Web Hosting Geeks' Blog » CubeCart http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog Web Hosting Industry News, Latest Trends, and Analyses. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:48:19 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Linux and E-Commerce: The Top 5 Best Hosts for Two Long-term Trendshttp://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2011/09/25/linux-e-commerce-best-hosts/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2011/09/25/linux-e-commerce-best-hosts/#comments Sun, 25 Sep 2011 17:05:37 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=2483 Let’s mix up two of the biggest of web hosting trends for this Top 5.  Linux is quickly becoming the operating system of choice for many webmasters.  It goes without saying that where there’s web hosting, there is a need for E-Commerce.  Given the enhanced reliability and added security that comes from a Linux server, more hosts offer it, and thus, it appears likely that the intersection between these two trends will only keep growing stronger.

If that’s the case, then it’s a good idea to go over the options available to someone investigating Linux servers and E-Commerce for their web sites.  Here are five hosts that are good selections for the Linux E-Commerce user, judged not just by their specific E-commerce offerings, but by what else they have to offer surrounding those packages:

1) WebHostingHub

WebHostingHub’s Premium Website Builder lets you build a storefront from scratch without having to fuss with any other programs.  For those of you who want to dive into the nuts and bolts, though, WebHostingHub should have everything you need to get started.  Their supported shopping cart packages include Cube Cart, OS Commerce, and Zen Cart.  Among important and related features are RingCentral, a virtual phone system, RatePoint, a word-of-mouth marketing program, and iContact, an email marketing tool.

2) JustHost

This big name in the web hosting world impresses with a strong array of both E-commerce and other supporting features.  They offer OS Commerce and Agora shopping carts, several types of security protection, Merchant Account and PayPal support.  Their accounts also come with several different types of site building software and lots of ad credits.

3) iPage

The very affordable web hosting accounts at iPage have three shopping cart options (ShopSite, osCommerce and Agora), multiple content management system packages, $150 in ad word credits, related scripting and other software of all varieties.  They are one of the largest hosts around today, meaning they have experience in managing and supporting these packages.

4) DowntownHost

One of the better-kept secrets in the hosting world, DowntownHost has a dazzling array of features.  CubeCart, OS Commerce and Zen Cart are all offered.  Even more impressive is their dozen different portals and content management systems, 5 blogging software packages, 2 project management software packages, and a few miscellaneous programs that you don’t see often but could greatly enhance the right E-commerce site, such as Noah’s Classifieds and PHPAuction.

5) BlueHost

Another big player in the web hosting world with millions of sites on their servers, BlueHost has one of the largest selections of shopping cart systems, with OS Commerce, Agora, Cube and Zen carts all present.  Rounding out their offerings is support for lots of types of multimedia, script support with some more rare inclusions such as DHTML, and an average 30 second hold time to reach a technical representative.

As stated above, the amount of hosting companies that we will be looking at for this category will likely do nothing but increase over time, and increase rapidly.  It appears safe to say, though, that these five companies will continue to have a strong place on our list for some time to come.

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]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2011/09/25/linux-e-commerce-best-hosts/feed/ 0 Using Free Shopping Carts for Your E-Commerce Websitehttp://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2011/04/06/using-free-shopping-carts-for-your-e-commerce-website/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2011/04/06/using-free-shopping-carts-for-your-e-commerce-website/#comments Wed, 06 Apr 2011 21:03:41 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=1529 E-commerce has reshaped the face of every industry on the planet, connecting prospective customers to retailers and service providers around the world. With the advent of the Internet the marketing potential of every business has skyrocketed, and it is now possible for an aspiring online entrepreneur to go from zero to hero in less than a year. The advantages of marketing products and services online are obvious, and include a diversified client base and simplified/cheaper business promotion. One of the main aspects of any e-commerce website is the shopping cart, which is a server-side application that allows the online shopper to purchase more than one item at a time and perform a variety of other tasks. If you’ve ever shopped online before, then you have probably used a shopping cart. Fortunately, you don’t have to pay a lot of money to have a good shopping cart for your e-commerce website – consider the following free e-commerce shopping carts.

OsCommerce

OsCommerce has consistently been one of the most popular shopping cart applications available, primarily because it is user-friendly yet provides robust functionality. OsCommerce is particularly effective in providing an enjoyable and convenient shopping experience for the customer, which thereby increases conversion rates and improves customer satisfaction. The shopping cart has integrated shipping and processing, pre-order, product review, and automatic e-mail components that simplify the job of the webmaster by automating redundant tasks related to customer follow-ups and billing. OsCommerce is also compatible with a variety of payment processors (including PayPal), which allow you to accept credit card payments securely.

CubeCart

CubeCart is one of the most customizable, yet user-friendly free shopping carts. The application utilizes theme-based design allows you to quickly adjust the appearance of the shopping interface on-the-fly. CubeCart is also one of the few shopping carts that automatically generates product catalog page URLs that are optimized for the search engines. CubeCart lets your customers use coupon codes and certificates for discounts. To simplify the check out process for site visitors, CubeCart has an integrated shipping and tax calculator, and is compatible with a variety of world currencies. If you plan on selling digital items online, you’ll be pleased to learn that CubeCart has secure download delivery features, and also has integrated e-mail marketing functionality.

ZenCart

Although not quite as popular as the two aforementioned free shopping carts, ZenCart is extremely suitable for novice webmasters. ZenCart is more than just a shopping cart, it is a shopping cart/content management system hybrid that allows you to create custom checkout pages using a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor with a basic user interface. ZenCart is also equipped with product catalog creators the let you easily upload product details and images, and then organize this content into specific categories to create a convenient shopping experience for your site visitors. ZenCart is extremely easy to install, and includes a developer’s toolkit that can be used by novice webmasters to find specific code strings for editing.

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]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2011/04/06/using-free-shopping-carts-for-your-e-commerce-website/feed/ 0 Power Your Store with Open-Source Shopping Cartshttp://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/06/12/power-your-store-with-open-source-shopping-carts/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/06/12/power-your-store-with-open-source-shopping-carts/#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:49:38 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=374 If you want to sell your own products or services online, then you will need a shopping cart program to facilitate those sales.  The number of available shopping carts is tremendous and even better, some of the best software is of an open-source variety and totally free to use.  Here are some of the most common open-source shopping carts you may encounter on the market.

PrestaShop

PrestaShop is a comprehensive, professional-grade shopping cart that is easy to use and setup.  The software offers a fully featured back-end interface to maintain your inventory, orders, shipping options and customers in real-time.  It is also highly customizable as you can incorporate your own modules.  PrestaShop keeps security in mind but securely transmitting customer payments directly to your bank account.

Magneto

Magneto is a robust e-commerce solution that offers unparalleled flexibility and control.  This software is so well designed and functional that you would never think it came from an open-source project.  Unlike other shopping carts, this one gives you clean URLs and SEO-friendliness right out the box, bypassing the need to make additional configurations.  Magneto has a scalable architecture and seamless integrate with various third-party applications.  Additionally, it gives you the benefit of both community and professional technical support.

CubeCart

CubeCart is one of the most popular shopping carts around.  Although it is free to download and use, you are forced to leave the developer’s copyright notice in your footer.  That disadvantage aside, CubeCart offers a plethora of features with support for most of the major gateways and shipping options.  The software comes with decent support from an active community that regularly contribute plugins to the cart.

Agora

Written in the Perl programming language and driven by a MySQL database, Agora is another popular choice for open-source shopping carts.  Very customizable, it features a built-in CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) manager that lets you control the look of the shopping cart as well as setup options ranging from a simple template-based storefront to more complex visual designs.  Agora supports unlimited products, a wealth of shipping and payment options, up to four tax zones at once and much more.

Zen Cart

Zen Cart is a user-friendly shopping cart that caters to beginners.  This is one software that actually focuses on the shoppers and store owners opposed to developers.  Zen Cart is easy to use and supports multiple shipping and payment options.  It also allows you to easily provide discounts and coupons to your customers.

osCommerce

The wide variety of features in osCommerce enables you to set up an online store fairly quickly.  It supports multiple currencies and also lets your customers print their invoices directly from the order screen.  osCommerce gets the backing of a superb community who provide ongoing support and make contributions to the project.

These are just some of your choices for open-source shopping carts.  Rest assured, there are many more to choose from.  While you can probably pay for something better, numerous users are doing just fine running their store with these free versions.

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