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Starting Your Own Online Business:
Part 3 of 3 In the first
article of this three part series you read
a brief overview of what's involved in starting an online business, and you read
about business checking accounts and domain name registration. The second article explored Web hosting
and merchant accounts. Here, in this final article, we look at the design of your
site and the implementation of a shopping cart. Several factors prohibit one from starting an online business. The mistaken assumption that doing so is costly ranks high on the list. In the previous article I mentioned that not understanding the merchant account -- what it is and how to get one -- is another factor. A third factor is the fear that it's too difficult to actually create a Web site. I started my Small Biz Zone site to answer all these concerns and to serve as a resource for non-technical people interested in starting an online business. If you're somewhat technically savvy, and you know a little HTML (HyperText Markup Language), though, you should be able to get your business up and running without me! You can create a business site consisting of dozens of pages full of stylized text, fancy graphics, and Java scripts. However, you certainly don't need to. In fact, start out small and simple -- very simple! Your first pass at your online store should be one a test that customers won't see. Consider this case. You were fortunate enough to run across an overstock of collectible Christmas ornaments. They normally sell for $40 per ornament, but you got cartons of them for $7 per ornament. Now you want to set up a Web site to try to sell the ornaments at a half-price sale. You'll make a couple of thousand dollars, and more importantly you'll get rid of the two dozen cartons that family members keep tripping over! Start out by creating a single HTML file that includes perhaps a single graphic image. Something like this:  Now open this test HTML file in your browser of choice and view your store. Keep in mind that for your test you can leave the HTML file (and any graphic files used in the test) on your computer's hard drive. That is, since you aren't ready to let customers order, don't bother uploading the file or files to the server computer that's to house your site's files.  Okay, Amazon.com it's not. But you get the point. Just try to get something -- anything -- up and functioning. Then build on it and refine it. When you're satisfied with the results, upload the file or files to your Web host. If you don't know how to create a Web page, you'll
either have to learn some basic HTML so you can do it yourself, or you'll need to
hire a Web designer if you prefer someone else to do the work. Another option is
to ask your Web hosting service if they design sites for their customers. If you know HTML, you may have been thrown off by the code in the above figure that shows the simple test HTML file. The form and input tags are used to display the Add to Your Shopping Cart button, and to communicate with a shopping cart service when a visitor clicks on that button. After you sign up for Web hosting, you should search the Internet for shopping cart services. A shopping cart service is a site that acts as a shopping cart for any online business that pays a monthly fee. When you sign up with a shopping cart service you include a little extra code in your HTML file. This code is responsible for setting up and keeping track of a shopping cart for any customer that visits your site and clicks on an Add to Your Shopping Cart button. The shopping cart will include a Checkout button that a customer uses to enter credit card information in order to finalize a purchase. Once the customer checks out, the shopping cart and the processing network (recall from the previous article that the processing network is a part of your merchant account, and is responsible for authorizing a credit card transaction) do the work of completing the order. In the above figure that shows the test HTML file you see that the amount of shopping cart code you need to add to your HTML file is minimal. The shopping cart service you use should include online documentation that describes exactly how to integrate the cart into your site. The Americart shopping cart at www.americart.com is one shopping cart that is reasonably priced and fairly easy to install. Americart is leased for $30 per month. For other shopping carts, go to your favorite search engine and perform a search using terms such as "shopping cart service". As mentioned, a shopping cart service usually is
paid for on a monthly basis -- expect to pay $30 or more a month for a good shopping
cart. Some services also let you "buy" their cart -- instead of paying
by the month you make a single payment in order to use the shopping cart service
for as long as you want. If you've read all three articles in this series,
you're ready to get started with your own small online business. There are fortunes
to be made on the Internet -- but you don't have to set your goals that high. If
you think your hobby generates something others might be interested in buying, or
if your work or contacts provide you with access to a deep discount on some product,
or if you have expertise in some area that's worthy of creating a book or pamphlet
for others to buy, you only need to beat the cost to cover the running of your small
business Web site in order to make a few extra bucks! About the Author: Dan Parks Sydow is a software engineer, computer programmer, and the author of over twenty computer books. Mr. Sydow has written beginner-level Internet user books such as "Internet For Macs For Dummies: Quick Reference", beginner-level programming books such as "Mac Programming For Dummies", and advanced-level Internet programming books such as "Jumping to Java" (all from IDG Books). Dan is also an online entrepreneur and author of the recently published e-commerce title "E-Commerce Revealed". You can contact Dan at the Small Biz Zone.
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