Domain & Hosting:
The first thing you need to start selling online is your own website. When it comes to building your first site you have so many options it can be overwhelming right away.
Don’t be tempted to go for a free option (e.g. Wix) because what you don’t own and pay for can be taken away from you overnight. Also free options might start that way but as you progress you will soon need more functionality. That means you will need to pay for upgrades which will cost you more in the long term.
Instead you are best buying your own domain name through a domain name register company . I use Namecheap, Godaddy is a very popular alternative. You also need web hosting. This is where your web site files are uploaded and accessed from online. I have used Hostgator for many years and only had cause to use there support on two occasions and the response was quick and excellent.
A Word of Advice
Though all hosting companies can include your domain name when you purchase hosting it might seem like good value but I recommend you keep them separate because if you ever want to switch hosting companies you might end up paying a premium to transfer the domain name.
A dot com domain name will cost you less than $10 for a year and hosting can start off as low as $5 per month. Make sure you chose a hosting package which allows you to host many domains.
Once you have your domain and hosting account set up, you need to point your domain name to your hosting account. Do this by changing the nameservers within your domain name account. To actually get content onto your website one of the easiest ways is to install a Word Press blog. To do this, log into your hosting account and click the install word press button.
Its no complicated than that.