How to build an online store

Ecommerce is not easy. Building a good online store can, however, be easy if you know what tools to use!

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Bank Account, Paypal Account, Product Images, Product Descriptions, shipping rates.

1. Call four to five online storefront companies. I would recommend Network Solutions. They purchased MonsterCommerce who was one of the better providers. Yahoo Store and Volusion are two other top choices. Ask the provider if they have all the features that you need.

2. Setup a merchant account. I recommend Bank Card Services Worldwide. www.BCSW.com They are reputable and offer great customer service.

3. Upload your products into the chosen provider's format and away you go!

Tips & Warnings

• Take great product pictures. Pictures are the number one thing that sells your product.
• Use keywords on your products to ensure your site search works well.
• Do not purchase the ecommerce service from your hosting company.Chance are it is generic and the support/functionality is not that good. Go with a pro.

[zemzem82]

on 1/9/2009 Hey I did this on ecrater.com I have not tried the other sites but mines was free. My site is under construction but check it out at zemzem.ecrater.com

[zkoneffko]

on 12/4/2008 There are many sites out there that allow you to build your own online store without knowing any programming at all. Try www.yahoo-store-builder.com, www.netnowsolutions.com, or search for others.

I personally use www.netnowsolutions.com because it allows you to customize the look a lot more then most of the others and has fairly good pricing.

Check some of them out and decide for yourself!

[awesomeguy]

on 6/20/2008 Also check out www.FlyingCart.com. Super simple and have some really easy to use Marketing tools that go a really long ways. Best of all you can use their basic version for free.