Ecommerce Startup

The Art Of Choosing Domain Names

Posted on by DESMOND K

In order to start on online business you need a good domain name. Choosing an appropriate domain name should be right up there near the top of your business start up checklist. Many people have little or no idea of the importance that domain names (as well as business or site names) have on the SEO aspects of sites.

There are cases such as “dell.com”, for example, where the domain name in itself does not give any indication as to what the company is all about. If you didn’t know anything about computers or had been living in a cave for the last 15 or so years, then you probably wouldn’t know what sort of business Dell is. But since we do know that dell.com is the company site for the computer company Dell, and since Dell is in itself an extremely well-known brand name, they definitely don’t have any trouble with name recognition. However, having a site name that is “non-descriptive” is the exception rather than the rule.

In this article, we continue our series of tips on starting your own business by looking at ways of choosing good domain names for your online business. We’ll also suggest how you should go about exploring alternatives if you cannot get the exact domain name of your choice.

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Merchant Account – Getting Started

Posted on by DESMOND K

There are many things that go on behind the scenes of ecommerce shopping cart software storefronts so that everything runs smoothly. We have already mentioned quite a few of these goings-on in our articles on starting your own business, specially tailored towards home business start up newbies.

If you intend to operate a web store or a few ecommerce shopping cart software storefronts, the main mode of payment for your customers would likely be credit cards. One way to go about receiving funds via credit cards is through a merchant account. As mentioned in an earlier article, you can apply for a merchant account through merchant service providers (MSPs) such as banks or via independent service organizations (ISOs), third party organizations that enable registered merchants to accept charge or credit cards.

However, the application process can be cumbersome at times. In this article, we will examine the requirements necessary for a merchant account application to be given the green light.

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A Brief Insight Into Payment Gateways

Posted on by DESMOND K

If your store is doing really well and getting orders day and night, there’s no way that you’re going to able to stay awake perpetually to process orders even if you’re an insomniac. Thankfully, there is a solution that enables payment to be processed 24/7 while allowing e-store owners around the world to get a good night’s rest. Needless to say, our solution has this good free shopping cart software feature.

Enter Payment Gateways. A payment gateway is like a point-of-sale terminal at conventional retail outlets. It processes credit card orders and authorizes payments in real-time while keeping all transaction information safe and secure. Payment gateway integration is one of the first shopping cart features merchants usually look for and, as mentioned before, this good free shopping cart software feature is available (for major gateways) at InstanteStore. There are actually two main types of payment gateway, as we’ve mentioned in a previous article. In this article we will go a bit deeper and explore the differences between the two, and how particular aspects of each might affect merchants.

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What Should You Look For In A Payment Gateway?

Posted on by DESMOND K

The InstanteStore ecommerce solution, which comes complete with online shopping cart checkout website design, supports many payment gateways. There is the popular shopping cart Authorize Net, 2Checkout, PayPal Website Payments Pro and LinkPoint International, to name a few. Many ecommerce software packages are now integrated with echeck ecommerce shopping cart solutions as well.

When looking for a payment gateway, many merchants simply search for the most popular ones and select the one at the top of the list. Some will do a bit of homework to check out the features of particular gateways and compare rates but many do not even know what to look out for. Always select a payment gateway or payment gateways that can best serve your needs before making a decision.

In this article we hope to share a few insights on the characteristics of payment gateways that budding online entrepreneurs should look out for. Mind you, if you are looking for a perfect solution, you will not find it. That said, quite a few gateways out there have served many merchants well over the years.

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Should You Market Your Store Globally, Locally Or Both?

Posted on by DESMOND K

Should you market your store globally, locally or both?

The usual response to this question would naturally be to market globally since the main reason why most people set up online stores is to get a piece of the global pie.

But there are situations that might require a merchant to only concentrate on certain countries, demographics or niches, thus curtailing their plans for world domination.

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2Checkout – A Convenience For New Merchants

Posted on by DESMOND K

Payment processing is a key element of an online business. It’s vital that online merchants ensure that they provide a secure and convenient checkout process at their web stores. There are many ways that merchants can accept payments for customer orders, but the most useful and direct is via an online payment gateway.

Now, there are lots of payment gateway providers out there, and it’s important to do some research to find the most suitable one for your online business. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at a pretty major payment processor, 2Checkout.

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Explained: Ecommerce Jargon For Newbie Online Merchants – Part 2

Posted on by DESMOND K

Every day, it seems that about a dozen new ecommerce terms are introduced to the online business community. Some catch on, but many are condemned to the dungeons of forgotten and unused ecommerce jargon forever.

In the first part of this series we talked about SEO, SEM, hard goods and soft goods, Internet merchant accounts and conversion rates. We continue this series with 5 more terms which should interest web store newbies. Most of these terms have been around for a while so it’s useful for a web site shopping cart owner to know what they actually mean.

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3 Basic Inventory Points For New Merchants To Ponder Over

Posted on by DESMOND K

Starting your own online business is always exciting. However, there is one aspect that many new merchants overlook: Inventory. Not many home business opportunity online owners are aware of this but inventory issues can seriously affect a business. Inventory management is a balancing act which requires serious thought. To avoid inventory problems, many new merchants have opted to employ the services of drop shipping suppliers such as Doba. Such services may suit some merchants, especially those selling more contemporary products. It also solves any storage space issues new merchants might have.

However, many merchants prefer to have full control over every aspect of their business from the get-go. For these merchants, here are a few considerations for making decisions with regards to inventory… (more…)

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Web Store Budgeting Tips For Newbies

Posted on by DESMOND K

Out of 10 people who dream of starting their own online store, only ONE actually makes that dream a reality. Many sign up for free trials but most lack the confidence to sign up for a paid shopping cart service. But those who do actually sign up surprisingly progress really quickly in terms of store set up and marketing.

It’s obvious that these folks did quite a bit of homework before signing up. This does work, and we encourage everyone with the intention of starting up a home business work at home setup to do the same.

To help you get started, we will be looking at budgets – a brief look at how much should be put aside to run a web store for a year. Just to digress a little, beware of sites promoting absolutely free home based business opportunities. Many of these claims are just bait for clever scams. As far as we know it takes a bit of effort and some money to get a home business work at home setup going. Money-wise, all you need is a small business start up financing plan to get a clearer picture of what you might be getting into.

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Business Start Up Checklist – A Must For Every New Business

Posted on by DESMOND K

Starting your own online business is a serious matter and a big step in your life. There’s a lot of time, money and effort involved and therefore every effort must be taken to ensure that everything is sorted out before your business gets underway in order to prevent any surprises later on.

To help with this, a business start up checklist is a must. The following is a 6 point basic business start up checklist that’s simple and direct and specially tailored to online home business entrepreneurs.

Read on to see what should be on your checklist…

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