Domain Name
A Domain Name is the address that people type into their web browser to access your
site. You must register a Domain Name with a Domain Registry.
Once you have registered your domain name, you must configure the domain name so
that it points to a Web Hosting company. If you have opted to purchase a Shopping
Cart that provides hosting as part of the package, you will need to point your domain
name to the Shopping Cart's servers.
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Web Hosting
Before anyone can see what your company has to offer, you must elect a Web Hosting
company to host your website. Everything you see on the Internet is stored on web
servers around the world. There are many thousands of companies who provide this
service and their prices all vary depending on your requirements.
Types of Websites
Websites come in many different shapes and forms. They can be static or dynamic.
They can integrate with databases, or simply display basic information such as contact
details and other company (or personal) information. They can be strictly based
on your information, or can display links to, and ads for, other websites. They
can also incorporate third-party controls/services such as:
- Shopping Cart Facilities
- Real-Time Credit Card Processing
- Content Management System(s)
- Telephone SMSing / calling
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Your Website
Obviously, you will need an actual website to point your domain name to. Depending
on your level of programming experience, you can either attempt to create this yourself,
or employ a professional web developer to create it for you. In either case, remember
that this is a virtual presence of your business and should reflect the quality
of your products and organization.
Some suggested sections, which you may wish to include in your website, are;
- Home page (the starting point of your website)
- Contacts page (the numerous ways you can be contacted, eg. Email address,
phone numbers)
- About Us page (a general overview of your business)
- Products / Services page (outline of your products / services)
- Shopping Cart (the area of your website that allows products / services to
be purchased. More about this in the next section.)
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Shopping Carts
To provide effective eCommerce services to your customers, you will need a Shopping
Cart service attached to your website. A Shopping Cart, in its basic form, exposes
a list of all your products and provides a facility to purchase them online.
Much like web hosts, Shopping Carts come in various different shapes and forms.
Some carts allow you to manage your stock levels and update pictures, while other
carts integrate complete Content Management System (CMS) facilities, which allow
you to modify how your site looks, manage categories for products, adjust postage
levels, set your own payment options and much more. A Shopping Cart can usually
also be configured as a complete website, including the sections outlined above,
or it can simply be used as an additional 'plug-in' to your existing site.
Shopping Carts basically provide you with the means to setup a complete online shop,
with minimal effort or programming knowledge.
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Real-Time (Credit Card) Payments
In this day and age, Real-Time Payments are the fastest, most useful way to do business
over the Internet - and they are quite safe, so long as you read and understand
the remainder of this guide.
Real-Time Payments, for the purposes of this guide, are defined as Credit Card purchases
made over the Internet. There are several ways of accomplishing this and you must
be vigilant when choosing a suitable provider for this kind of service.
A Payment Gateway is a provider of such services. Once again, there are several
Payment Gateways, around the world, who offer Real-Time Payment facilities. eWAY
is Australia's leading payment gateway.
Once you delve into the realm of Real-Time Payments, you must be aware that security
is your greatest concern when passing Credit Card numbers and other sensitive information
to your chosen Payment Gateway. This is where Secure Sockets Layer Certificates
(SSL) are a necessity.
If you've opted to use a Shopping Cart to sell your products/services online, then
you should check what the Third-Party provider can offer you in terms of Real-Time
Payments and the security that it demands.
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Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates
Since you will be passing sensitive information from your website, you will require
an SSL Certificate. As mentioned previously, some Shopping Cart solutions will provide
SSL as part of their services. If they do not, however, you will need to apply SSL
to your website. This also applies if you opt not to use a commerical Shopping Cart
solution.
SSL Certificates have an encryption value showed in bits. You should ensure that
the certificate you plan on acquiring is of adequate encryption (eg. 128bit, 256bit,
etc).
Certificates also have an expiry date and must be renewed at the end of this period.
You should not let your certificate expire before you renew it, so as to ensure
it does not reflect poorly on your company.
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Marketing
Now that you have the necessary information to set up your online business, you
will need to start marketing your website. There are a number of ways to do this.
Some methods are free and some cost money. The right marketing tool will be different
for every company, but there are a few that make your life easy and some that even
pay you for advertising for other businesses.
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