A good web hosting can make or break your online business, so selecting a good one is of the utmost importance. Although you will never find a perfect hosting, you can get a good one by taking into consideration the following factors:

• Advertising. In case you get free hosting, you will have to have the advertisement of your supplier on your site. This is why free hosting is a bad idea for a business site, except on those rare cases where your product and the product you advertise complement each other.

• Web Space. Consider what your needs are and what they will be in the future. If you plan to have mostly text and a few pics, you won’t need much. But if you want videos, flash objects, high definition images, interactivity, etc., you’re going to need much more than that, specially if you offer several products and want to have several pics of each one.

• FTP availability. Unless you are planning to use a very trivial webpage, you should definitely get a hosting that allows FTP so that you can upload your own pages.

• Types and Sizes of Files. While most types of files will be accepted by most hostings, but some of them might not. Also, there might be a limit on the number or size of files that you can upload. If you plan on having not so common or heavy files, like videos and audio files, you should check that the hosting can handle them first.

• Reliability. Check reviews about your hosting about how reliable it is. A hosting that goes down means clients taking their money elsewhere. You want them to stay with you and give your money to you.

• Speed. This is specially important if you want to have many products, videos, music, special efects, and interactivity. A site that takes too long is asking customers to go away. Remember that your potential clients might not be using the best computer or the best Internet connection when they visit your site.

Bandwidth. Stay clear from promises of “unlimited bandwidth.” They are just not true because bandwidth costs money. Instead, look for suppliers that specify exactly how much bandwidth you are getting and for how much, and what happens if you exceed it.

With so many shopping cart software programs, both free and commercial, it can be difficult to tell a good one from a bad one. And most importantly, to select which one would serve you better.

If you are in this situation, here are some tips on how to choose a good shopping cart software.

1. Your Programming Skills. Everybody wants a free, flexible shopping cart program that can be customized to the needs of the business. However, tuning and adjusting a shopping cart requires some programming skills. If you have them, fine, but if you don’t, you’re better off getting a commercial shopping cart program that is easy to install and is user friendly.

2. Security. Payments are a delicate thing. A shopping cart that’s not secure can make you lose your money, or worse, your customers’ money. You should read reviews from several sources about the shopping cart programs that you are considering in order to see how they have been performing.

3. Cost. Open source shopping carts are free, but that doesn’t mean they are the necessarily the best or worse, so you shouldn’t assume anything about their quality because they’re free. If you are inclining for commercial shopping carts, then you should consider two things. Upfront costs, and usage costs. At first, a percentage fee makes more sense over a flat rate, but as you expand and increase your online sales volume, you may end up paying more than what you would have payed with a fixed rate.

4. Compatibility. The shopping cart is an important part of your website, but it’s not the only one. Is the shopping cart that you’re planning to get compatible with the rest of the elements of your website? You want to find out before you install it or else you might be in for a nasty surprise.

5. Customer Support. Keeping your transactions going on is very important. You want a shopping cart that has customer support available at any time, or at least in your working hours to get you back on track in case of any problem.

6. Features. It’s not about what shopping cart has more features. It’s about what shopping cart has the features that you want. When seeing the list of features of a shopping cart offers you, ask yourself “am I really going to use all of them?” It’s better to get a simpler solution than a complex one, since you don’t want to pay for features you are not going to use and you don’t want to bother with another option in the setting when you install it.

7. User-friendliness. How user friendly it is to YOUR CUSTOMERS, not to you (although that doesn’t hurt). The easier and smoother the process is, the better your chances to get clients.

With this tips, you will be in a better position to select a shopping cart software that’s good for you.

Shopping cart software is one of the most important parts of your website, and thus, selecting one is not an unimportant decision.

The first thing that you have to decide is whether you go for open source software or a closed source one. Open source software is free and anyone can use it. Closed source one costs money and is protected by copyright so you can’t use it unless you pay. There are some advantages to both, otherwise everybody would get the free one.

If you are not sure which one to get, here are some factors that you should take into consideration.

• Is Your Business New or Are You Already Established? Opening a new business is a lot of work and there are many details to establish. In this case, it’s better to get open source software, since it’s easier to install and to use and you want to make your life easier. On the other hand, if you have an established business and you aren’t as pressed, you can get free open source and take the time to learn it.

• Your Computer Skills. Open source is free, but it requires some knowledge and skills in programming in order to install it and adjust it. If you aren’t very good with programming and you don’t have anyone in your team that is, then you’re better off getting easier-to-use closed source software. If you have some skill and are willing to spend the time in forums reading and learning, then open source is better for you.

• Your budget. If you are very tight in money, then you should definitely go for open source software. If you have some budget, then you can consider closed software shopping carts. A middle point solution is to get open software and then hire someone to install it or teach you how to use it.

• Security. This is also linked to your programming skills. Open source can be very safe, even more so than closed source, if you take the time to keep updated on all the security patches that are issued every one and then. You also have to install them yourself. If you don’t have the time and skills, closed source shopping cart offer reasonable protection and the patches will be sent and installed by the programmer.

These guidelines will give you a better idea on what you should get depending on your needs.

Everybody has told you that you need to sell your products online; that you’ll make more money, that you’ll get new clients, etc., etc. But when it comes to actually implementing it, you find that it’s not as easy. You get offers and packages from different suppliers, but you are not sure what they exactly mean, much less whether they will help you achieve what you want and whether they are a good deal or not.

Here is a brief explanation of the four most important tools that you need to sell online.

• Hosting. Web hosting is a service provided that companies. It allows you to put your website on the Internet, normally through the use of their servers. Simple hosting services include a web page and limited hosting of files, while more complex ones include bigger file storage limits, database support and application development support for specific features. Think of hosting as the floor, walls, ceiling and storage of a real store, ready for you to move in your equipment and products.

• Shopping cart. Shopping cart is a type of software that allows you to categorize your products and present them to your customers. The most important feature of a shopping cart is that it allows your customer to select several items and pay for them as a group, rather than having to purchase them individually. This usually allows you to give discounts in price or shipping costs for orders that involve several items. A good shopping cart makes it easy for customers to find the items they’re looking for. Think of shopping car t software as the aisles and shopping carts of a real store.

• Payment gateway. A payment gateway is a service that allows you to process payments from your clients. It allows you to receive payments from credit cards, with Visa and MasterCard being the most common, as well as other online forms of payments, such as PayPal. Think of a payment gateway as the cashier or point of sale terminal of a real store.

• SSL. SSL is short for Secure Sockets Layer and it’s a computer protocol (a form of communication between computers) that allows the exchange of information between a customer’s web browser (such as Explorer or Firefox) and a seller’s web site in a discreet, secure, and integral way. This allows you to protect the financial information of your customers, such as their credit card numbers. Think of SSL as a virtual policeman that is standing next to your cashier making sure that your clients are protected.

Of course, there are more elements to a web site, but these are the most important ones. Understanding them is crucial for your commercial success in the Internet.

The main reason why people get their businesses online is to make money. And to make money, they need to get paid through one of the many payment gateways there are.

Choosing a payment gateway is not an irrelevant decision. Since you plan to receive all your payments through it, it’s reliability and cost is important.

Here are a few tips to help you select one that will meet your needs:

• Compatibility: The payment gateway should be compatible with the rest of the applications on your website. Especially with your shopping cart or any third party applications that are involved in the payment.

• Price. Don’t pay attention to the lowest price. Instead, consider all the hidden costs that are involved, such as cost per transaction, total monthly cost, etc., which takes us to the next point.

• Payment Analysis. Analyze your needs and have a clear idea of how many payments you will receive, the average quantity of these payments, highest and lowest amounts, and total transaction volume per month. Ideally, you should also have some future projections. Even if it’s difficult to get these numbers exactly, thinking about them will allow you to calculate the cost per transaction and total cost you’ll incur in.

• Technical Support. Read some unbiased reviews on the payment gateways you’re considering. Good customer service is very important, since it can mean keeping or losing a client for you.

Consider PCI-Compliant Payment Gateways Only. This little certification will offer you the best security available for your customers.

Are you still waiting to jump on the Internet wagon? Do you still think that the cost is not worth it? Here are 10 reasons to put your business on the Internet.

1. Reach New Customers All Over the World. Your product might just be what many people are looking for but can’t find in their own countries. By putting your business on the web, people from literally all over the world can get access to your products or services.

2. Lower Sales Costs. You don’t have to make expensive travels to Japan, the UK, or Argentina anymore. Not even phone calls or faxes. Just give your regular customers your web address and let them buy directly from you.

3. Automate Processes. Most purchasing processes are the same. By automating your sales process on a website, repetitive and tedious tasks are done automatically, liberating your staff from them so they can focus on those exceptional cases or special orders.

4. Payment in Advance. Although with your regular customers you will still continue to have the same credit terms you’ve been having, every new customer will pay you in advance, improving your cash flow and credit line.

5. It’s Much Cheaper than You Think. Many people think having a website for their businesses is expensive, but in reality is much cheaper than they think. In fact, you don’t have to limit yourself to the suppliers in your country. By outsourcing it to companies in other countries, you can get very affordable prices.

6. Make Information About Your Company and Your Products Available. Instead of printing and sending hundreds of brochures and catalogs just so a client can see the specs of one product, put all that information on your web and make it available to everyone at any time.

7. Make Sales While You Sleep. Literally!! By creating a website (and promoting it online), customers from different time zones will come, buy your products and pay for them while you sleep. Next day, you’ll find orders paid and ready to be sent.

8. Get Feedback from Customers. By allowing customers to post comments (anonymously or not) you can get feedback about your service and products, and make the necessary improvements.

9. Answer Frequently Asked Questions. You know your business better than anyone, and you know what questions people ask over and over. By posting a FAQ on your website, you will reduce this inquiries by up to 90%.

10. Make More Money!!! Simple as that. More sales, less costs, more clients, new markets. That’s more money for you.