The Wholesale Forums

[iBuy]

My first article on here. I was writing a long winded response on another thread and thought it would be better to make an article. Here goes!

Setting up a Cart Website

For many first time web sellers, its hard to setup a cart system. Its daunting and boring and eventually you get so annoyed and confused with everything, you just leave it. Well, I did!

Below are the steps to setting up a cart website.

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1. Selecting the Cart

There are many options out there for web carts. You can go for all inclusive deals from providers which end up costing more and don't have as much functionality. There are open source carts like OsCommerce, which is a very good cart and has a large developer community behind it. But, in my opinion, Cube Cart offers the best system. Selecting the cart is personal preference. But, I would choose between OsCommerce or Cube Cart as they have lots of available mods which increase the functionality of the cart. If you want to test demos, go to the necessary sites:

OsCommerce

CubeCart

Now, for the time being, forget about the cart.

2. Selecting the Hosting Provider and Plan

This is the most important part of setting up a cart. Firstly you need a provider who has cPanel installed on the server.

cPanel is a server management tool which gives you a neat interface to control the server. cPanel is pretty much standard on all server installations, but some providers choose to use obscure complicated management systems which end up harder for the user. So, make sure cPanel is installed.

cPanel

Next, the hosting plan. If your setting up your first site and don't need a massive amount of traffic, bandwidth or space. Don't get an expensive hosting deal. In your first few months of trading you shouldn't need anything spectacular. But, if traffic goes up, upgrade your hosting plan. People with more knowledge can advise you on how much space you need. (The article will be updated at some point with the recommended specs)

Location of the server. Many people don't think about this, but, its very important. If your primary focus is the UK market, no point having a server located in the US. By having the server located in UK, the site will have quicker loading times. Research shows that you have 5 seconds to get a buyers attention before they click off. What if 3 of those 5 seconds are spent loading the page? The same applies to all other countries.

Try and go with a provider who has a good background and service. For your safety.

3. Domain Name

The domain name is also a very important part of setting up a website. You need a Domain which connects to your business. Amazon use Amazon.com. So, try and get a good ranking domain which is good for your business. Don't get joes-bits-and-bobs.com, get joesbitsandbobs.com, the '-' is harder to get ranked. Get a region specific domain as well. so .co.uk for UK. However, its also a good tip to register all the other domains as well. Don't want to run into someone a few years down the line with the same domain, but a different ending. GoDaddy is a good source for the domain.

GoDaddy

Once you have the domain, you need to point the domain to your server. You can get the address from your provider.

4. Installation

Log on to your cPanel.

Once you are logged in, click on the Fantastico link. This link is usually located at the bottom of the page.

The next page will display a list of links down the left hand side of your browser. Click on the Cube Cart link under the E-Commerce category to begin your installation.

On the next page you will see a brief description of the Cube Cart and a link that you can visit to get more information about Cube Cart. Below that information you will see a New Installation link, the amount of disk space required, and the amount of disk space that you have available. Make sure that you have enough space available before continuing.

You will need to set a few passwords for various things. But eventually, things will be setup.

5. Improving the LOOK

Standard cart installations don't look great. To improve the look of your site, its good to get a decent template. For cheap but good looking templates, go to template monster.

Template Monster

However, if your looking for a completely individual look, you can get a custom designed template, they come at a higher price but generally yield better results.

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This should be all you need to know to get you on your way. If there are any additions you can think of, then please let me know. And, dont forget to 'Thank', I've only got 2, and they are lonely!

Matt

[Ashwholesale]

If you are going to use zencart then dont use template monster alot are not compatible and mess up your site when you install them and waste your money

[Beneddie1112]

Actually Matthew, in a reference I read a while ago from Matt Cutts, he said it was easier to have hyphens in a domain name, it allows the bot to distinguish words on keyword rich domains.

[Pete]

There is no problem with a hyphen, as Ben says, it gives two real words to find.

The UK vs. elsewhere server thing is a continuing controversy. So UK hosting companies use servers out of the country, so you only think you have a UK server.

As someone hosting close to 100 carts, I can tell you there are no shopping carts I'm aware of that require even 100MB of storage. Most of the cart is actually within the database, which is not included in the allocated storage. Any server company beyond some working out of their bedroom has separate mail servers and dbase servers to handle those chores, with everything tied together within their system. Therefore you may be allowed a limited number of databases, but there is no size limit on those you are allowed.

And most cart owners will never max out their bandwidth allocation in their wildest dreams. Shopping carts, even good, profitable ones, are not heavy bandwidth users. In my case there is no bandwidth limit, but even where it is a concern, it's not anything to worry about.

There are many places to go for templates beside Template Monster. The best place to start with CubeCart is www.cubecart.org, where there are many free and low-cost skins available. And any number of designers who will customize one at a reasonable cost. Many are "starving students" who work cheaply.
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[iBuy]

Thanks for the additional info guys, ill add it in later when I get back from dinner. I'm writing this from the restaurant on my iphone, so, had better go before I get caught!

[LewisSellers]

When recommending domain names to clients with hypens in, alot of them say they don't like them as they are harder for people to remember.

I don't own any domain names with them in. I think its all down to preference, but you can easily forget that theres one there if you were just told what the domain name is....

Lewis

[Beneddie1112]

For a business that will operate mostly on WOM, a hyphen free domain is better. But when the majority of custom is coming from the SE's, surely it is better to side with the SEO preference?

Take care,
Ben

(P.s Sorry about all the abbreviations! )

[LewisSellers]

I suppose, but then again, if you've got email address' or your promoting yourself offline and its harder for someone to remember your company name, then I dont think its worth it.

Theres plenty of other ways of getting your domain name up to rank #1. How many massive companies can you think of with hypens in their name? (compared to ones without).

[Beneddie1112]

How many people on here have the SEO budgets major companies have? (Compared to not having it )

[Pete]

I had no problem telling people "hyphen" when giving them a URL. Personally, in a day at the keyboard I'll actually key in only a few, if any domains. It's either Google or bookmark. Even something like WalMart, I'll google walmart, not enter walmart.com in the browser.
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