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Storesonline
Storesonline
conducts
tours all across
the United States. I suspect your reading this
because you have either recently attended
a Storesonline presentation/workshop or you
plan on attending one in the near
future.
Well, you’ve landed on the
right page for honest information from someone
who has actually attended both the presentation
and the all-day workshop and purchased the
product.
StoresOnline
is an internet software training
company. They are publicly traded and provide
tools and support to those who are interested
in getting started setting up a business
online.
I recently attended one of 90
minute ‘teaser’ presentations. This was my
second time and my reasons for going were three
fold: 1. get a free lunch, 2. get a free gift
and 3. learn new information,
Since I had already attended
the workshop several years ago, I had no need
or intention of going to another
workshop.
I accomplished two out of my
three goals. From my perspective there wasn’t
any new information but Storesonline had
improved on a couple of things:
-The meal. When I first
attended we were given a ‘grade school’ type
sack lunch consisting of a sandwhich, fruit and
a bag of chips and had to pay $5 for hotel
parking. This time they actually served a nice
plate lunch with real silverware and drink.
Parking was free.
-Gift. Before, there was no
gift. This time, each attendee received an
planner/organizer (not type of the line, but
nonetheless usable).
The presentation was again
very good and of course the goal of it was to
whet your appetite for the workshop, sell you
some affiliate products and to get as many
workshop sign-ups as possible.
Speaking of workshop
sign-ups. This year (2007), Storesonline
charged a $20 reservation fee for reserving
your spot at the workshop. I don’t recall
paying anything when I signed up for the
workshop several years ago. You may of course
bring a friend along at no additional
charge.
Another new thing this year
was that they actually told you the fees for
their package before the workshop. The fee they
quoted was a bottom line, OTO (one time only)
of $2,700. From my experience, this price will
change the day of the workshop.
It will be reduced
significantly if you sign on the dotted line
that day. If not and you want to sign up after
leaving the workshop it will cost you a lot
more, possibly $2,700.
The day of the workshop
Storesonline gave a very impressive
presentation with a lot of opportunity for
attendee interaction.
There was even an opportunity
to walk away with cash in your pocket if you
were smart enough to know the secret to getting
it (most people were not).
Sign up for my
newsletter below and I will send you this
secret via email.
The food on the day of the
workshop included a very nice continental
breakfast and catered sit-down
lunch.
There were a few additional
costs involve (ex: merchant accounts) that were
not mention previously, but Storesonline had
made the arrangements so that if interested,
even the most financially challenged with
credit issues could take advantage of their
offer.
After purchasing the package
(I spent about $2,000) I
reviewed it all and went to work immediately
building my websites.
Over the course of time the
most disappointing things I found working with
StoresOnline, especially in the beginning, were
poor customer service in regard to returning
phone calls and the lack of knowledge by some
of the people who did the online help chats.
This did improve by the end of the two period I
used their software.
Another annoying thing was
it usually took 3-4 weeks for them to
make any changes to my site. I used the store
builder software mostly, but there were a few
instances where I wanted something removed and
could not do it myself.
Advertising tips could be
found in the members only section of the
StoresOnline site. I tried many of these
recommendations and tips but found that most
didn’t work for me. One of the
recommendations was "Links For
Trade."
I signed on with 'Links"
and paid a lot of money for linking, but did
not see any improvement in my search engine
rankings at all. After a couple of years
of this I finally cancelled my account, started
doing other things I learned from online
marketing courses and over time started to
make some real money.
StoresOnline appears to be in
the business of providing online options for
your potential business more than anything
else.
You are still
responsible for learning to market your website
and getting people to purchase your
products. For newbies this can be a
very daunting task.
Overall I think Storesonline
is good for folks who are new to internet
marketing and want to have all the pieces
together in one place ( the website, hosting,
shopping cart, credit card processing,
etc.).
They are far from
the cheapest way to go and you still have to
learn how to get targeted traffic to your
website and then make your site visitors want
to buy your product/service. This is something
I don’t think Storesonline can do for
you.
If you are looking for a
far less expensive home business
alternative Check This Out!
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