A Step-by-Step Visual Ecommerce Site Builder

When choosing an ecommerce site builder, you want an ecommerce service that will save you time and money while insuring a professional appearance for your ecommerce store front. You want a reliable service that provides everything you need to build and manage a web site. Anyone starting an ecommerce business will benefit hugely.

First, let's define ecommerce. Ecommerce (electronic commerce) is buying and selling of goods and services and the transferring of funds through digital communications. It is simply doing business over the internet.

If you don't have any knowledge of how an ecommerce business operates, starting an ecommerce store could be difficult and confusing. So you would want an ecommerce site builder that will not only build your site but help in building and managing your business.

Entrepreneurs start ecommerce businesses for a number of good reasons. The most important reason is the potential income earnings. It is estimated that 136 million people shop online. People that are looking for a variety of information, products and services has made it very possible for entrepreneurs working from home to earn more than better incomes.

The second reason is it costs very little to set up and run an online business. To start an offline business it could cost between $15,000 - $20,000 and that's not including advertising and marketing. But if you want to invest in franchises, we're talking around $50,000 to $100,000. But with an ecommerce business (web site, hosting, advertising), it could average around $200 - $ 500 a year. Do you see the big difference?

Another very good reason is to get more free time. Many people are overworked on their regular jobs. Their regular job is now an enemy in their lives keeping them from reaching their desired goals in life. You have to work everything around your job. You sleep to get rest for your job. You budget so that you have money to pay for high gas prices to commute back and forth to your job. You miss your childrens school events, games, family time for your job. Right now, I'm getting tired and sick of just talking about your job.

Now doesn't starting an online business sound tempting.

However, if you have no experience with the internet, you can unknowingly and foolishly spend money on learning materials and additional software that you don't needand invest in the wrong ecommerce site builder. Starting an online business is simple, fun and rewarding with the right information.

When searching for an ecommerce site builder, you want a service with a name everybody knows and every shopper trust. I'm talking about a Yahoo Store Builder. It comes with a 4 hours visual instruction system with a 200 page manual that will take you by the hand and show you how to choose and research a product and guides your every step to build your store.

You want your first start online to be a successful one. Even if you don't know anything about web design, html, merchant accounts, or drop shipping, you can build a profitable home based ecommerce business with an ecommerce site builder like Yahoo Store Builder.

How E-Commerce Can Increase You Revenue

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) 10 years back found it hard & highly costing to work Globally. But nowadays Internet has made things much easier, from Small shops to large enterprises are now doing online business internationally and available 24/7 for anyone in the world.

E-commerce Websites are cost effective and its staff reducing, Where online strategies that can deliver much greater returns on a limited budget with affordable and efficient website solutions.

While it is impossible to know how many people actually see print advertising, online advertisers can track precisely how many see each and every ad and how many website visits it generates, enabling businesses to attract the highest volume of targeted traffic, at the lowest possible cost. Whatever the visitor action – making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, downloading a report, conversions are the key to measuring Return On Investment.

With e-commerce you will get the opportunity to build your All-Time-Open-Shop and offer all services & products online which can be purchased with a click of a mouse.

Professional web site design is critical for success in the modern Internet Business World. Offering an attractive, intuitive interface with a logical and easy to use navigation layout will make the difference between a happy visitor (and potential client) and a frustrated web surfer at your website.

Your website is an integral part of your image, identification and communication strategy. Successful web communication comes from grabbing your visitors' attention and providing a website that is comfortable to use. your web site should do both-innovative design captures the eye and is followed by a familiar and easy to navigate path.

A well-designed website is a mission-critical investment in

• enhancing brand image
• building consumer confidence
• increasing willingness to buy

From overall Website design and architecture, the simple things like clear contact information and telephone numbers, testimonials and case studies. Customers want to find what they’re looking for.

Setting up all requirements to accept payments online and automating all the processes, its all depends on reliable Web Development & Web Hosting solutions to ensure the best performance of your e-business.

Your E-commerce business can have its own online customer service solutions to meet your customers satisfaction like:

• Complaints Management System
• Live Chat Support System
• Trouble ticket System
• Online Billing System

The Ecommerce Buying Process From Start to Finish

Many people take for granted the amount of work that goes into putting an online store together. They see a website, products, and a shopping cart and think that it must be easy to pull together. Building your own online store can be a difficult process. And getting online purchases to work can be complicated. Have you ever wondered what the buying process looks like from start to finish? Let's take a look at that process.

When someone comes to an online store, there are a host of technologies working together. Once that person puts things in their cart, they are starting a cueing process. This places all of those database objects, which are products in the store, in line to proceed to the checkout process. And it's that process that I want to highlight. The start of the checkout process will launch you to a secure portion of the store's website. This allows for secure transmission of the information that you will input. This is usually indicated with a small lock symbol on the lower right hand corner of your browser.

The customer fills in contact and payment information and submits it. The submit button initiates a transfer of that information to the payment gateway. The payment gateway then analyzes the information to accept or deny the payment. If it is denied, the customer is sent back to the online store to correct the payment and contact information. If it is accepted, the information is sent to the merchant account. The merchant account then processing the transaction. The customer is billed for the purchase and the online store is credited for the sale.

The online store, payment gateway, and merchant account all work together to make the transaction work. The online store offer products to a prospective customer. The payment gateway acts as a broker and a bouncer. They broker the transaction, making sure that all necessary information is present and accurate. If it isn't, the gateway bounces the transaction and it is started all over again. The merchant account receives a confirmed transaction and handles the money exchange.

Paul McGillivary has been a technologist for 15 years. In that time, Paul has experienced thousands of technology problems, challenges, and products. He brings this experience to bear in the articles that he presents.

Merchant Accounts - Understanding the Ecommerce Puzzle

If you are new to merchant accounts and the whole ecommerce scene, you are probably confused. I know I was when I started. You start hearing terms like merchant accounts, payment gateways, discount rates, miscellaneous fees, etc. Once I saw the whole puzzle, however, I started to make sense of the pieces. Let's take a very broad look together.

There are three main pieces to an ecommerce site: the website and shopping cart, a payment gateway, and a merchant account. The website and shopping cart allows people to shop and place things in their virtual cart. It gives them the information they need to make a purchase. That's the easy part to understand. The hard part comes when we start thinking about the things we don't see. This is especially true when it comes to the payment gateway and merchant account.

The payment gateway can be thought of as a broker and a bouncer. They broker the deal between the customer, who is purchasing on your web site, and the merchant account. The payment gateway makes sure the transaction goes as planned. It makes sure all the necessary information is being obtained. If it isn't, then the payment gateway puts its bouncer clothes on and sends you packing. The payment gateway handles the transaction.

The merchant account can be thought of as the banker. They are the one who interfaces with the credit card being presented and the billing that needs to happen. They make sure that the buy gets billed and you get paid. I like the banker. Now, because the merchant account makes this transaction happen, they will want to be compensated for their service. The payment gateway is no different.

This is where the waters start to muddy even more. The fees that these services charge can be different from place to place. This can make comparison shopping very difficult. The various fees include: installation fees, discount rates, fixed transaction fees, miscellaneous fees, etc. It's enough to make your head spin. And getting all the pieces to work together can be a real pain. Sometimes getting an all-in-one service is the best way to go. But that all depends on what your requirement are. Now that you know the big picture, I think the pieces will be easier to understand.

Paul McGillivary has been a technologist for 15 years. In that time, Paul has experienced thousands of technology problems, challenges, and products. He brings this experience to bear in the articles that he presents.