Building a Website for Your Home-Based E-Commerce Business

1.       Purchase a Domain that is easy to remember. Purchasing a Top
Level Domain (TLD) such as a .com, .net or .org is your first priority. This
gives you a chance to lure customers in with a catchy and memorable name. You
can choose to use your newly purchased Domain Name as your website name or you
can use it solely for hooking potential visitors from Search Engines. If you
already have an established business, it is in your best interest to purchase
YourBusinessName.com first. Even if you do not plan on using it, there are
currently no internet laws set in place to keep your competition from purchasing
YourBusinessName.com's Domain Name and using it to direct users to their
business name which will prevent such issues.

2.       Locate a solid hosting company. If you plan on using a
website designer or development company, they will be able to either help you
with this or sell you a plan from their hosting solutions. Every website needs 3
things to operate at its bare minimum: 1) Domain Name, 2) Hosting  3) The actual
design that people will see and use to navigate the site. Expect to pay anywhere
from $20.00 to $40.00 per month for e-commerce website hosting. E-Commerce
website hosting is typically more expensive because it requires additional
features that static HTML websites do not such as Database access, PHP support
and 24/7 tech support should a problem arise.

3.       Apply for a merchant account. One should be careful in
finding a reputable merchant account service. These services typically try to
lure you in with low rates and a Free credit card machine which you will end up
paying for in the long haul. Be sure to read every single word of the fine print
and don't sign anything until you are completely comfortable or your lawyer has
reviewed the contract. Having a merchant account will allow you to process
credit card orders that originate from your e-commerce website. Having a
merchant account will allow your customers more payment options and will
probably increase business significantly as opposed to only accepting check or
money orders.

4.       Use a website developer or development company. Try searching
online for a website designer or development company to create your website. The
days of creating a website on your own, watching the orders roll in and actually
looking like a reliable business are gone. Google.com is a good place to start
as well as SuperPages.com and other service oriented directories such as
MarketingTool.com. Using a website developer located in your area is a good
idea, but not always necessary. Most website developers are capable of
telecommuting meaning they can work remotely from their offices in another city
or state while still keeping in contact and creating the site to your
satisfaction. Make sure to request a free quote or estimate on your project.
Read the website developer's agreement contract and be sure you will not end up
paying for nothing. Expect to put down a 25% deposit as reassurance to the web
developer that you are serious about moving forward with the project.

5.       Make sure your website maintains its purpose and appeal. This
is your website that you have hired someone to build. Keep in mind that while it
is in the best interest of the website development to create you a professional,
meaningful and successful website – this is still your website. It may be easy
for the website developer to lose sight of your purpose. To maintain your
websites appeal and professional look, you will want to establish credibility
and trustworthiness. To do this, I recommend text content that is not revolving
around selling your product or services. Keep in mind that visitors rather see
benefits versus features. Repeating yourself over and over will only bore and
possibly insult the intelligence of your visitors. Try using factual information
used in your field such as statistics, detailed descriptions or "nerd talk."
This will show to your visitors that you know what you your business and are a
reliable source.

6.       Add a Privacy Policy and Terms of Service agreement. Since
you will be collecting information from your website, it is a good idea to
include a Privacy Policy explaining to your visitors how you will use and
protect their information as well as a Terms of Service agreement which outlines
how your company will provide services and products to its customers. There are
many Privacy Policy generators on the web available to feely use and copy to
your website. Visit Google and search for Privacy Policy Generator. You will
probably be asked to fill out today's date, your company name and website URL.
The generator will plug the information you provide in to preset fields on a
pre-made generic Privacy Policy. Do yourself a favor and read the entire Privacy