How difficult is it to start an online marketing website?

[Greatshield17]

I keep having difficulty getting a stable income; it seems like everyday I'm busy yet get very little done.

Today, I'm looking into starting a gig on fiverr writing product descriptions. But this morning I got an idea; I'm thinking of starting a marketing website in which I sell Catholic art from various Catholic artists I loosely know. How difficult would that be, and what would I have to do? I know I would probably have to start an account on Patreon for additional money, and I would also have to hire copywriters to get the word out. But what about the website itself, how many moving parts are involved and how complicated would it be? And how would money be exchanged? I imagine most of the money would go to the artists themselves but how much should I have go to myself for the site?

As my opening remark suggests, I'm obviously struggling to get a stable job; but maybe aiming for something bigger like this is were I need to be.

 

[Greatshield17]

My plan so far, is to set up a platform where Catholic artists can sell their artwork, and I charge rent for them using my platform. Is that the right way to go about it, or is there a better way? If it is the right way, how much do I charge?

How does DeviantArt get money?

 

[VictorR]

These days, there's a lot of "off the shelf" code packages that you can use to set up an e-commerce site.

I see DeviantArt as more of a social community.

For what you're looking at, I think Etsy would be a better comparison / model.

Many e-commerce sites have a mixed model, so there might be:
1) Monthly fee (that might come with a certain number of listings)
2) Listing fee (per item, and for a certain duration of time)
3) Selling fee (usually no more than 5%)

Most likely you can get set up for a couple thousand dollars.

But as a venue things can get messy as you will have to be very careful with where your responsibility lies - and that could be a more expensive part of your proposition. (Having someone develop terms and conditions, registration, insurance, etc.)

Where the big challenge is going to lie is in building momentum. Unless you already have a big network who can get it loaded up with works, you might even have to look at paying people to put up listings to try to get things rolling.

Consider:
What is your value proposition to potential sellers?

What you might want to start with is to do a SWOT analysis of your idea. I think that'll better help you understand where things stand. (SWOT analyses are often done in first year marketing classes, so if you were to sign up for a course at a local college or university, you might even be able to use this business plan as a term project)

 

[Greatshield17]

These days, there's a lot of "off the shelf" code packages that you can use to set up an e-commerce site.

I see DeviantArt as more of a social community.

For what you're looking at, I think Etsy would be a better comparison / model.

Many e-commerce sites have a mixed model, so there might be:
1) Monthly fee (that might come with a certain number of listings)
2) Listing fee (per item, and for a certain duration of time)
3) Selling fee (usually no more than 5%)

Most likely you can get set up for a couple thousand dollars.

But as a venue things can get messy as you will have to be very careful with where your responsibility lies - and that could be a more expensive part of your proposition. (Having someone develop terms and conditions, registration, insurance, etc.)

Where the big challenge is going to lie is in building momentum. Unless you already have a big network who can get it loaded up with works, you might even have to look at paying people to put up listings to try to get things rolling.

Consider:
What is your value proposition to potential sellers?

What you might want to start with is to do a SWOT analysis of your idea. I think that'll better help you understand where things stand. (SWOT analyses are often done in first year marketing classes, so if you were to sign up for a course at a local college or university, you might even be able to use this business plan as a term project)

Thanks, I'm starting to look up SWOT analysis now.