FastCommerce Small Business Ecommerce Offers Business Opportunities for Website Designers

September 27, 2007

Web Design Firms Can Now Offer Free eCommerce by FastCommerce.com as an Additional Service to Increase Revenue

Small website design firms can now offer the e-commerce system by FastCommerce.com as an additional service to drive revenue from new and existing clients. FastCommerce is a complete e-commerce that is offered at no or low cost. At virtually no risk, design firms can offer to set-up web storefronts for small business entrepreneurs looking to sell online.

San Mateo, CA, September 27, 2007 –(PR.com)– Web design firms have emerged as a fast growing client base for the free e-commerce applications offered by FastCommerce.com. The FastCommerce e-commerce system is easy to set-up, easy to use, and is offered at no or low cost. There is no risk to start, and in return web design firms get a state of the art, high performance ecommerce system to use as an additional product offering to boost revenue.

Small business design firms have been quick to sense a new and potentially lucrative business opportunity. Traditionally, web design has been only a part of a total ecommerce operation, a small part of the total software needs of the small business entrepreneur looking to sell online. Small business online retailers have traditionally used a number of diverse software programs to successfully run an ecommerce company. As e-commerce applications move to the web small business online retailers have greater access to single-system e-commerce services. FastCommerce.com is a powerful, low-cost Web 2.0 version of this new model.

FastCommerce.com has all the tools a small business needs to sell online. By simply signing up, online retailers have access to a full suite of tools that include an online store, online product catalogue, shopping cart, auto-email responder for order and shipping confirmation, as well as back office tools for order capture and processing, account maintenance in addition to automatic shipping calculations for USPS, USP and FedEx. Paypal will soon be offered as a payment option, and credit card transactions can be set up on the site through authorise.net.

But the FastCommerce.com ecommerce tools are free up to 250 products. By simply signing up, web design firms can quickly master the tools of setting up a complete online store, and then offer it to their clients as a service or product. Small business online retail continues to grow at an astonishing pace, and the FastCommerce.com ecommerce webstore has all the tools that small online retailers need to be successful.

The FastCommerce.com represents a new tool for website designers to offer to their established client base looking to extend their e-commerce capabilities. “We are finding the website designers have lots of clients require updates to their ecommerce systems” says Charles Han, FastCommerce.com CEO, “By simply learning the FastCommerce.com system, they can revisit their clients with a powerful and inexpensive ecommerce solution. For lack of time, many online retailers will be looking to third-party providers to set it up. And because it is easy to set up, and low cost, it’s a win-win.”

FastCommerce.com is also offering free additional training to all web designers looking to utilize the free e-commerce service to expand their business. Topics will include how to set up the store, and how to go live, setting up the store as a sub-domain of the existing website, etc. And since the FastCommerce.com e-commerce system is easy to use, website designers will find it easy to train their clients on the system to get them up and running quickly.

The response to the FastCommerce.com ecommerce system for small online retailers has been impressive. Small business retailers have been tremendously excited by having access to high caliber e-commerce software at little or no cost.

Fastcommerce.com provides business management software to small businesses, delivered on demand as a service via the web on a free or paid monthly subscription basis. We provide small businesses with a complete, fully integrated package that helps run their entire operations, including inventory control, sales and marketing, support, online catalogs, e-commerce, backend order processing, and built-in UPS and Fedex shipping tools.

The only requirement to use our software is an internet connection. Unlike a traditional software company, our small business customers do not need to buy and maintain expensive software and hardware.

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Entry Filed under: Building a free online store, Complete Webstore Free, Fast Commerce, FastCommerce, Free Online Webstore With shopping cart, Free Shopping cart software, Free ecommerce, Free online webstore, Inc.com, SHOPPING CART, Sales and Marketing, Web 2.0 ecommerce tools, business management, e-commerce, e-commerce seminar, e-commerce training, ecommerce, ecommerce business, ecommerce business management, ecommerce marketing, ecommerce training, entrepreneurship, free e-commerce, free ecommerce store, free ecommerce website, free merchant, free online retail, free online shop, free online store, free online stores, free shopping cart, free store front, free web 2.0 webstore, free webstore, marketing, monster commerce, online business, online sales, online shop, online store, online store builder, sales online, sell online, shopping cart software, volusion, web 2.0, web 2.0 ecommerce, web 2.0 online shop, web 2.0 online store, web design, website builder, website design, webstore, zencart. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

4 Comments Add your own

  • 1. gregoryde  |  October 10, 2007 at 10:02 pm

    Yes, it is our view that shopping carts have not been designed to take into account all the tools that small business needs to operate successful ecommerce store. Most of them are designed with limited features, or with features that are limited and offer little flexibility in how they are used. Indeed, most shopping carts are designed with the expectation that the user will need other software programs to run the whole of their business: for example, contact management software. Small business entrepreneurs in ecommerce have been left to juggle different software programs in order to run a fully operation ecommerce company.

    There are shopping carts that do an excellent job of providing customer facing features, coupons, gifts certificates, affiliate marketing, etc. In our view, there are very few companies offering shopping carts that are integrated into the whole of an ecommerce company’s business processes. The goal should be to have a single-system to drive the whole of an ecommerce business; hence a shopping cart should be one tool in a larger array of features and functions, all fully integrated.
    No. In our experience, all small businesses in ecommerce would consider a single-system application to be ideal: a single system that would successfully tie together storefront, transactions, customer management and shipping, etc. Such a system would drastically reduce the expense of running multiple software programs. The next step is well-designed, easy to use software that have been designed to dovetail with small business needs, but which can also be accessed as a service. It is imperative for small business ecommerce companies to be able to get out of the IT business a focus on their core skills, which is running a retail business.

    It is very competitive market with a great many shopping cart platforms offered to small business at small business prices. Most of these shopping carts are customer facing, with little in the way of having serious business applications to operate the whole business. A single-system that drives both the ecommerce and internal operations is not easy to do, and requires a lot of experience in small business applications to do successfully.

    -

    FastCommerce.com offers a complete ecommerce package at no or low cost. That includes free hosting, and we do not charge transaction fees. Our strategy is to build a compelling product, and then to offer it for free, or for a small monthly charge. We do not consider the no or low cost to be a competitive advantage in this market. Our competitive edge is to offer web-based, well-designed, easy to use ecommerce applications that will give the small businessperson all the tools needed to sell online. When people sign up for our service, they automatically generate a web-store and a sophisticated back end management system for processing orders, reports, etc. All the tools are there for small businesses to get a start in ecommerce with no risk.

    But we are truly competitive in how we direct product development. Our goal is a single system enterprise ecommerce system that has been designed for small business, to offer all the tools small business need to run a successful ecommerce company. Our cost structure will also be competitive: instead of offering our applications in bundles at different price points, our approach is to offer additional features and function a single-feature options. The key here is to enable small businesses to use our applications in a highly target way, one that is best suited for their specific needs, and enables them to control costs.

    The strategy is to build a single system with compelling features, easy of use, relevance to small business needs, and then to have to have customers use it. As they grow their companies, and we develop and expand our product and services, the expectation is that people will be happy to pay for additional services.

    Reply

  • 2. Coller  |  December 19, 2007 at 5:42 pm

    Excellent post!

    I’d like to add some tools i frequently use if I may (most of them are free):

    Keyword research:
    —————–

    (because if we don’t know what people are searching for we’ve already lost the battle):

    FREE: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

    Web design:
    ———–

    FREE – Non-profit, non-comercial:
    http://www.officialsitebuilder.com/

    PPC
    —

    (to drive targeted traffic to your site:

    https://adwords.google.com/select/Login

    Testing and tracking:
    ———————

    Google Analytics:
    FREE http://www.google.com/analytics/

    Hope this helps…

    Reply

  • 3. George  |  March 14, 2008 at 5:30 am

    Entrepreneur.com
    April 2006

    The Next Chapter
    A brand makeover helps move a bookstore’s story forward.
    By Gwen Moran

    Since the beginning, Chandler, 33, has done things on a shoestring budget, from bribing friends with pizza and beer to help her clean and organize her initial inventory of 23,000 books to designing her own website. Admitting that graphic design isn’t her strongest suit, she finally forked over $400 to a professional to create a logo for her store.

    “Having never had a logo commissioned before, I didn’t know [what] questions to ask,” Chandler says. “After spending quite a bit of money on the logo, the results were disappointing.”

    The logo was not reflective of her store, and her tag line was written in script that could not be read when the logo was used in a small format. Her website was functional, but it didn’t reflect the warm, inviting environment of her store. As her Sacramento, California, business continued to grow, Chandler found herself wanting to improve the design of her website and logo. So when Entrepreneur magazine and VistaPrint, an online graphic design and print company based in Lexington, Massachusetts, announced the “Extreme Brand Makeover” contest in 2005, Chandler didn’t hesitate to log on and enter. (Click here to view before and after images of Chandler’s logo and website in a new window.)

    “The logo redesign was a real motivator,” Chandler says. “It’s not like it was breaking my business, but I’d love to increase my image any way that I can.”

    Turning a Page
    Selected from a pool of more than 4,600 entrants, Chandler won the contest in January after a panel of judges from Entrepreneur and VistaPrint reviewed her application. As the winner, she received a prize package valued at almost $5,000, including a complete logo redesign by VistaPrint; 1,000 each of premium business cards, business card magnets, large magnets, standard postcards, envelopes for standard postcards, oversize postcards, brochures, letterhead and notecards; 500 presentation folders; and 840 return-address labels. In addition, she received a full website redesign from Website Pros, a Jacksonville, Florida, web services and online marketing company, and a year’s subscription to Entrepreneur.

    “We wanted someone who could represent everyone, and your local bookstore [owner] is someone everyone can relate to,” says Janet Holian, chief marketing officer of VistaPrint.

    A team of marketers and designers at VistaPrint promptly went to work on the Book Lovers makeover, conducting extensive interviews with Chandler. They found that, from the beginning, she tried to set her store apart. Used-book stores have an image of being disorganized and even dirty. Chandler’s store, on the other hand, was meticulously neat, clean and organized. The staff is outgoing and enthusiastic. And two resident cats–Sugar and Sweetie, both adopted from a local animal shelter–have become wildly popular with customers, filling the positions of unofficial store mascots. After learning about the personality and unique elements of the store, the team whittled down Chandler’s key brand messages into three words: neat, organized and friendly. They took a little extra time revamping Book Lovers’ brand image, and 10 days later, they presented a logo and design package that reflected the unique elements of Chandler’s shop.

    The new logo features neatly stacked books and a friendly cat, uses warm colors, and has a polished, stylish look. Book Lovers Bookstore is written in a fun and funky script that is easy to read, and by separating the name of the store and the tag line, the print portion of the made-over image can be scaled differently to work in a variety of formats while remaining perfectly legible.

    It’s critical that entrepreneurs ensure their logos work well for their business needs. According to Melissa Crowe, senior director of marketing services at VistaPrint, “A lot of creative people [commission an] intricate logo [but] don’t ask whether it can be used [on media] as big as a billboard and as small as a Coke can. [Chandler] may need to use a small version in the Yellow Pages, or she may need a billboard. You want to make sure the size [and] color of the mark work.”

    Out of Sight
    With the logo and stationery package designed, next up was the website. Spearheaded by Website Pros, the goal of the site redesign was to create an online location that would reflect the key brand messages that had already been defined–neat, organized and friendly–while making the site useful for customers and consistent with the new design work.

    “The [main] consideration was to make sure the customer got a site that was modern-looking and fit the current state-of-the-art look and feel for websites,” says David Brown, president and CEO of Website Pros. “[Chandler's] site was fairly stale and looked like it was built three or four years ago. Web authoring trends change rapidly, and we needed to update the site’s look.”

    In addition to conspicuously featuring the new logo and colors, the site offered a perfect opportunity to give customers a peek at two elements unique to Book Lovers Bookstore–the clean, organized aisles and the two loveable cats. So the design team at Website Pros included photos of both on the home page, as well as an easy-to-read, bulleted list of the store’s benefits. The site was designed with a program that will make it easy for Chandler to update news such as author appearances and featured titles.

    Another important consideration was to create the site for maximum search engine optimization, which makes Book Lovers’ site appear high on results lists when customers perform online searches for criteria that match her shop. Brown explains that the website copy was written to include certain keywords thoughout the site’s text, as well as in the site’s title. That way, he explains, search engine algorithms that crawl the site during a search will recognize its key messages and rank it according to the proper criteria.

    “The single biggest mistake that small-business owners make in optimizing their sites is not being specific enough in their keywords,” says Brown. He explains that, in the case of Book Lovers Bookstore, it would be a mistake to just focus on the word books, since that would leave Chandler competing with every bookseller on the internet. Instead, he used focused phrases like “antique books” and “used books,” as well as the city where her shop is located.

    With new marketing materials and a resuscitated website, Chandler’s store is once again ready for business. “The main thing about this package is that it will allow her to keep consistency throughout every element of her marketing. She will have coordinated materials that will help her build an image,” says Crowe.

    And what does Chandler think of this flurry of activity? “I adore the logo and the look,” she says. “They have captured the essence of my shop–whimsical and fun, but professional.”

    Chandler plans to integrate the new look throughout the store and within all the store’s marketing materials, and she advises other business owners that investing in their own image makeovers is well worth it. “A good logo design projects the image of your business and tells customers who you are,” she says. “I’m so proud. I can’t wait to use this everywhere. That’s a great feeling.”

    Building a Better Website
    Your website is the place where customers and pros-pects can get information about your business-and perhaps even place orders-24/7. So it’s important to get it right. Web designer Douglas K. van Duyne, author of the forthcoming book The Design of Sites: A Pattern for Creating Winning Websites, reveals the five most common mistakes growing businesses make with their websites.

    1. Being all things to all people: “Too many businesses try to serve all their audiences on the home page-their customers, their investors, their employees,” says van Duyne. “Ninety-five percent of the real estate on your [home] page should be used to serve customers. Use the footer of the page to have links for partners, investors [and] the media.”

    2. Using vague language: If people visiting your site can’t figure out what you do in a few seconds, you’ve lost them. Van Duyne says all businesses should have a clear statement on the home page of what they do and what they promise their customers.

    3. Making it too complex: Van Duyne advises against glitzy Flash animation or slow-to-load multimedia intro-ductions. “Most people are irritated by these things,” he says. Instead, hire a professional artist to design a clean, easy-to-navigate site, and let customers choose whether or not to access your site’s multimedia options.

    4. Speaking “corporatese”: Don’t use jargon, acronyms or overblown terminology on your site. Keep language simple and easy to understand. “Sometimes, companies have internal language that [is] reflected in their sites,” van Duyne says. “Be sure your internal language isn’t ignoring what you need to say to customers.”

    5. Ignoring the value of testing: Van Duyne says it’s not necessary to spend lots of money on testing. Just having a group of core customers review the site can be help-ful. “Have your customers complete simple tasks on the site, like filling out forms or checking different pages,” he says. “Then, get their feedback. You’ll probably get great suggestions for improving the site’s performance.”

    Overall, simplicity and easy navigation should be your priorities, says van Duyne: “If it’s too complicated, the business misses an opportunity to talk to a customer

    Reply

  • 4. Click  |  April 15, 2008 at 11:08 pm

    I second the comment on Google Analytics. There is simply no way to run web sites with that tool. It’s like flying without radar.

    Reply

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