Shopping Carts- Designersi.com

I blogged about Prostores.com and at the time I did not realize that they took a chunk of every sale made. If I had known I wouldn't have reviewed them. Sorry about that, my friendly readers.

I would recommend checking out DesignersI.com. There is a 15 day trial that allows you to try our their software and look at their features. I have been using it and enjoying the flexibility. They have two plans if you want to build it yourself and two if you want have it built for you:

Build-It-Yourself

Professional Plan - (Green 1)$39.95/Month$ 30.00 One time account activation fee

• Build-it-yourself site building tool and email. You can build your 40-page hosted website in no time using the internets most advanced website builder.
• No contracts
• Web hosting included
• 40 Meg Hard Drive Space
• 80 pages
• 10 email addresses
• Webmail
• eMarketing tools
• Search engine optimization
• Site traffic reporting tools

Platinum Plan - (Green 2)$59.95/Month $60.00 One time account activation fee

Build-it-yourself site building tool and email.

• No contracts
• Web hosting included
• 80 Meg Hard Drive Space
• 15 email addresses
• 1000 pages
• Webmail
• eCommerce package
• eMarketing tools
• Search engine optimization
• Site traffic reporting tools

Build-It-For-Me (Orange Plan)

Professional (orange-1) $499.00 One time set-up/design fee$39.95/Month

• No contracts
• Web hosting included
• 40 Meg Hard Drive Space
• 80 pages
• 10 email addresses
• Webmail
• eMarketing tools
• Search engine optimization
• Site traffic reporting tools
• 48 hour turnaround
• Web pros work for you
• Search engine optimization
• 5 web pages designed
• 1 customized header

Platinum Plan - (Orange 2)$749.00 One time set-up/design fee$59.95/

• No contracts
• Web hosting included
• 80 Meg Hard Drive Space
• 15 email addresses
• 1000 pages
• Webmail
• eCommerce package
• eMarketing tools
• Search engine optimization
• Site traffic reporting tools
• Initial store set-up—up to 20 products
• 48 hour turnaround
• Web pros work for you
• Search engine optimization
• 8 web pages designed
• 3 customized headers
  
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All plans have Ebay and PayPal integration. I have to say that creating pages and subpages is extremely easy. I also love the following features

Store Settings: You can activate your Shopping Cart Indicator and choose when and where you display your Privacy and/or Refund Policies, plus prompt an eNewsletter sign-up at check-out.

Shipping & Tax Zones: Determine your delivery options and calculate shipping and tax costs passed on to your customer at the time of order depending on their geographic location.
Sales & Promotions: Manage sale and discount offers and create promotional codes to extend discounts to preferred customers.

PayPal® Payment Settings: Allow your customers to process transactions through the Internet’s most popular E-Commerce Gateway for small business – PayPal®. With over 50 million users worldwide, PayPal® is the recognized standard on the web, ensuring the highest levels of security and reliability.

eBay® Integration: Sell your products on eBay®, The world's most popular and largest Online Marketplace.

Payment Gateway Settings: They offer numerous gateways to handle online transactions.

Visually Appealing Templates: The templates are nice and classy. Some of the nicest templates I have seen yet.

Military Encryption: I don't think I even need to expand on this.

You can also create newsletters, visitor polls, create captions, easily add your custom logo and manage the layout of the page.

The 15 day trial has allowed me to choose a template and create a store that I can look at and decide if I want to invest in it (and I do). In addition, the templates can be modified to become wider. FTP set up is available.

I have spent the last week reading every review on every shopping cart there is. I have asked advice, I have used trial periods and there is nothing I like more than the Designersi shopping cart web builder. I spoke with one of their managers today and he stressed that superior customer service is what sets their company apart from the others. So if you have a question, call them. You will be surprised at how polite and friendly they are.

The Basics of Keywords and Keyword Phrases

Keywords and keyword phrases are used to differentiate your web site from your competitors' web sites. For example, if you sell fences made of wood in Sarasota and your competitor sells aluminum fences in Sarasota you could use the following phrases to optimize your site:

• Sarasota Wood Fencing
• Wood Fencing Sarasota
• Wood Fence Materials Sarasota
• Sarasota Wooden Fencing.

Basically, you come come up with a combination of keywords to set your site apart from your competitor's. The goal is to help Internet users find your site. When you optimize your web site, properly, with effective keyword phrases and other Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies you are essentially helping your web site become more visible on the search engines. You want people to find your site when they are looking for the product and/or services you provide.

HOWEVER, you may want to include the phrase " Sarasota aluminum fences" within your site somewhere. Your site could show up along with your competitors in the search engines, if it is optimized properly. You may not sell aluminum fences, but you could explain why wood is better and possibly gain a client.

SEO

SEO is all about helping businesses gain higher ranking on the search engines. We all know that there is only so far we are going to go when searching for an item or service on the web. If your business is on page 5 of Google, Yahoo or MSN you may not be seen very often. Page one of Google is always the goal, but this goal is not accomplished easily. A lot of research and consistent work is needed to attain this goal.

If you are hoping to have an optimized web site it is wise to consult an SEO company for help. There are many areas of a web site that must be optimized and a properly coded web site is essential for success. There are many other areas that cannot be ignored and I will discuss these in the upcoming weeks.