ECommerce Website

Purpose

The website that most people think of when they think of websites. ECommerce websites allow online shopping and payment via check or credit cards. Some ECommerce systems allow multiple products to be bought collectively at once while others only allow single item purchases. The largest ECommerce Websites will even suggest other products or services for you to buy with your current selection. ECommerce websites are by far some of the largest, most interlinked, expensive, and most complicated to build website out there. Many template companies have formed to ease the stress and cost of these websites but a new problem arise. Templates limit accessibility and potential leaving you with the burning question of, " Does my website support my Business Goals"?

Benefits

ECommerce Websites provide the ultimate suite of tools. It's literally what every other website dreams to be one day. Product sales are a norm with shopping carts enabled for multiple product purchases with payment options including checks, credit, and debit cards. The large categorical design of these websites can produce great search engine optimized content. Products are usually categorized by prices, brands, colors, sizes, etc. Each product also typically has a unique product page dedicated to that one product.

Risks

ECommerce websites are by far the most expensive and time consuming websites to build. There are many factors to consider in the building and design of the website ranging from shopping cart software, merchant transaction provider, server maintenance, etc. As the expression says, "The bigger the risk, the bigger the rewards.

Several things to consider when ordering an eCommerce Website:

• Many template websites lack the flexibility to achieve your goals, are not built with the best software possible, provide little to no insight into self marketing strategies, and are hard to customize to fit the look and feel desired.
• Shopping cart software can be a major determining factor in reaping the benefits of an eCommerce website or not. Poor and cheap shopping cart software often do not produce search engine friendly URL's, are hard, bulky, or time consuming to alter, and lack the ability for user generated content
• Merchant transactions rates can vary between providers, using the suite provided is not always the best option for your business.
• Is the shopping cart software hosted or will it have to run on your servers? If it runs on your server, will you have to get a dedicated server?