I Built an eCommerce Site in 2 Months for $99!

My dream for the past five years was to launch an Internet portal that would aggregate up-to-date information technology news and some of the best articles and resources for value added resellers: VARs. I'd been providing content for numerous other sites. Now I thought it was time to start investing in myself.

Planning and Preparation

Although I was a highly-experienced Internet researcher, I knew little about designing, launching, and promoting an ecommerce Website. However, I knew which sites I researched repeatedly, so the first thing I did was analyze how they kept me coming back. Good content was the primary incentive, but what else?

A Little Research

I bookmarked and printed pages from many sites that illustrated what I thought was the "best" navigation, colors, layout, topic categories, terminology describing those categories, etc. I also noted the use of add-on features such as forums, polls, newsletters, and fee-based content. My task list grew dramatically as I added the need for content for:

• About Us
• Advertising
• Contact Us
• Contribute
• Link to Us
• Permissions
• Press
• Privacy
• Staff
• Terms of Use
• Site and Newsletter Registration
• Auto-response Letters

...and so forth.

I also documented characteristics that I found annoying, like not being able to click on the logo to return to the home page. While this seems like a small detail, it was only one of hundreds that had to be addressed before I felt our site would provide a comprehensive and user-friendly interface to our visitors: some of the most technology-savvy surfers on the Internet.

After a few days of surfing my favorite haunts and examining sites I'd let fall by the wayside, I came up with a laundry list of characteristics I liked:

Site Name

If the name was easy to remember, I could just type it in instead of scanning through my Favorites. The best names were simple and descriptive of the subject matter, e.g., internet.com, TechWeb.com, ITtoolbox.com, and so forth. Cute also worked, as in the case of AngryCoder.com. After weeks of playing with name combinations and dog-earing my synonym finder, I settled on DoctorVAR.com.

Clear Focus

If the site stated its purpose clearly and delivered on that promise, then I knew right away whether the site would be a valuable resource for me. Even if it wasn't the subject I was looking for at the time, I would bookmark it for a future project. Searching through sites that meander from topic to topic is often a waste of time. So I put our statement of purpose at the top of our home page.

Easy Navigation

In the early days, navigation was often crude. Frequently, I'd turn to the site map to steer me quickly to the resources I sought: white papers, press releases, etc. I appreciate clear, well organized navigation and a site search function. Sites that make me navigate through multiple menu levels and pages before delivering any substance drive me crazy. As a result, I avoided multiple layers as best I could.

Free Content

If the site made me sign up to get meaty content, I usually left as fast as a mouse click! There are so many great sites that don't require such an investment of time and effort -- why would I bother with the ones that do? I decided that on my site, all content would be free.

Favorite Links

I really appreciate links to additional sources, as they make my research job easier. However, if I click on two or three broken links, I start to lose confidence in how up-to-date the site is. Plus, broken links waste my time. So I made a note to regularly use a link checker on my site, to keep the content fresh.

What Others Were Saying

Once I'd identified the characteristics I look for in a Website, I went one step further and read numerous articles on what other people look for. I was surprised to find that so many people are concerned about their privacy. Surveys showed that people:

1. want a clear privacy statement
   
2. want to know what will happen to their information if they sign up for a forum or newsletter
   
3. want to be able to contact a real person at a real company having a real postal address, not a P.O. Box number

So I spent several weeks crafting my own About Us, Privacy and Terms of Service statements -- in simple terms instead of legalese -- to reassure our visitors.

I also discovered that the best designed sites are sticky. The more often you can get visitors to return -- and the longer you can keep them on your site -- the more quickly you can develop traffic. So we expanded our site plan to include ways for people to participate and become part of a community through a forum, polls, contributing content, free classifieds and a job bank. I also redesigned my enewsletter to make the tone more personal, as well as to make subscribers come to the site to "read the full story", or fill out an opinion poll.

To make money, I needed a banner/ad manager, log analyzer, and shopping cart. I planned to sell ebooks, shareware, and other items to generate revenue. Eventually we may charge for premium content, but for now, it's free. To develop traffic, I feel that I must give much, much more than I plan to receive.