Basic ecommerce web site design and development - Part 1
By: Michael Bloch
Taming the Beast

Introduction
This series examines the many different stages in preparing your web site for online sales and credit card transactions. It will assist you in making a more educated decision before implementing ecommerce software, web development packages and add-ons, or purchasing commercial web site hosting.

Online sales processing using credit card based transactions is not quite as straightforward as you may think. Many web site owners new to ecommerce are under the impression that they just plug a shopping cart into their site. This can be the case with third party processing services, but it can be expensive. In this series we'll also examine the various options - from free to fee.

Basic ecommerce web site design and development - Part 2
By: Michael Bloch
Taming the Beast

Pre-sales support to encourage sales
 
In Part 1 of this ecommerce series, we examined various pages that should be included on your site. A good ecommerce site is more than just a home page, product page and shopping cart.

This article examines other pre-sale services you may wish to consider as part of your online sales pitch...More

Guide to Internet Business - Concept and Opportunities
By: Steven O. Ng

When deciding what kind of internet business you want to do, there are a few factors you need to look at before plunging into building your website.

a) TYPE OF BUSINESS

The first thing you need to consider is exactly what kind of business you want to build. There are generally two types of internet businesses out there:

How to set up an online store
By: Mukesh

Online selling is by no means a simple task. To sell products online not only requires making use of high end marketing strategies but also involves lots of planning. This article is meant for those of you who intent to start an online store. It is intended to give you a fair idea of what you would need to do and what you need to avoid while planning an online selling business.

The following are the various steps that you would need to take in order to open a successful online store

Shopping carts &  ecommerce software solutions guide
By: Michael Bloch
Taming the Beast

Choosing the best shopping cart solutions for your launch into ecommerce is critical to the success of your online business. If you're wanting to learn more about this sometimes confusing world, this guide will explain the points you should consider before purchasing a cart.

What is a shopping cart?  
In a basic definition, it's a series of scripts that keep track of items a visitor picks to buy from your site until they proceed to the "checkout". A popular misconception is that shopping carts handle the whole financial transaction, but they only really act as a front end which passes information via a secure connection (another service) to a payment gateway - a separate service altogether.  

The payment gateway service then channels the requests and transfers throughout relevant financial networks, including the Internet merchant account with your bank. It then sends back confirmation or denial back to the shopping cart software.

Top Ten Lessons Learned in Internet Business
By: Shelley Lowery

Since starting my Internet business back in 1997, I have learned many lessons along the way. These lessons have played a major role in my success, and I'd like to share them with you.

Lesson #1