Before You Begin #6

Before You Begain To Build Your Site

Before you can begin building your web site you need to have the following. Actually you could build the web site and go back and add some of this information before you launch the site. I am going to repeat here a statement I made earlier. If you are serious about this business you need to own and host your own store. I know it is not the easiest way nor the cheapest but it is the best way and essential to your Long term success.

1. A name for your store
2. A URL, same as the store name if possible
3. A credit card processor
4. Your E-mail address
5. A web site hosting company.
6. Web Site Software (OS Commerce or similar)
7. Your Company Phone Numbers

This information will be needed when setting up your web site. If you have not made arrangement for these, get the process started. As we go through these I will cover some thoughts on why one method might be better then another.

Your On Line Name or URL

Your URL (Universal Resource Locator) should be the same name as your stores name if at all possible. Having them both the same avoids confusion, reduces marketing cost and makes it easier for customers to find you.

Your name should be short, easy to spell and say what you do. For example, patiostore.com forms an immediate image in the customer's mind of a store that sells patio items. A green house web site that is very successful uses, fourseasonsgreenhouses.com that name says what they do. A dot COM name is still the best choice over the other suffixes available. A good well-chosen name will reduce your need for advertising. You can get a URL at networksolutions, godaddy or from many other sources on the web.

What Type Web Site and Software?Â

How you operate your web site will determine the type of software you will need. Most retail sites will use E-commerce type software. Others need only a flat non E-commerce enabled web site. Most retail web sites should use a combination of methods.

Flat page web sites. Flat (non-interactive), do not have shopping carts or databases derived web pages. With flat pages the customers will call their orders in or they will fill out an order page from notes they make as they shop. This type of site gives you maximum flexibility in the site's design and layout. Search engines can easily find and categories flat pages. This type of web site works well for service businesses, and stores that want, or expect the customer to talk to a sales person to place an order. Flat pages are often used as doorway pages linked to an E-commerce web site (more on doorway pages at the site promotion section). Flat pages can be made with software like Front Page, Adobe Page Mill or Dream Weaver to name a few.

E-Commerce web sites software: This type of software allows the customer to order on line using a shopping cart linked to a item data base and to a check out form. Other features of E-commerce web software are search ability, registration, customer account tracking, order tracking, sales tax calculations, pre-formatted design and store layouts and many other features designed to make store set up easier. This type of software allows your company to appear large and professional no matter your company's size.

ISP provided E-commerce sites. This method of building a web site is accomplished over the Internet (using a web browser); the actual software resides at, is owned by and operated by the ISP or service provider (yahoo stores is this type of software). You pay a fee and or a percentage of your monthly sales. This makes setting up a store easy and at least in the beginning less costly. If you start this type of store or a similar set up I suggest as soon as you can that you move to a web site platform that you own.

If you rely on non-owned web sites as you only store front you leave yourself open to, increasing fees and changes in polices that might negatively effect your business. As well as the possibility that you will need to start over if your choice of service providers does not work out as expected. I prefer more control to my destiny.

Your ISP

Your selection of an ISP to host your web site is important because in the beginning you will need a company that will help you through the set up process. Review the following list with each company you are considering to host your site. I will use ISP (Internet service provider to also include ASP (application service provider) as the same type of service.

Fee schedule. You want to start with a lowest cost per month, that increases as you use more storage space and transfer more data. The goal is low monthly bills until you get some sales. Luckily you can search the web for Internet service providers or hosting companies and make rate comparisons. It does not mater where they are located.Â

Help. Talk to the person in charge of customer set up. Explain that you will need help during the set up to get the site configured correctly and to activate form functions such as your order form. If they charge by the hour for these services try a local ISP, you are looking for free help.Â

Secure Server. Check that the ISP offers a secure server for encryption of sensitive information.Your credit card company will require this.Â

Up time and backups. Ask about their up time, most companies today have resolved these issues and run 99% up time. Back ups of the files in case of hard drive failure is critical to avoid loosing days of work. You want a back up of everything on your web site at your office and weekly on disk as well as the copy at the ISP, if they back up also, so much the better.

Other services. Each ISP has a list of services they offer and you need to proceed with caution.

Two questions to ask your self.

1. If you use the recommended service and decide to move to another ISP, is the service movable or do you lose any functions?

2. Is there a better way of doing the same thing were you control the service? For example your ISP offers a shopping cart, if you leave to another service provider what effect will loosing that shopping cart have on your operation?

Credit Card Possessing

Most Internet sales are paid by credit card. You will need to contract for this service with your local bank or one of the Internet based companies. They charge a fee based on the sales price of each transaction. I started with my local bank and shopped for lower rates after the first year. By then I have some history of sales and can look for lower rates. You will also need a credit card encryption service such as the one offered by Verisign or similar companies. You will need a credit card machine or computer. The credit card machine can be a terminal in your office or a software program that uses the Internet. I prefer the terminal in my office and I prefer to rent the terminal (about $30 per month) rather then get stuck with a lease (in my opinion the leases are a waste of money).

You have three choices in handling credit card payments. You can let the software automatically charge the customer when the order is placed and issue credits when mistake are made or orders can not be filled, or you could hand key the numbers in to a terminal after you verify the orders. Or you could do both. I prefer to hand key all orders because most of the items we sell we do not stock and I want to be sure I charge only those customers orders that I can get filled. Also I can correct any orders before charging the customers. That way we have fewer customer misunderstandings when they get their charge card bills.

Example, of the work flow for a typical transaction.

Here is how an order is processed at our stores. A customer places the order on line and receives a reply that their order has been received and that confirmation will occur via E-mail the next business day. We verify that the item can be secured and that the information is complete. We then enter the customer's credit card information manually into our terminal. We send a copy of the invoice, a copy of instructions on how to receive shipments and information on what to expect if a shipping problem occurs, along with a thank you note to the customer. These are sent via E-mail or ground mail as instructed by the customer.

This procedure is a little labor intensive, but it allows for fewer errors and better customer service. This procedure has resulted in a very low charge back rate, fewer shipping problems; less customer returns, fewer upset customers and that means lower credit card transaction fees. For phone in orders we write the information down and enter the order for the customer.

Shopping CartsÂ

If you are using an E-commerce software package the shopping cart is normally included. If your web site is made up of flat pages you will have several choices. First you can use an order form that the customer fills out manually and have it E-mailed to you. This will require some CGI scripting to tell the form were to go and what to send back to the user. Your ISP should provide CGI service for you. Choice two if you do not have a lot of items, you can enter the java code manually on to your flat web pages that link the purchase information to the order form. This can automate the shopping cart using cookies. If your web site has a lot of items this method becomes labor intensive. You other choice is to look at some of the shopping cart programs that are available and see how they would work for you.

If you deal in custom order items a shopping cart is not absolutely necessary. On our web sites we have both types of site's, those with shopping carts and some with out. If you plan to use affiliated marketing you will need an E-commerce enabled web site. (See web site promotion section)

Page HeaderÂ

The word, "TowardsWealth.com" at the top of this is in the page's header. You will need one for your web site. Our header was created using a graphics program and saved in the web site folder along with the web pages. I like to keep the design simple and my employees like to be creative.
Examples or OS commerce software and the customized headers and layouts are, www.fourseasonsgreenhouses.com or www.patiostore.com

NextÂ

Once you have your basics taken care of you can begin to build pages. The next section is basic page design and covers what goes on a page and the underlying concepts behind them.