A good business choice is eCommerce. eCommerce continues to grow, regardless of the state of the economy. It's an excellent way to make extra cash, and possibly support yourself if you're good at it.
What will you sell for products? Select a product that you're knowledgeable about. You might want to sell craft materials online if you are knowledgeable about arts and crafts for example.
Getting things established.
1. Picking a good domain name is absolutely essential.
(a) stay away from domain names with hyphens, since users won't remember the hyphen and end up at a different website.
(b) Opt for a .com "TLD" whenever that is a possibility. In case the .com is already in use, if you select the .net or .biz form, users may habitually enter the .com and end up at a competitor's website.
2. You have to have hosting. The server that your website is published to is called a "host" or "Web host". Don't be careless about the hosting company you select. There are a lot of discount services available. But as with anything in life, there is no free lunch. Also, if you want people to be able pay on your site, directly, your host must let you have a dedicated IP address and you will need to buy an SSL certificate.
3. It will be necessary to get eCommerce software ("shopping cart" software). A top quality brand is OSCommerce. It's not difficult to learn, and it is free. OSCommerce offers themes (also known as skins or templates). Another easy to learn and free option is ZenCart. Zen Cart (and their loyal users) also offers many themes. A PHP programmer will be necessary to make any big changes to either of these. In addition, if you need a very robust eCommerce package, you may have to hire a programmer for installation and configuration of the more powerful OSCommerce packages. This means potentially a very big outlay of money. And most of these large "shopping cart" programs cannot work with a shared hosting plan, because there is an extensive server resource requirement, so you can expect to may more for dedicated or VPS hosting
4. The requirements for accepting payment. You will need a payment gateway and a "merchant" account. It is really not feasible to operate an eCommerce site unless you will accept credit cards. In the event that you obtain (or already have) a merchant account, you need to be sure your bank accepts web-based credit card payments. While the majority will, there are those that won't.
Would you like to avoid the hassle of a merchant account and payment gateway? It is possible to solve all these issues. Paypal really simplifies this. They furnish the payment gateway and merchant account all in one, take care of all the security. 2Checkout is a combined gateway that takes care of transactions at their own secure website. Regardless of the option you select -- DIY with merchant account and gateway, or the Paypal route -- it will be necessary to pay out a fraction of your sales price. Generally speaking, PayPal costs a bit more. In case your market can't permit anything over a minimal markup, then it will be up to you to take care of the legwork. Authorize.net makes a fine gateway, with every shopping cart I've come across, including plug-ins for this site - but he checkout is performed directly on your site, so SSL will be required.
What will you sell for products? Select a product that you're knowledgeable about. You might want to sell craft materials online if you are knowledgeable about arts and crafts for example.
Getting things established.
1. Picking a good domain name is absolutely essential.
(a) stay away from domain names with hyphens, since users won't remember the hyphen and end up at a different website.
(b) Opt for a .com "TLD" whenever that is a possibility. In case the .com is already in use, if you select the .net or .biz form, users may habitually enter the .com and end up at a competitor's website.
2. You have to have hosting. The server that your website is published to is called a "host" or "Web host". Don't be careless about the hosting company you select. There are a lot of discount services available. But as with anything in life, there is no free lunch. Also, if you want people to be able pay on your site, directly, your host must let you have a dedicated IP address and you will need to buy an SSL certificate.
3. It will be necessary to get eCommerce software ("shopping cart" software). A top quality brand is OSCommerce. It's not difficult to learn, and it is free. OSCommerce offers themes (also known as skins or templates). Another easy to learn and free option is ZenCart. Zen Cart (and their loyal users) also offers many themes. A PHP programmer will be necessary to make any big changes to either of these. In addition, if you need a very robust eCommerce package, you may have to hire a programmer for installation and configuration of the more powerful OSCommerce packages. This means potentially a very big outlay of money. And most of these large "shopping cart" programs cannot work with a shared hosting plan, because there is an extensive server resource requirement, so you can expect to may more for dedicated or VPS hosting
4. The requirements for accepting payment. You will need a payment gateway and a "merchant" account. It is really not feasible to operate an eCommerce site unless you will accept credit cards. In the event that you obtain (or already have) a merchant account, you need to be sure your bank accepts web-based credit card payments. While the majority will, there are those that won't.
Would you like to avoid the hassle of a merchant account and payment gateway? It is possible to solve all these issues. Paypal really simplifies this. They furnish the payment gateway and merchant account all in one, take care of all the security. 2Checkout is a combined gateway that takes care of transactions at their own secure website. Regardless of the option you select -- DIY with merchant account and gateway, or the Paypal route -- it will be necessary to pay out a fraction of your sales price. Generally speaking, PayPal costs a bit more. In case your market can't permit anything over a minimal markup, then it will be up to you to take care of the legwork. Authorize.net makes a fine gateway, with every shopping cart I've come across, including plug-ins for this site - but he checkout is performed directly on your site, so SSL will be required.
About the Author:
Stephen Grisham, Sr. is a copy writer for InfoServe Media, LLC. If you are looking for a Houston web site designer, look no further. If you need a few changes to your current site, InfoServe Media also offers website maintenance whether we host your site or not.
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