Build Your Own
On-Line Store

Building your own on-line store isn't as complicated as it once was, thanks to innovative on-line products now readily available on a global scale. Although there are some similarities to selling your product on-line vs selling IRL in a retail environment - there are some important differences too. There are certain "must have" tools you will require in order to be successful. There are also different tactics requred to market your on-line venture (although don't eliminate your off-line marketing - add to it information that you are now available on-line!). Let's begin with the tools you will require.

Necessary Tools

Virtual Shopping Cart System - off-line your store/products/services may not require this convenience for your customers, however - on-line it is imperitive to have if you are selling more than one item! An on-line order form will work, but to do good numbers a proper, easy to navigate, and secure shopping cart system must be applied.

Accept Credit Cards - this, I have to stress, is one of THE most IMPORTANT requirements and can make the difference between thriving or merely surviving in this new on-line arena. There are a few things you will need to add this to your Virtual Store:

• Merchant Account which provides on-line services - not all banks are set up for this feature of providing a merchant account on-line. From the stats I've seen there are 6 very large well established on-line banking institutions - only 6 - who are fully operational capable of multiple methods for on-line transactions which include on-line checks, debit card transactions, e-checks, and credit card services. It will take a while for the older financial institutions not yet automated for the Net to catch up and make sure their communications services to customers meet on-line requirements.
• Credit Card Transaction Processing - This is a service which acts as the "gateway" to your bank. It handles the credit card information, "dials" the bank to verify card information, and approves (or not) the transaction. You want a service which can complete this task RealTime! Look for a supplier of this service with good anti-fraud systems in place too. None can fully guarantee it, but they can reduce the damages with a good verification system. Did you know in 1997 it was estimated appox. 20% of all on-line purchases were made using fraudulent credit cards? Bottom line, it is still up to you to cover these losses. When you see something which looks like a suspicious purchase it is always best to investigate it yourself prior to shipping. (This holds true for IRL selling too.)

Secure On-Line Server - For processing your customer information and order details this one is an absolute MUST to protect your customers, and yourself. None can guarantee you full securety but a secure server encrypts important data highly reducing risks to you and your customers. Note: you may not wish to have your product pages mixed with your customer order processing pages all on the secure server since this will slow down page load times for your customers. For On-line Selling - speed of your service is extremely important.

Total E-Commerce Solution - Now, I'm the type that doesn't like to mess around with having one account for this, another for that, and having to maintain a bunch of different programs to process what used to be a simple process with a cashier and a card-swipe machine at the till. Cory Rudl has recently launched a program offering all of the above tools all in one easy to use product/service. The best news is, it's less than what others are charging for only parts of the Total E-Commerce Solution Package. For as little as $30/month you can have your shopping cart system, merchant account, credit card transaction processing software - all on a secure server. I like that! Keeps things nice and tidy. Plus - no need to worry about being turned down by the bank for a Merchant Account. This one has a super high acceptance rate! Here are links to this service, as well as others available out there. Take your time, shop and compare services as well as pricing.

Total E-Commerce Solution Includes your merchant account, secure server, processing software, and real-time transactions. Click here! EVERYTHING you need to take credit cards and start selling on-line.

AIS Group Click here for Merchant Card Services Click here for Transaction Processing Services Click here for Electronic Business Kit

Concentric Hosts This is actually a domain hosting service providing virtual servers and secure servers. They've recently added E-Commerce tools including shopping carts, credit card processing, etc. A bit expensive but good service.

There are many more out there. The above are some of the "cream of the crop" so to speak. Now let's move on to automating your virtual store.

Automation Tools

The Ultimate Auto-Responder - There are many different ways you can apply this tool to your store. Here is one example (see our page on it in the toolbox section here at the WebGuide for more examples and details).

• As An On-Line E-Catalogue - Picture This,
• Customer requests your "list of products" via email (sent to your autoresponder)
• Instantly your "catalogue" is sent to their email box (note - if your catalogue is larger than 20 Kb I'd recommend you use 2 or more levels of your auto-responder so it doesn't become too large in their in-box - they can be scheduled for release at the same time)
• 2 days later a follow-up email goes out to them asking if they require any further information and possibly making suggestions on products/services you want highlighted which they may have missed in the larger catalogue/list owing to its length
• 7 days later another email goes out thanking them for their original request and letting them know of a special deal coming up (or other promotional event)
• 14 days later another email goes out reminding them you are more than happy to serve them
• 30 days later another email goes out thanking them for their interest in your company and perhaps telling them of the new monthly special you may be running...
• ...and so on.... Get the picture?

When it comes to automating your customer services, this tool is a definite time saver as well as an excellent marketing tool to keep customers coming back!

Mail-Loop Software - Running your own opt-in mailing list or newsletter on your site? Well, you should. Not only is it a great way to "show your style" but also an excellent method of staying "in touch" with your important customers! This automation software will personalize your mailouts and automate a ton of processes! And excellent time-saver and automation tool. You will definitely want this one to keep "mining" your contacts and improve customer relations.

MyFreeOffice Suite - You'll want the free tools from this site to automate many of your on-line business processes. The Free Program includes; free home page space (up to 2 MB - with the Page Wizard you don't even need to know HTML), free on-line fax services (you don't even need your own fax machine now - they provide you with a fax number and free software so you can read/process your faxes on-line), one free ultimate auto-responder, 2 free email accounts, free for life domain hosting (with the exception of initial set up fee and InterNIC Fees for registering your domain), one free PowerList for opt-in mailing, free search engine submission software (submit your site to 100 search engines), and a powerful method for you to build an incredible on-line Network. Whether you're selling goods or services, you'll want to have your own office suite for the Networking capabilities alone - the great free tools are a bonus! Click here for more details.

There's a special note I'd like to add here regarding MyFreeOffice. If you decide to become a Distributor rather than a free suite owner there are additional tools, including shopping cart - E-commerce tools, unlimited auto-responders, self-replicating web pages, plus commissions for registering more Distributors (from your own Networking downline) which could provide you with a substantial supplemental income. It is expensive to become a distributor, however - but well worth the expense if Networking is important for your product(s)/service(s).

Marketing Tools

Internet Marketing Center - The best single investment you will ever make for marketing your virtual store is the Internet Marketing Course. Listed above are only a few of the automation tools to help your business run itself 24 hours a day 365 days a year. Remember, we're talking the Internet here - you don't get to close on weekends or holidays. The more you automate the better your return on investment will be. The IMC program comes with:

• tips and tricks found NO WHERE ELSE
• two full-color covered binders/manuals (with over 600 shrink-wrapped pages in total)
• 4 diskettes with software and resource files
• a 6 month subscription to Corey's private newsletter "The Cutting Edge"

The course content weighs almost 10 pounds in total... so you know you are getting a lot of bang for your buck. When clients pull out the course from the box it is shipped in, just by the appearance of the course, they know are getting their money's worth. Click Here To Order Now.

The Affiliate Game - Declan Dunn has a great resource here if you plan on setting up your own affiliate program on-line. I highly recommend it for merchants who wish to run their own affiliate program as well as for those interested in becoming on-line affiliates. "It is the first serious attempt at documenting what will surely
become the most important marketing channel for e-commerce players.
Continued success as the voice of this new industry."
James Marciano, President, Refer-It.com

Setting Up Your Own Affiliate Program - There are several on-line sites now providing this service to merchants and affiliates alike. I'm only going to list my Top 3 Recommendations here.
 

# 1 Highest Rating! Commission Junction

# 2 Second Highest Rating! Linkshare Network

# 3 Third Highest Rating! BeFree.Com Network

I should point out here, the main reason I am recommending the above three is for the "independant third party approach" to running your own Affiliate Program on-line. You'll read about the advantages to doing things this way at each of their sites and discover for yourself how this method automates a lot of the operational tasks as well as helps you market your program instantly to make finding prospective Affiliates much easier! To find out more on why I've selected the above 3 programs and rated them so high, or to know more on what an affiliate program is, visit WebPower and click on the Affiliate Guide link. Note: Commission Junction recently received a $7 Million Investment from a major bank who also happens to think they are going to be major players in the field!

PS: there are many I haven't listed here that I consider absolute JUNK! I would avoid them at ALL COSTS! I don't mention them here in order to avoid a law suit - however, stating my personal humble opinion is another thing, which is what you read when you receive the WebGuide Journal available via email - subscribe through OneList.

Want more marketing tools? Be sure to check out our toolbox here at the Guide as well as the Dinner Menu. When it comes to running a successful on-line business, you can never market enough. It is critical to your success!

If you are viewing this page in "frames" click on another News Article on the left hand navigation bar. If not, you can return to the WebGuide Newsletter through this link.

FREE WebGuide News

FREE WebGuide Menu

FREE Webmasters Tools Software

FREE MLM Programs Alert Guide

FREE Online Office Suite

FREE Trivia Games

FREE Lottery Tickets

FREE Scratch-And- Win Games

BUILD Your Own On-line Store TODAY!