January 14, 2007
Which Store Platform do I use when Starting an Online Business?
As most of you are probably already aware, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of different ways to showcase your products and process online transactions. Personally there are only about 2-3 options that are realistically available and actually work the way you want it to work when starting an online e-business. Before I get into which ones I like and why, there are a few things you need to know about before you choose your online store platform.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, always keep search engine optimization in the back of your mind when going through the motions of building your online e-biz. With that said, there are 2 options on which to build your profits. The first option is finestshops.com which is is a one stop shop utilizing X-Cart. Although I have not personally used this option, I know for a fact that is is solid, customizable and with a built in re-write mod to convert all dynamic pages into .html pages, it is SEO friendly. Since I do not use this option for my own online stores, I cannot go into great detail about finestshops and x-cart. However, this option is being used by some of the largest and most profitable online businesses today.
The other option and my personal favorite is a Yahoo! Store. Truly catered to the beginner, a yahoo store platform is by far the easiest to use and the backend features rival any other platform going today. The only downside to owning a yahoo store business is that is uses a custom programming language called RTML. RTML is not widely known therefore you will require the services of a quality RTML programmer such as 1Choice4YourStore. Once your design is done setup within your Yahoo store you will be fine.
Spread the word
10 Comments »
January 30, 2007
Tim Fuller :
Britt,
Love the blog and am looking forward to watching this and participating as it develops.
I also have a Yahoo store for online retailing patio furniture and such. Unlike you, I have no technical background and this store is really my first major step into the world of Internet marketing and eCommerce. I used 1Choice (as you mention above) to handle the design for me and have been pleased with their work and so glad I didn't have to try and do that part myself.
Congratulations on your site; ReplicaDungeon.com! You've done a great job getting this one up and running strong in a very short time. It really has a cool look and feel to it and I wish you the greatest success!
Tim
April 18, 2007
Colin McNulty :
Hey Tim,
This was just what I was looking for. If you had to do it again, would you use Yahoo again or finestshops?
Cheers,
Colin
Tim Fuller :
Colin,
My experience with Yahoo has been good and I would use them again. I have no experience with Finestshops so I'm not really qualified to comment on their platform or service. Using the Yahoo platform is pretty easy for day to day operations. Because I have little technical experience, I lean heavily on my store designer for the design tweaks.
Tim
Colin McNulty :
What about you Britt?
I have a programmers background so not worried about the technical side, but try to outsource most things if I can. The debate about which platform is "best" seems to rage on, as there appears to be nothing that really does it all well.
Britt :
Honestly, I love my Yahoo store. If you get your store designed professionally (RTML), you can do the rest on your own if you understand regular HTML. It really is a fantastic platform, easy to use and can be as simple or complex as you want it. Finestshops is merely a hosting house for X-cart users so its not really about finestshops at all but its X-cart.
April 19, 2007
Colin McNulty :
I've seen people talking about X-Cart, but there seems to be a lot of stuff you need to add to it to get it working properly. Also some issues with getting it to interface with Google Analytics I think?
Do you have problems with Yahoo stores and Google Analytics? Have you tried out Googles new Website Optimiser with Yahoo stores too?
Britt :
Analytics works great and I even go a step further and use Monitus Tools (monitus.net) to get even better stats. I have not tried the Optimiser yet. I have a ton of things to do yet but all in all, the Yahoo store is the way to go.
Colin McNulty :
So why the recent buzz about X-cart then? I don't get it.
Britt :
Because its search engine friendly, its open source and it has tons of addon modules.
November 11, 2007
Ray Plona :
I have 4 Yahoo stores with customization done by Solid Cactus. It has as much versatility that I want with a good web hosting company to walk me through if I need it.
Just found your website. Good Job!