E-commerce Solutions & Strategy from Ecommerce Consultant

E-commerce
There is an almost infinite variety of e-commerce solutions available to choose from. Some are very rigid. Others are dynamic and quite flexible. I've seen people spend anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 on a shopping cart, and of course, it's possible to spend more. The first decision lies in whether you choose a pre-packaged solution or a custom-programmed shopping cart.

Pre-packaged E-commerce Solutions
A pre-packaged solution, like Yahoo Stores, is one that was developed for non-technical people so that they can build and manage their store without intervention. For some, this is a good way to start, because they save some money by doing it themselves.

The problem is that such solutions are extremely rigid, without the full functionality you get with a custom-programmed cart. As solutions for non-technical people, they are purposely built to prevent you from accessing the code. This presents a problem when it comes time to apply search engine optimization tactics to your site or professional graphic design. If the code-level access is extremely limited, the opportunity lost by the inability to apply search engine optimization tactics effectively may be much greater than the money saved by building a pre-packaged e-commerce system yourself. Furthermore, the ongoing development, success, and mere existence of these options depends upon the financial health of the solution provider. We have seen at least one of these fail - after being hailed as a #1 e-commerce solution for several years straight.

Some pre-packaged solutions can be purchased outright and installed on your server. Others are hosted by the solution provider who charges a fee that runs from $0/month to $300/month.

Custom-Programmed E-commerce Solution
A custom-programmed solution does not incur monthly fees; it is as flexible as the knowledge and skill of your programmer; and it can be moved from one web hosting company to another, if need be.

When we talk about "custom programmed solutions," we refer to open-source programming. "Open source" refers to code that anyone can see, read, and edit. The open source community is made up of programmers all over the world who have voluntarily and communally developed open source code such as PHP. Together they have used such code for any number of purposes - including many e-commerce solutions.

Rather than pay Microsoft for some kind of canned, yet customizable solution that you can install on a web hosting server somewhere, you can instead download an open source solution for free, have a programmer customize it, and install it on your web hosting server. Instead of paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to a company like Microsoft, or paying hundreds of dollars per month to a solution provider like Yahoo Stores, you can get a full-featured store up and running with the help of any open source programmer. This gives you as much freedom as you can possibly have - and at the least cost.

The drawback to using an open source solution is that there is no company representative to contact when things go wrong. You must instead appeal to the open source community for a solution. Since one cannot even be sure of getting a helpful response from a corporate e-commerce provider, though, we feel that the many other benefits of open source programming offset this one drawback. Finally, the PHP engine is quite fast, so the experience of shopping on your site won't be frustrating for your users.

Such a solution offers the following functionality, and more:

an administrative interface that the owner can use to add/revise/delete products, put things on sale, download reports, etc.
the ability to cross-sell and up-sell
automatic shipping calculations and shipment tracking
an e-mail newsletter list
inventory display
search engine friendly URLs
a connection to a name-brand payment gateway
etc.

Of course, installing a secure certificate so that orders are encrypted is part of the job.

Summary
Clearly, I'm in favor of open-source e-commerce solutions. However, there are times when a pre-packaged solution is best, whether it's because you sell just a few products, or your budget is tight. I will work with you to determine which solution is right for you.

For an e-commerce solution that fits your needs, please contact me today.

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Testimonials

"Karyn helped us achieve number one rankings in the search engines... We have seen growth in sales every year by 40-50%....We trust Karyn with our business and attribute our success on the Internet to her."
Patty Englebaugh
President
Ergostoreonline

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TRACK RECORD
I increased traffic to one website from 200 to 9,000 visitors per month with search engine optimization alone.

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that 60-80% of online users find products and services via search engines?

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Specializing in search engine optimization, pay-per-click & Internet marketing strategy
for cost-effective web design & e-commerce solutions, since 1999.