Three Qualities You Must Have in an E-commerce Hosting Plan

If you are not familiar with the concept, e-commerce hosting is simply a type of solution that provides customers with user-friendly tools to build and help ones business to prosper online.  These tools include features such as shopping cart systems that allow you to manage a storefront suited for a small business or large retail shopping site.  Consider e-commere hosting as an out-of-the-box solution that enables you to run your business at a lower cost and reach out to a greater range of potential customers.  Before setting out to find yourself a hosting provider, it is important to keep three critical factors in mind: the reliability of the company, the level of support offered and the overall cost of service.

The Importance of Reliability

The reliability of an e-commerce hosting provider is very critical as an untrustworthy company can gravely hinder the success of your business.  The best way to determine the reliability of a particular web host is to ask around in forums and read reviews.  Both make great resources and generally disclose a wealth of information about what measures a hosting provider is taking to ensure a reliable service.

Support Provides the Backbone

If you find a company that has a substantial amount of negative feedback during your search, this should serve as all the motivation you need to stay away.  Sadly, there are a few e-commerce hosts that are strictly in it for the money.  These are companies that cannot provide you with the tools and support your business needs to thrive.  If the support staff cannot make the time to address your questions or concerns, they are not worthy of your service.  Although you never really know until signing up, you can gauge the level of support by calling the host or sending them an email.  If they respond well and answer your questions in a satisfactory manner, this could be sign that you have found a responsible e-commerce hosting provider.

Price Determines the Overall Value

Price is another crucial factor that must be considered when shopping for an e-commerce hosting plan.  If you are looking to save a few dollars, you will be happy to know that there are several companies that offer low-priced solutions.  This is the result of a highly competitive market and innovation that has made web technologies very affordable.  However, you should be aware that the cheap service can end up being far more expensive when you are forced to purchase add-on products and services you overlooked.  This is why it is so important that you determine exactly what your business needs to succeed online.  When it comes to e-commerce, you need to put much thought into expansion rather than simply focusing on the present.  After all expanding, is a good thing for your business.

Whether you plan to start small or big, an e-commerce hosting solution can provide you with all the tools you need to make it happen.  The key is finding the right service that empowers you to succeed.  When during your research, be sure to keep the factors mentioned in this article in mind.

Share this article:

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Jun 22, 2009 : Ecommerce No responses yet

Factors to Consider for E-commerce Site Design

In many cases, the success of an e-commerce website doesn’t come down to the marketing savvy of the business owner, but actually how good the site looks.  Customers often base the decision of whether to purchase a product or service on the professionalism of the site.  While several online merchants are experts in their respective fields, many are not when it comes to graphic design and website development.  They can sell you the shirt off your back but don’t know a thing about PHP or creating proper site navigation.  If this sounds like you, the tips in this article should go a long way in helping you find someone to build your e-commerce site.

Do a Reference Check

If you were hiring a contractor to build your brick and mortar store from the ground up, you would probably take the time needed to check into the company’s references.  The same due diligence must be performed when it comes to building your e-commerce site and online storefront.  Without knowing the quality of the designer’s or developer’s work, you will have no idea if they can successfully complete the job.

Find Your Own Shopping Cart

Just because you are hiring someone to create your site, doesn’t mean they have to pick out your shopping cart as well.  This application will form the backbone for your storefront so it is critical that you choose something that works best for both you and your customers.  Do your part and compare shopping carts based on their features and ease of use.

Put an Emphasis on Challenges, Not Solutions

When looking for some to create your e-commerce site, it is important to keep your eyes peeled for someone who brings something to table.  This is not a situation where you want a yes-man.  The web designer or developer should come in with opinions that add value to your initiatives.  In short, you want to hire an expert that can transform your ideas into a successful design, not one who just agrees with everything you say.

Obtain a Statement of Work

Before entering a contractual agreement with a designer or developer, it is imperative to get a state of work.  This should entail the professional’s understanding of your goals, define an estimated time table, the exact services they will providing, a ball park price estimate and so forth.  This is the best way to determine if the expert is capable of meeting your expectations.  If the individual cannot provide this, you should not hire them for the job.  It is as simple as that.

Place Experience Over Credentials

Skills like web design and development are often self-taught and usually have nothing to do with college.  Therefore, even if a prospective designer or developer has a prestigious degree and appears to know their stuff, you still should never overlook the self-taught professional who could be just as, if not more experienced.  If you judge professionals strictly by their academic merits, you could be missing out on the best person for the job.  To sum things up, talent and experience are far more essential to site design than a degree.

Share this article:

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Jun 18, 2009 : Ecommerce No responses yet

The Truth About Free Merchant Accounts

Are you looking for a way to sell goods and services online?  If so, you may be interested in applying for a free merchant account.  Yes, they do exist.  Free merchant accounts provide a relatively inexpensive way for the small business owner to accept credit card payments via their website.  They really make a viable option for someone who does not meet the qualifications for the premium accounts larger companies rely on.  The benefits here are obvious, but the disadvantages lie between the fine lines.

How Does a Free Merchant Account Work?

A free merchant account is essentially as it sounds.  You don’t have to worry about any costly setup fees and almost anyone can get an approval.  However, the trick is that the percentages charged per transaction are much higher.  Because a certain percentage of every transaction usually goes to a third-party processor, one could say that this so-called free merchant account is anything but.  You also have to deal with other tricks and limitations that come along with the service.

For example, some free merchant account providers only cater to businesses that sell certain types of goods.  In most cases, this means that you can only sell tangible goods, products that can be touched, opposed to services.  Depending on the nature of your business, this could be a major set back.  Other stipulations attached to free merchant accounts may require you to sell a certain amount of products over a certain amount of time in a certain price range.  When looking at these disadvantages, it becomes much clearer to see why so many businesses, even the smaller ones, choose to go with premium merchant accounts.

Polices and the Issue of Fraud

There are a number of factors to consider in regard to free merchant accounts apart from what has been discussed in this article.  One of the most important of all is the policies involved.  You need to be aware of the policies as they relate to keeping your funds in reserve as well losses associated with fraud.  The vendor may attempt to reserve your funds to accommodate customer returns or chargebacks.  The latter is a very heated issue in the realm of e-commerce as they have often been linked to customers looking to cheat the merchant and commit fraud.  Whatever the case may be, it is critical to make sure the polices are clearly laid out before signing up with any merchant account provider, be it a free or premium solution.

Conclusion

Free merchant accounts are not all bad because some companies provide capable software that accurately calculates state taxes, shipping and handling charges and other e-commerce realted factors.   Others offer gift and incentive cards that you can use to reward your frequent customers. The key is to know what you’re getting into and read the fine print regarding transactions fees and policies upfront. After weighing all the important factors, will you know whether or not a free merchant account is best for the needs of your business.

Share this article:

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Jun 11, 2009 : Ecommerce No responses yet

Cloud Computing’s Impact on E-commerce

If global meteorologists could predict the trends of e-commerce and computing, the forecast would probably reflect partially cloudy skies.  This is because more applications in the IT field are making the transition to cloud computing.  The clouds are rolling through and making their rounds but what effect will they have on e-commerce?  Continue the rest of this article to view a glimpse of the five-year outlook.

What the Cloud Has to Offer

What leads many to believe that e-commerce will be engulfed by the cloud computing storm is the cost benefits it has to offer.  In theory, the costs of cloud computing are based on consumption.  There is no software, hardware or infrastructure to buy and in most cases, you simply pay for what you use.  The idea of cloud computing being cost effective is centered around peak usage.  Let’s say your website is at its busiest from November 26 to December 21 every year.  During these periods, you typically need more computing power, more disk storage and more bandwidth.  Through the rest of the year, your traffic only calls for a third as much of these resources.  In a traditional IT model, you would need to invest in a variety of components to handle your peak activity, even though much of those investments are left sitting idle for most of the year.  With the cloud, you only pay for the processing power, storage and bandwidth you need, meaning you don’t have to pay for times when your business is idle.

A Word From the Experts

Some IT experts are predicting that within the next five years, nearly 90% of all e-commerce businesses will be leveraging some form of cloud computing in their operations.  A bold statement?  Perhaps.  But maybe not when considering that many online merchants are already using some type of the cloud as we speak.  Just think about the businesses that rely on hosted shopping carts.  They have already moved beyond traditional computing means to web applications that can be defined as variations of cloud computing.  It is very likely that more companies will simply offload their infrastructure, development and software applications to the cloud, a trend that has been going on longer than most realize. The transition shouldn’t come as a surprise, yet viewed as a new way to describe what many e-commerce businesses have already started doing.

Summarizing the Cloud

In many ways, cloud computing simply refers to what several e-commerce businesses have been doing for sometime now.  Since the term has been popularized in recent times, more people are becoming aware and thus, more businesses are heavily considering the transition.  The concept is catching on but not all cloud advocates in the e-commerce world will be cloud users.  For example, it would be unlikely for major companies such as Google and Amazon to utilize the cloud for cost benefits or added flexibility.  However, they probably wouldn’t mind raking in the profits by selling cloud services to others.

Share this article:

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Jun 08, 2009 : Ecommerce No responses yet

Are the Storage Needs for Your Business Covered?

Contrary to popular belief, e-commerce is much more than selling stuff online.  It involves marketing, transactions and security among other vital aspects.  One of the most important areas that often doesn’t get enough attention is storage.  Of course you can rely on your hard disk drive, but that should never be your only source of storage.  Anything could go wrong at your place of business whether it is hardware failure, theft or some other disaster.  For this reason, you need to come up with a more reliable form of storage.  When it comes to your business data, reliability is a key factor that simply can’t be overlooked.

All the new devices on the market and the complexities caused by the need to efficiently store business documents, graphics and multimedia files make it difficult to choose the right storage method for your e-commerce needs.  Thankfully, there are many options available and with a little knowledge, you can find a solution that will meet the requirements of your business.

What Do You Need to Store?

Before purchasing a new storage device, the first thing you need to consider is what that device will be used for.  For example, if you just need to back up small text files every couple of days, a USB flash drive will probably suit you just find.  Though small and compact, these devices are very efficient, highly compatible and offer tons of capacity for text files.  If you have a need to store larger files or those pertaining to mission critical data, you may want to consider other alternatives.

How Much Speed Do You Need?

If your business calls for you to transfer a significant amount of data at once, speed should definitely be a determining factor in the storage device you choose.  In this scenario, it is important to know that resources such as processor speed, memory and network connections will all play a role in data transfer rates.  Traditionally, the fastest speeds have been provided by interfaces such as Firewire, IDE and SCSI with parallel and USB following closely behind.  These devices are typically of the plug-and-play variety and easy to set up and maintain.

Should You Considering Outsourcing?

An increasingly popular storage option is third-party service providers.  Instead of leaving your data vulnerable on an in-house server, tapes or floppy disks, you transmit it to a remote server where it is maintained by a third-party provider.  With a good service, you get the benefit of a web-based interface to easily transfer your files as well as a generous amount of bandwidth to keep things cost effective.  If this is the route you decide to take, be sure to choose a provider that has security measures in place to protect your data.  They must be able to ensure the security of your data from the moment it leaves your server, while it is in transit and when it rests on their server.

Getting it Right the First Time

There is certainly no shortage of options when it comes to storage for your e-commerce needs.  It is vital to consider various factors with cost, speed and reliability being among the most important.  Each method has its own pros and cons so it is up to you to weigh them carefully and determine which makes the best option for your e-commerce venture.

Share this article:

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

May 25, 2009 : Ecommerce No responses yet