Create Your Own Web Store
An Organized Approach for Selling on the World Wide Web
Create Your Own Web Store
Table of Contents
STEP ONE: Determine Functionality of the Store ........................................................................ 2
STEP TWO: Establish a Domain ................................................................................................... 2
STEP THREE: OBTAIN A HOSTING SITE ............................................................................... 3
STEP FOUR: DESIGN YOUR STORE ........................................................................................ 5
STEP FIVE: USING HTML.......................................................................................................... 5
STEP SIX: LEARNING ABOUT SERVERS AND CLIENTS .................................................... 6
STEP SEVEN: LEARNING ABOUT FLASH ............................................................................. 7
STEP EIGHT: HIRING A WEB DESIGNER............................................................................... 7
STEP NINE: ADDING A BACK-END DATABASE AND SHOPPING CART ....................... 8
STEP TEN: OBTAIN ADVERTISING REVENUE ..................................................................... 8
STEP ELEVEN: ESTABLISH A WAY TO RECEIVE PAYMENT ........................................... 9
STEP TWELVE: DEVELOP AN INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ........................... 9
STEP THIRTEEN: DETERMINE BEST SHIPPING METHODS ............................................ 10
STEP FOURTEEN: MARKET YOUR STORE ......................................................................... 10
STEP FIFTEEN: KEEP PROPER RECORDS............................................................................ 11
APPENDIX A: WORKSHEET FOR DETERMINING FUNCTIONALITY OF YOUR WEB
STORE .......................................................................................................................................... 12
APPENDIX B: HTML RESOURCES......................................................................................... 13
APPENDIX C: CHECKLIST FOR WEB STORE DESIGN SOFTWARE COMPARISON .... 14
© Copyright 2010 Docstoc Inc. 1
Create Your Own Web Store
This checklist will walk you through the steps in first getting a web store up and running, and
will help you to monitor inventory and keep proper records for your sales.
STEP ONE: Determine Functionality of the Store
Before you can begin the process of designing your store, you will need to figure out what you
need your store to do for you and for your customers. Please see the worksheet at Appendix A
that provides several common features of a web store that you will need to consider. This
worksheet will help you to determine all of the functionality that will be needed to make your
store effective for its intended purpose.
STEP TWO: Establish a Domain
Definition of Domain: A domain is an identifier of an
Internet site, made up of characters (usually words and
dashes), and separated by periods. An example is
“www.example.com”.
The most difficult part of establishing a domain name will probably be coming up with what you
want it to be called and finding one that isn‟t already taken. Domain names are available for no
cost, or you can pay a fee to have a little more convenience (and choice) in setting one up. These
fees can range from $10.00 to $35.00 or more. Think, first, however, about what type of domain
you want.
The most widely recognized are the „dot com‟ sites, as well as .net, and .org. These days,
however, domains can have a variety of different extensions. There is a non-profit organization
commissioned by the government, and known as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers (ICANN), that oversees top-level domain name system management. ICANN
recently allowed for new top-level domains that include the following extension types: .aero;
.biz; .coop; .info; .museum; .name; and .pro. On line stores will generally opt for the .com
version.
© Copyright 2010 Docstoc Inc. 2
You will first need to check to see if the domain name you would like to have is available. A
domain name registrar can assist you with this. The registrars are entities that have been given