Is There Such a Thing as Simple Ecommerce
Looking for ecommerce solutions . . . ?
Many people, maybe you are one, think that when starting an ecommerce business that they must build their website from the bottom up. That is, they confuse the website and shopping cart with the business. The site is only one aspect of the business and happens to be the subject of this blog post.
To be sure, the website is the front end of your business, what your site visitors and potential customers will see when they arrive. It is absolutely necessary that your site and shopping cart function as flawlessly as possible to ensure a smooth and uncomplicated buying experience for your customers.
Having said that, is it really necessary for you to build the site from the ground up? Building the site means having knowledge of site design, and the code necessary to build the site and shopping cart so that the two are properly integrated. These are marvelous skills, no faulting that.
Of course, where you start with this depends on what you are attempting to do, what you want to accomplish. Personally, I think that if you serious about getting into ecommerce, that you should hire someone skilled in the design and coding of ecommerce sites to set it up for you. I strongly suggest against outsourcing unless you have a solid recommendation and have a chance to examine their work.
However, as I said, I suggest that you find someone locally who can set your site up and then work closely with them to make sure that the realization of the site is as close to your vision as possible. The reason I’m going in this direction is that it will save you time, trouble, and money in the long run. If you think you can rely on open source software and a little casual hacking and bootstrapping, you will end up with a badly designed, clunky site. If you are a skilled designer and coder then you may have no problems. If you want to study design and coding, that’s fine. But otherwise, save yourself the time, trouble, money, and frustration and hire the site construction out.
Now, I understand that you may want to build the site yourself. That may be because of lack of money. But, remember, the site by itself is not the business. If there is any way you can possibly hire the site construction out, do it. Just make sure you find someone you can trust.
If you don’t have the money to hire the site out, then figure out your lowest cost option for setting up a professional looking and functioning site and scale your business to that. It is possible to do this with a fairly simple content management system (CMS) such as WordPress and use the PayPal or Google Checkout shopping cart. I know this might mean scaling down your business ambitions a bit, but you do want to start with a front end that looks good and functions properly.
It is also the case that most web hosting includes several different several choices of shopping carts for use with your domain. The trouble I’ve run into here is in customizing them to my particular project. However, these might suit your needs.
I’m speaking from experience, here. Open source software is great–if you are a designer and coder. You can’t beat Joomla, Drupal, or Mambo, but unless you are a designer and coder, you’ll be hard pressed to turn it into a professional looking and professional functioning site.
For a more detailed look at what is involved in setting up a serious ecommerce site, have a look at this article on proproductsourcing.com,Easy Wholesale Dropship Business.
[tags]ecommerce,ecommerce solutions,simple ecommerce,ecommerce model,shopping carts[/tags]
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