A guide to building your e-commerce business.

Are you thinking about adding e-commerce to your site? Are you a developer who wants to build e-commerce sites? If so, this session is for you. We will discuss the basic steps to create an e-commerce site from choosing the right shopping cart software to accepting credit cards to fulfilling orders. There's much more to it then just installing a shopping cart and this session will attempt to discuss all the steps, decisions, and pitfalls beyond just installing and configuring a shopping cart. Users will walk out of this session with a plan for getting to their first sale. Developers should walk out of this session with the confidence to sell, support, and guide an e-commerce project to completion.

Topics include:
SETUP:
How to choose a shopping cart. (hint, I like Ubercart :)
Why CMS is critical in e-commerce.
What payment methods to accept
Shipping and fulfillment options
Digital content - Balancing copy protection vs. customer satisfaction
ADVERTISING:
Search Engine Placement - Do's and Don'ts
Google AdWords and Adsense
Third party sites (eBay Shopping.com Amazon, Craigslist)
THE REST:
Customer satisfaction
The 2% rule
Profit margins, "Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered."

Most of this presentation is internationally applicable, but a few sections like payment and shipping methods are country specific. For these sections, I will discuss the US environment and try to give a summary explanation of the international scene.