Creating a Web site for the purpose of selling products or services online entails a large amount of research and planning. When you start an online business, forgetting one simple step can make the difference between success and failure.

Here are the steps to help you get started:

This is the ideal point at which you can define your business by the products or services it will offer, create short and long-term goals, research your competitors, and most importantly, profile your target consumer.

Key elements of a standard business plan that will help you put together your online business include:

1. Company strategy, including major goals and objectives>
2. Short description of the products you will sell
3. Profile of your target customer
4. Marketing plan, including how you intend to drive sales with both online and offline methods
5. Operational details involving who will manage the company, who will manage the Web site, resources and costs
6. Financial analysis and funding
7. Timeline with key deadlines and events

Search engines like Google® and Yahoo!® are a great way to market your site on the Web because many shoppers go to the search engines to look for products and services. If you use a family name or company name as your domain, you may be missing out on an opportunity for promoting the site. For your domain name, you may want to use keywords pertaining to what you sell. For example, if you sell shirts, try to include the word “shirts” in the domain name before the dot com.

It is also worthwhile to consider purchasing the .com, .net, .biz and .info versions of your domain or use multiple domain names to enhance the probability that a visitor who misspells your domain name in the address bar will still arrive at your site. These additional domains can all be forwarded to your main Web site.

However, you should use only one domain name that represents the primary identity of your online business throughout the site, in your logo, business description, order confirmation emails to customers, etc. If you choose to have multiple domains, be sure that you have each of the domains pointed to your site through what is called a 301 redirect. This is currently the only search-engine friendly way to point multiple domain names to the same Web site. If the search engines can view your Web site by visiting two or more different domains, they may view this as an attempt to trick them into thinking that you have multiple Websites. For this reason, in the past, major search engines such as Google® and Yahoo!® have been known to penalize sites that do not employ proper redirects.

In order to sell products on your Web site, you have a few options. You can hire someone to develop custom online storefront functionality. However, most small businesses that are looking for more cost effective solutions purchase e-commerce Web site shopping cart software. This allows your customers to select products from your Web site, put them into the shopping cart on your site, and then checkout using their choice of various payment methods.

Here is a rundown of the many features you’ll want from the e-commerce solution provider you select:

1. Near 100 percent up-time: You’ll need your site to be live 24 hours a day to process orders.
2. Email accounts: Your email should match your site’s domain name for branding purposes.
3. Simplicity: If you do not know Web site coding language such as HTML, make sure the shopping cart software you choose is easy to use so that you won't lose nights of sleep trying to learn HTML.
4. Flexible site design: You want your site to represent your business, so make sure you have the ability to customize elements like colors, logos and fonts to meet your needs.
5. Limit on Products/Categories: Some shopping carts place a limit on how many products or categories you can use. For example, you may only list 100 products, and you'll need to pay more to list more products. You should choose software which does not have any limits in order to have a scalable solution.
6. Shipping and tax: Most e-commerce platforms can automatically calculate the appropriate shipping and tax for you. Since shipping costs are a key part of e-commerce, make sure your platform gives you flexibility (e.g., free shipping, flat rate, pass along rates from logistics companies etc.).
7. Discounts and promotions: Discounts are a great way to drive sales for your business. Choose a shopping cart solution that makes it easy to offer discount pricing and coupon codes to help you drive sales.
8. Technical support: Imagine running an online shopping site for the first time without technical help. You should be able to find an ecommerce company that offers free phone, email and online chat support.

Once you select an e-commerce provider, plan to spend time uploading images of your products and writing descriptions and other content for your site that will give your customers the information they need in order to make a purchase. Writing content for your Web site can be time consuming as well, but it is critical. If you do not consider yourself a writer, look into hiring someone to write the content for you. The information that you write for your Web site is what the major search engines will look at to determine where your site should show up in search results for your products. Also, an informed visitor who can get as many details about your products as possible from your site is more likely to buy.

It is critical to give your customers multiple payment options on your Web site. Most customers are accustomed to paying for goods and services online using their credit card. In order to accept credit cards as payment for your products, you must apply for what is called a merchant account. If you do not accept credit cards on your Web site, you are doing a great disservice to your site’s potential for success, so make sure you apply. In order to apply, you will need to have a certain amount of information on hand such as:

1. TAX Number
2. Business Bank Account
3. Balance Sheet
4. Description of your services
5. A documented refund policy

You also need a "payment gateway" to connect your e-commerce web site to the credit card companies and your merchant account. The e-commerce software provider that you select should be able to point you in the right direction to obtaining the merchant account and payment gateway that will meet your needs. On average, those who sell products and services online offer customers 3 - 5 payment methods. Being flexible for your customers and offering them multiple options will increase their likelihood to buy. Finding the payment method(s) that are best for you depend on many factors. Consider the type of product you are selling, your average ticket, and what type of customers you expect to have. Whatever method you choose, there will always be expenses involved in accepting payment.

According to recent research, 61 percent of cardholders said that they would shop online more if they knew their credit card information was secure. Consumers who do not shop online say fear of putting their financial information online is their number one reason for avoiding e-commerce.

As an online merchant, security is a key consideration for you. If you are going to accept consumer financial information such as credit card payments, you are responsible for ensuring that data is protected and secure and that you meet credit card company security requirements.

Recently, major credit card companies including Visa® and MasterCard® have created heightened security standards for e-commerce sites that are designed to reduce risk for both merchants and consumers. Overall, the programs put into place by these major credit card companies will increase identity theft protection over the Web, an environment in which it is difficult to prove cardholder identity.

Certain security levels and certifications also help with consumer confidence when visiting your site, leading to more sales. Purchasing a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate allows you to use an SSL logo, which should help increase conversions. An SSL Certificate increases security during the checkout process, puts the "s" in the https, and displays the familiar padlock icon—items customers frequently look for when deciding to purchase online. You might also consider joining the Hacker Safe^TM program provided by Scan Alert®.

Purchasing a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate allows you to use an SSL logo, which should help increase conversions. An SSL Certificate increases security during the checkout process, puts the “s” in the https, and displays the familiar padlock icon—items customers frequently look for when deciding to purchase online.

Finally, publish your store policies regarding refunds, exchanges, cancellations, and shipping, and make it easy for your customers to access this information. This will also help your shoppers feel more secure about giving you their financial information during a purchase. The bottom line is: The more secure your customers feel while shopping on your site, the more inclined they will be to make a purchase.

When used correctly, animations and graphics can impress and persuade visitors to buy. But too often, these elements (when over-used) can distract your visitors. Instead, make it your goal to guide your visitors through the sales process. A site's homepage has often been likened to a book’s table of contents or a magazine cover. When visitors arrive at your site, ready to buy, help them easily find two things: what they want to buy and what you want them to buy.

You may want to consider hiring a professional e-commerce design service to create a logo and site design that will most accurately represent your product line and encourage visitors to buy. There will be many factors to consider as you put together your storefront. If you choose to go about it on your own, keep these usability guidelines in mind:

Colors and design

1. Use three main colors.
2. Use no more than one to two fonts.
3. Avoid patterned backgrounds.
4. Prominently display your company's name,logo and tagline.

1. Be consistent with the colors of the links onyour site.
2. Make navigation simple and obvious.
3. Avoid complex navigation techniques like multiple drop-down bars or flashy navigation.
4. Try to use text-based links, as opposed to image-based links, whenever you can. Search engines will find the pages of your site by crawling through its links, and the search engine crawlers can only read text.

1. Match your image backgrounds to the site's background. This means taking photos of your images in front of a white background if your Web site's background is white also. This will cause your products to stand out more.
2. Use product images with good resolution, and ensure that image sizes are consistent throughout the site.
3. Keep images small enough so that the "Buy" or "Add to cart" buttons are near the top of the page.

1. Write a good amount of text for your site. Aim for about 100 – 300 words of unique information per page. This will be useful for your visitors and also good for search engine rankings.
2. Refresh (rewrite) content regularly to keep recurring visitors and the search engines satisfied.
3. Create the following three pages, put a link to them from your site's homepage or header,and fill them with relevant information: "About the Company," "Privacy Policy" and "Contact Us."

You only have one chance to make a first impression with each visitor, so be sure that you test and tweak your site before going live with it. Plan at least a few days or weeks to do this. You might try inviting a few friends to help you test. Ask them to visit your site while you watch their browsing behavior. Try not to say anything as they click around. Give them fifteen minutes, and then ask them about their experience.

Watch for the following common areas of concern as you test the site:

1. Make sure the pages are downloading quickly and efficiently.
2. Fix all broken links.
3. Fix all broken images.
4. Double check that the phone numbers are correct.
5. Edit your site’s text, and review for grammar, spelling and punctuation.
6. Test your site’s search feature to be sure that it is returning good results. Roughly 80 percent of your Web site's shoppers will rely on your site search.
7. Complete a test purchase to be sure that nothing will prevent a successful checkout.
8. Process an order using a credit card to be sure that the payment is processed correctly through your payment gateway.
9. View your site’s design and functionality using both a Mac and a PC computer.
10. Consider viewing the Web site using different browsers, including Internet Explorer®, Mozilla® Firefox®, Opera® and others, because certain design elements may display differently in other browsers.
11. Prepare your customer service efforts with friendly email templates and procedures that will minimize response times.
12. Create an ongoing "Frequently Asked Questions" page as you come across common questions.

Promoting your site on the Web can be expensive and complex, but taking advantage of search engine behavior to drive targeted traffic to your site can result in a favorable long-term return on your up-front investment, whether that investment is your valuable time or money.

More than 77 percent of adults who research online before making a purchase use search engines like Google® and Yahoo!® to do that research, and 40 percent of them go to the search engines first. You can’t afford not to advertise your site in the search engines. Because people are using the search engines to shop, you can find out what product names and descriptions they are looking for.

When you select a shopping cart software provider, you can ask them if they have incorporated search-engine friendly elements so that your Web site can be easily viewed by the search engines. Some things to look for include meta tags, bread crumb navigation, text links, titles and descriptions. You should also ask them if they offer any search engine optimization services or tools, as it may be more convenient to work with one company for both your e-commerce and search engine marketing needs.

You can get your site listed instantly in the engines by participating in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Search engines will allow you to list your site in the "Sponsored Links" section of the search results when a visitor searches for your products, and they will charge you for each click.

The more popular the search term, the more expensive the click. Advertisers who pay the highest price for the click are typically granted the highest position within the results. You can avoid paying on a per click basis by optimizing your site for search terms instead. SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization." To optimize your site for the search engines is to try to get it listed in the top rankings when any particular keyword phrase related to your industry is typed into the query box. You first need to find out what keyword phrases in your industry are getting searched, and then use them on your Web site in the content and in the HTML code on your pages. You can perform SEO on your own site if you have the time and knowledge to make the right changes to its code and content, or you can invest in professional SEO work.

Here is a quick guide to search engine optimization activities:

Perform keyword research

1. Use online tools and software such as Wordtracker® to find out what people are typing into the search engines.
2. Choose only keywords related to your site. There is no sense in optimizing your Web site for something that you do not sell.
3. Check all synonyms and alternative phrasing such as plurals, singulars and common misspellings.

1. Write paragraphs of information for your site's pages with the keywords that you select.
2. Describe your business and what you offer on the site's homepage.
3. Give a quick summary of brands and features in your category description, and provide detailed information in your product descriptions.
4. Get other sites to link to yours
5. Major search engines, including Google®, AOL®, MSN® and Yahoo!®, will look at both the number of pages linking to your site and the quality of those pages to determine your site's relevancy.
6. Having strong link popularity means that your site has a lot of other Web sites linking to it and that the sites that link to yours are also doing well in the search engines.
7. Get as many other sites as possible to link to yours by contacting other Web site owners in your industry.
8. Submit your site to search engines and directories, and trade links with related sites in order to enhance your site’s link popularity.