FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

 

Exactly what do I need to have a really nice web site and be able to take orders?

It's easy, and you can spend as little as you want and do some of the work yourself, or you can get some help, and do almost nothing. Here is the list:

  • Sign up for a web hosting account - the $25/month package has everything you need for secure retail hosting so you can accept credit cards in real time. And actually you can do some retailing for as little as $10/month. There are some limitations to the $10 package such as limits on number of products and some other things. You must also register a domain name. Our annual registration fee is $16. Or you can transfer an existing domain name that you have purchased from another registrar.
  • Create a nice welcome web page for your customers. You can do this yourself, or you can contact us, and we will provide a Arts/Graphics college graduate to create something for you. For simple websites the costs can be as low as $300-$1000 depending on the scope of work you would like completed. Or you can do your own web page with your WebPage Builder that comes with your web hosting package.
  • Order a secure certificate for $99 OR NOT! When your customers order from your site, you have to take in credit card information securely. This is done with encryption. You can use our secure server at "https://host.site7.com/yourdomain" for no extra cost. Or some people prefer to pay the extra $99 and their customers see "https://www.yourdomain.com/" on the address bar. You can order the certificate through the Control Panel when you log into your web site, or you can pay an administrator to do this for you.
  • Get a merchant account. If you want to be able to take credit cards, you must apply for a merchant account, and this too can be done through your control panel. And if you wish to pay an administrator, they can do this for you. All money from credit card purchases go directly into your business checking account. After you receive the merchant account number, it must be setup in your payment gateway which is easily done with your control panel. But again, we can provide an administrator to do this for you as well. Merchant accounts have a minimum fee of $10 to $35 per month. If your web site does enough transactions, this fee is usually waived.
  • Setup up the shopping cart. Your web hosting package comes with a few shopping carts. These must be setup by you, or an administrator we provide. After the shopping cart is setup, usually you must upload pictures and text describing your products and prices.
  • Search Engine Submissions. There is a search engine submission tool in your control panel that you can do yourself, or you can have an administrator do this for you.
  • Email your friends and hand out business cards! And that's it! After you sign up for your account, you can start building your own web page in 10 minutes. If you need the complete retail real time credit card transaction system, and you need to apply for a merchant account, the entire process usually takes five to ten days.