15 Minute Craft Website Tips  

In the previous post, I discussed some of the basic components that you need in order to sell your artwork directly off of your website and how those components work together. So now, how do choose the right ecommerce system for your website? In this episode I'll discuss what you need to do to turn your art website into a online web store.

1. Know what your needs are
• Are you selling hard goods? Soft goods?
• Do you want to offer discounts? Coupons?
• Do you want to sell on multiple sites?

2. Figure out who will be installing and maintaining your shopping cart
• Do you have the technical skills?
• Do you have the time?
• Can you keep up with upgrades?

3. Think about the future
• Will you be expanding your offerings in the future?
• Can you scale your shopping cart?
• Do you have the ability to add features?

4. Additional considerations
• Marketing- can you integrate your shopping cart with your marketing system?
• Financials- can you easily integrate your shopping cart with your financial system?
• Costs- what are your overall costs in time and effort as well as money?

5. Your ecommerce options
Paypal
• There's no need to get a merchant account, SSL certificate, or payment gateway...Paypal contains all three.
• Doesn't contain some advanced features like customer accounts, email marketing, and customization
• Can be unwieldy for large sites with a lot of different products

Ecommerce software
• Most contains advanced features like customer accounts, coupon options, and integration with financial systems.
• They can also control the look and feel of your website
• You'll need a merchant account, SSL certificate, and a payment gateway
You're responsible for installation and upgrades
• Can be free or paid

Hosted shopping carts
• Most contains advanced features like email marketing, coupons, discounts, and integration with financial systems
• Most require a monthly fee
• There's no installation or maintenance required on your end
• Can be integrated with an existing site
• May require getting a merchant account and/or payment gateway

Need more info? Check out this free guide and checklist on how to evaluate and choose the best shopping cart system for your website. You can download it for FREE here.