questions on starting an E -store

[siddrocks]

Hello there I am new to this site and I am wondering how I can get my e-business off the ground. For the past year I have been selling items on ebay. Just to get my feet wet. Now I am trying to get a store open. What I have read is that I will need a merchant account, web hosting site, and a shopping cart for starters how in depth do I have to go, to start my business.

[sub_kovert]

Hi Siddrocks and welcome to webproworld,

Moving from ebay to a dedicated ecommerce site is challenging. To start with you will lose the traffic, you will have to market the site well to become prominent in the search engines. You do not necessarily need a merchant account, you could use Paypal as the payment gateway for now, many shopping carts support this.

To start, you will need to bag yourself a domain name and hosting plan, at this stage decide on the shopping cart software - There are many (free) open source shopping carts out there, but it may be worth thinking about the support and advice provided by a paid solution.

If you are new to this field it may also be worth consulting a local website developer to help you (this cost may pay for itself in no time).

Above all, I would make sure you have a decent plan of attack....research your market and make sure that you can compete.

I wish you success.

Cheers

[unitecheddie]

Hi Siddrock,

I think im right in saying that you can have a link to your new website in your "ME" section on e-bay so that is a great way of providing a link to your site via your existing channel and may help in keeping up your exposure.

As for your new website I would recommend checking out our e-commerce software at www.unitechnology.co.uk Download the software (Free to download and try!) and start building your site. The monthly fee includes domain name reg, hosting, e-mail etc etc. No hidden charges!! All our sites are SEO'd so this too help in searches etc.

Good luck

[vwebworld]

As has been noted above.... there are a few FREE ecommerce programs
like osCommerce and Zen Cart. These are solid
ecommerce solutions... I've used both as well as
Xcart - to set up and maintain ecommerce websites.

I would not recommend going with a bundled ecommerce
solution like Yahoo... because it does limit your
ability to move the site to another web host and
there are some design limitations.

Depending upon your ability to create a website and
work with HTML and php...impacts the decision to do
a site yourself or hire someone to create your site.

As far as the concern about moving from eBay to
your own domain... there will be some transition period
until your new site gets indexed...just like any new
website. There are ways to help speed up that process.

Since you already sell on eBay, I'm assuming you
have kept some record of who has bought from you.
When your new site is complete, your should email
those people to "announce" you online store. You
might also retain your eBay presense and use it to
feed people to your new online store.

If you have any questions about setting up an ecommerce
site, or would like a quote. Do not hesitate to contact me.

~Roland

[brucet]

Like sub_kovert says, the marketing of your site will be crucial in attracting potential customers, and it will be really important to get good search engine rankings.

Try searching Google for 'ecommerce software' and those type of phrases. The companies that know about SEO - and know how to build search engine friendly products - should rank well for terms that relate to their own business.

[SurfYourName]

Unless you have a basic knowledge of HTML you are going to encounter mass frustration when setting up your own cart. There are tons of free cart programs out there, but you are the one uploading products, getting the right hosting company, search engine marketing, etc.

I would suggest finding a design firm that has experience in this area. Let me know if you would like to talk about your project. I can either share some knowledge or set you up with a complete package with SurfYourName.com.

Mr. Erik Bledsoe
1-888-300-8776 Ext. 705
www.SurfYourName.com
Erik@SurfYourName.com

[Volusion]

Here's a good checklist for someone who is just getting started:
http://onlinebusiness.volusion.com/checklist/

Regards,
Michelle
Shopping Cart Software by Volusion Ecommerce Solutions