Lots of Capital but not a lot of Technical

This is a good place to be, you have money to fund the creation of your ecommerce site but also a bit dangerous since you don’t have the technical knowledge to understand when people aren’t telling you the truth.

The truth is that there are quite a few companies out there that can help you create a very robust, SEO friendly, and highly scalable ecommerce site including Volusion, MondeVertInc, ShopVisible, Zoovy, Datafeedr, PopShops, and of course Google Checkout and Amazon Stores, etc.

Each of these companies have experience in building the ecommerce store, helping you understand the implications of the technology and in general handling most of the business from the technical side…but for a price.

The kicker here is that each of these companies specializes in helping you run your business but seldom do they actually make sure you know how to run it without them. They are in business to gain recurring revenue from your interaction with them and not in the business to show you how to code the system, or create great features without someone paying for them.

With that said if you are an existing business and have an existing brick and mortar world that you are already managing then these are the folks for you because they take a majority of the work off your hands.

Keep in mind they help design, build and deploy your new ecommerce presence but they do NOT run it for you. That is up to you and your staff…you do have staff to run your ecommerce business don’t you? You might want to think about that, there are hundreds of ecommerce sites languishing in despair for lack of someone within the company that is charged with the sites’s success and understands how to run an online business.

So in the Capital but no Technical world your main problems will be:

1) Understand what you are asking for and find vendor that does it

2) If you don’t have the ecommerce or technology background hire someone to manage the process designs, development and deployment of the site for you or you WILL get bitten, this is simple reality.

3) Be sure whomever is designing then look and feel of the site KNOWS what that means. You well wishing marketing and art departments need to understand usability, interface design, and any number of other aspects of this business to be useful. If they don’t HIRE someone that does and have them do the designing.

4) Throughly understand the features of the system you are buying and keep asking for training till you do. Most of the features of these high end ecommerce systems aren’t used by most customers. You need to be engaged in the your own business and understand how the platform can make you money.

5) Remember, and this applies to all ecommerce websites, traffic to your site doesn’t not mean sales (conversions), yes you need to drive traffic to your site but that means qualified traffic and traffic that is there to buy not to look. Remember the retail model, window shoppers don’t buy and buyers seldom window shop.

So in the next entry we’ll cover the middle ground, We’ve got the Technical but funds are tight, this is an exciting area but requires you know how the plumbing of your new ecommerce site really works!

Dan Horn is the founder of Noh Limits Consulting, Inc.
Dan does writing, social networking, and freelance consulting for technology challenged individuals and companies worldwide.

The world of ecommerce is exciting, painful and sometimes down right foolish, but we all want the independence that running our own store “could” bring.

Being independent of “the man” and being able to work from anywhere in the world is quite an appealing prospect but most of us have no idea how to do it or the innumerable problems in our path.

One of the primary things to think about when opening an ecommerce store is how much time you have to actually spend working on the store operations.

Keep in mind all the things you would do if you owned a brick and mortar storefront apply to the ecommerce site.

Even though you don’t have to deal with a lease and hard furnishing you still have all the equivalent issues with the ecommerce site lease equals hosting, hard furnishing equal pay per click and SEO marketing costs.

Over the course of this series I’ll be helping you understand not only the various ways to create a successful ecommerce store but also how to do it to fit into your lifestyle.

Lots of Capital but not a lot of Technical

As an example if you have time and financing you could certainly build the site from scratch, rent a warehouse, buy and store products and ship them from your warehouse. You certainly can buy these website development from any number of companies at any price range and they will happily hand you a fully operational ecommerce site that is fully customizable, at a fee, and you are in business…if you know how to run an ecommerce business.

We’ve got the Technical but funds are tight

In the middle of the spectrum if you only have time but not much capital to run the business you might want to consider using one of a number of ecommerce shopping carts, find a few drop shippers to do your fulfillment and use your sweat equity to design, develop, and deliver the ecommerce site to the web using organic SEO techniques and some of a number of shopping cart systems.

No Money and No Technical no problem

At the far end of the spectrum a recent trend has come about that is called an affiliate ecommerce site which is all about putting together a website that you drive traffic to and then as people buy products they are sent to the company website that actually sells the products and do the transaction there. This process alleviates a number of the onerous tasks associated with running an ecommerce store because you don’t have to deal with inventory, credit card processing, customer service and returns since they company one the other ends deals with that and give you a commission on each sale.

In my next article I’ll be taking each of the three methods, and all the variants and discussing the pros and cons of each. Over the next few weeks we will look into what can be done and how much time, effort, and expense if involved in each method and how you can be successful running an ecommerce business yourself.

Next up we’ll cover the process where you or your business has money to invest in the ecommerce business but not the technical chops so you hire a company to do your ecommerce site: Lots of Capital but not a lot of Technical next!

Dan Horn is the founder of Noh Limits Consulting, Inc.
Dan does writing, social networking, and freelance consulting for technology challenged individuals and companies worldwide.

Dropshipping has become a global phenomenon and it is now possible to find international dropshippers for your business.

Dropshipping has made it easier for a large number of people to earn decent profits by routing products directly from the source to customers. One of the best ways to get along with this business of dropshipping is finding the most authentic, and reliable dropshippers/wholesalers.

A wholesaler is without any doubt, the most important organ of dropshipping business. It is so, because a wholesaler provides the retailer with a range of products, he/she needs to promote/sell. A dropshipping directory website is the place, where listings of wholesalers can be found, including international dropshippers. It can be quite a difficult task to find dropshippers that deal on a global scale, along with providing good quality products on time to the retailer’s customers.

Finding good dropshippers that deal on the global level can however be quite a difficult task, but fortunately, there are dropshipping directories which help in finding dropshippers that deals on global level. Though, finding good dropshippers can be a daunting task, but there online dropshipping directories that helps retailers in finding dropshippers that deals on global level. Such membership based directories maintain a huge database of authentic and reliable dropshippers, which helps in making dropshipping easier for retailers.

After registration, you can access the list of international dropshippers that offers products that you intend to sell. Always try to avoid scam directory websites, because they can seriously affect your efforts towards successful dropshipping. The only effort required from his part is the promotion of products, which can be achieved by developing a website, or by adapting to other methods of internet marketing.

If the retailer is successful in targeting the right audience, and is able to fulfill their requirements; then he/she is on the right track to success. Once a customer places an order with a retailer; the retailer will pass it on to the wholesaler, and the product gets delivered to the customer.

Of course, the demand of products from the international market is higher, especially in USA; so international dropshippers can solve this problem, both for the retailer and the customer. A dropshipping directory brings in a great deal of flexibility and offers you the opportunity to expand your business on the global level. In case there is any problem with the quality of the product, its delivery or any complaint by the customer, you can contact the directory for necessary actions.

Furthermore, you get the chance to concentrate on how your business can be made more profitable and marketable, rather than worrying about the quality of the product, shipment and customer satisfaction. You should remember you can make money through dropshipping, but only if you give it required time and effort.

The ideal place to find the most reliable International Dropshippers for your business is Worldwide Brands.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 20, 2009 — Sun Microsystems NASDAQ: JAVA and Oracle Corporation NASDAQ: ORCL announced today they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Oracle will acquire Sun common stock for $9.50 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately $7.4 billion, or $5.6 billion net of Sun’s cash and debt.

via Sun and Oracle.

10 Web Sites That Will Matter in 2009

By Mark Sullivan , PC World , 01/22/2009

Arguably, 2008 was the year of Twitter, Facebook, and Hulu. Come January of next year, I wonder what Web sites we’ll agree were the ones that really mattered in 2009. In fact I’ll do more than wonder: I’m going to stick my neck out and try to make a few educated predictions. And I’ll choose them from among the sea of new or up-and-coming sites you may not even have heard of yet.

While most are flying below the radar today, these ten Web sites and services have a good shot at emerging as the fastest growing and most buzz-worthy of 2009.

via 10 Web Sites That Will Matter in 2009 – Network World.

Check out my client’s website, www.theultimate.com

In the past I haven’t taken the time nor the effort necessary to “blog” properly so tonight while I’m sitting here bored in a hotel room in FL I’ll give it a shot.

I’ve been in the technology industry for quite a long time and it is interesting to see who from “the old days” is still around and what they are doing.

Some, like John Dvorak, are still doing what they always have done, making up great buzz and writing about the buzz others create.

I love his Cranky Geeks show and watch it religiously, dare I say that?, and get a kick out of the youth that is brought on as experts and how they repeatedly give insight that was insightful twenty odd years ago.

Today’s Web 2.0 show brought out the feeling that there is no Web 1, 2 or 2.5 in existence just more of the same, client server, presentation layer on the browser, data processed here or there, nothing of interest just more of the same.

I saw a job description from some moron that said the person needed “extensive experience with Web 3.0″ !!! For goodness sake people, get a grip, and be honest do you want to work for someone that knows so little of this industry that they would even PUT that in a job description?!

So here I sit being bored in a hotel room and remembering the old days when the innovation created Macintosh like systems, Newtons, and the like, where games went from text to graphics, when speech technology and hand writing recognition was developed, and when there was a inventive spirit that made going to a computer show an amazing experience and not review of a new cell phone or printer.

So I ask, what have you thought of recently? What new ideas, concepts and innovations have you done and shown for responses from the masses.

Can you honestly say you have done ANYTHING that hasn’t been done before a hundred times?

Do you think the old times were just that or do you know that they were when the foundations of all this was built and now all what is left is the dregs that no one wants, can’t use, and is useless …. and just blog.