10 Easy, Hosted Storefronts and Shopping Carts

Hosted storefronts are an easy way to set-up your own Web store and a good option for small or individual sellers who aren't quite ready to invest in a large ecommerce website. Storefronts -- a managed service -- make it easy to create and manage a store because you don't need any HTML or programming skills, and you can customize the storefronts to suite your business needs.

1. BigCommerce. A storefront solution that lets you create your own Web shop -- plus you can sell on Facebook and eBay with BigCommerce. Extra features include multi-channel retailing, mobile commerce, SEO and easy upselling.

2. E-Junkie. A shopping cart and digital delivery system for publishers who want to include buy-now buttons to sell digital goods. You store the files on E-Junkie's servers, and buyers receive an email with instructions to download the product after making a purchase.

3. GoEmerchant. Use it to build an ecommerce store, or you can purchase the Buy-Me Button plan to add payment options to an existing website.

4. Mercantec E-Commerce Express. An entry-level storefront and shopping-cart service that lets you sell in a number of places including your own site and on eBay.

5. Miva Merchant offers full ecommerce hosting and just about everything you need to start an online store – all in one package. You can upgrade accounts as your business grows.

6. Payvment. This Facebook-wide shopping cart system offers an admin area built directly into Facebook to manage your storefront, inventory and sales. You can customize the Facebook Shopping Tab for your Facebook Business Page.

7. ProStores. An online ecommerce platform that lets you design a storefront that fully integrates with eBay.

8. Shopify. This hosted service lets sellers accept credit card payments, use their own domain and customize their store design. It also features built-in analytics that helps sellers track progress.

9. TabJuice. A social commerce platform that you can use to bring products to Facebook. This storefront application adds a customizable shopping tab to your Facebook Business Page.

10. Volusion. An all-in-one ecommerce solution that lets you design and manage your online storefront; plus it provides tools for marketing, merchandising and CRM.

4 Online Auction Sites and General Marketplaces

11. Atomic Mall. An online marketplace that features fixed-price, make-an-offer and Web store listings.

12. Bonanza. Sellers create booths of items (similar to a Web shop) and list products at a fixed-price. Buyers can also submit an offer to purchase.

13. Ebay. The world’s largest online marketplace with more than 94 million active users. On eBay you can list items via auction or buy-now format, and you can also manage your own eBay-hosted storefront.

14. Etsy. An online marketplace offering Web shops for handmade and vintage items and also supplies for making handcrafted items.

7 Free-to-List Classified-Ad Sites

Free local classified-ad sites are a good choice for online sellers who have larger items that are difficult to ship. Most general categories on classified sites don't charge a fee to list, but special categories (such as adult services) are usually fee-based. Classified-ad sites take no responsibility for the transactions and you deal with local customers face-to-face to complete a sale.

15. Backpage. Covers more than 400 cities and regions from the United States, Canada and Mexico. Backpage is free for posting ads; the adult entertainment and personals categories are fee-based.

16. Craigslist. Choose a location site from cities located in the United States, Canada, Asia, Americas, Europe, and other International cities. Most classified ads on Craigslist don't cost anything to place, but some specific sections for some cities do carry a fee, such as job postings, brokered apartment rentals, and adult services.

17. eBay Classifieds (Kijiji). eBay Classifieds in the United States (and Kijiji in Canada) is an eBay-owned network of classified sites for specific countries including the United States, Canada, China, Taiwan, Germany, India and others.

18. Facebook Marketplace. On Facebook, Marketplace, which is operated by Oodle, helps people buy and sell items in a trusted environment (e.g. within your network of friends).

19. Hoobly. Integrates a local classifieds market into a national marketplace. This lets consumers look for general ads and then be more specific about location. Ads placed on Hoobly are free; however you may opt to place a Premium Ad, which is posted to a paid area.

20. OLX. An established online classified site available in more than 96 countries in 40 languages. Ads are free, but the site offers paid options that appear at the top of search results.

21. Oodle. Pulls millions of listings from all over the Web. Consumers can place an Oodle ad for free, by creating an online account. When you post to Oodle, your classified ad may also be posted to hundreds of other sites.

More Tools and Tips for Online Sellers

From beginner guides to expert tips, our selection of eBay and Web shop articles can help you to better manage your ecommerce business.

• 12 Tips for Selling on Kijiji & eBay Classifieds
• 15 EBay Listing Tools to Make Selling Online Easier, Faster
• 5 Market Research Tools for EBay Sellers
• Need an eBay Alternative? Try This List.
• Shopping Cart Software Tips and Reviews
• E-Commerce Tools: Five Ways to Sell Digital Goods Online

Vangie Beal is a veteran online seller and frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com. You can tweet with her online @AuroraGG.

 Web Tools for Small Business Communication

By Andrew Lock , March 21, 2011

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Related Articles

• 3 Web Tools for Your Small Business
• A Guide to Small Business Accounting Software
• Get the Picture: Web Tools for SMB Graphics

Free or affordable Web tools make it easier for small business to compete, but finding the right tools isn’t always easy. That's why we love Andrew Lock, our small business marketing expert who also happens to excel at tracking down the best online tools.

Whether you want to create product demos, access files from the road or promote your business over Twitter, Screenr, LogMeIn and TweetDeck are Web tools no small business should be without.

3 Small BusinessWeb Tools

Screenr

You may be familiar with Camtasia and Jing; they’re both great software products that allow you to record your on-screen actions, for training outsource workers, creating info products, or product demos. Screenr.com does the same thing except it’s an online tool -- with no software to download it’s very simple to use.

 

Screenr.com (Click for larger image).

 

Step 1:

Visit the Screenr.com website and click on the yellow Launch screen recorder now button on the right-hand side of the page.

Step 2:

Accept the pop-up confirmation if it appears.

Step 3:

You’ll see a dotted frame appear on your main screen. Note that if you have two monitors, Screenr will only work on your primary monitor.

Move the frame to the screen area you want to record. You can resize the window manually by dragging a corner, or you can use a preset size via the drop down menu. Try and keep the physical size as small as possible, to reduce the file size of the video.

If you wish to record audio (your voice) via a microphone connected to your computer (some webcams include microphones that you can use), make sure you can see the volume indicator moving when you talk. If you can’t, click the drop-down button to the right of the volume meter, and select another microphone. Click record to start the recording; you’ll then see a 3-2-1 countdown, and done when you’re finished.

Step 4:

The screencast will appear at Screenr.com. Below the preview, add a few words to describe the screencast (required), check the don’t tweet this screencast box, and then click the post it button. If you don’t have an account, you’ll be prompted to create one (it’s free). Then you’ll see your finalized screencast, and you can send or embed it.

LogMeIn

If you travel, chances are you’ve experienced the frustration of needing a document from your home or office computer, urgently. If you use Outlook for your email, that’s another challenge (unless you have Microsoft Exchange).

 

LogMeIn.com (Click for larger image).

There are two main services on the market that let you remotely access your main computer. They are: GotoMyPC.com and LogMeIn.com. I used to use GotoMyPC which works well, but I now favor LogMeIn because it provides the same basic functionality, for free.

Here’s how to get started with LogMeIn:

Step 1:

Visit the LogMeIn.com website and click on the products’ drop down menu, and select LogMeInFree.

Step 2:

Click the green download now button.

Step 3:

You’ll be asked to create a free account, by entering your email, name and a password.

Step 4:

Click on add a computer then click the blue install logmein button. This will download a small piece of software to your local computer. You can add other computers in the same way.

Step 5:

Choose a password that will let you gain access to the computer. Make it simple to remember, but difficult for someone else to guess.

Step 6:

When you’re ready to connect remotely, go to LogMeIn.com, enter your username and password, and you’ll see a screen that shows the computer(s) you can access. Click the green remote control button and enter the access password you previously specified.

The main limitations with the free version are that you can’t transfer files from one computer to another, and you can’t print remotely.

TweetDeck

Do you tweet? Most business owners have some level of Twitter activity because it allows like-minded people to connect, and a lot of people want to feel as though they belong. There’s a proliferation of Twitter apps out there, but most power users agree that TweetDeck is the most useful. It also happens to be free.

 

TweetDeck.com (Click for larger image).

Here’s how to get started with TweetDeck:

Step 1:

Visit TweetDeck.com and click at the bottom of the page on the image that represents the device that onto which you want to install the software. Options include: Mac, PC, or Linux -- as well as Android phones, iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.

You’ll see a new page with a download button; click that to proceed and a small window will open up that prompts you to open, save or cancel. Click on open. The application will install (follow any on-screen prompts you see).

Step 2:

Discover the power of this application. The main menu looks a bit daunting at first glance, but it really is very straightforward once you start playing with it.

• The first column displays all Tweets from everyone you follow
• The second column displays any Tweet that mentions your username
• The third column displays all direct messages to you, and the last column displays trends on Twitter
• To post a tweet, just type it directly into the long rectangular box at the top

Pretty much everything is customizable with TweetDeck. For example, if you want to setup and view a column that displays results for a specific search term in real-time, click on the round button with the + symbol, top left. A box pops up prompting you to enter the search term, and voila, you’re in business with a search for your niche.

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You'll find lots more small business marketing tips and resources from Andrew Lock in our Small Business In-Depth series, Lock in Your Marketing Resources.

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Andrew Lock is a self-described maverick marketer and the creator and host of Help! My Business Sucks, a free, weekly Web TV show full of practical small business marketing tips, advice and resources to help small businesses "get more done and have more fun."

Small Business Computing is on Facebook. Join us on Facebook and interact with the site's editors, post messages, share your small business challenges and successes, discuss technology and suggest topics you'd like covered on Small Business Computing.

 

Do you have a comment or question about this article or other small business topics in general? Speak out in the SmallBusinessComputing.com Forums. Join the discussion today!

the big headlines in the last week is Pottermore. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, has recently opened up a site called Pottermore. Although the site kicked off with a circulation of rumors, it was soon revealed that the intention for Pottermore is that of an online store. On the surface that doesn’t sound all that interesting but one of the unique things about this store is that it will be the only place to buy Harry Potter eBooks. Up until now the Harry Potter books have been available only in print. The first up for release is Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (UK) aka Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (US) which will go on sale in October in both digital audio format and eBook format. Unfortunately fans will have to wait awhile before Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets goes on sale as that won’t happen until early 2012. This also seems to indicate that it may take over a year for the whole series to be released in digital format.

Regardless there’s been an interesting outpour of feedback on the whole affair. On one side the media has proclaimed Rowling an innovative entrepreneur for taking on the task of selling the digital books herself and cutting out the middle man: the publishers. Keep in mind that Rowling, with the help of Sony, built the site and all sales will be direct to the buyers. Her UK publisher Bloobsbury and US publisher Scholoastic will both receive an undisclosed royalty on the sales, but it goes without saying that the bulk of the profits will be going to Rowling. Yet the publishing industry is not convinced that this move on Rowling’s part is all that big of a deal. According to an article in Publishers Weekly:

…the endeavor says less about the future of book publishing than about the singular status of a very wealthy author who has the inclination and means to build her own brand…most authors, publishing sources noted, do not have the following or the wherewithal to launch their own online storefront…retailing, even when the process does not involve physical product, is complicated.

These comments are worth noting because they lack depth and knowledge, and have the feel of defensive responses. First off the article implies that the future of publishing is certainly not the direct sale of books from authors to readers. Secondly they imply that having your own online store is an extremely difficult task, and lastly that managing your own sales is very complex. Yet reality seems to disagree.

Creating an online store, managing your own sales, and taking on the job of being your own publisher will most certainly involve work, but it is not an insurmountable task. For instance look at author Michael A. Stackpole’s site Stormwolf.com. Michael Stackpole is a renowned author, however, you have admit his success is out shadowed by the phenomenon that is Harry Potter. As of 2004 J.K. Rowling was the first and only billionaire author and as recent as 2010, she was the richest author in the world. That statement alone clarifies the degree of success she has had with Harry Potter. Yet Michael A. Stackpole has his own site, his own online store, and has been selling his eBooks directly to customers for some time now. This would indicate that J.K. Rowling is not the only author with the “singular status” and wealth to do something like Pottermore. In fact a few weeks ago author Kristine Kathryn Rusch actually wrote an article detailing how writers can be their own publishers, not only listing the work and steps involved, but instances where you might want to still approach a publisher for a book or two.

When it comes down to it, writers selling their own books is a common sense approach to business. In any business, the more work you do yourself, the more money you get to keep. The digital age we live in is ripe for self-promotion. It offers an endless avenue of online outlets to customers around the world. Pottermore is not the first attempt at an author selling their own books, and it certainly won’t be the last. Authors are waking up, and although publishers and agents are resisting the writing on the wall, the future is clear: more and more authors will be selling their own digital books.

Written By: Skuldren

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