I have several products services and information types I would like to bring to market. I have experience in direct marketing and direct sales and wish only to transform my sales abilities to a web based [platform with minimal risk and less investment? Share your secrets with me please?
Depends what route you want to take.
If you want to handle the business side of it yourself you can have your own website built.
It would be best to find a programmer who will build you something on a cms called wordpress or joomla (you may or may not have heard of it).
They are “content management systems” and basically they set up the website and you can manage the website through the CMS. These are expensive, but a LOT cheaper than building a website from scratch because there is no need for complex code to allow you to update it, anyone can learn how to use joomla or wordpress. CMS systems also have plugins for you to sell products and service and usually accept payment through credit card, they process the payments and invoices and etc.
For example, out of highschool I wrote/produced music for singers. I wanted to take it to the web so I had a designer make me a website where I could sell my music, he created it on a cms system all I had to do was login to the back end and upload my music- set a price. It looked like a professional complex site from the front but simple from the back. Depending on how much capabilities you want/how many pages/ and how much you want to sell, This could cost anywhere from 600-5,000. Again, investment out to get money in. Having a website is great because it builds your brand but it costs a lot.
You can ALSO sell products and services through a 3rd party. This is anything like EBAY, there’s a ton of 3rd party sites out there to use. There are advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is they already have somewhat of a customer base and do a bit of the marketing for you. For example I couldn’t sell my ipad by creating a website for it, but I could sell it on EBAY because ebay already has a brand and does marketing, the customers are there already. Another example, I have a friend who teached web design, didn’t want to start a website so he created a course on a website called UDEMY.COM and made 4 grand in one night when they featured his course. Just try googling “sell my products online” or “Teach a course online” etc. Again, generally 3rd parties take a cut of your action and you’re furthering their business by making them money and bringing customers.
I’d have to know more of your situation to make a more accurate suggestion but that’s my take on your question. If you need more info message me.