Getting started in ecommerce

TeresaDarling

Hi, I lost my job recently and cannot find another one that pays enough to keep the roof above my head.

I am starting my own business again after several years but this time a web shop selling multiple products.

I have bought a full host package with templates etc but this is my first attempt at a web shop (theory being if I can work Sage and Mamut I shoud be able to figure it out)

I wonder if anyone can explain how and why I need extra links to other sites and if anyone can give me advise on promotion, cheats, or techy stuff so that I don't learn by expensive mistakes as if this goes wrong I am right up the proverbial with no paddle!

Thanks very much
Teresa

RedXIV

While I admire your "can do" attitude and wish you luck, you've massively underestimated the amount of work involved here. Realistically you need to hire a professional to help you with this. You could learn it all yourself but it will probably take you months if not longer to get to competent level. Not down to any issues with you, but simply down to the huge workload involved.

Also you may want to try out the Entrepreneurial & Business Management forum for more information on setting up your own business. I wish you all the best! Great to see someone willing to try to make their own way through life!

donalg1

TeresaDarling wrote: »

Hi, I lost my job recently and cannot find another one that pays enough to keep the roof above my head.

I am starting my own business again after several years but this time a web shop selling multiple products.

I have bought a full host package with templates etc but this is my first attempt at a web shop (theory being if I can work Sage and Mamut I shoud be able to figure it out)

I wonder if anyone can explain how and why I need extra links to other sites and if anyone can give me advise on promotion, cheats, or techy stuff so that I don't learn by expensive mistakes as if this goes wrong I am right up the proverbial with no paddle!

Thanks very much
Teresa

I think the links to other sites will help with the SEO on your own site as far as I know but could be wrong so dont quote me on it!!

Good luck too with everything hope it works out for you.

TeresaDarling

Thanks for your reply but its not so much "can do" more got absolutely no other option left if I want to feed my kids.

The package I am paying for comes with technical help and support so I am not too worried about the design of the actual website, it is the "extas" that go with a web shop

I have many years in retail and accounting so I know what I am doing there but I was hoping for some pointers from people with web experience or knowledge of what not to do, any tips gratefully accepted

donalg1

TeresaDarling wrote: »

Thanks for your reply but its not so much "can do" more got absolutely no other option left if I want to feed my kids.

The package I am paying for comes with technical help and support so I am not too worried about the design of the actual website, it is the "extas" that go with a web shop

I have many years in retail and accounting so I know what I am doing there but I was hoping for some pointers from people with web experience or knowledge of what not to do, any tips gratefully accepted

I read something previously that said a visitor to a website generally waits a maximum of seven seconds for the site to load, so it needs to be loaded in this time and they need to know instantly what the website does. There is nothing worse than waiting an age for a page to open and then still not fully understanding what the site is all about or what its trying to sell.

komodosp

You can't underestimate the vital importance of two things...

1. SEO - (Search Engine Optimisation) The process of getting people to find your site on Search Engines (i.e. make it appear close to the top of search listings)- serious research needs to go into this. And it's a continuous job.

2. A good conversion rate... - The ratio of people who buy something / number of visitors. The site must be quick loading and easy to use / navigate. It's especially important for people to easily find what they want (unless it's more of a browsey type shop like a clothes shop in which case the process of browsing should be clear, quick and fluid, with high quality photographs) at a good price without hidden costs.

It is also very important that the site looks professional and maintains a good reputation - people are very worried about scams / chancers on the Internet and a big sign of a con is a cheap looking website or one with spelling mistakes, or requiring you to jump through hoops to get to what you want to do.

Inbound links are very important to SEO though I am not sure why you need extra outbound links...

BTW if you're not using something like 3d-secure (an extra layer of security on the payment processing, which is sometimes avoided because it might reduce conversion rates) then you are responsible money taken from stolen credit cards. So keep an eye on each sale for suspicious orders, like unusually large orders, or (for some reason) customer names / addresses not being capitalised!

Best of luck with it!

TeresaDarling

Thankyou, thats all very helpful, I appreciate it,

I have a .ie domain and will use paypal, I have a VAT number and the site should very easy to use as there is only 6 sub cats.

To be honest the more I look into this the more I want to dive head first into a vat of wine!

Keywords I understand, up dating SEO's regularly I don't, there are no other words for silver and bracelet

stevenmu

To use the common lingo, what you are creating is an eCommerce site. To do this there are two basic options.

1. Create your own custom site. This a reasonably complex development task. It gives you full control over everything your site does. But it would take a team of good programmers to do right and would be very expensive to have developed for you.

2a. Use other eCommerce software. There's a number of existing packages out there that you can use to build your site. Some examples in no particular order are nopCommerce, osCommerce, Magento, Zen Cart. Each will do different things for you, and each will do a lot of the same things but do them slightly differently. The basic thing they'll all have in common is that you'll be able to install them into your hosted web space and run some kind of control panel to setup your shop. In general they should have configuration pages that will let you add products, configure payment and delivery options, setup your home page, configure skins or themes to make your site look unique-ish, setup SEO options, connect with google adwords (to both display other ads on your site, and to have your ads displayed on other sites), setup affiliate programs or promotions, setup links to other sites, and probably a ton more things.

The first thing I'd suggest is to sit down and write down everything you want to be able to do with the shop, and everything you want your customers to be able to do. These will be your requirements, rank them in terms of critical to have, important to have and nice to have but not important. Then look at the different software options available, if you just google "ecommerce software" you'll find tons of options and could spend weeks looking at them all, so it's better to actually look for comparison sites, googling "ecommerce software comparison" will bring back plenty of these. Use a few different ones to get a good objective view. Keep an eye out for their requirements, they may be built using technologies such as such as PHP or .Net, MySQL or MSSQL or SQL Server. Make sure your hosting space supports the software's requirements (or consider changing to different hosting if you find something really worth it).

Compare the features to your requirements and see which ones tick the most boxes. For most of the software you should be able to find some sample/demo sites to have a look at them in action, some of them may even have specific demo sites that will give you access to their control panels/pages so you can try out their features fully and see how easy they are to configure. Ease of use will be an important feature for you to look out for, this will get difficult enough very quickly.

You will want to come up with the two or three that best fit your needs. Next you should try them out fully. Ideally you will want to install them on your home PC so you can try them out relatively quickly and easily. When you find the one you are happiest with you can install it to your hosting space and configure it there.

2b. Most hosting space will come with the option to add a limited number of different software packages using a simple wizard, and most probably include some form of eCommerce software. It would be far simpler to just go with whatever package your host provides, but you are then limited to the features it provides. This would be your best option if the below seems too difficult (and it would be difficult even for some developers).

edit: any of the ecommerce software available will have it's own websites and forums where there will almost certainly be great detailed user guides, installation instructions etc.

Sup3rp00p3r

When designing your site your going to want to do a lot of research into similar sites where you can get ideas but also figure out a way that would give your site a unique edge over any competitors. Your going to need something different which will attract people to your site over any others. You need to come up with an efficient way of directing traffic to the site and this is where SEO will come into play also. You need to do your best to use the correct tags to make sure that the site is getting recognition and being visited.

You should build templates of it and figure out what are the requirements like what database you are going to use etc. This should be done before any code is written.

You could also use a Content management system such as DotCMS or Jahira which are relatively easy to use to setup a site and to edit it. These also have good communities where people would give you support if you have any problems in setting up or after you have setup. DotCMS is an open source java CMS and uses postgresql or mysql as the database.

Best of luck anyway!!

amen

will use paypal

this is a problem. Not everyone has Paypal or wants to use it. You should support all payment options.

If you are only selling a few items why not look at the ebay/amazon branded/reseller options. I believe these let you list your stock on a website that you can customise, they handle payments and you handle fullfilment.

Don't forget people are going to lie and tell you that they didn't receive the package and you are going to have to refund them.

Running an online shop, keeping it high in google listings, fullfilling orders etc is not easy for first 1-2 years. A lot of hard work is required.

Ohh don't forget about security of the website and if you are storing customer data you need to be registered with the Data Protection Commissoner.

Liam Byrne

donalg1 wrote: »

TeresaDarling wrote: »

Hi, I lost my job recently and cannot find another one that pays enough to keep the roof above my head.

I am starting my own business again after several years but this time a web shop selling multiple products.

I have bought a full host package with templates etc but this is my first attempt at a web shop (theory being if I can work Sage and Mamut I shoud be able to figure it out)

I wonder if anyone can explain how and why I need extra links to other sites and if anyone can give me advise on promotion, cheats, or techy stuff so that I don't learn by expensive mistakes as if this goes wrong I am right up the proverbial with no paddle!

Thanks very much
Teresa

I think the links to other sites will help with the SEO on your own site as far as I know but could be wrong so dont quote me on it!!

Good luck too with everything hope it works out for you.

1. Incoming links help with SEO

2. Outgoing links have no benefit other than a "I'll scratch yours if you scratch mine"exchange (see point 1)

Liam Byrne

amen wrote: »

will use paypal

this is a problem. Not everyone has Paypal or wants to use it.

You don't have to have a Paypal account to use it.

TeresaDarling

That has all been very helpful, I spent all last night and today researching every point until my brain is fried.

I have every point covered but...........

I have come to the realisation that you already knew lol, setting up the keywords, tags and pages is way beyong my capabilities so I need help

I already bought my e commerce package before I posted here but it seems to have everything thats needed to set up shop, so

how long does it take to set up the pages?
does it have to be done on my pc or remotely?
how much will it cost?
and are there any people with the knowledge to do it who are cheap!

Placebo

Have you considered something like http://www.etsy.com/ or similar !?
I'm not sure what ecommerce package you have purchased.

But stuff like http://www.opencart.com is free. You download it, and then upload it to your remote server with some configuration and thats it !
You can get several themes for it, e.g: http://demo.opencart.com/

However if you require a more unique customised look then you'll need to hire a webdesigner, prices range with the quality of work and requirements.

You could setup a post here

TsuDhoNimh

Liam Byrne wrote: »

1. Incoming links help with SEO

2. Outgoing links have no benefit other than a "I'll scratch yours if you scratch mine"exchange (see point 1)

It's an oft debated theory that outbound links to highly relevant and high authority sites does have a positive impact on the page linking.

The debates normally focus on benefits in terms of co-citation, a boost in TrustRank, improved UX (if you're linking to high quality relevant pages it provides a better user experience) and other less relevant factors (i.e. clearly wrong theories).

Personally speaking, it's a theory I've never had an inclination to test. If it makes sense to link out to an external page do it for the users benefit and not for any assumed or perceived SEO benefit. If you follow that theory you're not watching over your shoulder for algorithm updates that may render your strategy null and void and instead simply focusing on providing the best user experience possible (which should always be the long term goal).

TsuDhoNimh

TeresaDarling wrote: »

how long does it take to set up the pages?
does it have to be done on my pc or remotely?
how much will it cost?
and are there any people with the knowledge to do it who are cheap!

Sadly, these are "how long is a piece of string" type questions.

An experienced provider would have pages set up, and optimised, relatively quickly. A short amount of time would be required for the keyword research to ensure it's being optimised for the correct terms for the target market (exactly how much time will depend on the specific niche and the level of competition within that niche) and the actual implementation time will depend on what ecommerce package you're using (and the persons experience with that package).

The cost will vary depending on the expertise and experience of the person you hire. You could find a keen and enthusiastic novice willing to do it for €15p/h or an industry leading expert from €100p/h to €1000p/h (I'm not suggesting you need to pay that much, just that you can find people quoting those figures).

It can certainly be done remotely, once you give the person the required level of access to your hosting (FTP/CP) it makes no odds whether they're on your PC or another machine (/in another country).

Lots of people with the knowledge to do it, I'd just suggest avoiding looking for the "cheap" solution. You want the "value for money" one, which in many cases is very different to the "cheap" solution. Seek referrals from friends/family/colleagues, if you can't get a referral see if you can speak to current/former customers of an unknown provider and regardless of who you hire try to gain a basic understanding of what work they should be doing for you so you can see if it's going to plan.

Nasty_Girl

I dunno what others will think of this but would you consider setting up facebook, twitter, gooogle + account to help promote the site when it's up and running?

TeresaDarling

Thanks to the replies I have spent my entire weekend hunched over a pc but I know now a lot more than I did!

SEO had me baffled, it seems to me you just need an inventive description cross referenced a few times, due to the way my mind works I have come up with some fantastic keywords (helped by 3 women and several bottles of wine, we might have even invented a few new words)

I have had a good play on the demo site and think I can do the initial set up as I am broke I will just pay someone to look over it and improve or tweek it

I have a very large network of friends so facebook will be essential to spread the word, so far I am not on twitter but will be

I like shopping, if I go on a website that has adverts I instantly leave, the same with the sites that will not let me go back to search so for now I am going to have either a forum or a blog and no adds

Due to the products I can find some amusing or interesting articles

I have started planning the layout of the site which is now much more in depth than just a few buttons

I am very glad I posted here, in an ideal world I would have just paid someone to do it for me, these days I would need to sell a kidney for that, I have so much more knowledge now than I had a few days ago

And just to make a few of you shudder the first time I ever touched a computer I was 33, now I am designing a website lol

When I become rich I will buy you all a drink, cheers!

Trojan

Thread renamed

TeresaDarling

After working solidly for 14 days I now thing you web developers are worth every penny you charge, its pure torture, and that 5.00am eureka moment that keeps you typing until 10.00pm at night *shudder*

But I have nearly done it, changing 4 letters in the company name means it takes 10 working days to get the VAT reg changed grr as soon as I have it I will get the image cd's and hope to launch in at most 2 weeks

What started out as a small shop seems to be turning into a bit of a supermarket lol

StupidLikeAFox

Google Adwords tool lets you see what people are searching for so you can tailor your keywords - https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal/ It wont let me enter the URL for some reason but google "Google Keyword Tool" and you'll get it

SEO Forum - stick with the White Hat stuff, BlackHat can get you kicked off the search engines