Administrative Interface

The administrative interface of X-cart is categorized into six main sections; Administration, Affiliates, Management, Your Profile, Authentication, and Help. All of these sections can be accessed with ease from the main interface, in the web browser of your choice. Although the navigation and functionality of the software is relatively simple once it is setup, it may be difficult for the novice user to configure the software to match their server’s needs. It should be mentioned however that users do have the option of having the software configured for a fee of $50.

If you’re new to eCommerce web hosting, then it may be optimal to spend the $50 to avoid any hassle involved with installing and setting up the software. Most users find the installation and setup fee is worth the amount of features offered by X-Cart. Once the software has been configured, you can install it on any hosting account you’d like, and there are no limitations to it’s uses. If you’re having trouble finding a web host, you could also refer to the list of recommended web hosts on X-Carts site.

Category Manager

One of the more notable features of X-Cart is the Category Manager, which is a user-friendly administrative toll that lets you effectively organize your product catalog. With the Category Manager you can add as many categories as you’d like. You can also add subcategories by simply adding a slash to the category directory. For example, you could add a Horror sub-category in the “Movies” category by typing – Movies/Horror. This aids in site organization by providing a feature that is usually seen in content management systems, but rarely employed in shopping cart solutions.

Traffic and Sales Analysis

X-cart also offers a unique traffic analysis tool, providing detailed reports of the shopping carts use. For example, the conversion funnel report shows you the specific point in time when potential customers abandoned the shopping process. The software tracks the habits of customers as soon as they enter the site, noting which products they add to the cart, how long they shop, which products they view, and other crucial statistics. This information can be very useful in optimizing your site for maximum sales.

Expandability

One of the best aspects of X-Cart is it’s expandability. The user can expand the abilities of the software by adding modules that improve the overall functionality of the shopping cart. The amount of modules you’ll receive will depend upon the version of X-Cart you purchase. Although the software is fully customizable, novice users may find it somewhat difficult to edit the templates and design of the software without prior training. Fortunately, the software includes reliable and extensive support.

1. Assess Your Needs

Finding the right ecommerce plan will depend largely upon your needs as an online business owner. What is right for another company may not necessarily be right for you. If you’re planning on running a smaller operation then you could get by with the bare minimum, however it is important to consider scalability. Choosing the cheapest service will almost always end in disaster, especially if you plan on expanding your business in the near future. A general rule would be to consider reliability over affordability. If you have a lot of products to sell then you’ll want to purchase a plan that comes with unlimited disk space and high bandwidth. Many times the best option for large business owners is a dedicated server.

A website lacking these server features can suffer downtime, and ultimately loss of business. The appearance of your website is important no matter how big or small your business is. The goal of a small business owner is to be able to compete with the big corporations that often consume all of the business within a particular niche. Doing this would be nearly impossible without the programming tools included in a good ecommerce hosting solution.

2. Review Payment Methods

Once you know what you need in terms of server space and features, it’s time to consider how you’ll be paid for your efforts as an online business owner. Once your customers have decided to purchase a product or service from you, you’ll want to make it easy for them to checkout and pay you. Therefore a shopping cart solution is crucial to your website. In fact, most customers will leave your website if you do not have a secure shopping cart feature. It is best to have a merchant account, however you can also accept credit card payments with a simple PayPal account.

3. Make Your Decision

Now that you’ve rounded up a few prospects base on the above attribute, it’s time to make your decision. While price should not be a deciding factor, it should be noted that most web hosting plans are very affordable due to the competitive nature of the market. Therefore, it should be easy to find a plan that fits your needs in terms of finances and server requirements.

Register a Domain Name

A domain name is simply a URL that acts as the name for your website.  You can register one with registrars such as Dotster, GoDaddy or Yahoo.  Registration is good for a year, but you typically have the option to register for up five years depending on the registrar.  A domain name doesn’t cost much these days as you can easily find them for under $10 per year.  When registering the name, think of something that will be easy for people to remember and one that perfectly suits your business.

Find a Web Host

If you intend to run your e-business through a website, then you will need to sign up with a web host.  Web hosting companies offer the service you need to create and maintain a website.  They offer the server that will serve your content and the connectivity that allows your site to be accessible by internet users.  There are thousands of companies that can provide you with this type of service.  What you have to do is perform the necessary reach to ensure you land a reliable service provider.

Site Design

Once you have registered a domain name and signed up with a web host, the next step is to create your website.  For this step, you essentially have two choices: hire a professional web designer, or build the site yourself.  Hiring a professional designer can be very expensive depending on the requirements of your website.  And while creating a website can be difficult for someone with no experience, many tools exist to simply the process.  There are a number of special programs that make it easy to create a website through a variety of templates and pre-built components.

Payment Method

If you plan to sell products or services from your website, then you will need to find a way to accept payments from your customers.  In order to accomplish this, three key components are required: a shopping cart, merchant account and payment gateway.  These components may be obtained separately or together in a bundled service.  For example, PayPal is a service that can provide you with a shopping cart, merchant account and payment gateway, everything you need to accept and process payments in a secure, and efficient manner.

Promote Your Site

Once your site has been created and integrated with the necessary features, it’s time to promote it to drum up some business. There are many ways you can go about promoting your site, including online advertising, PPC campaigning, and search engine optimization.  Everyone has their own preferred method, so it is up to you to find out what works best for your site.  Just remember that site promotion is critical, because without traffic, your e-business can’t survive.

Types of Software

First and foremost, you should know that there are many different types of e-commerce software.  Recognizing this is important so you do not group them all into a single category.  What you want to do is choose a solution based on the specific needs of your business.  More than likely, your business has several requirements, so try not to limit yourself to a single application.  The good aspect is that most products on the market are quite diverse and allow you to accomplish a wide variety of goals.  For example, you have e-commerce software that comes equipped with a shopping cart, billing system, and other features needed to run an e-business with efficiency.

Cost of Product

You definitely want to consider the cost of any product before purchasing e-commerce software.  Some of these programs are free and inexpensive, while others are very costly.  Keep in mind that the most expensive product isn’t always the best solution.  Don’t make the mistake of believing something is better just because it costs more than what else is on the market.  Many vendors are counting on this and looking to bait you with their marketing ploys.  Establish a budget, find a few products that fall within that range, and stick to it.

Support Your Growth

The key to choosing e-commerce software is finding something that does exactly what you need it to do.  Also keep scalability in mind when making your decision.  You want your business to enjoy positive growth, so it would be ideal if you could find something that grows right along with it.  You could end up wasting a lot of money if you have to upgrade to new software every time your business experiences notable growth.  Purchase software that supports your in business in the presence, and can be scaled to support it in the future as well.

Finding the Right Solution

It would behoove you to devote quality research to finding e-commerce software for your business.  Learn about the warranty that comes with the product and most importantly, check the reputation of the software vendor.  If there is a free demo version available, give it a spin to see if the program lives up to your expectations.  This way, you can have an ideal whether the product is any good before spending your money on it.  You wouldn’t hire people to work for your company without first learning if they are qualified, right?  So why choose an e-commerce software without learning if it is suitable for your needs?

Conclusion

When taking the time to thoroughly evaluate the available products, you have a much better chance of coming out with e-commerce software that makes a perfect match for your business.  So determine your needs, establish a budget and get out there to find the ideal solution your business needs to thrive online.

Compatibility with Existing Systems - Launching an e-commerce site is a tremendous process.  Therefore, you should not make it even more complex by setting yourself up to encounter technical problems.  Whether it is a shopping cart or payment gateway, make sure any e-commerce component you plan to integrate is compatible with your existing hardware, operating system and applications.

Ability to Support Existing Data – An ideal e-commerce solution is one that allows you to easily import data from one location to another.  This becomes a must for large stores that maintain databases in environments where it could be complex and costly to manually transfer large amounts of data into a new system.  Keep in mind that this feature is usually included in high-end enterprise solutions but may not be included in cheaper, entry-level systems.

APIs with Linking Support – Integrating inventory management and finance systems is one of the most challenging aspects of e-commerce.  If this is something you wish to do, you may want to look for a solution that offers flexible APIs.  Short for application programming interfaces, these APIs enable developers to write code that will connect your legacy system to your e-commerce server.

Functional Shopping Cart - The shopping cart is the most obvious and important feature of any e-commerce solution.  You need to put special emphasis on this application as it will allow visitors to browse your store and purchase the items they want to purchase.

Diverse Payment Systems – Most consumers prefer to shop online with credit cards or third-party services such as PayPal.  On the other hand, a complete e-commerce solution goes that extra mile and supports additional payment options.  This will give you the opportunity to maximize your profits by catering to a broader range of customers.

The features listed in this article are just a few that must be obtained to form a complete e-commerce solution.  This means you need to keep your eyes peeled for several more qualities.  Despite how insignificant some of these features may seem, each is equally critical as they will determine the failure or success of your venture with e-commerce.

]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/11/18/how-complete-is-your-e-commerce-solution/feed/ 0 http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/10/21/four-hot-e-commerce-tips-that-payoff/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/10/21/four-hot-e-commerce-tips-that-payoff/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:22:58 +0000 CommunicateBetter http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=583 With so many entrepreneurs and businesses profiting from the internet, it should come as no surprise that more hopeful people are investing in e-commerce solutions.  However, you should know that there are many online businesses out there and very few of them obtain the success they were looking for.  This serves as proof that simply having an online storefront does not mean you will be successful.  Luckily, there are some proven approaches that can be employed to help ensure that your e-commerce site is just as fruitful as the next.

1.) Create a Professional Design

Several beginners make their first critical mistake at the design stage.  Being that HTML programming is fairly easy to master, some develop the gumption to go at it alone and decide to build their own website from the ground up.  Even though web technology has made it much more feasible to create a site with little to no experience, there are many reasons why you may want to leave this task in the hands of someone else.  Building a fully functioning website from scratch can be a hassle and very costly when considering that you will have to invest countless hours on time that could have been spent focusing on something else.  By outsourcing this part of the project to a professional design or development expert, you can devote your time and energy to developing a sound business strategy.

2.) Make Easy Navigation and Usability a Priority

Creating an e-commerce site that offers simple navigation and usability is a must.  You can get a better understanding by viewing your website as the aisle of a retail store.  In an ideal environment, all items are organized accordingly and easy to find.  Customers should have no trouble finding what ever it is they want to purchase.  The same holds true for an online storefront.  Even it is a measly checkout button, it is should be made visible and easy to find on your site.

3.) Don’t Forget Your Inventory

There are some online store owners that get so caught up in running their business, they forget about other key areas such as inventory.  You can avoid this by cataloging all the items you have for sale.  Be sure to update your inventory on a regular basis to avoid scenarios where a customer tries to purchase something that is out of stock.  This can help you salvage a sale and elude embarrassment as well.

4.) Incorporate Customer Friendly Features

One surefire way to succeed with an e-commerce venture is to incorporate and make effective use of desirable features that will benefit your customers.  These features could range from essentials such as an easy to use shopping cart and SSL certificate to novelties like a site map and talking avatars.  You may also want to consider rich media features such as animation and video or something simple and effective like auto-responders to deliver immediate responses.  By pampering your customers, you can increase the probability of a pleasurable shopping experience that keeps them coming back for more.

SEO-Friendly

As an online business owner, SEO (search engine optimization) should be one of your top priorities.  While most site owners have a part in creating intriguing content, they often have less impact on the design and search engine indexing.  If this sounds like your situation, then choosing an SEO-friendly shopping cart is essential.  Signs of a good cart with these qualities is one that automatically produces keyword-rich URLs relative to your site or items.

Coupon Support

It doesn’t matter what you sell, it is almost guaranteed that your customers are looking for a deal.  The best way to attract this type of audience is with coupons.  Numerous reports show that customers are increasingly on the hunt for online coupons, so a shopping cart that supports coupon codes will likely do you some good.  Without this feature, you are doing nothing but limiting your potential.

Cross-Selling Functionality

Cross-selling is the concept of selling customers additional related products to increase your total per-checkout revenue.  A perfect example would be recommending accessories to go along with the PC hardware you sell.  The shopping cart you choose should offer cross-selling functionality as an either a semi or fully automated process.  The best e-commerce platforms have systems that associate products and dynamically place related items on the corresponding product and checkout pages.

Customer Reviews

Genuine customer reviews make a great way to encourage more sales.  These reviews are like having a peer recommend your store to potential customers.  Think of it as a way of allowing your customers to market for you.  A shopping cart equipped with this feature should either support a review system from within, or allow you to connect to a third-party tool such as PowerReviews or similar.

Sharing and Recommendations

Any potential customer visiting your website should have the ability to share product details via email or in other ways.  Let’s say a teen is interested in one of your products and wants to let their mom or dad know they really want this particular item as a birthday gift.  To make this a seamless process, your store should provide the teen with any easy way to send notification to their parents without having to cut and paste the details.  A good shopping cart application will include a sharing feature, typically as a part of wish list system that calls for the customer to complete some type of registration in order to use it.

Today’s e-commerce shopping carts are loaded with features and these are just a few of many that we believe are absolute deal breakers.  The good thing is that with hundreds of applications to choose from, you have the luxury to be very selective.

osCommerce Installation

- Login into your cPanel account and click on the Fantastico icon at the bottom of the main page.

- Navigate to the “E-commerce” section and click on the “osCommerce” link.

- Next, click on the “New Installation” link.

- Now you must go through a multi-step process in order to define the installation location:

Step 1: Choose your domain from the provided drop-down menu.

Step 2: Enter the name of the directory where you want osCommerce to be installed.

Keep in mind that the “install in directory” field is the one part where several users make critical mistakes.  Enter a single phrase of the new folder that will be created for the osCommerce application.  If you try to add dashes, the installation will fail every time.

Step 3: Return back and double check the information you entered in the above field.  If you want your customers to access your store when visiting “http://yoursite.com,“ you would then leave the “Install in Directory” field blank.  On the other hand, if you already have an existing website, you want to enter a given directory name in that field.  For example, if you decide to use “store” as the name of the directory, customers would access your osCommerce store by visiting “http://yoursite.com/store”.

- After entering the required information for the installation destination, enter a user name and password for your osCommerce administrative area.

- Next, enter the name of your store, an owner name, and valid email address.

Activate SSL

Once you have the installation destination squared away, the proceeding steps are self explanatory.  The SSL process deserves a little more detailed explanation.

- Set the “Use SSL” option to”Yes”

- Enter the hostname for your secure server.

If you have a dedicated IP address and SSL certificate for your website, simply enter your domain name in the next field.  If not, just use the server name entered above.

- Choose the information you want to require from your customers.  You will see that these options are pretty straightforward and can be either set to “Yes or “No.”

- After entering the information, click on the “Install osCommerce” tab.

- Lastly, on the next page click “Finish installation”.

You have now successfully installed the osCommerce shopping cart program equipped with an SSL certificate for security.  Now all you have to do is the click the provided link or type the appropriate URL into your browser to log in and set up your online store.

What is nopCommerce?

nopCommerce is a stable, fully customizable, highly usable e-commerce system.  What makes this open-source application stand out from all the rest is the underlying technologies.  Unlike most similar carts scripted in open-source languages such as PHP or Perl, this one is written in Microsoft’s proprietary ASP.NET 3.5 and thrives off a MS SQL back-end database.  This gives nopCommerce the best of both worlds has it is extremely powerful and very cost effective.  In fact, the shopping cart is totally free to use.

nopCommerce Features and Capabilities

The nopCommerce software is easy to use and perfectly suited for online shop owners who have outgrown their existing systems.  How easy to use is it?  nopCommerce can be installed, setup and maintained by virtually anyone possessing the basic computing and website administration skills.  A secure and scalable e-commerce platform, it offers a user-friendly interface and administration tools that allow you to effectively manage your online storefront and customers.  You have control over features such as discounts, coupons, wish lists, tax options, shipping methods and much more.  nonCommerce is capable of handling multiple languages and supports most of the popular gateways including Authorize.net, 2Checkout, Google Checkout and PayPal among others.

nopCommerce provides a catalog frontend and allows complete administration on the back-end, delivering everything you need to quickly set up a fully functioning professional storefront.

This e-commerce solution comes integrated with a variety of great features that are easy to use for the new and inexperienced user, yet powerful enough to suite the needs of seasoned merchants with the most demanding operations.  Offering a built-in shopping cart, easy catalog management, shipping calculation, credit card processing, template customization and a wealth of other powerful tools, there isn’t much you can’t do with this amazing e-commerce system.  The nopCommerce package comes with access to a well organized base of resources, technical support and valuable information provided by a fast growing community.

A Solid Choice for Open-source

The fact that you will not find too many open-source programs boasting the ASP.NET tag makes nopCommerce something truly special.  This flexible e-commerce system is growing rapidly in popularity, making it easier to land a web hosting provides that offers support for the application.  Because the software is relatively new, it remains to be seen whether or not nopCommerce can hold a candle to well known open-source shopping carts such as osCommerce, Agora and Cube Cart.  However, the software has generated a lot of buzz in a very short time and as of now, industry reviews are indicating that this e-commerce platform is all good.

]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/07/09/introducing-the-nopcommerce-shopping-cart/feed/ 1 http://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 CommunicateBetter 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.