Archive for internet business

admin | April 26, 2012
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Best Ecommerce solution for small business

small business ecommerce solutionsWhat are the top 3 open source eCommerce solutions for your business?  

It’s an important decision as your business will need at least the basic features, and probably a few more, and to best sell and manage your products and orders. 

Since we’re talking about small business, our aim is to provide rock-solid proven solutions that out-of-the-box will provide all or just about all the basic features you will need to start selling online.

Our eCommerce solution web firm, Coding Capital, has worked with all the below ecommerce solutions as well as many others that didn’t make the list.

But these are the best and one in particular, which we define at end of article, is our favorite and what we put most of our clients on these days.

Top 3 Open Source Ecommerce Solutions 

(in no particular order)

  • OpenCart
  • Prestashop
  • ZenCart

A Quick Note …

They all start to sound the same, and some kind of look similar which isn’t a bad thing as a familiar eCommerce layout is best for your customers, but there are other similarities which we recommend. 

We’ve installed, configured, designed and customized most of the carts and we have whittled down these carts because:

  • they have proven records
  • their popularity is a testament to their functionality
  • the have solid software frameworks which is very important because a complicated cart, like Magento, will create more headaches for you and cost more to maintain

 

OpenCart – 9 out of 10

The code structure is very clean and logical and makes customizations much more easily than many other platforms. This is crucial to your business as it will allow for easier and more reliable site maintenance. 

Might seem mysterious if your not technical but this is one of the most important aspects of your online store. It’s like knowing that under the hood, you’ve got a solid engine…even if you don’t know how to change the oil.

The administration module is clean and attractive and simple to use. So many other carts have terrible admin back-ends, like osCommerce. Everything is ready and available in such a way that is familiar to anyone with any admin experience. And if not, you’ll learn it quickly. 

Some important OpenCart features:

  • unlimited categories
  • unlimited products
  • unlimited manufacturers
  • templatable
  • multi-language and currency
  • product reviews
  • product ratings
  • SEO friendly urls
  • auto image resizing

 

Prestashop - 8 out of 10

Prestashop is a solid and very popular platform that has quickly grown over the last 3 years. It has an impressive list of features and a straightforward GUI for the front and the back-end, although the back end takes a day to get used to. 

The install and configuration for this one-stop shop is doable even for the web novice.  

Some important Prestashop features: 

  • Unlimited categories, subcategories and products
  • Product customers’ evaluations and comments
  • Quantity discounts
  • Wish list
  • Featured products on homepage
  • Top sellers on homepage
  • Product image zoom
  • Customer referral program
  • Loyalty system (points)

 

ZenCart - 7 out of 10

ZenCart is a good cart to beginner and small business and those who want to keep their online presence relatively simple. It’s basic framework allows to make minimal changes to design and layout without too much fuss but if you want a very different look or require much more customization in features and / or design, a more sophisticated cart, you’d be better off with one of the others above.

Some important ZenCart features: 

  • Quantity discounts
  • Easy to install
  • Advanced template system
  • Merchandise Pricing options
  • Products can be marked as free or Call for Price
  • Featured products
  • Minimum or maximum quantities
  • Product attributes
Category: ecommerce, internet business |
admin | October 1, 2011
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How to think like an Entrepreneur

Or maybe a better title would be: How NOT to think like an employee

In the business-world there are 2 types of people:

1) Entrepreneurs

2) Employees

Chances are you’re in the #2 category, and wanting to be a #1 if you’re reading this.  I’d be willing to bet you’ve been thinking about this for awhile. People seeking out such information on how to be an entrepreneur, how to transition to be an entrepreneur, what do entrepreneurs do, how do they succeed, etc., are rarely doing so on a whim or chance. It’s a desire and a yearning for quite awhile before most of us start info gathering. So you have a spark.

if you come from a family that has a history of nothing but being workers, be they blue or white collar, with no business owners, you’re going to have to step out and up mentally more than those who don’t – if you want your own business. This means to stop thinking like the beaten down slave employee that you are.

The unPromised Land

Is it possible to fit all the empty promises we’ve been told by our bosses, HR, employers, company board’s, etc. all into the endzone of Giants Stadium? The answer is a heaping, pile of ‘no.’

The endless meaningless meetings, long petty office politics, the lack of rewards, the unstable chairs with cheap cushions, small monitors and dusty cubicles, the annual promises of stock options worth pennies and commitment to inadequate health insurance … after 10 years of this, well, it was enough mentally.

It’s difficult to explain the contempt that I had developed. 10 years of work, belief, and maleable resumes, was enough before the veil of contempt was uncovered.  My motivation to be my own man was as much a positive one (my own clients, my own hours, ‘don’t tell me what to do’) as a negative one (quitting corporate America and telling them to stick-it). And there’s nothing wrong with that.

For most of you, you gotta get Mad and use it to be motivated.  99% of all employees are too scared to get off their behind and work through the daily work and commitment of being an entrepreneur, when you already have a fulltime job, school, kids, etc.  But you have to find a long term commitment. And one way to do that, is get mad you … ! (Glengarry anyone?)

What I’m trying to tell you is you need a hot heavy fire inside your belly to make it work. Trust me on this.  Most people don’t have that fire and wont make it. You must have a furnace of stoked burning coals to power the perseverance you will need. You will literally need years worth of it to make it on through to the other side, you see, it’s life or death.

The Loss of Security, The Gain of Dignity

Do you really feel secure in your job?  Do you really? If you do, you might be on quaaludes. It’s just not the money too you know. It’s the grind, the feeling of purpose of the structure you’re in. Most of you don’t realize it but you will when you leave. It happened to me.

That first weekend you quit your job is great… you don’t have to answer to anyone Monday morning. But Monday morning you realize you don’t have a paycheck either. I’m not going to lie, especially if you have kids, it can be real scary with thoughts of ‘what did I do?’ But again the one undeniable constant of an entrepreneur who makes it is perseverance. Perseverance in thought and action. If you persevere, over time, the loss of that alleged security, and the realism of a steady paycheck, are nothing to what you get for its loss.

But with the loss of security, both real and imagined, comes the gain of dignity.

dig·ni·ty

definition: nobility or elevation of character and self; worthiness: dignity of sentiments. elevated rank, office, station, etc. having gained self-worth.

Dignity is a self-worth and self-determination of self, having to be able to stake your claim as a man or woman and define and reveal your own journey and destination.  You can only obtain such a profound level of being by your own actions, never by a construct, belief or system of others. Step back and think about it.

I challenge you to seek your dignity. This plus your own children, your own flesh and blood, are the greatest realizations of your life.

 

 

 

Category: entrepreneurship, internet business, motivation |