Often times when we think of ecommerce, we think of all the complexities that could be involved. Shopping carts, merchant accounts, payment gateways, integration between systems, auto-responders and virtual terminals are just a few of the aspects of ecommerce that could give you a migraine. The ecommerce maze is certainly confusing enough to cause some extremely busy entrepreneurs to shy away from internet sales altogether.

Years ago, there were very few options for selling your wares via the internet. You had to have good credit to get a merchant account. The merchant account funds were funneled through a business checking account and there were hefty fees associated with each account. Some banks even imposed charges for every transaction on a business checking account! There were also merchant fees that were duplicated with the necessity to have a payment gateway and a payment processor to make your system work. Even with zero sales for the month, you could easily spend nearly two hundred dollars per month for the gate way fee, the statement fee, the recurring billing fee, the web hosting fee plus a shopping cart fee. On top of the fixed fees, you still had to pay a percentage of each sale. Fortunately, in recent years, things have become a whole lot simpler (and cheaper).

If you are looking to accept payments as an individual, a small business, community group or association, you may want to start out by investigating one of the “easy ecommerce” options that are available today. With just a standard checking account and a third-party payment service you could easily take payments via email. You could write a short, informative email and then place a link within your email to allow people to make a payment for your product or service. You might even allow people to donate to your cause or your organization. For a more professional and customer-friendly option, a website, blog or social media page is the way to go. It allows you to provide more information about the items you are accepting payment for. With a website, blog or social media page, you can get as creative or fancy as you like. You could include an informative article, audio or video for visitors to digest before a purchase is made.

By now, you might be thinking, “This is easy. I can do this!” You’re right! Here is a quick overview to show you just how simple it is to do things the “easy ecommerce” way:

1. Determine what you intend to sell and what you will charge for it. Do online research for your market if you are uncertain about the going rate.
2. Write a brief description of 200 words or less for your product or service. Be sure to note the features and benefits of what you have to offer.
3. Using a simple template, create a website page, blog or social media page to house the payment link for your product or service. Remember to also create a “thank you” page for the customer to be taken to after their purchase is complete. If you are selling digital goods, place the download link or other special instructions here.
4. Open a third-party payment processor account. There are many to choose from. Be sure to choose one with the features that are important to you.
5. Add your product or service details to your payment processor account. An email link and/or the html embed code will be created during this stage.
6. Test the link or web code to make sure it looks like you want it to and works just the way it should.
7. Now you’re ready to take that information and add to your website or send out to your list via email.
8. Monitor your sales and fine tune your customer service process. Most of all, enjoy making money the “easy ecommerce” way.

There are still many companies who use the traditional ecommerce/merchant account system. It definitely has its place in the market. However, it’s nice to know that there are lots of options for people who are not quite ready for the traditional route.

More and more companies are realizing the advantages of using the internet to expand their business and create new revenue streams by reaching more customers and broadening their horizons. However it’s not only the existing corporations that are benefiting from cyber sales, as small businesses and new business owners are entering the market rapidly every day. In fact, many people don’t realize that you don’t have to own your own business to start on an online business, and you really don’t need that much of a startup investment either. Average individuals start online businesses everyday from scratch, without owning a corporation, without having a lot of startup capital and without having a single customer. To reach success there are certain steps that must be taken by every potential entrepreneur.

Name your Niche and Brand your Business

Before you start your business you’ll obviously need to know what it is you’ll be selling. You have several main options in this department; you can sell your own products, you can sell other people’s products (affiliate marketing), or you can sell services. Once you have determined what field you’re going to specialize in, find a specific niche within that field. A niche is essentially a topic or genre, within a specific industry. Try to be specific as possible, as the more specific your niche is, the greater chance you have to monopolize it.

Once you have named your niche it is time to bring your idea to life by branding your business. Try to come up with a catchy name that can be used with a .com domain. This means you’ll need to search a domain registrar to find out which domains are available. Make your business name easy to remember and packed with keywords form your niche.

Find an Ecommerce Hosting Plan

Now that you have your business name and a solid game plan, you’ll need to find a hosting company that will meet your needs. Most new business owners can get by with a basic plan, but it is important to realize that you will need to understand the basic features of your ecommerce solution, such as the shopping cart. Therefore it is imperative to have access to reliable customer support at all times. Reliability, support, and features should be your top priorities when considering potential ecommerce web hosts.

Building a Website

Since your website is going to be your online business headquarters, you’ll need it to look professional as possible. Most customers will turn away from your site at the first sign of nonprofessional content. Choosing an ecommerce host that includes a site builder with it’s plan is a good start. Using online templates will also improve the appearance of your site, and outsourcing work is perhaps the easiest and most efficient way to get a professional site built in the least amount of time.

Marketing Your Business

Once you have all of the preliminary steps complete, it is time to make some money. Start submitting videos about your site to video sites such as YouTube, and take advantage of social bookmarking sites such as Digg. Once you have a little bit of no-SEO traffic coming in, then focus on search engine optimization. Exchange links with other site owners in your niche, setup sub-domains with targeted keywords, and don’t quit until you find a formula that works for you.

Ecommerce has its ups and downs just like most other things in life. Knowing the ropes will help ensure that you experience more ups than downs when it comes to your ecommerce endeavors. Let’s take a look at a few common problems experienced by those who sell products and services via the internet:

1. Customers can’t figure out how to pay— Is your checkout process confusing or complicated? Low-cost website hosting plans sometimes come with limitations that are hard for the not-so-tech-savvy entrepreneur to overcome. These limitations sometimes contribute to a poor buyer checkout process. As one frustrated buyer puts it, “I finally gave up on contributing to my favorite charity online because it’s just too hard to give them money!” If your website technology limits you, do a simple fix like placing a shopping cart icon or a “buy” link on essential pages. You could also include a text box or quick audio or video that walks a visitor through the buying process.
2. Your buying process is too long. A checkout process that seems to take forever is as disastrous as one that confuses the buyer. Visitors expect to fully complete the checkout process within one to two minutes of their start time. If your checkout process is more like an inquisition, you’re bound to have more visitors who abort the buying process than those who complete it. The person who is buying a one-time gift may not want to become a “member” or receive emails from you for the next two years. Give them the quick checkout option. If they love what you offer, they’ll be back.
3. Your shopping cart doesn’t provide enough payment options. You could be losing sales if you only allow your buyers to pay one way. Study the buying trends of your market so that you’ll know what buying terms and methods suit them best. It won’t benefit you very much to limit your payment method to American Express cards if you serve a market that primarily uses Visa and MasterCard debit cards. You’re better off providing your visitors with more than one way to complete their order.
4. Your purchase confirmation process is generic or incomplete. Your “thank you” page or confirmation email should be detailed enough that the buyer will not feel the need to call you right away. You will also want to do everything you can to eliminate the fear that they have just become a victim of fraud. It’s easy to know if you’ve made this mistake. Take a look at the number of canceled or disputed transactions you have.  Disputes from unhappy customers could jeopardize your status with your payment processor. An easy ecommerce rule to remember is “tell them what they’re buying and then tell them what they bought.” This way you can be certain that they understand what they get for the money. If you are selling a seminar or digital media, be sure to provide additional details that clearly explain what the buyer can expect or will want to do next.
5. Broken links – Nobody likes to click on a link and have it go nowhere. Worse yet is the experience of clicking on a link and being taken to the wrong place. Take a moment to test and then re-test every page or link you publish. If you communicate via email frequently, set up a test account on every major email account client so that you have a chance to see what your list sees. An email that looks great on Cox may not look so good to an AOL recipient. Knowing this in advance will allow you to choose a format that works well for all email clients.

The world of ecommerce can be fun and exciting when you know what to do. Making the time to take note of what is working for the ecommerce veterans in your industry, may be just what you need to keep your head in the game

E-commerce web hosting solutions are designed specifically for the online business owner and most of them will be able to accommodate your site’s needs. However, there are some very basic differences between each plan, and these differences need to be scrutinized carefully. Without knowing the importance of each feature, it can be difficult to prioritize and make a decision based on performance. Instead, most customers choose their ecommerce hosting plan based on price and popularity.

Basing your decision on these factors is a poor decision, because in the need you still don’t know what you’re paying for. Ecommerce hosting solutions are supposed to be all-inclusive packages that help your online business thrive, yet many of them are basic packages that only provide frustration and a long learning curve.

Although the popularity of a web hosting company is a good indicator of it’s service, basing your decision solely on price and popularity will almost always result in mishap, and in the end the performance of your hosting endeavors will suffer. In the world of ecommerce hosting, there are several main attributes that comprise the performance of a particular plan: Reliability, Features, and Cost Effectiveness.

Reliability

Perhaps the most important attribute an ecommerce hosting company can have is the reliability and support it provides. Without proper support you could find yourself dealing with confusing dilemmas on your own. This can result in loss of time and money, and even downtime for your website. When it comes to testing the reliability of a web hosting company, you should take the initiative yourself, rather than relying on the opinion of others. Make a few phone calls to the customer service department and ask a few questions. This way you can see how long it takes them to address your issues, how friendly they are, and how knowledgeable their service representatives are.

Some companies may require you to have an account with them before they provide customer service, however you can always make an inquiry about their services, which will serve the same purpose. Only once you’ve tested the customer service for yourself should you rely on the opinions of others. Customer reviews on forums may be helpful, but you don;t want to base your decision solely on this information.

Features

All good ecommerce hosting plans should include a variety of features that make your job as an online business owner easier. Although there are many features to consider, the only one that should be noted here is the shopping cart. Shopping carts make the shopping experience more convenient for your customers, which ultimately translates into more sales and a greater return on your investment. Without a convenient shopping experience, many of your customers will leave your site and find another online business to spend their hard earned money with.

Cost Effectiveness

While price should not be a deciding factor, you also want to make sure you aren’t overpaying for a solution that may prove to be incapable in the long term. Be sure to compare the cost effectiveness of each ecommerce solution before making your decision. If you notice that a particular company is charging more than another, then make sure you understand why the price is higher. If there is no logical explanation for the raise in price, then they may be overcharging you, which is a good indicator that they are not a trustworthy business.

Every online business needs a good shopping cart to facilitate all of their e-commerce transactions. Most of the time the products or services you sell will not be the deciding factor in regards to the success of your business. Rather the methods in which you market and distribute those products and services is what will ultimately determine the productivity of your business. A good shopping cart will enhance your customer’s overall experience and will prompt them to return for more convenient e-shopping at a later date. A poor shopping cart solution will only give the customer frustration and dis-satisfaction, prompting them to seek the very same products and services you offer elsewhere. When considering an e-commerce hosting service, it is best to look for the following qualities in an online shopping cart.

Up-Selling Capabilities

If you have worked in the restaurant or sales industry in the past, then you are probably familiar with the concept of up-selling. Up-selling is the practice of offering additional products or services to a customer based on their original search criteria or purchases. For example, if an individual is about to purchase an MP3 player, then an appropriate up-sell would be to recommend a set of headphones to go with the MP3 player. Many shopping carts offer this kind of feature in a n automated fashion, allowing the webmaster to create groups of related products that can be sold together. These groups of products are then used to create recommendations for the customer at checkout time. This kind of feature will not only enhance the convenience of your customer’s shopping experience, but it will also increase your sales revenue as well!

User Reviews

Most customer’s are more inclined to buy a product or service when they see that previous customer’s have been satisfied with it in the past. Customer confidence is a crucial aspect in encouraging the sales of your products, and there is no better way to establish trust than through genuine user reviews. A good shopping cart will allow your customer’s to view reviews of the product they are purchasing, thereby prompting them to complete the sale. It is also optimal to have a shopping cart that encourages new customers to leave their own reviews.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization is a crucial aspect in the promotion of any online business. Quality content and keyword density is the most common method of  search engine rankings, however the importance of a good shopping cart should not be overlooked. A good shopping cart will automatically create keyword rich URL’s for you products or services, thereby enhancing your site’s search engine optimization.

Coupons

Most people who shop online are looking for the best prices available. There are many sites online that are solely devoted to offering coupons for products and services. If you are selling one of these products and services then it is crucial that your site have a shopping cart with coupon capabilities. There is no telling how much business you may lose by bot allowing your customer’s to use coupons.

Open-source software has really made a name for itself in recent times, now prevalent in the form of multimedia players, operating systems and web applications.  In fact, companies around the world are leveraging this type of software to maintain their day to day business operations.  Open-source programs can suite a variety of needs across a broad range of industries and market segments.  One area this software has truly settled into is e-commerce, in particularly, the shopping cart.

Open-source shopping cart software offers a cost effective alternative to traditional commercial solutions.  Perhaps the biggest draw to these programs is that they provide the online merchant with the ability to customize the software to satisfy the unique requirements of their business.  This is all made possible active communities that make templates, modules and various other components widely available in addition to their continuous efforts to enhance the project.

What to Look for

When shopping for any software, open-source or proprietary, it is important for merchants to thoroughly research and evaluate the product before sending it into deployment.  Because there is no single solution that works for every store, it is crucial to select a cart based on individual needs.   With that said, here some critical features you want to look for in an open-source product:

Product Capacity - An online store owner must be able to determine limitations for their product capacity.  For instance, if you have a catalog compromised of more than 500 products but the shopping cart only supports 200, you should know right then and there that the software cannot suit your requirements.  The good thing is that most open-source shopping carts offer support for an unlimited number of products.

System Performance – A lagging, sluggish online store is one of the fastest ways to send your customers surfing to the competition.  For this reason, you need to perform due diligence to make sure your shopping cart delivers an optimal performance.  A lot of this depends on server configuration, but the software itself should definitely be evaluated for performance before you make the final decision.

Community Support – An open-source shopping cart usually comes with no official form of technical support or customer service, which essentially means that there is no hotline to call up whenever you experience problems.  Therefore, you need to find a piece of software that is backed by a strong community of developers and users who solidly back the project.  While the quality of support can never be guaranteed, it is still a good idea to check online in the appropriate forums to access the atmosphere and measure how long it takes for users to generate a response.

Payment Gateway Compatibility – If you want to be able to accept and process credit and debit card payments, then you will need an open-source solution that supports third-party payment gateways.  Although this needs to be considered in your research, it should be comforting to know that many open-source shopping carts are compatible with the major payment gateway service providers.

A quick Google search online for e-commerce solutions will garner a huge number of software solutions available for free or commercial use.  Among the free solutions available, and slowly losing its initial popularity, is osCommerce.  osCommerce is an extensive and quite possibly one of the most thorough out-of-the-box pieces of software you can find.  However, as all-encompassing as it may be, it is in severe need of a major overhaul to place it at the same level as its peers.

How it all began

osCommerce got its start in March of 2000.  Created by Harald Ponce de Leon and originally called “The Exchange Project”, osCommerce quickly began to grow in both initial popularity and capabilities.  The software is created with PHP and uses MySQL for its database core.  It can be installed on any server that utilizes these two pieces of programming.  For the past nine years, the program has been in the development stage.  Officially, as of March 2009, osCommerce released its production ready alpha product.  This release, Merchant V 3.0, includes a template system, an object-oriented backend and the ability to define the administration user name and password upon installation.  To date, the osCommerce site claims over 12,000 online stores currently using their product.

The current problems

While it is a very good and all-encompassing shopping cart program, osCommerce is not without its issues.  Installation of the program by a novice may prove to be a daunting task as a basic knowledge of MySQL as well as other web server technologies should be at the ready.  The default SSL option is initially and automatically set to “no” which is practically an open door to nefarious entities trying to gather secure information on customers.  Adding new shopping cart products is no simple task either – there are several options and features that need to be dealt with before adding in a new product, quite possibly the quickest way to creating a lot of confusion.  When you do have the program installed and your cart up and running with all of its products, adding any additional modules or templating takes quite a bit of work and may end up breaking the core of the program.  Not to mention the creators of the software do explicitly state that additions to the core are not always endorsed.

One of the best ways to avoid a lot of this hassle is to either have a seasoned osCommerce professional install the program for you or, if your web host has this option, have it installed by your hosting company.

Conclusion

If you are in need of a shopping cart program that is capable of being search engine optimized, fully featured and very robust, osCommerce is a good choice.  However, it still needs quite a bit of work in as far as installation and add-on capabilities before it can be considered a simple ecommerce program of choice.  OsCommerce is ideal for the knowledgeable and seasoned web developer, not for the novice nor the faint of heart.

There is a big difference between designing a website for visitors merely seeking news or general content and one geared towards selling items online.  In the end, it is the design of the site that determines the conversion rate entailing how many visitors are converted into customers.  When customers and money are involved, you need to give additional consideration to the design of your website.  Constructing it in the same manner as the typical informational site simply will not do.

What’s in a Good Site Design?

An e-commerce site with a good design and strong marketing capabilities is established through a variety of complimenting elements.  It consists of a quality shopping cart, comprehensive payment options, and a level of security that makes the customers feel safe.  If the consumer does not feel comfortable when visiting your site, the chances of getting them to buy something are slim to none.  The only way an e-commerce site can be successful is by having a structure in place that turns casual browsers into paying customers.  Therefore, you should focus your design on an environment that comforts potential customers and provides them with enjoyable shopping experience.  This cannot be stressed enough because no customer, not even you, wants to deal with unnecessary hassles when trying to shop online.  A site that offers great security, convenient payment options, a simple navigation and easy accessibility has a much better chance of succeeding than one lacking these elements.

When creating an e-commerce site, you or your web designer should put a special focus on the following areas:

Effective Branding Message

To make it as an online business owner, it is critical that you gain the trust of potential customers and provide them with a sense of security and credibility when browsing your site.  Accomplishing this is much easier when your site has been designed with branding in mind.  A well branded site is one that has good logos, mottos, slogans and a solid foundation that exudes professionalism.

Comprehensive and Functional Shopping Cart

The shopping cart is an e-commerce feature you must have in order to sell products and services online.  The system you want is designed with the best invoicing and inventory management practices, multiple shipping and payment options, as well as the ability to securely implement reliable payment gateway solutions.  If you really want to enhance the customer experience, obtain a shopping cart that offers user-friendliness and ease of use.

Convincing Security and Safety

The speed, simplicity and mere convenience has made e-commerce a very prosperous industry.  Any consumer can purchase virtually anything their heart desires online by using a credit or debit card.  What you need to focus on is making sure these transactions are handled securely.  To ensure the safety of customers and the integrity of your business, make it a priority to invest in a security solution that protects sensitive information when it is traveling over the internet or residing on a server.  Fraud and identity theft are scary realities that could send your business plummeting should the security of your site be compromised.

Choosing a shopping cart for your e-commerce website is no easy task by any means.  This is mainly because there are so many carts available on the market and so much to consider outside of the obvious.  Because there are not as many editorial reviews as one would like, you have to work a little harder in order to find a program that comfortably suits the needs of your business.  It can be a long and frustrating road, but one made much easier when following these simple steps:

1.) Narrow Down Your Options

There are enough shopping cart applications out there to make your head spin.  The truth is, there is no way you can evaluate hundreds of carts so why even waste your time?   Therefore, your best option would be to find a few programs that fit into your price range, offers the features your online store requires, and compare them to determine which is best for your needs.  This approach will help you save time and eliminate unqualified options in the process.  With so many open-source solutions on the market, you may even decide to limit your choices to free shopping carts.

2.) Determine What is Important

Understanding exactly what your online store needs to be successful is an important factor in finding a quality shopping cart.  This is another great way to narrow down your options because if certain software does not meet your requirements, you can instantly rule out those choices and move on to the next.  Once you determine what it is your business requires, you might want to contact the software provider to find out more about how their product can aid in your e-commerce efforts.  There are a number vendors that offer demo versions of their software so you can learn exactly how they work and how they can benefit your business site.  This is something you may want to consider as it can make your search for a solution much easier.

3.) Access the Support

Support is another important aspect goes into choosing a shopping cart, but so many users overlook it.  Before purchasing the software, you can test the support by sending the vendor an email to gauge their response.  When performing this test, play close attention to how fast your questions are answered and the method that was used to give the response.  For instance, did you get a response from a real person or an automated response that directed you to some other resource?   Support is very critical but if you choose a free open-source application, it just might be hard to come by.  In this scenario, you will likely be forced to rely on community support, which can be very frustrating and insufficient for your business needs.

4.) Seek out Customer Reviews

While editorial reviews are limited, customer reviews are more abundant and actually make a better way to evaluate a shopping cart program.  Past and existing users often provide golden insight by letting you know the advantages and disadvantages of a particular product.  Should you run across a cart that has a lot of negative reviews, you may decide to scratch that one off your list and take a closer at the more reliable options.  While you do not want to put all of your faith in customer feedback, it can point you in the right direction of the best shopping cart for your business.

There are many important factors that go into creating an online store.  While the process can seem difficult and intimidating, getting your e-commerce site up and running is as simple as four easy steps.

1.) Build Your Site

Obviously, the first step calls for you to build your e-commerce website.  You essentially have two options here: hire an expert site designer or rely on an easy to use site building utility.  If you do not possess the required skills, going with a professional designer would often be most beneficial.  When taking this route, you can get the designer to build a unique site through templates that are specially customized to meet your specific preference or needs.  For example, they can incorporate features like Flash or use the programming technologies you feel are best suited for your site.  If you do possess general computing skills, using a site builder would definitely be the more cost effective route.  Tools like RV Site Builder and Site Studio are designed with novice users in mind, allowing even the inexperienced webmaster to create a website and have it online in a relatively short amount of time.

2.) Create Your Storefront

Your work is not done after creating your website because the storefront must be set up as well.   Without this step, potential customers will not have a way to browse your site, choose the items they want to buy and purchase them.  What you need for this step is an e-commerce solution that allows customers to bring their desired items to the virtual cash register.  This can be done with a shopping cart.  These type of programs are widely available and range from free open-source applications to premium products.  Most web hosts provide a multitude of open-source shopping carts or at least offer support for them.  Whatever you choose, make sure it is sufficient for the needs of both you and your customers.

3.) Secure Payment Processing Options

The shopping cart aids in helping make purchases, but you will also require a method that facilitates the transferring of those payments to your bank account.  With this step, you have the option of obtaining a merchant account or relying on a third-party processor.  A merchant account is more of an ideal solution but tends to be more difficult to acquire.  Third-party processing services such as PayPal and Click2Pay are easier to obtain but generally have higher transaction fees.  When it comes to payment processing, the solution for you will ultimately depend on your monthly sales volume.  While the latter services usually do not require an SSL certificate, some merchant accounts require that you purchase a certificate separately to secure your transactions.  Because of this, you may want to keep trusted Certificate Authorities like Verisign in mind for your security needs.

4.) Promote Your Store

Once your products and services have been set up in your newly built store, is time to get out there and generate traffic.  There are many ways to go about promoting your site including paid advertisement, networking and search engine optimization.  When traffics starts to roll in, remember to carefully analyze it to find out where visitors are coming from, determine ways to keep the pace, and increase your profits.