1. Are there integrated up-sell modules?
The more products you sell the more money you are going to make.  Not every person that makes a purchase will buy something when you offer additional related products.  However, there are many times that you can make additional sales by up-selling to customers.  This feature in some shopping cart software can make you a lot of money.

2. Are there integrated sales reports database?
To eliminate the hassle of having to print off sales reports and enter them into a database, it is extremely convenient when you find shopping cart software that comes with a sales and prospect database.

3. Can it work with multiple websites with no extra charge?
Many online business owners have multiple websites that they promote various products from.  It can be expensive if you have to get separate licenses and separate merchant accounts for each website.  Most carts today run on their own servers, so there is no expensive installation and set up is almost immediate.

4. Does it have a pop-up box builder?
Although annoying, pop-ups can still reel in customers from time to time for your ecommerce business.

5. Are there printable off-line order forms?
In a time where people are becoming more and more knowledgeable online, identity theft is something on many people's minds that shop online.  Because of this, many people are still afraid to disclose their credit card numbers into a website.  This is an extremely important feature to look into with shopping cart software.

6. Does it offer customizable Thank You pages?
The more personal you are the more customers feel you are reaching out specifically to them.

The shopping cart software that you purchase for your ecommerce business may make or break your business.  The better your shopping cart is set up and the easier it is to get around, the more business you will generate.  Here are 4 questions you should have answered before purchasing shopping cart software.

1. Will it calculate shipping and tax?

2. Does it offer customizable return to shopping pages
The best way to make a lot of money from your ecommerce business is through follow-up sales.  Many standard shopping carts send customers back to the main page after they make a purchase rather than sending them to related products that they are most likely to purchase next.

3. Does it deliver receipt and confirmation e-mails automatically?
After purchasing something from your ecommerce business, customers want to know that their purchase did in fact go through.  The better shopping cart software on the market offers this feature telling customers immediately that the purchase went through.

4. Does it have a web-based administration page?
This is important because it will allow you to work on your cart from any computer that has internet access.  There is nothing more frustrating then being stranded from making adjustments to your shopping cart just because you're not near your computer.

Once the article is written it's time to mass distribute it. The beauty of the internet is that mass distribution is not only instantaneous, but it is also targeted. In case you're getting confused let me explain what I mean. Although your article will be out there it's worthless unless it's what people are looking for. A metaphor from everyday living would be a clothing store that has piles of clothing, and no organization.  Finding an article of clothing in such a pile would require hours of sorting and searching. However, a store that has clothing divided up in to styles, colors and sizes makes the shopping experience a lot  easier and enjoyable. The same concept is applied for article marketing; if your article is just piled on top of hundreds of other articles then the potential exposure and  marketing becomes virtually worthless.  

In order for internet users to find your article they would visit article directories which usually a) review your article for quality and b) Insert it in to a proper category. By doing this, online visitors are able to easily find information in the category of their choosing. To the best of my knowledge there are over 300+ article directories on the web. Submitting to each of these directories would take hours if not days. However, this is an option each eCommerce business owner can exercise. Personally, I choose to use a service which submits all my articles for me. This literally saves me hours a day, and I rest assured that all my articles are being submitted. The service I use is Submit Your Article  which for a small fee does all  the work for me.

One last thing to consider when submitting articles is the resource box which tells the world who you are and what you're all about.  The reason the resource box is important is the ability to add a one or two links (depending on the directory)  back to your site. Here is where you would capitalize on not only linking to your home page, but also to a specific category page. In our previous example of shoes, the store owner would be able to link directly to the and  specific category page which could be something like nike, rebook etc.

I feel like it's been a while since I gave out any useful shopping cart software marketing tips therefore, today I will write a post related to article marketing. Article marketing is a legitimate, easy to do and low cost method   of obtaining buzz and back links for any eCommerce related website. The problem is many people just don't know how to go about obtaining and / or distributing articles. If done properly article marketing will help your online store gain immense exposure in cyberspace.

The first step in article marketing is getting hold of an article about a specific product or service eCommerce store owners offer. An example would be an e-commerce store selling shoes to the general public. In order to generate buzz about the shoes for sale a store owner would have to get an article written about a specific brand or collection of. Once a decision is made the hard part of article marketing is over because now all you need to do is write about it.

It's vital to write a well written and smooth flowing article; otherwise the article will be rejected. If writing is not something that excites you don't worry, have someone else write it for you. This could be done by placing an ad on http://www.elance.com or http://www.ifreelance.com  and in a short period of time (usually 6 - 24 hours) you will see a couple dozen bids by freelance writers competing on writing your article.

Once the article is written it's time to start milking it for all it's worth. In the next blog post I will provide several options in doing just that.

article marketing ecommerce shopping cart SEO shopping cart shopping cart software

There is no question that your php shopping cart software can make you or cost you thousands of dollars in your ecommerce business.  A quality shopping cart has certain criteria that allow you to know whether or not it is worth investing in.  While there are a number of features you want to look into when shopping around for software, there are certain things that are absolutely vital.

The first couple things you want to look into are almost guaranteed to exist in most php shopping cart software.  Whatever software you purchase, it should be able to quickly and easily calculate shipping and tax for your customers purchase.  Not only that, but it should also be able to calculate specialized shipping such as FedEx and UPS.  These are the little things that go unnoticed with shopping carts, but make a huge difference.

The next criterion to look for in good php shopping cart software is the amount of customer service it provides.  There are a number of responsibilities you have having an ecommerce business, and the more your shopping cart can do for you the better.  The kinds of customer service that should be provided include a confirmation e-mail and receipt delivery immediately after the customers purchase.

After identifying some of the basics, you want to dig deeper and look at features that can help your business sell more.  Take a look into the ad tracking feature with the various php shopping cart software.  Your shopping cart software should allow you to tell how many people clicked on a particular promotion and how many people bought.  By knowing such information you can better identify which ads are generating more traffic and sales.

After you get people to your website and you know what ads are working for you, you have to be able to control as much of your shopping cart as possible.  The more capable you are of customizing things from the software, the better.  This will allow you to customize where people are sent after purchasing an item, customize your follow-up thank you emails, and customize what the page looks like.

The last criteria your php shopping cart software should have is some sort of up-sale feature.  The initial sale is great, but it is the up-sale that will increase your income.  Whether it is an up-sale module that makes related products accessible as the customer is purchasing or simply redirecting the customer to a page with related items after they purchase, the more customers see related products the more inclined they will be to purchase more.

There are a number of criteria that should be met when you purchase a php shopping cart software.  Realistically, it is difficult to find the perfect software that offers a little bit of everything.  Therefore, focus on the basics and then find the features that will mean the most to you in your php shopping cart software.

The conclusion of  A Few Reasons Not To Use osCommerce For Shopping Cart Software I will give three additional reasons why e-commerce store owners should stay clear of osCommerce. 

Password protection
One of the most frustrating parts to osCommerce is that there is no inbuilt ways to password protect the administration area.  While this can easily be corrected by finding information of password protection on the oCommerce site, it is frustrating that this does not come with the default installation.

Attribute system
If your business relies a great deal on attributes, osCommerce is probably not the cart system for you.  osCommerce has many limitations to their attribute system including there being no SKU identifiers and no stock control.  Some of the limitations can be modified and upgraded, but it is recommended that you select a different cart system if you depend on a quality reliable attribute system.

Large product catalogs
The last downfall worth mentioning of osCommerce is its limitations with large product catalogs.  When dealing with large product catalogs of over a hundred, modules for the input/management of data is required.  If the product catalog is even larger than a couple hundred, there are several other modifications that must be taken care of.

osCommerce is a decent open source based online shop, but there are several downfalls that should be considered prior to getting into it.  Ecommerce shopping requires a very reliable shopping cart system and open source based system.  While osCommerce has some great things to offer, there are many things that it lacks that other systems make up for.

As ecommerce shopping becomes increasingly popular, more and more people are looking for open source based online shops.  osCommerce was the first true open source shop to come about online, and it has definitely served its purpose since its creation.  However, with time there have been more open source shops develop that offers some aspects that osCommerce cannot.  Here are a few reasons why you may not want to use osCommerce.

Not template driven
One of the minor downfalls to osCommerce is that it is not template driven.  This will effect how quickly you can adjust how the site looks and it is not near as flexible in doing so if it were template driven.  To make up for it not being template driven, osCommerce does have style sheets that allow you to quickly change the header, footer, and left and right column files.

Slow customization
If you are looking to customize files and pages, it is almost necessary to have a developer of some sort.  With oscommerce, if you attempt to customize files without a developer, it is extremely time consuming.  You may want to consider spending a little extra money to higher a developer for you.

In the next post I will write a few more reasons why a person may not want to use osCommerce as their shopping cart software.

In the previous post  I wrote about some tips for Top Organic Ranking. Is this post I will provide three more essential tips. 

1. SEO Marketing is much easier if you know exactly who you are targeting.  By knowing the audience you are trying to attract, it will be much easier to write content and advertise accordingly.  You can also make your web pages more appealing by knowing the audience you are targeting.

2. Nobody wants to read dull text because it is unappealing.  In order to climb up in the search engines through search engine optimization, you must reward your readers with quality content.  If you can provide new and enticing content without sounding too formal, you are bound to climb up the search engines.  You want to write conversationally while still providing quality content.  The best way to do this is by being you and writing how you talk.

3. The last way to have success with SEO marketing is to give a clear and definitive role of action your visitors should take.  You can do this by saying something like "Click here to order now."  This is not giving them the option, but telling them what to do.

Search engine optimization is a great way to have success with your website.  There are several things that need to be done prior to building a website, but search engine optimization should definitely be in the back of your mind prior to designing your website.

Designing and marketing your website according to search engine optimization is highly recommended if you wish to have success.  SEO marketing is easily one of the best ways to generate a high traffic volume to your website, thus increasing your income.  Here are six tips to help you design and market your website according to search engine optimization.

1. Before creating content for your shopping cart software, you should select a few keywords that you want to target to the public that sum up your website.  Search engine optimization is all about targeting keywords that people are searching for.  As you place these specific keywords throughout all of your content, you will climb higher on the search engines.

2. The first paragraph of your website needs to stand out and draw in the readers.  By stating your main selling points and benefits, you are making your website and product sound more appealing.  There is no need to get into great detail right away just as long as you interest them enough to read on.

3. The best way to use search engine optimization is to make your business and products about the people.  Anyone can state how their product is going to benefit people, but your goal is to make a strong emotional connection with the people.  If you can tell them how they will benefit from your product as oppose to just what benefits they will get, you will have gone the extra mile.