E-Commerce or electronic commerce is typically associated with buying and selling products, services and information on the Internet. More and more companies are utilizing e-commerce to capitalize on this growing marketplace. There are many different ways to develop an effective e-commerce site. Here we will cover how to do it yourself in eight steps.  

Planning an E-Commerce Site
Selecting a Domain
Choosing a Host
Shopping Cart Software
Merchant Account
Website Creation
Products
Site Testing

Planning an E-Commerce Site

Good planning is crucial if a business is going to survive today.  Creating a business plan helps you spot problems before they escalate, provides a method of objectively looking at your business's strengths and weaknesses and helps establish plans to meet your goals. Honestly it is no fun to sit down and plan but if you can eliminate many problems before they come up its worthwhile. Good planning also helps keep your costs down. 

When planning here are some questions to help you get started.

1. What is the main objective of your site?

2. Who are your customers?

3. How big will the site be?

4. What will you be selling?

5. How will your site differentiate itself from its competitors?

6. Do you want any special features?

7. Will your site require regular updates?

8. What is your budget range?

Visit other sites you find appealing and take note of the elements you like. Examples of elements include color, navigation, content and graphics.  Make a list of what you like and don’t like about these sites.

Selecting a Domain

Having a great domain name is important when creating an online business. However, finding a great domain name can be difficult.  Try to keep the name short and easy for people to remember.  Many domain registers offer domain checkers that will suggest variations to the name you select.  I register my domain names with GoDaddy they have good domain checker and offer competitive pricing. 

Choosing a Host

Reliability and support are important for any hosting company especially for an e-commerce site. That doesn’t mean you need to spend a lot of money either. This site is partnered with HostGator and I have found them to be reliable, affordable, they have an exceptional support team and offer shopping cart software with some of their packages.

Shopping Cart Software

A shopping cart is software that keeps track of items visitors select to buy until they proceed to checkout. These shopping carts do not handle the entire financial transaction but only act as the front end to pass secure information to a payment gateway. You may also hear shopping cart programs referred to as storefronts. There are hundreds of shopping cart programs to choose from so it can be difficult decision. When you start reviewing shopping carts be specific about what features you want the software to have. You may not need all the features offered but makes sure you consider your future needs.

Merchant Accounts

In order to accept credit cards you need to get a merchant account through a bank or independent service such as the Merchant Warehouse. This will give you the ability to accept credit cards, debit cards, and electronic check payments. You will receive a merchant number that needs to integrate with your shopping cart software so when a purchase is completed from your store the payment goes into your account. Also consider setting up a PayPal account.  

Merchant Warehouse is one of the largest, most reputable merchant service providers in the payment card industry. They have enabled over 50,000 businesses nationwide to accept electronic card payments by offering the best deals on merchant processing solutions and by providing unrivaled service and support.  You can reach them by calling 1-866-370-6543.

Merchant Warehouse provides:

•  Discounted Credit Card Processing Services & Equipment
• Customized Business Processing Solutions
• Competitive Merchant Account Pricing & Value-Added Programs
• Reliable, Accessible, & Knowledgeable Support Teams

Website

Your website is a storefront for the products and services you sell. The website should have easy navigation, quick loading pages, sound grammar and text that are correctly spelled. Make sure the site has good content using keywords and phrases to attract search engines. Write text in a manner that actively sells the products to the site visitor. You may decide on a web designer but there are many pre-designed templates you can choose from as well.

Products

Once all the other details are complete you need to upload your products into your shopping cart software. Make sure you upload photos, descriptions, features and a category for each product.

Site Testing

It important to test your site to make sure everything is functioning properly before you go live.