Ecommerce Website

If you want to create a website that sells actual products then you will need some kind of shopping cart system in addition to your domain and web host.

There are several ways to go about setting up a shopping cart but I am going to discuss the most popular...

1) Installing a shoping cart system through ypur hosting account.

2) using PayPal

Shopping Cart System

Most domain registrars / web hosting companies have shopping cart solutions you can purchase as add-ons for your website.

For example, Godday.com has one here. If you choose this option, there will be some setup required, so you'll have to get the instructions from the web host.

Collecting online Paymants

To handle credit card transaction you will either set up a merchant account or use a 3rd party solution like PayPal.

Pay pal is probably the easiest payment system to setup and does not cost as much as the merchant account solutions provided by most web hosts. Signing upu with PayPal is free and the only cost to use their shopping cart/checkout systme is the fee you pay per transaction.

If you do decided to go with PayPal, you can integrate it with the shopping cart solution found on goddady.com website.

Using PayPal By ItSelf

You can use PayPal without setting up a shopping cart. If your website is only going to sell a few items then you may be able to get away with just setting up a few "Buy Naw" buttons and directing your customers to PayPal to purchase. But if you plan on selling multiple itmes then you should consider setting up some kind of shopping cart system.

Make sure you check out PayPal's site for specifics on all the fees and options.

What You Should Know About Ecommerce Websites

1) As general rule, commerce sites are most difficult to get listed in the search engines. So marketing these sites will be a lot different than marketin a site full of content (an affiliate site, for example). Be prepared to spend some money on advertising.

2) One way to help draw organic (free) search engine traffic to an ecommerce site is to create content around your store. Let's Say you are selling computer memory from your information content that targets keywords people are searching for related to computers.

You could create a section on how to trobleshoot a computer or how to instal memory. That will give your site a chance to draw in some free, organic search engine traffic because search engines like content.

3) You do not have to register a business name if you setup an ecommerce store, but it is highly recommended if you will be collecting credit card payment. Plus, some merchant account providers many require you to have a business name.

4) Remember, You will be responsible for integrating your shopping cart/payment systems into your website. Please do not expect your web host to set everything up for you. If you buy a shopping cart, there will likely be basic instructions, but you will have to learn how t odo the customizations yourself.