as well as what return procedure and policy you will have in place. Will you use USPS, UPS, FedEx, or DHL? Will you have free shipping, returns, and/or exchanges? These are all things that should be planned for, though will change over time.

2. Apply for a Employer Identification Number with the IRS

Once again, if you are planning for success in the future, then you are going to have to run your business legally. You will need an EIN to open a bank account, apply for a business license, and get a seller's permit. Just search "EIN" in the Google search engine and the IRS website should be the first result. When applying for your EIN, you will need to know the legal structure of your business. For example, if your business is going to be a one man or woman show, then you are going to apply as a sole proprietor. If it turns out that you and your mom are going to run the business, then you may choose partnership or decide to incorporate.

Pick your fictitious business name, "Doing Business As," and file it with your county clerk

One of the more exciting step in setting up your business will always be picking a name. My girlfriend and chose T.I.L. Darling because before we were officially a couple, she would tell me that in Thailand, her home country, that she and I could never go out alone as even friends. I told her, "This is London, Darling." So, I guess our business name should technically be T.I.L., Darling, to be more grammatically correct. Once you have your fictitious business name, you need to make a pretty good attempt to make sure no one else is using that same name. Otherwise, years down the line when you are making money, you can expect a letter from a lawyer saying how they are going to sue the designer pants off of you.

If your county registrar/clerk has a website with downloadable forms, then search for the DBA filing form, fill it out, and bring it to the county clerk. Otherwise, you will just have to do everything in person. There, you will probably have your first business expense with the filing fee. Your second expense will be the requirement that you advertise your new business name in an approved newspaper or public publication so that if anyone has a problem with your DBA then they can step forward. The county clerk will be able to point you in the right direction for this step.

3. Open a business bank account

Again, planning for future success, you will want to open up a separate bank account for your business. This way, you can track and easily separate business expenses from your personal expenses, write checks or have transactions under your business name, and just generally feel like a real business.

4. Start designing and setting up your website

There are actually a few methods of going forward with your website. I will explore a few options starting from the most costly to the least costly. Even though I would have to question whether or not running an online business if for you, but if you have extremely limited experience with web design or are just not internet savvy, then you may need to do everything third-party. If you realize that you're going to need someone to design your website, initially set-up your domain and site, then you will probably need to find some kind of subscription based shopping cart. For example, if you have money to spend, then search "boutiquecommerce" in the Google search engine. This company will do just about everything for you, from web design, domain registration, web hosting, to ongoing support. There are many third-party shopping carts fitting almost any budget. To be honest, I have no experience with any paid or subscription based shopping cart and so I will limit any opinion I have on them.

Another alternative is to buy a website template designed on top of an open-source (free) shopping-cart platform. Search "templatemonster" in the Google search engine. Filter your search to include E-Commerce templates and choose "fashion" as your category, though you can customize any template to your needs in reality.

On a side note, before you purchase your template, you should set-up your server. During your business plan research, you should have figured out what web host fits best for you, but now is the time to actually spend some money because you will not be able to test your template unless you have a server to upload it to. This also means that if you haven't done so already, then you will have to finally register your domain name, which is something you should have also figured out in your business plan. Most web hosts will actually register your domain for free, but feel free to use a service, such as godaddy, and you'll need to change the namerservers to point to your web host.

Once you have your template and web host, then you need to upload your template and start customizing it. You can either use a "template tuning" service or if you have enough html, php, and photoshop experience, then you can do it yourself. Unfortunately, this step can be pretty difficult even for somewhat internet savvy users because this is where you will need to learn a little bit about setting up a database, setting up a database user, and how to use an FTP program to upload your site. That's why some may opt to use a third-party shopping cart, but this option is by far the most flexible and cheapest if you have the time and are willing to learn.

You will also need to figure out how you will accept payment on your website. If you want to accept credit cards, which you should, then you will need a payment gateway. The most popular would be PayPal Pro and Authorize.net. You will need to apply for an account.

Of course, there is the ultimate DYI approach, where you can not only design your own website, but also code your own shopping cart. If this is the case, then I highly doubt you need to read this section of my tutorial.

5. Make Business Cards

Yes, I actually made this an individual step because you will need a business card to register for trade shows, as well as deal with suppliers. Since you are also working on your website design, it is also more efficient to work on a business card design. Additionally, you need some lead time because printers will charge you extra to expedite printing and shipping. So, if you plan ahead, you can save quite a bit of money.

6. Apply for a business license in your city

Once again, if your city has website dedicated to business, then you should be able to download an application for a business license. In some cities, you can even apply for a home-based business license. Of course, only fill out a home-based business license if that is your case. Bring or even possibly mail your completed application and filing fee to the appropriate location. The reason I put this step after designing your website is because the business license fee is a yearly fee and so why pay when you are not even close to launching your website.

7. Apply for a Seller's Permit

At this point, you should be fairly proficient at filing out forms. The last application you should have to file is for your seller's permit, sometimes mistakenly called a resale license. The seller's permit will allow you to buy from your wholesalers without paying sales tax, but it also requires you to pay the sales tax on any items sold, within your state, every quarter. Of course, in modern commerce, you are allowed to collect the sales tax from your customers.

8. Figure out how you are going to display your products

Before you actually source your products, I believe it is wise to first figure out how you are going to display your products on your website. Are you going to use a mannequin, model, or just lay it flat. Will you outsource your product photography or do it right in your bedroom, which is how we first started. If you are going to do it yourself, then you still need to make sure it fits your budget and business plan as far as purchasing equipment. If you are going to need equipment, then now is the time to either jump online or go out and start making a real investment in your business.

9. Plan your product mix and find suppliers

While you are figuring out how you will ultimate display your products, you will want to start researching where you will buy your products. If you haven't done so, then you will want to start thinking more about your product mix. Of course, it needs to fit perfectly with your business plan, concept, and budget you already established in step 1. Fashion buying is another topic completely and I highly suggest you read up on it if you can.

After you have some kind of buying plan, it's time to find suppliers. If you are lucky, then you will be able to catch the MAGIC Marketplace trade show in Las Vegas. They have vendors for vintage inspired clothing, juniors clothing, indie clothing, etc. It is essentially the largest fashion trade show in the USA and maybe the world. If you cannot find suppliers at MAGIC, then I would honestly be surprised. If you cannot wait for the bi-annual trade show, then you are most likely going to need to take a trip to the Los Angeles Fashion District. If you are looking for the glamorous world of designer labels, then you will be spending your time at "The Intersection." At this intersection you will find the California Market Center, Cooper Design Space, Gerry Building, and The New Mart. Here you can find brands such as A.B.S. By Allen Schwartz, BCBG, and Betsey Johnson. If you are in this market, then be sure to bring copies of your business license, business card, and seller's license. Also, as an online business, be prepared to be rejected by many showrooms. If you're like me though, then it should only inspire you to be more successful so that when the time comes you can reject them.

If your price point is a lot lower, then you are going to really want to spend time around the San Pedro Mart area. You will probably find that 80-90% of these wholesalers are not right for your target market, but that only means that you should find 10%-20% that is right and will be able to focus on building those relationships into the future.

Of course, you can always turn to the internet, registering with sites like fashiongo and lashowroom. Additionally, you can contact individual brand sales reps and they should send you line sheets and look books. In fact, this is how most business will be later in the future, but I suggest you visit trade shows and marts to get your feet a little wet.

10. Start product photography and adding content to your website

Since you should have planned earlier for product photography, this step should be self explanatory. You want to add the products to your website and get it ready for a more official launch.

11. Start your marketing campaign, Search Engine Optimization campaign, and PR campaign

Again, these campaigns should have already been planned in the first step. This step is pretty much a hundred different subjects on its own and so I will not really dive to deep into it. The most rudimentary start would be to submit your site to search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!, sign up for Google AdWords, and start a Facebook and Twitter account. There is probably a good chance that will have to depend on paid advertising to get decent traffic at the beginning, but I highly suggest you plan and budget appropriately.

It might take one day or a whole month, but you're going to get your first order and at that point you can finally say you really set-up your online clothing store.

12. Keep learning as much as you can

Like I said, setting up an online clothing store is just the first step. In reality, you are going to have to learn as much as you can about fashion buying, merchandising, marketing, search engine optimization, html, php, ajax, javascript, analytics, etc.

How to Start an Online Clothing Store in 12 Steps
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Daniel Hsu
Owner
T.I.L. Darling Clothing Boutique.
Shop Indie Clothing

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How To Become A Better Parent With A Free Parenting Class Online

Times have certainly changed in most facets of life and in the world of parenting, it is no different. The internet has opened up a whole range of possibilities and one of the big advantages for parents is the ability to take a free parenting class online to brush up on skills or to learn new techniques.

Once upon a time, parenting skills were learnt from within a person's own family environment; handed down from generation to generation so to speak however, in today's society, logging onto your computer and interacting with other like-minded parents is now a breeze. But can a free parenting class online teach you the skills required to raise children?

Defining Parenting Class Online

How To Become A Better Parent With A Free Parenting Class Online

Let's look at this in it's proper perspective. Parenting skills are developed over time. In fact, for new moms and dads, your best learning experience will come from your own child. However, there will be times when you'll strike problems; for example, the terrible two's or during a child's teenage years. Where do you go for help? In the "old days" it usually meant confiding in your parents or grandparents or having to attend counselling sessions. Today, parenting online in the right environment is just a click away.

The term online may concern a few people given some of the horror stories we've heard from people with online experiences in other areas but online should only be seen as a vehicle for delivering information. In this light, a free online parenting class makes good and common sense.

Teenagers

One of the biggest advantages in receiving a free online class is in the area of raising teenagers. A lot of advice has been handed out over the years concerning the proper way to raise a teenager but in all honesty, what works for one set of circumstances may not work for another. An online parenting class with a qualified family therapist will save you, in some cases, the embarrassment of presenting yourself in person, which for people living in small, tight knit communities can be a big hurdle to overcome.

Discussing your situation online and receiving advice on communicating with your teen in a relatively private environment is a big plus for many parents.

Divorce

Divorce situations are another area where online parenting advice has made an impact. Again, dealing with a qualified therapist in the relative privacy of your own home is a huge advantage. Also, in today's divorce environments courts will often require parents to take a parenting class and in such emotional times, presenting oneself physically to a class could be a difficult thing to achieve.

An online parenting class removes the problem of presenting yourself in person other than to log onto a computer and take the class online. These classes involve covering topics such as co-parenting, step-parenting and parenting skills.

A free parenting class online should be used whenever you need help or a solution to a problem. Be careful when searching online for the right class. Some courses may offer a free trial before luring you into an expensive and unnecessary course.

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Why Is the Internet Important?

What do you think about when you think about the Internet? Some may think of the Internet as a place to email, or visit social networking websites such as Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace or Twitter. Some use the Internet for maps, directions, to locate a business or find out about a business. Some use the Internet for games, entertainment such as itunes, movies or concert tickets. Some use the Internet for shopping or comparing prices. The good news is there is a lot of information on the Internet. The Internet is important because it is a global resource. If it exists it probably is on the Internet. Access to information is free which allows everyone to be informed and knowledge of that information can make you powerful.

The Internet is important for everyone to understand and use. There is information that is useful in school, your personal life and business. Many businesses are on the Internet exclusively and support real world businesses. A search engine such as Google provides access to that information. The key to using Google is to understand how it works. A question or using key words will give you results. The better the question or choice of words will generate better results. The more precise question will generate an answer that will be valuable and useful. How do you create a precise question? It is trial and error! You need to practice and you will develop the required skills to develop better questions. As you use your search engine (Google), write a question or use the words you are searching and see if you like the results. Now is the time to start learning about the Internet by using it to find information.

Why Is the Internet Important?

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Thousands of people use Hotmail accounts for personal and even business purposes every day. Their extreme popularity greatly increases the possibility that you will one day need to learn more about a Hotmail address. Luckily, you can find email addresses on the web quickly and easily. It doesn't matter whether you need to trace a Hotmail address or a server that you may not have even heard of; the chances that you will be able to find what you need are high.

Online resources are an excellent way to learn more about a lot of different types of data such as phone numbers and public records, but if you need to discover the name of the owner of an email address, you will need to use a specific service called a reverse email lookup. These searches use the server information of the email address you entered to locate that server's private directory, which contains data such as the name and IP address of the email owner.

While it is sometimes more difficult to find out information like someone's phone number and address through web-based servers like Hotmail, it does not mean that it is impossible. There are plenty of additional online resources and even premium reverse email lookups that can help. If you need to learn more about the person behind a suspicious message, the first place to turn is often the internet. The good news is that many of these reverse email lookups are completely free to use.

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How can I watch favorite TV shows from my computer online?

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How many channels do I watch with online TV software?

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Most of the satellite digital online softwares for computers are readily available online. There is a wide variety of computer television programs that one can choose from including some of the most viewed softwares. One of these PC TV softwares has 3000 TV stations and channels and offers the most clear online reception. There is also a software that has over 10,000 online TV channels but its quality Is not as clear.

Can I Download, Record and watch online TV shows on your computer?

Some of the things you are able to do with online computer software for PCs is to record and watch online TV shows. You can now easily download your most watched TV shows and create a file based on the various episodes. If you are traveling for a long time, you can get one of wife, husband son, or family member to just be recording old episodes of the TV shows on the computer. You will be able to watch all the missed episodes and full seasons of the TV show once you get back home.

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I don't know how computer savvy you may be, but even if you aren't it doesn't even matter because the only real computer knowledge you need is how to download and if you know how to do that (which anyone with an iPod does) downloading satellite TV on you PC software will be no problem for you.

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The Sims Online Free Trial Becomes Permanent Free Play

The free trial of the Sims Online game is currently undergoing a revision. Very soon, according to EA, the free trial will become permanent free play. Great news for those of us who can't afford the .99 a month for full play, but what has brought about this change?

Well, put simply, EA stuffed up. The Sims Online was released to the public four years ago, and has earned itself a relatively small user-base. The immensely popular game Second Life was released at the same time, and has gone from strength to strength. Now, Second Life is a very good game and plays to different strengths to the Sims Online, but the Sims comes from a franchise that boasts the two highest selling games of all time. It shouldn't have been too hard for EA to come up with a game, then, that at least landed in the top 10% of online games. And initially, they did.

At the beginning of January 2003, the Sims Online claimed over 100,000 active subscriptions, making it top of the list for online games. Sales soared, and EA projected 40,000 subscribers by the end of the year. And then they gave up. Luc Barthelet, the Senior Vice President of Electronic Arts, seemingly turned his back on the game, and bugs and instabilities were left unresolved. Cheats sprang up which allowed players to get large amounts of Simoleons (the Sims Online currency), effectively destroying the in-game economy and rendering many of the objectives of the game (such as employment) useless. Before the cheats came out Simoleons could be sold on eBay for real money, which is one of the attractions to many new players, who want to believe that their actions within the game have some sort of effect in the real world.

The Sims Online Free Trial Becomes Permanent Free Play

So Second Life grew, and the Sims Online - an online version of the most popular games of all time - sank into obscurity. A few faithful users stuck with it, but most players left it well alone, instead finding newer games with more interesting and innovative features. That, however, is about to change. Luc Barthelet announced in March 2007 that he is re-involving himself in the game. The forums have been consulted for the first time in years, and the Sims Online world is in for a shake-up.

One of the first moves that EA are making is to created new cities for players to explore. They are also changing the logo, and have promised to close the loopholes that allow for the money cheats. Registration will be greatly simplified, and the free trial will become, soon, permanent free play. Of course there will be limitations: only one choice of city for non-payers; only one avatar; less starting money. Nonetheless, this is a real show of commitment by EA, and will no doubt draw in many new players. New players, paying or not, will breathe life back into the game, and that's got to be a good thing for EA, whose image was looking a bit tarnished by its failure.

So why now? Well, the Sims 3 is due to be released in (possibly) 2008, which might have something to do with it. Nobody wants a dead goose on display when they're trying to build hype for their new product, and it's going to take a while for the Sims Online to get back on track. This is a very promising (re-) start, though, and a very exciting time to get into the world of the Sims Online. New features such as AvatarBook, which works much like Facebook, will help to provoke interest, and could pull in a very large audience indeed. Few people who have played the Sims games haven't wondered what it would be like to play with other people, but most have been put off by bad reviews or friends' advice. Now that's all set to change, and the community can only get stronger and stronger. The question, then, is not why EA are making these changes now, but why they didn't make them before. Now we can only play and wait, and hope this time EA gets it right.

The Sims Online Free Trial Becomes Permanent Free Play
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Free FBI Criminal Background Checks Online - Government Records Lookups

When it comes to many high profile businesses, the standard background check is not enough. This leaves a company having to perform an FBI background check on their prospective employees. The reason for this may vary, but many companies like those that deal in investment securities or even armored car and transport companies will require the full-fledged check. Furthermore if you ever plan on going for a government contract, you will need to ensure that all of your employees can be trusted by putting them under a check.

Unlike a standard one which just checks with the national criminal records database, an FBI check goes a lot further. In this type of search, the person's school records as well as anything that constitutes as someone's "permanent record" will show up. In many cases, all a prospective employee has to do is to lie about a past residence and then you end up with an incomplete search since each jurisdiction is required to maintain their portion of the database whereas the FBI's database is already compiled and complete. This is the most up to date criminal record database and if your company has to deal with people's personal information or even large sums of cash, then chances are that you too will need to start running an record search on all of you prospective applicants.

These searches can also be related to the equivalent of having the prospective employee undergo a security clearance. While most people think that the government security clearance is just something for spies, this is untrue as many companies no utilize this type of search.

Free FBI Criminal Background Checks Online - Government Records Lookups

If you are worried that the information you are receiving from a standard record search is incomplete, then chances are that the Federal record check is what your company needs to start utilizing. While this type of search is obviously more expensive, it is also a lot more comprehensive than any other currently available.

Make sure that your next employee is a good choice for your company by having them undergo a Government record lookup today rather than the standard criminal background check. You will be amazed at the amount of information that is available through this type of background check.

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Doing a background check is a very wise decision. Visit the resources above to learn more about doing a Free FBI background check and Government records lookup do it now!

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College Degree Costs - Online Degrees vs Traditional Degrees

Affordable college education is still possible in both online format and traditional campus based education. Tuition at an online degree education program is often similar to that of a traditional campus based college or university. The average cost of tuition, fees, books and supplies at a public four-year college or university is ,000. At a private school these cost can increase to ,000.

Tuition for the same education through a four-year online program will be similar. However, at a traditional campus based college or university the additional cost of room and board, and transportation can push the costs of a four-year education at a public school to ,000 and at a private school to 0,000!

It is easy to see the financial advantage of attending an online program vs a traditional campus based program. But are you getting what you are paying for?

College Degree Costs - Online Degrees vs Traditional Degrees

According to the Sloan Consortium, which monitors online education, 62% of academic advisors believe an online degree to be as good as, or better than a traditional education. This percentage continues to rise each year, as more and more students take advantage of an online college education program. Approximately 3.2 million students are currently earning their degree through online degree programs.

Since most online students, currently are older with job and family obligations, it is clear that reducing cost for obtaining an education are of utmost importance. An online degree program is a clear winner.

As high school students are increasingly exposed to online courses the future for online degree programs continues to look bright. Many will simply slide into an online college degree program.

Online websites will give you more information about the types of programs and courses that are available, financial information and application forms. Why don't you find out more?

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Just click on the following link to get online college degree information It's fast, it's free, and you're under no obligation. You can get information about many types of online bachelors degree programs from many colleges. They also offer information about programs and schools that offer distance learning online masters degree programs

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