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Selling Online Basics Web Design
For the easiest
way to expand your potential customer base,
sell your products online.
Online
shopping carts have now enabled small
businesses on a budget and with limited
technical expertise to sell alongside the big
guys with the deep pockets.
There are two
ways to establish an online store: use an
existing cookie-cutter storefront template or
develop your own. Template-based stores, like
ECSnap myCart, are turnkey systems with
standard shopping cart software and tools.
This is the most inexpensive way to start
selling online. However, because these stores
must work for the masses, they have a plain
vanilla design and are limited in
functionality. Typically they also have far
more restrictions on what you can do with your
site - like preventing you from linking to
another site that sells your products, for
example. You also are limited in visual format
unless you want to hire your own Web designer.
Because of their
lack of flexibility, these prepackaged online
store setups are ideal if your business has
very straightforward retail needs. Also, if
you are not sure whether selling online will
be effective, you can test the waters more
easily with template stores since they require
no long-term commitment. Should your store not
prove feasible, you are only out the monthly
fees, not a custom-designed storefront.
You can also
build your own Web store. You are better off
hiring an e-commerce development firm that
specializes in shopping cart software to do
this for you.
Custom
development allows a lot more
flexibility in setup and design. They also
support more sophisticated functions like
integrating a store into your existing Web
site, creating a look and feel that is
markedly different from your competitors,
offering extensive reporting, or working in
tandem with online auctions.
If possible, get
current or potential customers to offer
feedback or provide insight on what
information or assurances they need most to
feel comfortable buying at your online store,
and make sure the shopping cart service you
choose can offer it. Examples might be the
ability to search your catalog, foreign
currency conversion, or shipment tracking. You
do not want to discover too late in the game
that the solution you use does not offer what
your customers need.
Custom-developed
online stores (OneSolution)
can cost as little as $575 to set up, with
zero added monthly fees! Monthly costs
for reliable template-based shopping cart
services (myCart 1.0) start at about $5/month
with zero transaction or added costs. And of
course, every online store needs a credit card
merchant account (or Paypal) to accept
payments online.
But remember that
while anyone can be an online retailer, not
everyone can be successful at it. Whatever
type of online store you choose, remember that
the Internet does not operate in an "if you
build it, they will come" mentality. Unless
you have marketing and advertising plans to
clearly target your customers, adding online
shopping to your site will be a waste of time
and money.
Signup
Online to OneSolution, today : Includes Search
Marketing to help you sell more on your
website.
Questions?
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