Build a Home Based Business from scratch selling products online using Drop Shippers.

Finding A Host

This part of the process requires you to answer a simple question. Do you plenty of time on your hands? If you do, then you may choose to design your own web site from scratch. If this is the case, you’re only concerns will be finding a host company, designing your site, and finding a way to process payments online. You can simply build your web site from scratch using Front Page, or some other HTML editor (see resources in the last chapter for learning HTML).

But these days, the number of web hosting e-commerce packages available are making them very cost effective ways to build your online store. For a monthly fee (between $10 - $50) you can get hosting, domain rego, website builder, and e-commerce enabled all in one! This means, basically everything you need is there and all you need to do is find a merchant, come up with ideas on how you want your site to look, the products you want to sell and how much you want to sell them for!

I am going to recommend a company that has all the above (except domain rego) and more. They are called HostGator and their packages include email accounts, programming, website designer, e-commerce including shopping cart, 24/7 customer support, and lots more from $9.95 a month.

To really spice things up, there is a program called X Site Pro. This is one of the best Web Site builders around. Using this combined with Hostgators hosting service, you really have all the tools to make an exceptional functioning web site.

If you’d prefer to do it all on your own, then here is a list of what you need.

· Domain Name
· A Hosting Company (search on Google)
· HTML Editor (such as Front Page, or search for ‘free web site templates’ or ‘free web site builders’ – just remember to ensure you have total control of all the details for naming your pages and meta titles etc)
· Shopping Cart (search Google for ‘free shopping cart’)
· Merchant Facility (Paypal, or search on Google)

Of course I can tell you now that finding a company that just delivers on one is very difficult. More and more companies are creating packages that include two or more of the above, and I highly recommend you look out for these, unless you already have access to some of the above list.

For most people and people outside of the US, Paypal is probably going to be your first choice of accepting payments ‘online’ as they are free and quite easy to use. However, as your business grows you may want to upgrade to a proper merchant facility or even use your own bank.
Once you have you’re hosting, decide on some email addresses. The most common ones to use are sales@, info@, help@, support@ and so on. Of course the number you use depends on your host.

Tasks:

1. Decide if you’ll use a web e-commerce package.
2. If not, find a host, shopping cart, merchant, and HTML editor or web site builder.
3. Set up email accounts with your host.

Outlay Your Web Site