Setting Up Your Online Shopping Cart

Even if you have a physical storefront I believe every business should have some type of online presence. Selling online is one of the easiest ways to supplement your current income from your business. The great thing about selling online is that you can sell your products to anybody in the world. Millions of people buy things on the internet every day which makes this a must-have for every business owner. You might even find yourself selling more online than you do through your physical store! If you don't know how to setup an online shop this article should guide you through step-by-step.

Choosing and Registering A Domain Name

A domain name is basically the address that people will type in to view your website. Other terms that are often used are "url" and "web address". When choosing a domain you first need to think about what types of products you are selling. If you already have a business name you should first check to see if it's available. I would suggest you always go for the ".com" extension since it is the most popular. If it's not available I would suggest you think of alternatives. The best domains for your online shop would be descriptive of your products and as short as possible. If you're trying to sells handbags online you could call your website QualityHandbags.com. While this domain is probably already taken, you could think of alternative to the word "Quality" to help you find an available domain name. Your best bet would be to check websites such as Thesaurus.com to find synonyms that would work. You can also use a domain robot such as Domainsbot.com which specially designed to help you find available domains with alternative words. Another alternative be to include extra words into your name such as HighQualityHandbags.com While many people believe your domain should be as short as possible, I always believed that relevance can make up for your domain's length.

In order to register a domain name you will need to do this through a domain registrar such as Godaddy.com. Anybody with a credit/debit card can easily register a domain name online. Simply visit Godaddy.com and signup for an account. Their homepage has an area where you can type in a domain name with any extension to verify whether or not is available. If it's available you can register the domain name using their step-by-step shopping cart system.

Buying A Hosting Plan

A host is basically a company that sells online space for you to store your website information and to make it available to online users. While there are many hosting companies available out there, I would strongly suggest you choose a company that already has a reputation for delivering quality hosting. It's extremely important that your website is available at all times to your customers. If your servers were to have downtime you could lose some potential customers as well as your credibility. Some companies claim to offer 99.9% uptime but this is often just a way for them to get your business. Companies that offer quality hosting often have received rewards from various companies for delivering quality service to their customers. The host that I use and trust is Godaddy.com. Their prices are unbeatable and they don't require you to have any long contracts or pay outrageous setup fees. It's also easy to setup their hosting especially if you have registered your domain with them.

Setting Up Your Website

Setting up a website may seem complicated but is actually quite easy once you get used to it. The first thing you will need is an FTP program or software to connect to your hosting. You can get a free 30 day trial for some FTP programs at Download.com. Once the software is installed on your computer you will need to add your website information so you won't have to manually type this in each time you connect to your website. There should be a link that says "Add New" or "Create Site" on your software navigation. A window should pop up asking for your website's name, address, username, and password. For the name simply type in a name that will let you know what website that is. For the address you can normally use ftp.yourdomain.com. Replace "yourdomain.com" with your own domain name. The username and password is the ones that you made up when you setup your hosting account. Some hosting companies will create this for you when they setup your account. Considering you type in all the right information you should see folders on your software which represents what's currently uploaded on your hosting as well as what's on your desktop. To transfer a file from desktop to your host, simply choose the file you want to upload from your desktop section and click on the icon or arrow which represents "upload".

Many websites require you to set permissions on certain files. These permissions are often defined by numbers such as 777 and 666. Setting permissions is different with each FTP program. Software such as WS_FTP makes it extremely easy for anyone to change permissions on a file. If you're using this software, simply right-click on the file that you want to change permissions for and choose Properties. Change the number to the one that is instructed to you in the installation instructions for the script.

Now that you know how to upload files to your hosting you will also need to learn how to setup a database. A database is used to store information for your website. If you were to transfer your website to a new host, you will need this information. Every hosting account has a control panel which allows you to manage your hosting account. This allows you to setup email accounts such as admin@yourdomain.com, create databases, and change your usernames and passwords just to name a few. You can easily setup a database by accessing your control panel and by clicking on the icon or link that says "Create Database" or "Manage SQL". You should be brought to a form that asks for a username and password. Choose a secure username and password that nobody would guess. The best way to do this is to use random numbers and letters in lower and uppercase. Some hosting control panels such as CPANEL require you to add the user to the database you created.

Choosing And Installing A Shopping Cart

You don't need to hire a web designer to create you a completely custom website because there are already lots of shopping cart systems that are ready for you to use. These are often referred to as "scripts". Once the script is setup you can hire a web designer to create you a custom design to help you stand out from the crowd. Below is a list of scripts that I believe should be on the top of your list. These scripts are widely used and have tons of supporting members to help you if any problems were to arise.

Oscommerce

Oscommerce is one of the "original" shopping cart scripts and is probably the most widely used shopping cart. The software is free and has lot of mods that allow you to add extra features to your cart. The script also installs with most of the payment modules that are needed to accept payments through companies such as Paypal.

CubeCart

The thing I like about Cubecart is the way it is designed. It's unique styling allows you to create a shopping cart that looks 100% custom. The script comes in both free versions as well as paid versions. I would recommend purchasing the paid version because you will not be able to take away the copyright on the free version.

Zencart

Zencart is basically like an optimized version of Oscommcerce. Like Oscommerce, Zencart is also free and comes with a lot of features. You can think of Zencart as a version of Oscommerce with most of the mods already installed.

Once you've chosen the shopping cart you want you will need to download and unzip the folders on your desktop. Most of the carts have an "auto-installer" which will automatically setup your website once it's uploaded. Upload the entire script to the main directory of your hosting. Then go to the auto-installer which is often at yourdomain.com/install. If you followed the steps I gave you, you should have all the information the auto-installer asks for. Make sure to carefully read the instructions because your website will not install properly if you make a mistake.