FAQs…
Dreamscape FAQs | General Web FAQs | SEO & PPC FAQs | Flash FAQs | E-Commerce FAQs
What is e-Commerce and how does an e-Commerce website work?
eCommerce stands for Electronic Commerce, which is a generalized term for selling goods and services on the Internet through a website. Since credit cards can be processed over the Internet, practically anything can be bought and sold. Many consumers are now buying online and enjoying the benefits, such as convenience and better pricing. Online stores can often reduce prices because they can eliminate traditional overhead costs. In today’s competitive marketplace, convenience is king!
Each eCommerce website is built differently, but each one uses the same essential functions. The ability of your business to accept credit cards for payment is very important. The payment does not actually go through your website – this is for security reasons. Instead, it is processed through a ‘payment gateway’. A payment gateway is a company that works with different credit card companies to ensure that all credit card transactions made online are processed securely. You must have an account with a payment gateway to accept credit card payments through your website. Your website will be guarded with 128-bit encryption, which makes fraudulent activity almost impossible. When a transaction is completed, the funds are sent directly to your businesses’ bank account. When a purchase is made, the customer’s order and payment details are sent to your website’s administration section. Through the administration section, you can also add new products, update current products, and maintain each aspect of your e-Commerce website.
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How does eCommerce Website Marketing work?
An e-commerce website has to be created according to specific criteria to work effectively with different search engines. Search engines overlook most e-commerce sites because the designer poorly constructed them. Often, search engine optimization basics were not utilized during the critical development stages. An eCommerce website designed by Dreamscape Marketing is made to optimize your sales opportunities and bring potential customers into your web portal. This helps to bring more traffic through your website, which leads to more sales.
One of our main search engine optimization techniques is a design feature called a “dynamic title”. Dynamic titles utilize your product database to change the title of your website to reflect your products. Each time a new product is added, a new title will automatically be created. Search engines look for variations in page titles, so having more unique pages titles yields better results. The more content that is available on your site related to the search keyword, the better your search engine rankings will be.
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How do I manage and update content for my e-Commerce website?
Your business needs to be able update, expand, and control the content in its e-Commerce website in order to stay current and competitive. This is a major factor in the success of any successful website, but especially with e-Commerce. Dreamscape Marketing provides an online content management system that allows you to manage inventory, orders, and customers, as well as create promotions, newsletters, and much more. Managing an e-Commerce site can be difficult, but Dreamscape Marketing can create a website that is easy to use AND easy to maintain.
Different eCommerce Website Management Features Include: Managing different aspects such as products, categories, options, customers, shipping, locations, orders and more. Sending HTML Newsletters to your customer list. Uploading product images and software products to your store. Setting featured products and specials. Creating free shipping or exact shipping prices per item.Configuring sales tax per state or country (billing or shipping). Integrating live UPS, USPS, Fed Ex and other shipping carries rates. Adding private comments to each order, and comments viewable to the customer. Using statistical analysis tools Sending emails to customers. Creating and managing discount and promotional codes.
If you are interested in a content management system for a basic informational website, many options are available. A custom content management systems can be created to help you with managing either a basic or advanced website.
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What are some basic features of e-Commerce websites and web design?
The features listed below are standard e-Commerce features for any well-designed online stores. An e-Commerce website designed by Dreamscape Marketing is easy to manage and use, and allows control over different maintenance issues regarding your e-Commerce website. Dreamscape Marketing can customize a website for any type of business and develop unique applications for any need. Our designs and layouts are unique for each website that we design.
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Some of the basic features we can include in an e-Commerce web design project include:
Catalog & Products
1 Unlimited categories, sub-categories, products and options.
2 Item discounts on quantity.
3 Order discounts and promotional codes.
4 Products in multiple categories with multiple options.
5 Options can be given a weight to be factored into the shipping costs.
6 Support for text options to allow customers to enter text when ordering a product.
7 Digital Downloads
8 Store can be run in “Catalog Only” mode without a shopping cart.
9 Choosing “Featured Products” to display on your homepage.
10 Options for tax-free products.
11 Product Ratings & Reviews for individual items.
12 Support for product suppliers and manufacturers.
13 Inventory management by product and product options.
Administration
1 Manage Products, Categories, Options, Customers, Shipping, Locations, Orders and more.
2 Upload Product Images and Software Items
3 Calculate shipping rates by order weight and/or price.
4 Support for shipping rates to different areas/countries.
5 Sales tax calculation based on postal / zip code
6 Customer account management.
7 Statistical Charting tools.
8 Manage digital downloads
9 Send HTML Newsletters to your customers directly from your store.
10 Create discount codes.
Security
1 SSL support
2 Password and Credit Card information encryption
3 Customer information stored separately from product database.
4 Additional logins so that non-admin staff cannot change configuration settings.
Payment Gateways
1 Built-in support for offline payments, Offline Credit Card payments, PayPal, 2CheckOut.Com and Authorize.Net (AIM & SIM).
2 Built-in support for PayPal IPN, PayPal Website Payments Pro, 2CheckOut.Com Auto-Update, Google Checkout, Authorize.Net credit card payments, Verisign PayFlow Link and Pro, World Pay, and LinkPoint
Analytics and Statistics
1 Total integration with Google Analytics software
2 Comprehensive website traffic reports
3 Information on who visited your site, for how long and if a purchase was made
4 Analyze statistics based on date and time periods
5 View top landing and exit pages
How do I process credit card payments through my e-Commerce website and how does it work?
Any e-Commerce website or store needs to be able to accept and process credit card information and transactions to be successful. There are two main ways of achieving this. The credit card payment can be processed through the website, with the funds being deposited directly into your business bank account. You may also set up your site to store the order and card information in a database, so that you can manually process the orders with a traditional credit card processor. Regardless of the method you choose, you will need a merchant account to process payments.
Your website will be designed to ensure that all credit card transactions are 100% secure. We use employ the industry standard in security, which is 128 bit encryption. The transaction information processed through your site is transferred in code. If the code were somehow intercepted, it would not be readable. Security is important, both for the integrity of your business and the safety of your customers, when processing credit cards online.
The credit card payment is processed through a ‘payment gateway,’ which is an intermediary company that acts as a trusted broker between your customer and your bank. All online stores, regardless of size or type, use some sort of payment gateway to accept online payments. Your website is designed to work seamlessly with these processes. This ensures that your customers never have to leave your website in order to complete a transaction.
What is website security? How can I ensure that my e-Commerce site is safe?
Some of the most important design features of an e-Commerce website are those related to security. Hackers and criminals can easily prey on poorly designed and protected sites, stealing information about both your business and customers. When processing credit card payments through your website or when customer information is being entered, a well-designed security strategy needs to be in place with the proper safeguards in order. Using a secure server is the first step in protecting your website and the information moving through it. The best secure servers use a 128 bit encryption process. This means that any data transferred is in code, so that if the data is intercepted it is useless.
Secure Checkout Secure websites contain a “lock” icon at the bottom right corner of the page. The icon only appears if you are viewing a page that contains sensitive information. These pages are usually checkout or personal information pages.