Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I am considering going with a different company for my website package.  I know a little html (enough to get me in trouble) and want to be able to add and remove products myself.

In addition to selling stuff, I would like a package that includes autoresponder, shopping cart, blog, and anything else that is necessary (not necessarily an add-on) to run an ecommerce site.

I see StartUpNation is featured on Yahoo! Small Business.  Has or does anyone use Yahoo! Merchant Solutions?

If so, what are the pros and cons?  Other suggestions for an all-inclusive package where I can maintain products and start at reasonable prices?

This might be a lot to ask, but I think there are solutions out there.

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The Anniversary Shop, online store for traditional and modern anniversary gifts Plug-In Profit Site Work at Home Ideas and Opportunities

I`ve developed a few sites for Yahoo! Small Business and I do think it make it work. Adding products to a page is very easy. But the templates are a bit lacking ... the good news in that being that you can totally use your own design and domain name if you want.

I think their tools on the backend for inventory, products, descriptions, etc are really great.

The crux comes when you do a certain amount in sales. At the lower end, YSB works great and takes a cut of every sale. At the higher end, Yahoo!s percentage is getting to the point where you`d be cheaper to do it on your own. That being said, if you had your own design, and you decided you needed to upgrade later ... you can just export all your stuff and go!

Thanks Nikole.  As you might have guessed, I`m floundering here.  I don`t like the website I have but I`m not even sure what direction I want to go.

I am gathering as much information as I can before I make the next move, however, since I didn`t quite gather enough before I started this whole process.

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The Anniversary Shop, online store for traditional and modern anniversary gifts Plug-In Profit Site Work at Home Ideas and Opportunities

I think I would like to change my focus from just selling gifts to a site that  provides information to support marriage and sells products (books and gifts) through affiliates.

Can anyone provide some examples of well-designed sites that are selling products, not internet marketing affiliate stuff?  I have seen a few that are not appealing at all, but I want to combine information with functionality with good design.

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The Anniversary Shop, online store for traditional and modern anniversary gifts Plug-In Profit Site Work at Home Ideas and Opportunities

After hosting two websites through them and having trouble cancelling both, we wouldn`t touch them with a TWENTY foot pole again.  My husband spent over 6 hours on the phone with them during a vacation week trying to get them to CANCEL our website payment for a website that had been closed over a year earlier.  No matter what, the CS reps would NOT cancel (they said we had a contract but couldn`t produce details) and the REFUSED to elevate him to a manager or anyone who could and would make a decision.  We finally got it resolved but it was the most horrific customer service experience we have ever had in business.

I know others who have had similar issues.  My favorite "instant store" is www.prestostore.com.  It`s so easy to use and they are very responsive. 

~Kim

I think it depends on the process you want to take.

Do you want to keep your information sections and your sales separate?

Or will you be linking to the products you are selling through your articles? You can either make the links in the articles or at the bottom.
An example of that, to get an idea what it looks like, is here:
http://www.creatureteachers.com/2002/11/to_chew_or_not_.html

Look at the big guys ... Amazon combines content (reviews, info from the authors in "plogs") with sales. They started on sales and built from there, so that is their model.

Here`s a site that also combines content (forums, events, newsletters) along with their sales ... their model also started with sales:
http://dogwise.com

Here`s a site that started on content and put sales around it:
http://greatpets.com/

(Just don`t start asking why these are all pet links, OK? )

To a point, you`re on a content site that is designed to drive the sales of a product, the book!

Kim, Thanks for your feedback and the lead to prestostores.  I`ll take a closer look once I figure out where I`m headed.

Nikole,  As always, you give me a lot to think about and some good examples to go with it. 

Do you know if these are affiliate/associate sites?  I see that I wasn`t clear in my previous post about the desire to sell as an affiliate with the look of it being my own store.  Maybe you understood what I meant and answered accordingly.

dogwise has their own publishing company so they probably sell their own books, not selling as an affiliate, although some of the books are from other publishers.

greatpets appears to sell books from a variety of authors/publishers.  Are they selling as an affiliate?  It appears that they have their own shopping cart, i.e., the buyer isn`t taken directly to a bigger store like Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

I would like it to appear that the products are from me, not a bigger store, even though I am selling as an affiliate.  Is that possible?  Or are customers just as responsive to buying at Amazon (for example), for example, as they are from the smaller store site?

 

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The Anniversary Shop, online store for traditional and modern anniversary gifts Plug-In Profit Site Work at Home Ideas and Opportunities