Learn how to create & maintain an online store.

I've had alot of request from clients that are just starting up their own e-commerce online business who wanted more information on how to maintain it themselves. Something that was cheap that they could create themselves. Most of my clients wanted to have the freedom of adding and deleting items from their site as needed. Having the ability to do so is great for businesses that have products that need to be updated regularly without the extra cost of maintaining a site. When first starting up an online business, saving money is a must, but not at the expense of the image of your company. So I decided to find another resource to help online businesses create their own store and maintain it, while saving money! Now, the biggest decision factor is figuring out if it's more time and cost effective to build your own customized store front from scratch that you'll own and just pay to maintain verses paying a monthly fee to create an online store and purchasing a e-commerce template to create the desired look.

I believe the key factor will be if your monthly income from your business will cover the monthly cost of maintaining an online store created through other companies such as Volusion. There are services available that offer a great looking store with a monthly fee starting from $29/mth on up, like Volusion and free online templates such as Stylish Templates. Now, some of them include a free ecommerce template, but if you want something fancier, you'll have to pay for their premium templates in addition to the monthly fee. Then, there is the Google Checkout Store gadget. It's basic as far as appearance and easy to setup. I've added a video that has provided step by step information on how to setup your Free Google Checkout Store. It's great because you can plug it into a blog or your custom website template created by a web designer. I think it's great for beginners who want to test the waters, but just remember that 1st impressions are everything.