<p>Many people are going through the growing pains of doing business having to convert from brick and mortar stores to offering their products online. The problem is, they don't know what they are facing for what it takes to get implemented. The following is a checklist of things to consider when one is contemplating magrating to the internet and looking for the appropriate ecommerce solution.</p> <p>We hope you find this list useful and you gain confidence in looking for your solution provider. If nothing else, you should ask your service provider (web developer) how they would handle all these things when helping you implement your online shopping cart.</p> <p>These are things to consider when going online with your store:</p> <ol> <li>Do you need to use your existing web hosting service, or move to a new hosting service?</li> <li>Does your current hosting service provide SQL or MySQL as a service?</li> <li>Does your current hosting service support SSL transactions?</li> <li>Is your current hosting serviced Windows or Linux based?</li> <li>Do you need a custom cart format or are you willing to use an available template?</li> <li>There are thousands of templates available for purchase, be prepared to spend some time browsing them to make a choice.</li> <li>Modification to templates is an option, but, can be expensive.</li> <li>Do you need to have someone upload all your products or have someone do it for you?</li> <li>Do you have the skills to obtain source digital images from the manufacturers if you are selling someone else&rsquo;s products?</li> <li>Do you have appropriate camera equipment and photographic skills to take pictures of your own products? </li> <li>Do you have images of your products available? </li> <li>Do you have digital graphic artwork for your company logo available or does it need designed? </li> <li>Do you know a graphic designer you want to use, or can you do your own? </li> <li>Get references for choosing a graphic designer. </li> <li>If offering shipping, which shipping carriers are you planning to use? (Fedex/UPS/USPS) </li> <li>Do you have all the appropriate information available for shipping calculators? </li> <li>Do you offer volume discounts? </li> <li>Do you already have online shipping accounts set up?</li> <li>What type of checkout services do you need incorporated into your site? </li> <li>There are over 50 services available, find out what they are and which ones fit your needs. </li> <li>Base your choice on ease of use and cost. </li> <li>Your existing POS system needs to be web approved, or you may have to make a change. </li> <li>Do you want to maintain content changes to your site, or do you need a service to do it for you? </li> <li>Training will be required to use content management software (CMS) for your site. </li> <li>Product information and pricing must be available to have someone else do it. </li> <li>How many items will be in the shopping cart? </li> <li>Many hosting services charge by the quantity of items in the cart available. </li> <li>The more items in the store, the more sophisticated the CMS required. </li> <li>If you have a current web site, how much visibility does it get? </li> <li>Do you understand what search engine optimization (SEO) is and how to make it work for you? </li> <li>Think about all the key words that can describe your products.</li> </ol> 2009-07-23T01:31:27Z -4.964 118 5615 true 1 36383 tips-for-implementing-an-online-store 2 2009-07-23T11:45:15Z 2009-07-23T14:45:58Z

This is a tip sheet listing questions and decisions to be made while deciding to put your store online with a shopping cart.

1 2009-07-23T14:45:58Z