The following are various steps that you would need to take in order to open a successful online store

1.) Designing a website that sells

The first most important aspect of online selling is to have a professional looking website that is designed to sell. You can go about creating website from code up using web designers or simply go for readymade website templates. If you are purchasing website templates, be sure to go for templates that are professionally designed and have option of shopping carts. Buying templates from providers who offer allied services like template customization, web hosting; SEO etc would be even better. Some template providers like ?buytemplates.net? offer allied services irrespective of where you actually purchased template from. To get a rough idea of how your site should be designed you can take hints from successful online stores like http://www.ishopage.com, ?gap.com? and ?bestbuy.com?.

2.) Hosting your store online

There are many factors that you need to take into consideration before selecting your web host when it comes to online selling. Some of major factors are discussed as follows.

a.) Secure servers

Firstly you got to make sure if your web host offers you with SSL encryption which is very important for secure money transactions online. Most web hosting companies would offer you with SSL secure server facilities along with a regular package whereas a few would charge you an extra amount for service.

b.) Up time guarantees

Your business is only as good as it remains online. Make sure to go for web hosting service providers who promise you an uptime guarantee of 99 %. Also check to see as to how they back up their data and what kind of back up systems they have in place in case of emergencies.

c.) Private CGI-BIN

A CGI-BIN directory is a location on your web server where you can upload your binary scripts or interactive programs. This is very important for payment processing and shopping cart management. So be sure that hosing company gives you a private CGI BIN directory.

d.) Web logs and web statistics

Web logs and statistics are vital for your online business. Studying web logs can give you much needed information about your customers and your sales records. Understanding your customer behavior can help you retain customers and attract new customers.

e.) Customer support

Get as much information about hosting company?s support policies and type of support they offer. Go for web hosting companies that offer 24/7 customer support.

f.) References

Most web hosts promise you lots of goodies but may not live up to it. Make sure to test web host?s credibility by asking them for references. The existing customers of hosting company can give your first hand information on service that you can expect to get.

In addition to this you should also look for services that offer you Mysql database and PHP scripting, unlimited emails and a minimum space of 10GB.

3.) Deciding on shopping carts

If you are selling more than a handful of products then having a shopping cart on your site is a good idea. You have three major options of getting yourself an online shopping cart. First one is buying a shopping cart software program; second is using services of an ASP and third is programming it yourself.

Your best option as a beginner would be to go for ASP services. These services are cheap and come with flexible options. As time passes and you online business develops, you can hire programmers to design yourself a customized shopping cart or buy shopping cart software programs that can be set up in your server. Some good ASP?s that offer shopping cart services are ?SecureNetShop? (SecureNetShop.com) and ?GoEmerchant? (GoEmerchant.com).

As you may have already discovered in my "Ultimate Information Entrepreneur's Success Package", earning months and years of leveraged income from a few weeks writing has virtually NOTHING to do with your writing ability, but EVERYTHING to do with understanding how to identify and satisfy a raging hunger within markets.

When you think about how to write a sell ebooks, think about 1 of these 3 proven "types" of infoproducts that will turn your prospects into buyers...

1. Innovator. You have identified a tip, technique or strategy that will go one-step further (incremental innovation) or take a giant LEAP forward (radical innovation) than is currently available.

To understand how to write and sell ebooks as "innovator", you have a very good grasp of both what prospector is really looking for and what currently exists in your marketplace.

2. Collector. The value in this type of information product is to collect sources of information from a wide variety of sources and distill it down to "best of" or a compilation of strategies aimed at satisfying a given market demand.