eCommerce on a Shoestring

There are many tools available for fledgling eEntrepreneurs to build Internet storefronts, complete with shopping carts, at reasonable costs.

One way to do this is to use a combination of GoDaddy and PayPal. A storefront of up to five web pages selling up to twenty products can be constructed for an annual fee of from $60 to less than $200, depending upon the selected features. As you would expect, the number of web pages and products can both be expanded for additional fees.

The age-old problem of letting customers know that you have a product for sale still exists with this method. You can build a storefront with no knowledge of HTML or scripting languages. But there is still the monumental struggle of finding ways to get prospective customers to see your storefront in a sea of tens of millions of domain names.

I’ve written an essay (too long for the blog) that illustrates how to build the storefront. It also minimally addresses the promotion problems. If you would like a free copy, click this to go to the download page.

Technorati Tags:ecommerce, inexpensive, shopping cart, storefront, godaddy, storefront

He's Stupid

“…Bill Clinton is an idiot…” “…George Bush is too stupid to be President…” “… police are pigs…” How do you feel about these statements? I’m very uneasy when I come across personal attacks.

It’s a lazy method of expression. We seem to fall into two groups on things we support and things we don’t and each of us moves between the groups. Group one honestly expresses considered opinions about actions and policies. The other group just provides the background noise.

It takes some effort to do a little research and to reach down deep to decide how you stand on an issue. And then it takes some courage to express that opinion in a group that seems to think otherwise. Honest debate could spring up if more of us would try doing just that, though we might risk some ridicule. But, then, isn’t getting a right to the jaw for a good argument preferable to false praise for mindless chanting?

By the way, if you don’t agree with this, you’re a stupid pig.

Technorati Tags:opinion, debate, peer pressure, controversy