Being a person with lot of extra time at my hands, I wanted to make it as useful as possible. Working a 2nd job was one option, but a few of my friends told me I can work from home and make some money that way. I started collecting suggestions, and then I liked few of these, which included selling some items online using some basic website, or by joining some affiliate network. I however always dreamt of opening up my my online store, and wen I decided on starting off my own ecommerce website, I was totally confused. I did a quick search on Google, and discovered thousands of shopping cart solutions, each one offering too many features, but I didn’t find a single one that was just ‘right’ for what I needed.

Before I write more, I must explain the relationship between a shopping cart and ecommerce solution. Well, to put things simple, an ecommerce solution is a solution/website where you can sell your stuff online, just like super store owners sell stuff in retail outlets. Now, when you go to bigger stores like Walmart, or Target, or Harrods, you end up picking a shopping trolley or a shopping cart from the store, in which you can stash your items, and walk along, remove a few which you do not like, and add another few while you’re browsing through the store.

An electronic shopping cart works in a similar way. Although there are no physical items that you can pick from racks and put into the shopping cart, but you can click some buttons like “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now” or “Add to Order” and your desired item is added to your ‘virtual’ shopping cart.

Ecommerce doesn’t end here, it takes you to next step where you checkout, and enter your shipping and billing details. You are then redirected to a secure interface where you make payment using your credit card, and then a sale is recorded. What’s happening at the backend is, your credit card is being billed by the merchant firm, who gets an authorization from your credit card issuing bank, and once that authorization is issued, your purchase is confirmed. You usually end up getting a few emails from different parties that were involved in an electronic transaction like ecommerce.

Okay, so now when I planned starting off, I came across so many solutions, each one with its unique features. I tried a few demos including 3dcart, OSCommerce, ZenCart etc, but none of them had a simple to use admin panel, which was my first requirement because I was a novice and wanted something which is super easy to use, and makes my life easier instead of loading me with technology.

The search went on, and I finally had to start searching based on following criteria.

1) The solution price: I think it made more sense to me to invest in a solution that doesn’t burn a hole in my pocket, and still meets all requirements that I have. I experimented with many. Found OS COmmerce and Zen Cart etc to be free to use, so I thought they’ll be a choice when it came to price.

2) The search engine performance of the live solution, when it goes live: Almost all solutions I experimented with had a not-so-impressive performance with search engines. All of these used complex structures, with an exception of Artologics Software’s Shopping Cart, which I found to rank high on search engines. The reasons for this included an optimal use of alt tags, mod_rewrite (a technology to convert dynamic links into static links that end with html extensions)

3) Easy to use admin panel: Well, to be honest, when I tested OS Commerce, Zen Cart etc, they all failed this test, because they were very complex to use for me a guy who wanted to be a shop owner, not a computer programmer because they offered complex handling for daily simple tasks, and they scared me to say the least. I was frustrated when I looked at admin panels of most of the open source applications, and some of the hosted solutions such as 3d cart etc, but generally what I loved was the easy to use admin panel from Volusion Software or the one from Artologics Software’s Shopping Cart. Both offer intuitively easy to use admin panels, that make routine tasks so much simple.

4) The maintenane costs: For me, since getting a site up and running wasn’t the only problem, but I knew I am going to need a lot of help with updates, and images, and all other aspects of the site, I wanted a solution that’s backed by some serious guys that will be willing to help me when I needed help. I am still communicating with different vendors to see what their online support contract costs, but generally there were firms like Volusion and Artologics Shopping Cart that offered a turn key solution with free support for life so I was kind of relieved to know that I’ll have after sales support once my shopping cart website is up and running. A few others that were excellent were 3dcart because they’re a hosted solution, but needed upgrade fees and more, and then Paypal, but frankly speaking Paypal was disappointing because they don’t offer the bells and whistles that I needed for my store in order to be able to sell anything to my customers. Paypal had a rather dull interface, so I decided to go with someone else instead.

A few other factors that are less important, but still carry weight are technology used, loading speeds, response rate, stability, number of products allowed, hosting fees etc, which we’ll discuss in next article.

Choosing a good solution for selling online pays a basic role in your online retail return over investment. The primary factor is any online business success is its search engine rankings. Author tries to explain how search engines and optimal coding can help you secure more online customers.

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What Is A Web Template?

A website template is a ready-made HTML layout for webmasters. Typically, webmasters need to only edit the text and links in the HTML page, and they can then have a website up and running in a very short amount of time. Web templates make the creation of a website easier and faster. Web templates are easy to edit and customize using an HTML editor.

Examples of a web templates can be found at Webmaster Templates – http://www.webmaster-templates.net

What Is A CSS File?

CSS stands for “Cascading Style Sheets”, and are used to control and manage font styles, font sizes, and web site color combinations that are used in a web page. In order to retain continuity of “look and feel” throughout a website, all pages within a website will often refer to a single CSS file. The CSS file is typically contained in a separate file from the website, and the various web pages retrieve the CSS file each time a web page is displayed. CSS files make global appearance changes easy — a single change in a CSS file will mean that any pages using that CSS file will automatically display the changes.

What Is A Dreamweaver Template?

Dreamweaver Templates allow webmasters to define “editable” and “non-editable” regions of a webpage. The “non-editable” regions can only be edited in the Dreamweaver Template. Any changes made to the Dreamweaver Template update any HTML pages that use the template.

What Is More Important — Web Design Or SEO?

Web Design and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are not mutually exclusive. The best webmasters are familiar with Search Engine Optimization techniques, as well as Website and Graphical Design. It is difficult to have a successful website if you neglect either SEO or Design. The two are intricately woven, and really must coexist to achieve website success.

How Much Does A Website Cost?

It depends on many variables. Custom website design can range from $500-$2000 for a single web template. The price varies, depending on the complexity of the design. Webmasters can also use a stock web template, which can cost as little as $10.00, or as much as several hundreds of dollars. Some stock templates are available for exclusive use, and exclusive designs tend to be more expensive. Website content development and Search Engine Optimization can be even more expensive, and are ongoing expenses.

If A Website Is Designed In Dreamweaver, Can I Edit It With Another HTML Editor?

Yes, most websites and designs can be edited in any HTML editor.

What Is A WYSIWYG Editor?

WYSIWYG stands for “What You See Is What You Get”, so if you are using a WYSIWYG editor to design and create your web page, you have a pretty good idea of how the page will look in a web browser. Think of Microsoft Word — when you change a font, you see the font change immediately in the MS Word document. The same is true in a WYSIWYG Editor, in that you see changes immediately within the editor itself, as opposed to having to save the page and then separately load and view it in a web browser.

Do You Have To Know HTML To Design A Website?

Knowing HTML is certainly helpful in website design, especially when very minor tweaks and adjustments are necessary, but it is not absolutely required for website design. There are a number of WYSIWYG editors and web templates available, which can assist new webmasters with the design process. Using a web template and a WYSIWYG editor, new webmasters are able to create a web page by simply cutting and pasting content into a web template.

What Does HTML Stand For?

HTML stands for “HyperText Markup Language”. HTML is the markup language that typically resides behind the web page. Information related to the website design is indicated by “tags”. HTML is what is considered a simple markup language.

What Is The Difference Between Dynamic And Static Web Pages?

A “Dynamic” web page is one that is automatically created “on the fly” as it is presented, while a “Static” web page is pre-configured and not interactive. Dynamic web pages will often pull information from somewhere else before displaying the page, so the page content is ever-changing. The information on a Dynamic webpage often results from a database query, such as “search” results. Another kind of Dynamic page simply pulls information from another source, such as a web page that displays an RSS feed — it’s “Dynamic” because the page content changes each time the RSS feed is updated. The information contained in a Static page is considered “flat”, and never changes until the webmaster re-codes it.

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