Always look for a secure and reliable hosting service provider. Examine the ‘Uptime guarantee’ provided by the service provider. Check with the hosting company's customers or references to see whether they backup their words by their deeds! Check if they provide you a good backup and security system for your ecommerce website. Another feature you need to look out for is whether the hosting provider gives you Website visitor statistics along with the hosting package. More complex the stats, the merrier! Afterall you want to know your buyers, and from where they are coming.

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Select a payment gateway according to your business needs. Depending on the volume of transactions, that you foresee, you can start with a smaller provider, where your initial costs are lower, but the per transaction fees may be a bit on the higher side. Also the payment gateway should provide faster processing and should be averse to every possible security attack in transferring credit card details.

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This is where you will need to spend the maximum amount of time. Selecting a ready-made shopping cart software or get a customized software developed by a Web Developer. Remember, that the cart is an essential aid in making that all important sale, and needs to be userfriendly. The shopping cart should have the capability to perform important functions like the inventory management, catalog management, and customer management.

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By far the most crucial, stage of whether your online venture would be a success or not is decided here. Before you start taking your first order, take some time to frame a strategy on how you would want to promote your online store. Firt and the most important being - submitting your website to the search engines.

Either take help from a professional SEO company or if you have the time, and patience, then head to Google, and search for resources and tips on how you could get your website listed in search engines. Spend some time, analysing Google PPC (pay-per-click) programs, it won't cost you an arm or leg, but will help in getting targetted visitors to your site.

Do some offline marketing, like newspaper advertisments, printing flyers, handouts of your ecommerce store web address, and distribute them at busy locations in your city. Explore the option of sending in opt-in emailers to your prospective customers (not SPAM), this would be your cheapest and most effective marketing weapon in your arsenal. Don't forget to give away some freebies to your first 25 buyers!

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If you are selling physical good like books, electronics, CD's online, then the scope of distribution of products whether globally or locally, and the cost per transaction will be an important criteria in deciding the shipping carrier for your online store. If the shipping agency provides a feature of ‘online tracking, which you could integrate in your ecommerce website, then it would provide a very handy tool for your customers waiting for the delivery of their order.