Services
Web Development → E-Commerce
Selling goods and services online is a great way to make money with a web site. However, it can be a complicated process getting all of your ducks in a row to make it work. A few major considerations when selling online are your 1. Payment Gateway, 2. Inventory Control, and 3. Marketing.
Payment Gateway
There are several payment gateways to choose from. google checkout or paypal typically only charge when you make a sale, great for starting out and keeping costs down.
If you have an actual storefront it is most likely you already have a merchant account for processing sales, often times there is only a minimal additional charge to tie it into your website as well.
A merchant account can cost anywhere from $50 to $150 per month, so your business needs to have an appropriate amount of sales in order to justify this cost and allow you to make a profit.
Inventory Control
You need control of your online inventory to keep your site current with your available inventory. That's just good customer service, you don't want to sell something you don't have available.
Using a custom built product management system and a secure login, you'll be able to add, edit or delete products from your site at any time from almost any modern web browser.
Marketing
Just putting a web site up will not guarantee sales. You need to get the word out there, and there are a multitude of ways to get that done.
Printed Ads, Online Ads, Cross Site Linking, Radio, Television, and Search Engine Optimization are all on the list. Understanding your market demographic is key to placing and creating compelling promotions that get your company noticed.
