Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Added for You - Choosing the Right Online Shopping Cart
You may think that writing press releases only works when you have important news to share or company announcements to make and that is wrong! You can write and submit press releases at anytime which will get published if you put an interesting slant to what you are submitting. Here are some interesting ideas to help get your press release picked up by the media: 1. Write a story about how your business fills a void in your community or solves a problem that is plaguing a lot of people. 2. If your company has a focus on charitable contributions, write up a press release about what your company is doing to help in the community. 3. Tell your story – whether you came from nothing to rise to something big or if you’ve built up your business with a personal struggle, write it! 4. Relate your story to what is happening today – watch the news, check out what the
Technical Support
What kind of technical support does your shopping cart offer? If you choose to purchase a script, be sure to also subscribe to the shopping cart creator's newsletter, so that you can stay on top of future updates to the software. Be aware that technical support is generally available on a pay-per-incident basis, as a yearly fee or in the rare case, free. Be sure to know what kind of customer support guarantee the shopping cart comes with.
Security
Please, only buy a shopping cart if it supports SSL (secure socket layer), w
"It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important." Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), British novelist and author of the Sherlock Holmes seriesThe smallest little things we do in our business can mean the difference between positive and negative buzz.On a recent trip to the mall, I stopped for a frozen yogurt snack at a TCBY stand. When I asked for a cup of tap water to accompany my yogurt, the counter person said, "I'll have to charge you 25 cents for the water." When I did a double-take, she said with a look of embarrassment, "Oh, I'm so sorry that I have to charge for water…but that’s what the owner wants."I’ve always loved TCBY frozen yogurt, but this left a bitter taste in my mouth. I couldn’t stop thinking that a paper cup of tap water must cost only a few pennies. The profit margin on a cup of frozen yogurt is surely generous, so why would a
The greatest challenge is to find the perfect ecommerce shopping cart solution for yourself and/or your client. This task can be very overwhelming, considering, if you type 'shopping cart' into Google.com, this search alone returns over 14.4 million hits! Most of us don't have the time to sift through more than a few pages of a search engine to find what we're looking for.
For the last 3 months, much of my time has been devoted to researching as much shopping cart technology as I could get my hands on. In general, shopping cart software ranges in price from free to over $2000 for a single license and web hosted carts range from $5 to hundreds of dollars per month. The studied carts cover the spectrum of all web programming languages (ASP, ASP.NET, Cold Fusion, Flash, Java, JavaScript & Perl shopping carts) and provide limitless features as a whole. The problem is that locating YOUR perfect cart with YOUR specific features can be a big task.
But no fear, just follow this guaranteed step-by-step guide to locate it:
The Top 10 Steps to Finding the Best Online Shopping Cart
Cost
How much money do you have to spend on an internet shopping cart? The nice advantage is that there are shopping carts with hundreds of features and they don't cost you a dime. They are generally open source products. The only problem is that these same "free shopping carts" can take hours of installation time and be fairly difficult to configure. For a monthly fee, web hosting shopping carts are made for users with little programming experience and allows them to have an online storefront presence in no time.
Hosting vs. Software
There are two options in selecting your overall shopping cart solution. Either you get shopping cart software, download it, install it on your web server, then configure the shopping cart OR you get an online storefront (aka a hosted shopping cart) where the configuration is very basic and the required setup time is minimal. If you have some programming skills, I recommend buying a script and installing it on your own. The nice thing is that you pay a one-time fee for shopping cart software and the license is good for a lifetime. It's approximately the same price to have a hosted solution for a year compared to most one time shopping cart license fees.
Supported Gateways
What do I mean by gateways? Gateways give shopping carts the ability to connect and securely process credit card orders in real-time. Not all shopping carts are created equal. Make sure that your client's merchant account is supported by the cart you select. I have found that almost all carts support the larger online payment processing companies, such as Authorize.net, PayPal and Verisign.
Shipping Options
Will you be shipping physical products? If so, there are shopping carts that have built-in real-time shipping options through DHL, UPS And USPS. Often times, the cart gives the user the ability to view tracking orders and order status all from within your secure shopping cart web interface. Also, there are shopping carts with options to ship digital goods as well (files, programs, pictures, music and others).
Technical Support
What kind of technical support does your shopping cart offer? If you choose to purchase a script, be sure to also subscribe to the shopping cart creator's newsletter, so that you can stay on top of future updates to the software. Be aware that technical support is generally available on a pay-per-incident basis, as a yearly fee or in the rare case, free. Be sure to know what kind of customer support guarantee the shopping cart comes with.
Security
Please, only buy a shopping cart if it supports SSL (secure socket layer), w
Private or home tutorship is common nowadays all over the world. Over in Malaysia however, the idea has yet to reach their full potential since most parents are more interested in sending their kids to tuition centers. Hence it is not surprising to see that Malaysians that has teaching experiences and credentials especially those working in public schools and universities took the opportunity to make some extra money by working part time in tuition centers.As time goes by, more and more Malaysian parents are beginning to realize that hiring private or home tutors to take care of their children’s education would be more beneficial. By hiring private or home tutors, parents could easily monitor their children’s learning progress. What is most important to most parents is that they do not have to worry that their children would befriend bad companies outside. There’s nothing wrong with tuition centers, it is j
But no fear, just follow this guaranteed step-by-step guide to locate it:
The Top 10 Steps to Finding the Best Online Shopping Cart
Cost
How much money do you have to spend on an internet shopping cart? The nice advantage is that there are shopping carts with hundreds of features and they don't cost you a dime. They are generally open source products. The only problem is that these same "free shopping carts" can take hours of installation time and be fairly difficult to configure. For a monthly fee, web hosting shopping carts are made for users with little programming experience and allows them to have an online storefront presence in no time.
Hosting vs. Software
There are two options in selecting your overall shopping cart solution. Either you get shopping cart software, download it, install it on your web server, then configure the shopping cart OR you get an online storefront (aka a hosted shopping cart) where the configuration is very basic and the required setup time is minimal. If you have some programming skills, I recommend buying a script and installing it on your own. The nice thing is that you pay a one-time fee for shopping cart software and the license is good for a lifetime. It's approximately the same price to have a hosted solution for a year compared to most one time shopping cart license fees.
Supported Gateways
What do I mean by gateways? Gateways give shopping carts the ability to connect and securely process credit card orders in real-time. Not all shopping carts are created equal. Make sure that your client's merchant account is supported by the cart you select. I have found that almost all carts support the larger online payment processing companies, such as Authorize.net, PayPal and Verisign.
Shipping Options
Will you be shipping physical products? If so, there are shopping carts that have built-in real-time shipping options through DHL, UPS And USPS. Often times, the cart gives the user the ability to view tracking orders and order status all from within your secure shopping cart web interface. Also, there are shopping carts with options to ship digital goods as well (files, programs, pictures, music and others).
Technical Support
What kind of technical support does your shopping cart offer? If you choose to purchase a script, be sure to also subscribe to the shopping cart creator's newsletter, so that you can stay on top of future updates to the software. Be aware that technical support is generally available on a pay-per-incident basis, as a yearly fee or in the rare case, free. Be sure to know what kind of customer support guarantee the shopping cart comes with.
Security
Please, only buy a shopping cart if it supports SSL (secure socket layer), w
You are a young contract cleaning company or just starting out and want to expand? So many cleaning firms are run as a ‘one man band’ and do not want to employ cleaners so they are incapable of expansion. If you are reading this then you are not among that number and want to enlarge and expand your cleaning business. There are a few simple rules you must follow if you want to be successful in this and retain your contracts.1. Visit each site at least once per week. In order to ensure that the cleaning is taking place as you want it to. Vary the times and days of your visits.2. Maintain good communications with the client and respond rapidly to any requests or complaints.3. Maintain good relations with your staff. Your most valuable resource are your staff so treat them well and not just in monetary terms.4. Maintain all equipment used on a site in excellent working order. If a piece of
Hosting vs. Software
There are two options in selecting your overall shopping cart solution. Either you get shopping cart software, download it, install it on your web server, then configure the shopping cart OR you get an online storefront (aka a hosted shopping cart) where the configuration is very basic and the required setup time is minimal. If you have some programming skills, I recommend buying a script and installing it on your own. The nice thing is that you pay a one-time fee for shopping cart software and the license is good for a lifetime. It's approximately the same price to have a hosted solution for a year compared to most one time shopping cart license fees.
Supported Gateways
What do I mean by gateways? Gateways give shopping carts the ability to connect and securely process credit card orders in real-time. Not all shopping carts are created equal. Make sure that your client's merchant account is supported by the cart you select. I have found that almost all carts support the larger online payment processing companies, such as Authorize.net, PayPal and Verisign.
Shipping Options
Will you be shipping physical products? If so, there are shopping carts that have built-in real-time shipping options through DHL, UPS And USPS. Often times, the cart gives the user the ability to view tracking orders and order status all from within your secure shopping cart web interface. Also, there are shopping carts with options to ship digital goods as well (files, programs, pictures, music and others).
Technical Support
What kind of technical support does your shopping cart offer? If you choose to purchase a script, be sure to also subscribe to the shopping cart creator's newsletter, so that you can stay on top of future updates to the software. Be aware that technical support is generally available on a pay-per-incident basis, as a yearly fee or in the rare case, free. Be sure to know what kind of customer support guarantee the shopping cart comes with.
Security
Please, only buy a shopping cart if it supports SSL (secure socket layer), w
Internet marketing can definitely be more than one has bargained for! Have you found yourself spending countless hours searching, researching, and/or perhaps investigating, surfing, downloading, or joining affiliate programs, and promoting .... Yet, have made little or no online profit? Has it become a tedious and thankless task? Are you disenchanted?The internet is an information highway that has probably taken you on an endless journey uphill and downhill and around the bend. Throwing curves this way and that. Have you been hoodwinked and/or simply sidetracked while taking detour after detour only to find you've gone in circles -- and ended up where you were yesterday, last week, last month or maybe even last year?And if that isn't enough, do you find that you are no "techie?" Don't know how to build a website? Or how to create and upload a links page? Or upload your website using FTP? Don't know h
Supported Gateways
What do I mean by gateways? Gateways give shopping carts the ability to connect and securely process credit card orders in real-time. Not all shopping carts are created equal. Make sure that your client's merchant account is supported by the cart you select. I have found that almost all carts support the larger online payment processing companies, such as Authorize.net, PayPal and Verisign.
Shipping Options
Will you be shipping physical products? If so, there are shopping carts that have built-in real-time shipping options through DHL, UPS And USPS. Often times, the cart gives the user the ability to view tracking orders and order status all from within your secure shopping cart web interface. Also, there are shopping carts with options to ship digital goods as well (files, programs, pictures, music and others).
Technical Support
What kind of technical support does your shopping cart offer? If you choose to purchase a script, be sure to also subscribe to the shopping cart creator's newsletter, so that you can stay on top of future updates to the software. Be aware that technical support is generally available on a pay-per-incident basis, as a yearly fee or in the rare case, free. Be sure to know what kind of customer support guarantee the shopping cart comes with.
Security
Please, only buy a shopping cart if it supports SSL (secure socket layer), w
In my previous article entitled: Market and Customer focus - Baldrige Assessment Case Studies for Category 3, I shared about common assessment findings of several companies being assessed by a group of trained and experienced assessors. In this article, I will provide similar findings but on Information and Analysis, of the Baldrige Criteria. It is provided in the form of case studies which include Criteria summary as described in year 2001 Baldrige Criteria, assessment findings in terms of Strengths and Area for Improvements.There are seven categories in the Baldrige Criteria. In this article, I will deal with the bold categories listed below:-Leadership | Strategic Planning | Customer and Market Focus | Information and Analysis | Human Resource Focus | Process Management | Business ResultsCriteria Summary – Information and Analysis The Information a
Technical Support
What kind of technical support does your shopping cart offer? If you choose to purchase a script, be sure to also subscribe to the shopping cart creator's newsletter, so that you can stay on top of future updates to the software. Be aware that technical support is generally available on a pay-per-incident basis, as a yearly fee or in the rare case, free. Be sure to know what kind of customer support guarantee the shopping cart comes with.
Security
Please, only buy a shopping cart if it supports SSL (secure socket layer), with 128-bit encryption. As an online storefront, remember that you are responsible for the safe transfer of sensitive information (credit card and bank account information) that is processed through your store. If any of the sensitive information is accessible (stolen) from your website, you could be liable. Be sure that you're purchasing a secure shopping cart solution. Ask the creator's of the shopping cart what they do specifically to protect the secure transfer of sensitive information.
Style Compatibility
Can you customize your shopping cart to look like your website? There needs to be a seamless transition between your website and your shopping storefront or your customers might get hesitant in purchasing your products. There should be similar colors and style layout to look professional and believable.
Extra Features
I just wanted to mention some of the other features that I have discovered, which might be a critical point in determining the shopping cart you want.
Affiliate Program - Offer your own customized affiliate program through your shopping cart software. Quickbooks Integration - Many carts allow direct integration with Quickbooks.
Newsletter & Mailing Letter Managers - The ability to stay in touch with your current customers and keep them returning to your online store.
Custom Taxing Options - Create taxable or tax-free products and have the ability to add various global tax options at checkout.
World Languages & Currencies - Shopping cart language translation and support for world currency might be a necessary feature for your cart.
Error Free
You mean shopping carts can have errors? Of course. A private UK-based web testing firm found the following, after studying a large group of UK online shopping carts for a period of one month (24/7):"The majority of UK web sites are guilty of leaving e-consumers stranded at the checkout empty handed, once they have already spent valuable time browsing and selecting goods to purchase. This is due to erratic functionality within shopping carts, at a critical step in the online purchasing process."
"E-consumers are prevented from making purchases on UK web sites for 9 hours and 30 minutes a month on average, (115 hours a year)." "80 per cent of web sites perform inconsistently with widely varying response times, timeouts and errors - leaving consumers at best wondering what to do next and at worst unable to complete their purchase successfully. This is potentially costing e-retailers millions in lost sales from consumer frustrations." (http://www.scivisum.co.uk/report/ecommerce/)
Be sure to see what other users are saying about a shopping cart that you might be interested in purchasing. Any shopping cart errors could cost you thousands of dollars in sales. Get a stable and secure cart.
Shopping Cart Directory
The following is a link containing a directory of shopping carts that are categorized according to each of the above-stated steps. Make shopping for shopping carts a breeze!
Shopping Cart Directory
If you have any questions or comments about this article, please contact the author.
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.added4u.com/article/61674/added4u-Choosing-the-Right-Online-Shopping-Cart.html">Choosing the Right Online Shopping Cart</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.added4u.com/article/61674/added4u-Choosing-the-Right-Online-Shopping-Cart.html]Choosing the Right Online Shopping Cart[/url]
Related Articles:
Advertising Agencies Need for Search Engine Skills
Big Dog and Business Negotiation Techniques
Sales Training - If You Can Answer Yes to These 5 Questions You Don't Need More Sales Training
Bookmark it:
|