E-Commerce 101

E-COMMERCE 101: 10 STEPS TO GETTING YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE

Business owners striving to sell online have many questions about "what all is needed and how to get started". This section is meant as a short overview/checklist of things you will need to conduct business on the Internet. Each business has different/unique requirements; however many aspects are shared in common by nearly all businesses. Should you decide to work with us, we can assist you along the way, and we will actually be performing many of these steps for you.

STEP 1: DEFINE YOUR BUSINESS AND PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES

This may seem obvious, but you need to understand what you are selling, and so on. If you are in business already, then this is already done. The basics of selling online and offline are mostly the same from a business operations standpoint. 

At this point, your focus should be on understanding the products you are selling, e.g. if you are selling software vs. clothing goods, because they have very different characteristics, etc. You should also start defining  the requirements that you will need to be supported by your chosen "shopping cart"  or e-commerce storefront platform as you define your product attributes.

It is also prudent at this time to do walk flows of the sequence by which you expect your customers to order, and any "custom" logic that must be applied (i.e. must order in quantities of 3, 6, 9, user must upload logo, etc). After defining how your customers order from you, you should also define your return policy, privacy policy, security policy, etc at this time.

If your business needs unique storefront design requirements or customizations, click here to contact our custom development group.

STEP 2: SELECT A DOMAIN

Why is this step 2...because good domain names are VERY hard to come by anymore, so you may find that you have to change your business marketing & positioning strategy if your preferred domain names are not available. Short and sweet for the domain name is best. Consult with your Intellectual Property advisers/attorneys if required.

Once you have picked a domain, register it. We personally use EasyDNS for the registration, but you can use your registrar of choice. Do not worry about who is hosting your domain at this time. Your domain name can be "pointed" (by updating it's DNS records) to your real server (or hosted server) later.

STEP 3: SELECT A SITE DESIGN

Next, before selecting your "cart" (or in our case, e-commerce platform with included cart), you should think about what type of design you want for your web site. You'll need to see how the shopping cart solution can be customized to provide the desired web site interface you think works best for your site. AspDotNetStorefront is designed to allow "skinning", whereby a template.htm file with style sheet can be applied, totally altering the look of the site. See some of our sample sites for examples of different "skins".

This is one area (skinning) where shopping carts differ WIDELY! Some carts do not allow you to customize the site design much more than a logo and colors. Others (such as ours) allow more flexibility in the design. This is something to consider when evaluating your shopping cart solutions.

If you would need a custom skin design, click here.

STEP 4: GET YOUR INTERNET MERCHANT ACCOUNT

In order to sell online, you have to have an "internet merchant account". This is the same as a normal retail POS system, except your bank has authorized you to accept credit card payments via the Internet. These are called "card not present sales".

You should also think about what payment types you will be accepting: Check, Credit Card, PayPal, Purchase Orders, etc...

Your bank will want to charge you a one-time startup fee (typically $0 to $150), and a monthly service fee, PLUS a per-transaction fee, PLUS your credit card discount fees for credit card orders! Do not be surprised at this later :)

STEP 5: SELECT A "SHOPPING CART" SYSTEM OR E-COMMERCE STOREFRONT PLATFORM

You should then review the market for available "shopping cart" solutions (you are already aware of this or you would not be at our site probably) :)

Shopping carts come in all sizes, colors & price ranges, so evaluate the cart to see how it can meet, or adapt to, your requirements. See if there are monthly fees, "per product" listing fees, etc.

Some "carts" offer an entire e-commerce platform (a complete web site), so you do not need to hire a web designer also. AspDotNetStorefront is such a platform...

Review our features page to see what a generalized cart should offer in it's feature set. There are also many different "types" of technologies used to build shopping cart systems, including:

• PHP shopping carts
• Asp.Net shopping carts (like ours)
• ASP shopping carts (precursor to Asp.net)
• PERL shopping carts
• CGI based shopping carts
• Free shopping cart systems (of course, there is ALWAYS a catch!)

STEP 6: SELECT A HOSTING COMPANY

You should then decide if you will be hosting the site on your own servers, or outsourcing that to a "hosting company". Our information on hosting plans can be of assistance, if you want to outsource this.

Hosting companies again come in all shapes and sizes. Some focus on UNIX/LINUX technologies, and some focus on Microsoft Windows NT technologies. AspDotNetStorefront uses Microsoft Windows NT asp.net technologies.

When choosing a host, evaluated the following criteria:

1. Windows NT & SQL Server High Performance Servers,
2. Willingness to install shopping carts on demand,
3. Timeliness of support responses (if your site is down, you are not making money),
4. Performance & bandwidth of their servers and facilities,
5. Price,
6. Ability to provide dedicated SSL (Secure Socket Layer Certificates) at a reasonable price,
7. Ability to allow custom modifications to be made to the server if needed for particular client stores,
8. Regular backup policies & procedures,
9. SPAM traps enforced on mail servers to prevent junk e-mails,
10. Industry standard security policies & procedures at facility, and
11. General features offered.

You should order your SSL certificate at this time also, by sending a request to your hosting company.

STEP 7: SETUP YOUR SITE

You, or someone you hire (like us for instance) should now install and configure your storefront software on your chosen hosting company server. Customizations can also be applied to deliver your desired web design (skin) also at this time.

STEP 8: ENTER OR UPLOAD YOUR PRODUCTS

Now that you have a web site, shopping cart, hosting company, internet merchant account, you're almost ready to open for business. You will need to use your shopping cart system to enter your products into their "database". Most "shopping carts" allow you to do this via web based interface or bulk upload routine. We support both.

This step also usually involves uploading product pictures, define the categories and departments you want on your store, etc. Ancillary duties include understanding your local tax law requirements, shipping requirements, etc...

STEP 9: TEST YOUR SITE

Of course, it always makes sense to test your site before going "live".

STEP 10: START YOUR MARKETING PLAN

Now that you have a full live store site, you should turn on your marketing (e.g. Google, other search engines, direct mail, etc) to attract visitors to your site.