FatCow Coupons

by Eric Lester

Selling online is virtually impossible without a shopping cart of some sort. This article provides an overview of two common shopping cart programs, Miva Merchant and osCommerce, their cost and support options.

Ecommerce hosting is filled with many choices. Unavoidable and undeniably important, the choice of shopping cart program is one that will effect every aspect of a store’s future on the web. The shopping cart is how your customers find your products and ultimate pay you for them. That last part is, perhaps, the most important of all. Choosing one that is right for an individual’s needs and can be comfortably administered is a step that can’t be understated. This article will briefly review 2 popular shopping cart programs, Miva Merchant and osCommerce.

osCommerce
osCommerce is an open source shopping cart solution offered by many hosts. To the frugal, its most endearing quality will be the price tag, which is non-existent. Being open source, osCommerce is available free of charge for anyone’s use. Simply jumping at the cheaper of the two solutions is not the ideal way to proceed. osCommerce provides all the basic functionality to run a store, add products, categories, and manage customer account information. The look and feel of the store can be modified somewhat through the use of templates, but the basic layout will remain fairly static. Visit one osCommerce store, and it will be fairly easy to identify the cart in the future. This is not necessarily a drawback, as some customers may appreciate using a familiar shopping cart if they have had good experience with another osCommerce store in the past.

As open source software, osCommerce’s primary method of support is via its user community. There is no “official” support support channel, simply forums and user groups that discuss the program and even develop add-ons for it. This means the primary method of support in an osCommerce environment will be via your host’s technical support department. This makes finding a host with reputable technical support very important. This is the primary trade off with most open-source software, economy versus supportability. Paying a large sum of money for any piece of commercial software not only pays for further development, but also for the software company to maintain support channels for that software. Open source programs don’t have that luxury, they rely on the user community to provide a means of support.

Miva Merchant
Miva Merchant is a large piece of commercial software, and as such will require a more significant capital investment than osCommerce. Fortunately many website hosting companies offer what is essentially a “rental” of a Miva Merchant licence for a much smaller fee compared to an outright purchase direct from Miva Small Business. Anyone considering this option should be aware that using a hosting company’s licence means that licence will remain with the hosting company even if they decided to leave. Miva Merchant does provide for import and export of customers and products, though, so a new cart can be setup at a new host with relatively little inconvenience.

Miva Merchant, in its basic form, provides a robust shopping cart environment able to handle a large number of products. Like osCommerce, it is software installed on the web server that is administered via a user’s web browser. The browser based interface includes many “wizard-driven” processes to accomplish basic tasks, such as product and category setup, that ease new users into the administrative system. Once comfortable with the basic functionality, an advanced version of the administration system is available for more detailed and efficient management of the store. Miva Merchant is highly customizable, affording the ability to style the store to mimic the appearance of the parent website. More advanced store styling features have been added with the recent version 5 release.

Like osCommerce, support for Miva Merchant will come primarily via the hosting company, though Miva Small Business offers direct support channels for a yearly fee. Purchasing support from Miva allows users to bypass their hosting company’s technical support and speak directly with a Miva Merchant representative. Also similar to osCommerce, Miva Merchant has a thriving “module” community. Modules are programs installed to Miva Merchant that offer increased functionality. If the core functionally of Miva Merchant “out of the box” lacks a required feature, it is likely that feature can be added by a module. Unlike osCommerce, these modules will come at a cost.

Conclusions
Miva Merchant and osCommerce are both powerful carts with strong, basic feature sets that will fit the needs of many online stores. The mostly non-existent cost of osCommerce provides a low barrier of entry for many smaller stores without a significant amount of capital. Though attractive for that reason, it is best to examine the feature sets of each cart and determine which one is most appropriate for the needs of the individual store. Making a wrong choice can have long lasting consequences. Switching between web hosts will seem easy after attempting to switch between shopping cart programs.

About The Author
Mr. Lester has served for 4 years as the webmaster for ApolloHosting.com and previously worked in the IT industry an additional 5 years, acquiring knowledge of hosting, design, and search engine optimization. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers. Established in 1999, Apollo prides itself on the highest levels of customer support. Click for more hosting articles.

Note: These articles are provided for general interest and content purposes only, and should not be construed as “support” materials. Apollo Hosting does not guarantee the information contained within. All articles are free to reprint so long as they remain unchanged, the “About the Author” section remains, all hyperlinks are preserved, and the rel=”nofollow” tag is not added to the hyperlinks.

by Eric Lester

The next horror story about stolen credit card information is probably a few weeks away. Customers are more concerned than ever about the security of their online shopping experience. Is your store secure?

The reports of identify theft and credit card fraud are everywhere. Consumers are becoming more security conscious every day. That security consciousness translates into a reluctance to provide credit card information online. This directly impacts anyone with an online storefront. Having the security of an SSL certificate protecting your storefront gives customers a reason to feel safe when making an order. This article will cover the basics of SSL certificates.

What is SSL?
SSL stands for “Secure Sockets Layer.” An SSL certificate provides encrypted communication between the client (the customer’s web browser) and the server, when transmitting their personal information and credit card numbers. This is accomplished through the use of a “handshake” between the client and the server, wherein the server’s identify is confirmed and the connection is secured using, most likely, 128 bit encryption. The encryption “key” is virtually impossible to break, making the communications between the client and server very safe.

How to Get a Certificate
SSL certificates are offered by a variety of “authorities”, including the well-known Verisign. Other authorities include GeoTrust and Thawte. At a very basic level, the service provided all these certificates is exactly the same. One certificate will encrypt the data between the server and client just as well as the next. Most simple online storefronts will require nothing more complex than a basic SSL. Prices rise and vary when dealing with “value added” services from the authorities. Store owners seeking only the secure certificate would be wise to do their homework before investing in something beyond their needs.

Installing Your Certificate
Many website hosts provide SSL certificates as add-ons for reduced prices. Customers are not restricted to only using a host’s preferred SSL vendor, though. SSL certificates work independently of the hosting company in almost all cases. Usually the installation process is stated either via a website’s control panel software, or by contacting a host’s technical support. Sufficiently advanced control panel systems can lead a customer through the process without requiring the intervention of technical support. Once installed, the certificate is invoked automatically any time someone accesses the site using a secure protocol, such as “HTTPS” instead of “HTTP.” Anyone requiring assistance with the installation of an SSL certificate should not hesitate to contact their hosts support department.

Design Considerations
When designing a site using an SSL certificate, there are a few rules to keep in mind. Any page that’s called securely must have all graphics, scripts, and media elements called securely as well. Ever visited a “secure” site and seen a warning to the effect that some elements on the page are “not secure”? This is caused by having some external file, such as a graphic, called without using the “HTTPS” protocol. The certificate may still be fine, the page design is merely inaccurate for SSL. All external elements must be called using “absolute” links, those that include the full URL, such as “https://www.” There are no exceptions, even one small graphic called using a relative link or without the HTTPS will create the “not secure” error.

Conclusions
SSL certificates are a requirement no one looking at ecommerce can ignore. Consumer awareness of Internet fraud is at an all-time high, and only those consumers who feel safe using a store will buy. Most certificate authorities will provide graphics that can be added to a website to promote its use of their SSL product. An advertisement for them, but a helpful way to promote the store’s security consciousness as well. A “can’t miss” product will miss if no one feels safe ordering it.

About The Author
Mr. Lester has served for 4 years as the webmaster for ApolloHosting.com and previously worked in the IT industry an additional 5 years, acquiring knowledge of hosting, design, and search engine optimization. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers. Established in 1999, Apollo prides itself on the highest levels of customer support. Click for more hosting articles.

Note: These articles are provided for general interest and content purposes only, and should not be construed as “support” materials. Apollo Hosting does not guarantee the information contained within. All articles are free to reprint so long as they remain unchanged, the “About the Author” section remains, all hyperlinks are preserved, and the rel=”nofollow” tag is not added to the hyperlinks.

by Eric Lester

Start selling on the web in 5 easy steps. Covering design, shopping carts, merchant accounts, SSL, and promotion- everything a budding online merchant needs to know.

Selling on the web is just a few steps away. Though setting up an online storefront may seem like a monumental undertaking, having a game plan can make it far easier. This article will briefly touch on 5 steps, from building your site, setting up your storefront, getting a merchant account and SSL, to promoting it.

Step 1: Website Creation
Having an online store means having a website. Finding the right host for the new venture can be one of the most daunting tasks in the entire process. There’s no substitute for a little research and planning. Think about how many pages and products the site will sell. Try to come up with a best estimate of the kind of resources your site will need, then shop for a host accordingly. Always choose a host with 24/7 support, since this isn’t just a small hobby site, it generates revenue and needs to have near perfect uptime. Choose tools to build your site that are familiar and comfortable. It is important to build a compelling site, otherwise patrons may never make it to the store.

Step 2: Setup Your Storefront
Picking a storefront software is not hard, but the decision is one of the most important. Storefront software comes in all shapes and sizes, and each program has benefits and drawbacks that will change depending on the needs of the potential client. For instance, some carts are better suited to fewer products, some are able to handle very large amounts. Hosts may offer a variety of carts, and not just one. Since the shopping cart will be the method through which the products are managed, it’s of utmost importance the cart and the user “get along.” Once the choice is made, it’s very difficult to change shopping carts without downtime.

Step 3: Merchant Account
Having a store stocked with products means little if customer’s cannot pay for them. The most trusted way to accept payment on the web is with a merchant account and payment gateway. Merchant accounts allow customers to enter their credit card numbers into the shopping cart and have the merchant charge their cards directly, without the aide of a third party processor like PayPal. A payment gateway is the software used to facilitate and manage these transactions. Merchant accounts, like hosting packages and shopping carts, come in myriad forms, each suited to different needs. Always be sure the merchant account, payment gateway and shopping cart are compatible. If there’s any doubt, the best place to inquire is with the merchant account provider.

Step 4: SSL
The store’s potential customers have products to buy and a way to buy them, but they will be hesitant to do so if their personal and credit card information isn’t secure. This is where SSL certificates enter the picture. Through an SSL certificate a customer’s personal information and credit card number are encrypted when sent from their home browser, through the shopping cart, to the merchant account. This security gives customers peace-of-mind when doing business with the shop. With reports of identify theft and credit card fraud on the rise, there is simply no way an online store will be successful without a security certificate. There is little shopping to do here, as most security certificates provide an equal level of protection.

Step 5: Promote the Store
With all the elements in place, the final part of the plan is making sure all those potential customers show up. Site promotion isn’t so much a last step as it is an ongoing process to keep the vital flow of unique customers coming to the store. Your website host should provide some tools to help the promotional process. There are two basic strategies that can be tried separately or in conjunction with one another- search engine marketing, and advertising. Search engine marketing concentrates on making the store visible to people using the “big three” search engines, Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Advertising is a more direct approach of buying banners and ad space on websites whose customers would likely be interested in buying your products. Success in search engine marketing could be as costly as direct advertising, depending on what kind of products the store sells. A combination of both strategies is generally best.

About The Author
Mr. Lester has served for 4 years as the webmaster for ApolloHosting.com and previously worked in the IT industry an additional 5 years, acquiring knowledge of hosting, design, and search engine optimization. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers. Established in 1999, Apollo prides itself on the highest levels of customer support. Click for more hosting articles.

Note: These articles are provided for general interest and content purposes only, and should not be construed as “support” materials. Apollo Hosting does not guarantee the information contained within. All articles are free to reprint so long as they remain unchanged, the “About the Author” section remains, all hyperlinks are preserved, and the rel=”nofollow” tag is not added to the hyperlinks.

by Eric Lester

Having a product, a website, and a shopping cart isn’t enough. Learn the various methods available to allow your customers to do that most important thing in ecommerce, pay you.

The ever increasing market for ecommerce has created a wide variety of methods by which a budding entrepreneur may do business online. This article will review the most common methods available to allow customers to pay for goods on a website. These include, in rough order of complexity, online check solutions, 3rd party processors, and finally merchant account / payment gateways. Depending on the nature of your business, one of these will probably suffice. Larger businesses may even consider providing multiple payment methods in order to cover as many potential customers as possible.

Online Check Solutions
Online check solutions allow customers to submit payment via their checking account. This requires the customer provide their checking account number and routing information to the processor in order to complete payment. In theory online check payment will reach a broad range of potential customers, since it is more likely to find someone with a checking account and no credit cards than with a credit card and no checking account. Online check solutions may also be able to hook up with an existing business checking account and not require the opening of additional banking accounts, unlike most merchant account solutions. Broad reach and ease of use are the main positives, but there is a negative. Increasing emphasis on Internet fraud has created a public concern about the safety of doing business online. Some may not wish to make online purchases with their checking account, in absence of the easier resource a chargeback on a credit card provides.

3rd Party Processors
Increasing in popularity, 3rd party processors allow online shop owners to take credit card payments but alleviates the need for them to apply for their own merchant accounts. As the term implies, 3rd party processors perform the credit card transactions through their own merchant accounts, and charge a percentage of the transaction, plus perhaps other fees, to the merchant. These transaction fees are usually higher than a merchant would pay through their own personal merchant account, but the inconvenience of obtaining a merchant account is part of the broad appeal of 3rd party processors. The most well known of the 3rd party processors is PayPal. There are competing services, though. Some, such as ClickBank are geared towards so-called “downloadables,” and others like CCBill target other niche markets such as subscription websites.

If you are considering the use of a 3rd party processor, first think about the nature of your business and the volume you can reasonably expect. If you are selling downloadables like software packages, or are considering a subscription site, PayPal may not be the best choice. If you are selling physical products, then think in terms of volume. With a 3rd party processor you will be paying higher percentage fees and transaction fees, which, if you start doing a brisk business, will cost you more over time. If your volume goes up, it might be better to consider the use of a merchant account with favorable terms. Finally, keep in mind one downside to 3rd party processors. In the eyes of a prospective customer, they can make the store appear less reliable and reputable. The very difficulty of getting a merchant account does lend it an air of respectability, as theoretically, the owner had to provide more credentials and undergo closer scrutiny.

Merchant Accounts
Full merchant accounts allow store owners to charge customer credit cards directly, without the help of a 3rd party company. The money charged goes directly into their account. Having a merchant account can create a more secure identity in the minds of your client, as they are not as easily obtained as a 3rd party processor. Unlike the comparatively small selection of 3rd party processors, there is a much wider selection in merchant account providers. This makes careful shopping a must. Again, look at your product and try to estimate demand. There are a variety of fees associated with a merchant account, and how a specific account assesses these fees can make all the difference. Stores that sell a low volume of goods in a monthly period should look for a merchant account with a higher transaction fee in exchange for a lower base monthly fee. Higher volume stores should look for the opposite, lower transactions fees and a higher monthly fee. More money may be saved with the higher monthly fee in concert with a low transaction fee percentage. Some merchant account providers, like PayQuake, offer a variety of tiered services to meet both kinds of need.

Where to look for a merchant account? You may want to start with your current bank. Most banks have merchant account solutions, and starting with an institution with which you are already a member may have some benefits. Make sure you discuss merchant account solutions for online transactions, as their accounts and fees (as well as approval difficulty) may differ from those designed for “brick and mortar” store fronts where a card is physically swiped for payment. Prospective online shopkeeps are by no means restricted to working with their current bank for merchant services. A number of large institutions provide merchant account services over the web. CardService International is one such organization, as is PayQuake (mentioned earlier), but there are many others. Shop around and look for the deal thats best for your particular needs. What might be right for one business won’t be the best fit for another.

With any merchant account from any provider, verify it provides a payment gateway that is compatible with your ecommerce store software. The payment gateway is the bridge between your online storefront and your merchant account. There are a great deal of them, just like different store software, but most perform equally as well as the next. There will probably be a “gateway fee” charged as part of a merchant account package’s costs. Most of the common store packages support a variety of payment gateways, so finding one that is compatible with a chosen merchant account shouldn’t be too difficult.

Conclusions
A number of options have been considered. Online checks, though common, may make customers uncomfortable in a world where Internet fraud is such a hot topic. 3rd party processors make taking credit cards easy, but that same ease works against them in the eyes of the picky consumer who won’t take a PayPal store “seriously”. Merchant accounts provide the most common, respected means to take payment, but they can be difficult to obtain and the sheer number of choices can be confusing. No matter what option, or options, chosen, do the necessary research and find the solution that works best for your individual needs.

About The Author
Mr. Lester has served for 4 years as the webmaster for ApolloHosting.com and previously worked in the IT industry an additional 5 years, acquiring knowledge of hosting, design, and search engine optimization. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers. Established in 1999, Apollo prides itself on the highest levels of customer support. Click for more hosting articles.

Note: These articles are provided for general interest and content purposes only, and should not be construed as “support” materials. Apollo Hosting does not guarantee the information contained within. All articles are free to reprint so long as they remain unchanged, the “About the Author” section remains, all hyperlinks are preserved, and the rel=”nofollow” tag is not added to the hyperlinks.

by Eric Lester

Online commerce brings additional factors to the choice of website host. Shopping carts, merchant accounts, and raw power are all discussed in this article.

Website hosting can be a complex undertaking. Determining how much space you need, how much transfer, finding a reliable host, and getting everything online is no simple task. Add ecommerce to the mix and things become even more complex. This article will deal with some of those additional complications to finding a host for an online store. All of the same considerations to finding general hosting can be applied to ecommerce hosting, there are simply a few additional ones that need some attention.

Basics- Disk Space and Transfer
The core attributes of any kind of hosting, ecommerce or not, are space and transfer, or traffic. Generally measured in monthly increments, your space and transfer will place a crucial role in determining just what size plan you need. Ecommerce sites will, generally speaking, require more space and transfer than an equivilant sized site without ecommerce. This is due to the presence of the shopping cart upon which the online storefront is based. Shopping cart programs are installed to the account on which they operate, requiring space, and their scripts for running the store will require additional transfer to handle customers as they browse, add items to their cart, and check out. Will there be a tremendous amount of extra transfer required by the cart? That depends on how many use the cart and on the cart itself. This is why its best to start small and having a clear upgrade path to handle future popularity.

Prospective online merchants will generally have a good idea how many products they’ll be selling initially. This will vary wildly from merchant to merchant, and many merchants don’t put their entire stocks online. It is wise to start with a considered selection of products first, especially if you wish to initially keep your hosting plan small and upgrade as the store prospers. Those with a great deal of products need to be aware they will probably be facing a bigger monthly fee for a larger hosting plan. Once the decision is made regarding the products, attention can be turned to finding a suitable shopping cart program to contain them.

Shopping Cart
The choice of shopping cart can be a personal one. Those entirely new to ecommerce will probably not have any experience with any kind of shopping cart software. There are a number of popular choices, and most hosting companies will provide one, if not a variety, from which you can choose. It is important to find a shopping cart that suits the individual user, as attempting to change your shopping down the road can be a long process that will, most likely, bring your store down during a transitional period. Don’t immediately jump at the first cart a host offers. Ask if they have demos and try them out. Be sure it’s a program you can learn and use, as it is the primary way you’ll be doing your online business. Even if you have a large business and have a design firm setting up the cart, a rudimentary knowledge of the cart’s processes is highly recommended.

Learn as much about your prospective shopping cart software as possible. Make sure it supports SSL, a common site security protocol that will help keep your customer’s credit card numbers safe when ordering online. It will need to support your merchant account and payment gateway. In many cases a host might bundle these services, so compatibility isn’t an issue. If you secured your merchant services separately from hosting, be sure they are compatible. Find out if the cart has a recommended maximum product limit and, of course, try not to exceed it. The store may slow down and perform poorly if there are too many products in it.

Finally, make sure it will do everything you want it to do. Some merchants sell services and downloadable items that don’t conform exactly to the order-product-ship-product flow. If your cart doesn’t support these features by default, there may be 3rd party add-ons that will provide this functionality. Miva Merchant is one such shopping cart with a very active 3rd party developer community providing a wide range of add-ons, or “modules” to extend the feature set of the original program. The merchant will have to buy these add-ons and have them installed on their own initiative, though, and the hosting company will not be able to support them.

Reliability and Support
Perhaps of greatest importance is reliability in your chosen host. Think in terms of a “brick and mortar” storefront. If someone locks the front door during business hours, then no customers can come in and nothing is sold. Similarly, if an online store is down at any hour, no customers can come in and nothing is sold. You want the most reliable hosting for such a mission-critical site. Never just take the word of a hosting company’s site in regards to their uptime. Do research and look for customer reviews of your prospective host. Online merchants should always be willing to pay more for a reliable hosting company with good uptime and support. A good rule of thumb is to stay away from free or “bargain basement” hosts, since support and uptime are usually the first things to suffer with this kind of hosting.

Conclusions
Finding the right ecommerce hosting company requires a few additional considerations. Decide on your products, your shopping cart, and then shop for your hosting company. You will need more space and transfer than an equivalent site, but start small with your product selection and you can still save money on your hosting. Find a shopping cart that’s easy for you to use and understand, as switching at a later date can result in downtime and a lot of work transferring your products. Finally, make sure your host has solid uptime, as an online store that’s down isn’t generating any sales.

About The Author
Mr. Lester has served for 4 years as the webmaster for ApolloHosting.com and previously worked in the IT industry an additional 5 years, acquiring knowledge of hosting, design, and search engine optimization. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers. Established in 1999, Apollo prides itself on the highest levels of customer support. Click for more hosting articles.

Note: These articles are provided for general interest and content purposes only, and should not be construed as “support” materials. Apollo Hosting does not guarantee the information contained within. All articles are free to reprint so long as they remain unchanged, the “About the Author” section remains, all hyperlinks are preserved, and the rel=”nofollow” tag is not added to the hyperlinks.