StoresOnline is a popular Internet training organization that teaches folks how to market their products and services on the Internet.

StoresOnline has been around almost a decade now. The company tours the United States putting on seminars. The first free session was very informative and came with a sack lunch served at the end of the presentation.

This was probably to ensure most people stuck around until the end as I believe that many people would have left following the meal otherwise. I attended the full weekend session which was more elaborate and featured a very nice continental breakfast on both Saturday and Sunday mornings.

The speakers for StoresOnline were very good and some were even successful online marketers. StoresOnline offered several packages; the minimum option was to purchase three web sites. The package included access to their site builder software and ongoing technical support.

Merchant accounts for accepting credit cards were available and signing up was very easy. No credit checks were necessary and you were almost guaranteed approval.

The total cost at the time was around $2,000 (including interest charges if you chose to finance over a two year period). After purchasing the package I did some research and found some negative comments online regarding StoresOnline but I decided to ignore these comments, keeping in mind several of the speakers had shown proof of their success online.

Almost immediately, I went to work building my first website, got it up without much difficulty, but made no sales whatsoever.

This was disappointing because I was reading and following all of the marketing information available to me through this organization. I just couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong.

The most disappointing things I found working with StoresOnline, in the beginning, were poor customer service in regard to returning phone calls and the lack of knowledge of some of the people who did the online help chats.

I also did not like the fact that my domain name did not appear in the address bar, it was always attached to my stores online number. When I inquire about changing it, I was told that could be done, but I needed to submit papers to technical support and it could take up to 3 weeks.

Over the past two plus years StoresOnline has improved and I have recently found that they are very good about returning calls within 24 hours and sometimes even sooner. The online chat staff seems to be more knowledgeable as well.

The cost of hosting with StoresOnline (including the shopping cart) probably varies depending upon your contract but the last I knew it was about $150 for the first year you have your site active and then it goes up after that; my cost is about $25/month after the first year of hosting per site.

Since you can find hosting a lot cheaper elsewhere I looking around for a better hosting rates. Keep in mind though that this cost does include a shopping cart which is usually extra with other companies, so you’ll need to do the math.

StoresOnline gives you the ability to create web pages and accept credit cards through their affiliations with a merchant account company but they do not advertise your site for you. Advertising tips can be found in the members only section of the StoresOnline site. I tried some of these recommendations and found that most didn\’t work for me. StoresOnline appears to be in the business of providing online options for your business more than actually helping you start a business online.