ECOMMERCE BASICS

1
E-COMMERCE BASICS

• Someone told me
• to get on the web Starting your first business
  website
• Brent Buford

2
RESOURCES

• bigcommerce.blogspot.com
• PowerPoint Presentations
• Handouts
• Useful links
• Questions and answers

3
OVERALL GOAL

• To help small business owners understand the
  basics of web sites, establish their web needs
  and determine how best to build or buy a web site.

4
WHY GET ON THE WEB?

• Standard method for finding business info
• Gives your business legitimacy
• Inexpensive means of marketing and communicating
  to your customers
• Your competitors are doing it

5
DEFINITIONS

• Domain
• Registrar
• Web hosting
• Web design
• E-commerce
• Service provider
• Brochureware

• Web designer
• Site design/management
• HTML
• Bandwidth
• Storage
• Database

6
FIVE EASY STEPS

• Get a domain name
• Find a web provider
• Build/design your site (or have someone do it for
  you)
• Submit to search engines and local listings
• GO LIVE!

7
DOMAIN NAMES

• .com typically used for businesses
• .net, .cc, .biz also more common
• .org, .edu for schools/non-profits
• Short and sweet
• Unique
• Memorable

8
REGISTERING YOUR DOMAIN

• Find a registrar to register your domain
• Network Solutions
• Dotster
• Godaddy
• Your provider
• Multi-year registrations are the best deal
• Many registrars also offer hosting/design packages

9
BASIC PROVIDERS

• Build your site with simple templates online
• Yahoo
• Geocities
• Homestead
• Google

5.00-10.00/month
10
HOSTING PROVIDERS

• Use a web designer or software package then host
  your site with these companies
• Aplus
• Godaddy
• Thousands more

5.00-100.00/month
11
WEB DESIGN

• Use templates provided by the hosting company
  (usually included)
• Hire a designer or buy design package (250-3000)
• Do your own design (50-250 for software)

12
GETTING LISTED

• Use the search engines own submittal system -
  google.com/webmasters
• Use a service that does multiple submissions
• Get a link on a popular site
• Local listing engines
• Get your friends and family to visit your site

13
REQUIREMENTS WORKSHEET

• Budget
• Design/Branding
• Products
• Shipping, Tax, Payments
• Reporting and Management

14
QUESTIONS

• Bigcommerce.blogspot.com
• Email brent_at_eblox.com
• Questions
• Suggestions
• Other courses youd like to see