Are you considering selling your product, or any product on line? There are many ways you can get an e-commerce store off the ground. This can be more of a dilemma than you think. This series of articles will help you decide which method is best for you.

These are three basic methods to getting started in e-commerce.

1.Using an All-In-One method (This will be discussed in part one of this series of articles)
2.Hiring a website developer and webmaster to install, modify and run your e-commerce store (This will be discussed in part two of this series of articles)
3.Doing it yourself (Which is what we will discuss in this article)

While there are many more methods for starting an e-commerce store these are the three basic solutions. You can also combine some of these to suit your needs as you feel best. For instance some people may feel that they have enough technical expertise to install, set up and run their e-commerce store but will leave the design portion to a good website developer.

In this article we will look at and discuss doing it all yourself. The most popular method to get your e-commerce store up and running is to learn and/or have a desire to be hands on with your project. This method is not for everyone but it could be for you. As discussed in part one of this series of articles besides having a product to sell you will need the following:

A. Shopping Cart Software

B. Competent Web Host

C. Merchant Account

There is a specific reason I put these in this order. Most people make the mistake of obtaining the web host and/or the merchant account before they choose their shopping cart. The shopping cart software is going to be your face to your customers. The look and feel of the cart is how your customers are going to view you as a business. If it looks nice and operates smoothly then your customers will feel comfortable putting in their credit card number. The shopping cart should be an extension of your personality. But not all shopping carts support all merchant accounts and and not all web hosts can host every shopping cart. It would be a shame if you chose your web host and/or merchant account first then find that the shopping cart software you like so much is not supported by one or the other. So take your time and choose your shopping cart carefully. Make out a list of all the features you want your store to have and make sure the software you choose supports all of them.

Once you choose your shopping cart you need to research your hosting choices. Many times the developer of the shopping cart will recommend several different web hosts that they certify as being compatible with their software. It is not necessary to use one of their choices but if you have problems finding the right host at least you have a list of hosts you can fall back on. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for. Don't go for the cheapest host or the host that is offering hundreds of gigabytes of space or unlimited space. This is commonly known as overselling. A lot of hosts these days are fly by night operations. If you choose one that oversells themselves they won't be in business long. And if they have been in business a while there is a good chance that the server they will put you on is so slow your customers will grow old waiting for your store pages to load. Let's face it, you cannot sell your products if your store is slow or cannot be reached. Hosting services are inexpensive these days so do your research and be prepared to pay a little extra to get the support, up time and performance you need.


A merchant account is not an absolute necessity but it will hurt your sales if you don't have one. Most people prefer to pay by credit card or PayPal. If they prefer to use a credit card they don't expect your shopping cart to veer off your domain to go to a payment portal such as PayPal. So if you feel that you want accept credit cards through PayPal please just keep this in mind. People that prefer to use PayPal expect the cart to veer off to the PayPal page. Credit card buyers do not expect this and may stop the sale just because this occurs.

Having a merchant account means your cart talks directly to the bank that accepts credit cards and does not take your customer away from your store in order to pay for their items. Once you choose your shopping cart you should choose your merchant account based on the integration choices provided by the software. You can choose one that is not integrated with your cart but you will have to pay a developer to write the code that will allow the two to work together. Make sure you shop around and get the best rates you can. You can save a lot of money by spending your time doing this.

So there you have it. Once you have all your pieces in place and tested you are ready to start selling on line!

About the author:

David Brilliant owns and operates his own web hosting company. Brilliant Host provides premier E-Commerce Solutions and Web Hosting Services. He also owns Da Kine Website Design providing premier website design services. As a hobby he owns and operates The Kona Forum, An online resource for people who want to visit and/or move to Kona and the Big Island of Hawaii. You can e-mail him through any of these websites.

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