subject: Basic Steps For Beginners Using A Shopping Cart Software [print this page] Basic Steps For Beginners Using A Shopping Cart Software
Beginners may find themselves at a lost when it comes to building their own online store with a shopping cart software. Here is a rundown of what you need to do to create your store.
To Start Building
I normally recommend new beginners to start by signing up for a free trial with the shopping cart provider first. That way, they could have a feel of what the software is capable of doing and also see whether they are comfortable using it or not. Once you have signed up for the free trial (ranging from 15 to 30 days depending on which provider you choose), you may begin by selecting from the range of templates which one you would like to use for your online store. Try several and see which suits you best as different people have different taste. Other than selecting a template, see whether the cart provides you page layout options on how you would like your products to be displayed.
Upload All Your Stuff
Once done with the template and page layout selection, you may then start uploading all your categories and products. If you have a lot of products to upload, I would suggest you look for the bulk upload feature which customizable shopping cart software should have. This feature will help you bulk upload all your products, images and details to your store rather than you having to upload them one by one which is rather time consuming. Bear in mind that different providers have different ways of doing a bulk upload so make sure you check out the instructions on how it is done. Experiment with a few products first before doing everything at one go.
Customize Your Payment And Shipping
If all your products and categories look good with the correct pricing, you may then begin to configure or customize your payment methods. There should be a list of payment gateways that are provided for you to select. You will need to have an account with these payment gateways as the shopping cart will link to the payment processor your details. After that, you just need to set up your shipping on how much to charge your customers for sending the products to them. Take some time to run a few tests to make sure that the charges are correct for both your payment and shipping methods. You are then ready to set your shop completely online by pointing your store to your domain.
Summary
Beginners should be able to get all this done once they have a bigger picture on how things work and what they need to do to get their online store ready for business.
