After reviewing other eCommerce solutions, I decided that the best fit for this client would be an “All In One” eCommerce solution. The benefit to using these services is that the “All In One” solution provides both the eCommerce and website program as well as the web hosting. These “All in one” solutions also deal with encryption of sensitive customer data and have built-in integration/ support of most main-stream merchant gateways.

With this client’s specific needs in mind, I chose to recommend CoreCommerce (http://corecommerce.com/) as the “All in one” eCommerce solution. There are many features of CoreCommerce that lead me to choose them; the following are a few:

• No per-transaction fee: eCommerce store owners are already paying fees to their merchant account providers, and possibly their payment gateway. CoreCommerce is one of the few providers that have a flat monthly fee, not a per-transaction fee.
• Simple to skin: Although CoreCommerce may not allow as much flexibility with the layout (or functionality – see below), there is quite a bit of flexibility when it comes to adding a custom design. If a developer is comfortable with HTML, PHP, and CSS – skinning CoreCommerce (adding a custom design to their templates) is very easy.
• Easy to Use: The store’s “back end” administrative interface is easy to use. A&A Hardware is a family owned and operated business. One of the son’s was able to log in and change product prices and shipping configurations before we had the training session. It is that painless!
• Easy to integrate shipping and payment options: Shipping and Merchant Account configuration was the last thing to configure for this client (the Merchant account was added the day we launched) – adding these configurations was fairly straight forward. There are many options for both shipping and payments.
• Great Support: I needed to contact technical support twice during this project. During both calls, I was really impressed with both the helpfulness of the tech support and the quick answers they were able to provide. As most developers would agree, calling tech support is normally a dreaded experience, this was a refreshing change.

Some of the drawbacks I experienced in working with CoreCommerce during this implementation were

• Limited ability to change the layout or functionality of the site: If someone only needs a simple eCommerce store, the options that CoreCommerce will work great. With the exception of custom widgets or application integration, I am hard-pressed to find any solid examples of basic eCommerce features that CoreCommerce does not provide options for. However, some of the more robust custom features and applications would be impossible to add to this product until you paid for their pro-services team to make the change.
• Limited IE6 support. If you are using IE6 on this website, you can see the static content pages, but very few of the product or category pages work correctly. In fact, it appears that these pages never fully load… EVER.

To be honest, I was both pleased and disappointed at the same time. I am not trying to start a flame war here, but this was my thinking.

As with all other standards loving designers and developers out there, I am all for IE 6 no longer being in existence. It is buggy, non compliant, and a general pain to work with. BUT, I do know that some people still use it. I live in Maine. While fast new computers are common place in other parts of the country, Maine tends to be a tad behind the times.

Case in point: I have an Aunt that has a Windows ME computer (grown). The best she can do is upgrade to IE6. At the moment, a computer upgrade is not an option for her, and frankly, she is just starting to use the internet, so upgrading for the sake of a better online experience is not in her frame of reference. Word, Excel, and all the other programs she frequently uses work just fine in Windows ME, so why spend $$ if she does not need to. With so many mainstream websites (like Facebook) no longer supporting IE6, people like my Aunt have a very frustrating experience on the internet. I know that the national studies show that IE 6 usage is steadily getting smaller (which I am very excited to read about!) I don’t necessarily think these studies are appropriate representations of all places in our country. How many more people like my Aunt are there? These baby boomers are all slowly but steadily getting more comfortable on the internet, and with that means online shipping. Sadly, people like my Aunt will not be able to purchase anything from www.aalobster.com or other CoreCommerce websites.

One Big Idea

If an online store has basic needs (categories, products, shopping cart, content pages, contact forms, etc) and no advanced layout or functionality requirements, then CoreCommerce is a GREAT solution. It is fast, easily to skin, easy for store owners to use and update, fairly inexpensive, and has great support.

There are MANY ways that a website may be beneficial to you, and these 7 are really just the tip of the iceberg.

Here are 7 reasons why your business, service, or organization can benefit from a website.

#1 – Websites allow you to become visible

When was the last time you used the yellow pages (the one that is in book form and is probably sitting on top of your fridge collecting dust)? Most of us now walk over to the computer/iPhone/xBox or other “connected” gadgets we have and find the phone number or address we are looking for. Better yet, we can get the directions and hours of operation all in less then 5 minutes.

If someone “Googled” your name or your business name, would they find you and/or a way to get in contact with you?

Having a website makes you visible to a large and growing population of people who research online. This demographic is fairly quickly changing. At one point, this active audience was mostly “young people”, but a surprising number of “baby boomers” are now getting comfortable doing research and shopping online.

#2 – Having a website can save you money

Having a website allows you to provide the information your current or potential clients are looking for. Prior to having an informative website, these people may have had to call or physically come to your place of business to find this information.

Whether it is your address, list of insurance plans you work with, frequently asked questions about your product or service, etc – websites allow you to provide  information in a manner that does not directly involve your time. This means there is more time you can spend actually doing business or providing your services. More time = More money.

#3 – Having a website allows you to have a professional email address

Nothing screams “I am not a professional” quite link handing out a Hotmail (Aol, Yahoo, Gmail, etc) email address to potential clients or customers. In my opinion, one of the best “side-effects” of having a website is that it allows you to have a domain name specific email address. sally@SalliesServices.com is always a better option than salliesServices09@hotmail.com.

#4 – A website allows you to reach a Global Audience

This reason may seem to only apply to those of you with a business, but there are aspects of this reason that apply to everyone.

Having a website for your business allows your product to reach audiences that is not limited to a specific geographical region. If you are an organization/non-profit that relies on donations, having a website allows for potential investors that would have never known your organization existed otherwise.

Case in point: I recently worked with a local Maine shoe company to make their online ecommerce site more professional, consistent, and optimized for search engines. Since this project began, they started to see steady sales in Alaska and some foreign countries. This would have never happened if this store did not have an online presence.

#5 – A Website/Web Presence allows you to become known as an expert

Having a web presence allows you to be known as a “Thought Leader” in your area of expertise. Granted, this usually takes more time and effort then just a static website, but a website is the place to start. You can use your web presence to become known and respected outside of your local networking circle. The more your name/product/service is known, the more growth you can expect.

#6 – A Website allows you to be seen as professional and legitimate.

This is a bit of a double-edged sword. A well thought out, designed, and developed website and web presence can help people realize that you, your services, or products is legit and professional. This can be the difference between a potential client or customer taking the next step with you, or continuing their search and working with one of your competitors.

However, having a half-done (amateur) website that looks unprofessional can have the exact opposite effect. It is better to not have a website at all, than it is to have one that does not show you and your services in the best manner possible.

#7 – Websites are a fairly inexpensive form of advertisement.

This argument can open the proverbial “can of worms”.

With the right set-up in place, having a website can be the best “inexpensive” advertisement you can have. Once you move past the start-up costs (which will always vary greatly depending on your needs), the cost of maintaining your website is fairly small. This is especially true when you consider the cost of more traditional forms of advertisement you may already be using.

Inclusion in search engine listings is free (and if your site is optimized for search engines, this can bring in a great deal of traffic). Depending on the content of your site, you may also receive free inbound links (links from other sites to yours) – inbound links, search engines, and any online marketing you do are all ways of generating traffic to your website and increasing awareness of your business, service, or organization.

What Now?

If you are another designer/developer, what are some other reasons you have used to explain why people need websites?

If you are a Small Business Owner, Service Provider, Organization – what are your thoughts? Do you have specific questions about how a website can help you? Leave a comment or contact me and I would be glad to discuss them with you.

Image Credits: TURKattheZOO on Flickr

I have been preaching the benefits of blogging to my clients for a long time now. And, although it has always been something I wanted to do, there has always been an excuse for not actually starting.  With the launch of “Pixel Lily”, I decided it is time to stop talking and start doing.

So pull up a chair, grab a cup of something delicious, and let me tell you a bit about the website, the blog, and the future.

About me and About Pixel Lily

To refrain from repeating myself too many times, please view the About page to learn more about me and Pixel Lily.

About the Pixel Lily Website

This website has been “in the works” for the last 9 months. As I write this, I plan on launching the site this week knowing fully well that it is not complete. There are more features I want to add, tweaks to the existing functionality, search engine optimization, IE6 support (oh joy), etc – but they can come as time allows. The important thing for me at this point is to LAUNCH.

If you see anything on this site you think is broken, or have a recommendation, please drop me a line and let me know!!

About the blog

Through the years of working with clients, I tend to answer the same types of questions over and over. I do not mind because I seem to never grow weary from discussing all things web.

I plan to use this blog as a way to answer these questions for both my current and future clients as well as discuss other topics relevant to my main niches: service providers, small businesses, and non-profits.

Although there will be many other topics covered, some future articles that I am already drafting are:

• Do you really need a website? Yes, even after so many years, this is still a common question. Can you guess what my answer is? Let’s explore some of the reasons why.
• Social networking – What is all the hype about? What does it mean for you and your business?
• WordPress – How you can use it and why so many of us geeks keep on recommending it.
• Analytics – What is it? How to interpret what it tells you.

How to respond

As with many other blogs on the web, I welcome your responses and questions either by email or by commenting on the individual blog posts.

If you ask an industry related question, I will do my very best to answer it, even if that means I need to go digging to find the answers.

What now?

Well, now that I have spilled the beans on my little secret – and have officially crossed this embarrassment off the list – it’s time to start working on the next post.

Do you have any web related questions you want me to answer?