When you build an ecommerce web site preparation is important. Organize your products ahead of time. You can use an excel spreadsheet or just a word document. Collect images of the products. It is very important that you have very good images. Remember that a picture is worth a thousand words . Some of the things that you might consider collecting are:

a) product categories and subcategories ie books and historical fiction

b) product options ie sizes, colors, paperback or hardcover

c) product ID number ie 00001 you will want to come up with a numbering scheme that can grow

d) product description a word description of each product

e) product image the name of the image file for the product

f) product price

g) shipping calculations

h) tax calculations

By collecting information to When you build an ecommerce web site ahead of time you can determine what your needs are. Now there are a number of ways you can build an ecommerce web site. Basically a merchant account allows you to collect money on the internet. You will need a merchant account and a payment gateway or shopping cart in order to sell on the internet.

One way to accomplish this in an all in one product is Paypal. People often When you build an ecommerce web site where Paypal is the official payment processor. You can sell one or multiple items in the shopping cart that PayPal offers free of charge. You will pay a small amount when you sell each item but will not have to pay a monthly fee or equipment rental fee in order to process credit cards.

Whether you chose PayPal or another payment processing solution you will need to register a domain name. Choosing a name that is easy to spell and remember makes it easier for the customer to return to your online store. You can register a domain name in a number of places online for less then $8.00 a year.

Next you want to chose a web host company when you build an ecommerce web site. When choosing a web hosting company for your ecommerce web site you need to consider the amount of web space available, the monthly bandwidth per month, number of email accounts, whether they allow autoresponders. In addition, site statistics, database (if needed), fast customer service and whether they are reasonably priced.

Build your ecommerce web site - decide on how many pages you want on your site (this won't apply if you have a database driven site). Name the navigation links for the web pages according to the main product categories you are using. For example you might have, Homepage, Category 1, Category 2, Category 3, Category 4, Category 5, Category 6, Policies, About Us and Contact

There should be a consistent theme and design running throughout your site use the same header image and/or logo, slogan, navigation, copyright and colors. Include a summary or mission statement about what the site contains on the home page.

Adding a paragraph of text at the top of each page (250-500 words) which includes the keywords you have researched for that product. This will attract potential visitors to find your site based on the keywords they insert in the search engines.

After you build an ecommerce web site make sure you test your web site. After uploading your site files to your web host, thoroughly check your site by testing for, broken links, browser compatibility, screen resolution, html/xhtml validation, that the optin form works, site loading time.

It is not a case of, if you build an ecommerce web site they will come, you must market your site. You will not make any sales if you don't actively market your web site. One of the most important tasks you should do on a consistent basis to increase your presence in the search engines is to build your link popularity (number of links pointing to your site). Contact sites related to yours and exchange links with them. You should also submit your site to the main search engines and directories.

Other methods of marketing include writing articles related to your site's material, advertising in ezines and pay per click advertising. Be sure to include offline advertising by including your web site address on all your stationary.

To build an ecommerce web site doesn't have to be complicated task. By following the steps outlined above, you can quickly and easily set up your site and start selling your products.