Start doing online business using B2B Portals in Six Steps

I registered with a B2B site but what's next?

This is a question many first time users of B2B marketplaces ask themselves. A few expect that the registration itself will bring them a number of new customers. In some cases this might by true! Especially, if you are a seller of some much coveted items. But for rest of us, things are a little trickier! A large B2B marketplace has a lot of suppliers of similar products, who are vying for the attention of potential customers. To establish your company as a favored one among them is not an easy task! However, a little planning and thorough follow up of some basic guidelines improve your chance of getting noticed by buyers significantly.

Below, I outlined some of the basic steps that you should take once you seriously decide to market your products using B2B marketplaces.

1 Write a nice profile

When a prospective client sees your trade lead ad or your product on the marketplace and feels interested, the first thing he does is - checks your company profile out. That's where the buyer gets his initial information about your company. If you have a virtually blank profile with a very little information on your company, doubtful that the potential client will even bother to make a request for quote. That's why you should spend a little time on writing a nice company profile. Here are some aspects that you should emphasize on while writing your company profile.

Start your profile with something noteworthy about your company. This could be the distinct quality that sets your business apart from your competition.

Describe your present customer base, target market and any new products or projects that you are planning to come up with.

Write a bit about your company history. When the company was incorporated? What is the business form?

If you have something to boast about, do it! If you feel that your sales figures are impressive, why not mention them.

Be brief! The profile should not be more than five paragraphs. You don't want your buyers to get bored!

2 Include your logo on your Storefront page

If you would like to separate your company from many other similar vendors, you have to think seriously about creating a brand for your company. Brand is the distinctive pattern of your business operation. It portrays the nature of your service or product, your uniqueness in comparison to others etc. A nice looking logo is a key to branding your company. Customers will remember your company name better if you have a great logo to go with.

3 Add products to your storefront

It is important to have your main products, products that are your primary sale generators, added to your storefront. Products with nice picture and well descriptions capture buyers attention more than any thing else. After all the reason that the buyers are on your page is to look for the products that they need.

New Great Storefront Services

Whether you are a small enterprise, which sells goods and services locally, or you are a medium to large company with global reach, Rusbiz is planning to introduce great storefront services with complete corporate site to match your every business need. Features include:

Basic

Single page storefront

10 products in E-catalog

Sales through e-marketplace

RFQ and Quotation

Negotiations

Internal Messaging Service

Many other features

Available now and it's free!

Enterprise

10 different templates to build multiple-page storefront

100 products in E-catalog

Sales through e-marketplace

RFQ and Quotation

Negotiations

Purchase Orders

Invoices

Tax Calculation

Shipment tracking

Internal Messaging Service

Merchant Account

Many other features

Coming soon!

Corporate

10 different templates to build multiple-page storefront

1000 products in E-catalog

Sales through e-marketplace

RFQ and Quotation

Negotiation

Purchase Orders

Invoices

Tax Calculation

Shipment tracking

Internal Messaging Service

Merchant Account

Many other features

Coming soon!

4 Make nice pictures of your products

Nothing can turn off a prospective buyer than a hazy or blur picture of the product that he intends to buy from you. If your competitor's product with exactly same features has nicer picture, guess who has a better chance to get the business? Spend some money and take professional pictures of your products. Make sure that you followed all the instructions of the Portal before uploading the pictures.

5 Post your products for sale on the marketplace

Product visibility is the name of the game! Don't confine yourself just by adding products to E-catalog and your Storefront. Post products for sale on the E-marketplace.

There are numbers of great advantages of posting products on E-marketplaces:

Frequent browsers of marketplace can see your products

Buyers can compare your products with others on marketplace

Buyers can take an immediate buying decision and make an instant Purchase Order.

6 Post trade leads

For many not-so-savvy users of B2B sites it's a bit complicated to make buys and sales through marketplaces. They prefer to get trade leads from the site and make contacts with buyers or sellers by fax, phone or just emails. Posting trade leads is a great marketing method to tap new territories. Don't be disappointed if you do not get immediate feedbacks. Repeat trade leads at least once in a month. Since normally a portal constantly acquires new members, in order to expose the leads to bigger audience, it is worthwhile to post trade leads frequently.

About The Author

Nowshade Kabir, Ph.D., is the founder, primary developer and present CEO, of Rusbiz.com, a global business to business e-commerce portal with feature like storefronts, aggregated catalog, e-marketplace, trade leads, internal messaging system supply chain solutions, etc. With a doctorate in Information Technology, Dr. Kabir has worked an advisor to government projects and has over 12 years experience in International Trade. An author of many B2B and business related articles; he publishes a bi-weekly E-zine for online business community. You can subscribe to his newsletter free of charge from http://www.rusbiz.com.

nowshade@rusbiz.com

---

5 Tips for Online Shopping

Shopping online has become more and more popular in America... Read More

How to Get Free Internet Merchant Accounts

This article will show small businesses how to get free... Read More

Pitfalls of Doing Big International Brokerage Business Online

Nothing has helped international brokerage business more than the internet:... Read More

Why This Is The Perfect Time To Start Charging For Website Subscriptions

If you're a writer, researcher, subject matter expert, enthusiastic hobbyist,... Read More

What Does It Take to Make Money Online?

What a loaded question! Let's narrow that down a bit... Read More

Business Online ? Blind Hunt

Do you sell something online? Do you have a business... Read More

Intranet Project Names - Some Ideas

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose... Read More

Using Drop Shipping for E-commerce

Thanks to the ubiquity of the internet, online virtual businesses... Read More

Leveraging Open Source Technology

Open Source applications can bring unique value to business owners.... Read More

Is ECommerce Right for Our Business?

If your business features products or services for sale, undoubtedly... Read More

7 Suggestions for an i-Mom Friendly Web Site (e-commerce news and statistics)

The Internet began as a male dominated medium, but those... Read More

The Top 10 E-Commerce Ways to Follow up with Clients - Part 2

Did you know that 80% of all sales are made... Read More

Evaluating Vendors of Ecommerce Fulfillment Services

Once your website has secured an order, you have to... Read More

Ecommerce Marketing Plan

Concept of ServiceThe current work deals with marketing offer of... Read More

Retirement Signature Frames ? The Perfect Retirement Gift!

When most people think of a retirement gift, they think... Read More

Get Out of The Way

Get out of the way and make it easy for... Read More

Developing a Winning e-Commerce Strategy

One bright spot on the economic horizons around the world... Read More

Online Credit Card Processing - How to Accept Credit Cards - Ecommerce 101

Back in 1998 (through 2000 or so), I worked for... Read More

Is Your Business Afraid of the Internet?

My Business is Afraid of the InternetBill Gates, CEO of... Read More

Eleven Things You Must Know About A Drop Shipping Directory And Its Company

1. Balance - You want to find a directory rich... Read More

Do Your Online Brokerage Business With Zero Down

If you have little or no capital but you want... Read More

The Top 10 E-Commerce Ways to Follow up with Clients - Part 1

Did you know that 80% of all sales are made... Read More

Say Something Worth Talking About

I recently published a short e-book called 'One Thing I... Read More

Expand Your Local Business Through the Internet

To obtain more local customers for your business, consider expanding... Read More

Simple Steps to Start a Profitable Member Only, Subscription Web Site

Having a successful member only, paid membership site is one... Read More

Increasing E-commerce Website Sales

With consumers purchasing billions of dollars of merchandise online each... Read More

Web Store - Why Do You Need One?

Internet has opened a new era of business opportunities. Each... Read More

Why Ecommerce is Not Ready for My Daughter or Me

As the mother of a teenage clothing fanatic I'm often... Read More

Maximize Your Froogling for Increased Website Profits

Are you familiar with Froogle? If you are an online... Read More

Working With Drop Shippers

Drop Shippers, the manufacturers or distributors who are willing to... Read More

Something new in e-commerce: the Echo System Build

How four partners build and manage an exclusive art posters... Read More

How e-business and e-Marketing are Changing

Internet now days became a real marketplace and many many... Read More

How to Receive Payments for Your Online Sales

Once you decide which products you are planning to sell... Read More