Do Not Skimp On The Basics

May
25

The most basic of skills you will need
for an online web presence is understanding
HyperText Markup Language (HTML). This is
the standard code used to create static web
pages (those that don’t have content that
changes on the fly). Fortunately, HTML is
very easy to learn and many community colleges
have quick courses on it that can get you
started. Or you can go to www.pagetutor.com
where you’ll find a lot of free, step by step
tutorials written in non-techie terms.

If you are the least bit technically savvy,
you won’t have much problem picking up HTML
programming, particularly because most of today’s
packages don’t require you to know the ins and
outs of programming.

Software packages like Frontpage and Dreamweaver
can be learned by anyone who is familiar with
Windows and other computer applications. Much of
the programming is done behind the scenes while
the user is only required to work on documents
similar to a word processor for formatting web
page articles.

If you are looking to create an online store on
your website, then you will need to learn how to
either program links to products on other sites
that have the inventory (affiliate marketing) or
links to products you are shipping. You will need
to use some sort of commercial online cart program,
like Paypal online cart options or an off-the-shelf
software package that can be added to your
website, if you are selling your own inventory.

- NECESSARY TECHNICAL SKILLS

The skills and packages you need will be determined
by the types of sales you are trying to achieve. If
you are seeking affiliate sales, you don’t need any
technical training other HTML.

If you are seeking to sell your own products, you
will have to learn how to create a shopping cart for
your products or find a third-party venue who will
allow you the use of their system for receiving orders
online and collecting payments.

Of course if you are marketing just one product to
start with, www.PayPal.com can be a good way to
take payment without have to go to the expense of
getting a merchant bank account set up or an
Internet gateway to authorize credit cards.

Once you know what it is you want to sell, you can
check to see what technical skills might be needed
to create your online store.

- DIRECT INTERNET SALES

There are a number of people who have hobbies or
create crafts who want to sell them online. Or maybe,
you are a collector who wants to put your business
online. The biggest obstacle for these people is that
they often don’t have the technical skills to make their
own website.

They have two choices:
1. Use someone else’s site and give them a cut or
2. Learn how to set up their own site.

If they choose to use someone else’s site, like eBay or
a craft consortium, no doubt they will pay to list their
items. Those items may or may not sell. While there was
no expense for learning how to program, there is time
spent understanding how to market on eBay successfully.
There are no online opportunities that don’t require
some degree of technical know-how.

The question is: How much do you want to learn?

If you decide you want your own site, you will need to
either hire a web developer or you will have to learn
how to program your own. Learning to program your
own site can be very time consuming, if you are not
technically savvy.

Even understanding the mechanics of how to program a
website, there is a body of knowledge you will not have
access to in terms of understanding how to make it
search engine friendly.

There is a great deal to setting up an effective online
store, not the least of which is attracting customers
and being able to take orders, receive payment, and
fulfill them quickly. In addition to this, without
visitors to the site you have no sales, so if your pages
are not programmed to be search engine friendly, odds
are you will have difficulty attracting people to your
site.

When you are considering doing your own site, think
about hiring knowledgeable people to create it for you.
This can leave more time for you to refine your
marketing plan and develop your product and your
market base better.

If, however, you choose to use a third-party to market
your wares, like eBay, Amazon, or Cafepress then you
don’t have to worry about building a checkout cart,
setting up credit payments, or establishing a full
e-commerce site. You can simply use their interface
and list your products with them. This takes less initial
programming efforts, but you will be charged listing and
commission fees.

You will have to have some expertise in digital
photography, to help capture the inventory you are
listing for visitors to the third-party site. You will
need to have a camera with at least 3 megapixels or
more and the ability to upload and download pictures to
your computer, which should be Internet-enabled.

A final option for listing your own products on your own
site is Paypal. They offer a very simple to learn system
for sellers using their checkout cart program and “Buy”
buttons that are easily programmed into web pages using
HTML code. The code is generated by their system based
on values you set for your item and it can then be cut
and pasted into your existing web pages. This makes it
very easy to set up your pages to collect Paypal
payments for orders on your site with only knowledge of
HTML coding.

So don’t let the technical issues of startgin an
Internet Marketing business make you shy away from
what can turn into a very lucrative business venture.