martinmutra: Top Tips for Setting up and Running an E-Commerce Site

It?s not a big secret that the world of goods and services is largely fueled by e-commerce. The truth is that if you run a business, you?ll have make financial transactions online at some point. This is why you need to have a working understanding of e-commerce. The first step to understanding e-commerce is by learning some of the?basics of e-commerce sites?? how they?re set up, what services to use, etc. As with any web-based discipline, laying the foundation is crucial before you go on to deal with more advanced features and concepts in the e-commerce world.

Domain Names: Choose Them Wisely ??Your domain name is?your first impression, and it really does count. Selecting a dynamite domain name proves that you really do care about your brand and what it says to the world. The key to choosing a quality domain name is to keep it short and sweet. It should give off the basics of your brand, and exude meaning to your site?s visitors. Of course this isn?t all you need to ensure your brand is meaningful, but having a legitimate-sounding name can take you farther than you think.
Pick a Quality Host ??This decision should never be taken lightly. Choosing the wrong host is the quick way to sink your business. This will become increasingly apparent as your traffic grows. While there is no shortage of hosting providers out there, not all of them are created equal. The temptation is to use popular cloud-based hosting, but what you?re gaining in flexibility, you may also be sacrificing in stability and performance. In the e-commerce world, Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is about as good as it gets. Companies like?Rackspace?offer VPS hosting that give you the performance of dedicated hosting at the price of web hosting.
Design the Site & Set Up Your E-Commerce Platform ??On some level, your e-commerce site has to look pretty. It doesn?t necessarily have to look perfect, but it does have to visually encourage users to come back, and it should definitely be easy to navigate. This should be a combination of look and feel, as well as functionality. That is, the functions on the site should work every time. This is where a quality e-commerce platform can really shine.
Choose a Payment Gateway ??After your site is designed and outfitted with the latest e-commerce platform, it?s time to figure out how your customers will pay you. In general, there are two ways to do this. The first is fairly common, but also pretty complicated the larger your company becomes. It?s usually referred to as an Internet Merchant Account and must be acquired from your bank. The second is becoming more common because it?s easy to use. It?s called a non-gateway merchant. This includes merchants like PayPal and Google Checkout.

Marketing and Legal Issues when running an e-commerce platform

Now that your site is ready to go, you?ll need to pay attention to things like marketing and legal issues. In most cases, your e-commerce platform will make sure you?re following all the relevant laws in your industry. From here, you?ll just need to dive into the e-commerce market and see how your product fares. Make sure you let an expert set up your general terms and conditions. You can go to a lawyer or look at the terms of your close competitors and rewrite important parts of termss you find online and add your custom terms to it. But best is to let a specialist do it. It will save you hours of time and maybe even lots of money in case of a lawsuit. Also don?t forget to ad a privacy policy, cooky policy and a disclaimer to your site.

Good luck, and may the gods of web-based retail shine on you.

About the author: Dawn Altnam lives and works in the Midwest, and she enjoys following the business tech world. After furthering her education, she has spent some time researching her interests and blogging of her discoveries often. Follow her on Twitter! @DawnAltnam

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