Digi Donkey
Web Design & Internet Marketing
Toll Free: 877.836.6539
Local: 321.433.0801
Email: info@digidonkey.com
Ecommerce Development
What You Will Need For An Ecommerce Website
When you are shopping for ecommerce development you need to know that you are actually shopping for a variety of different products. Hiring a web designer to build you an ecommerce website is only part of the total package you will need to develop a proper ecommerce website for your business.
Here is a list of all the parts required, as well as the cost, for proper ecommerce development.
1) Domain Name - $9.99 Year
You will need to purchase a domain name for your website. This is the part that comes after the "www" such as www.cheapasswebsite.com. Domain names are billed annually and a .com name can be purchased for $9.99.
2) Website Hosting - $6.08 Month to $22.83 Month
When you have an ecommerce website built you need to put it somewhere and that is where you website hosting comes in. This is paid for in advance by the year. So if you purchase a $6.08 per month plan your initial bill will be for $72.96. This will keep your ecommerce website online for 1 year. There are different price plans based on how much space you will need for your website, how many emails you want associated with your account and how much security you want added your ecommerce website.
3) SSL Certificate - $29.99 Year
If you are planning on accepting credit cards or any personal information on your ecommerce website then you will need to purchase a SSL Certificate. This is proof to your customers that your ecommerce website is secure and that the likely hood of their personal information getting into the wrong hands is minimal.
4) Ecommerce Software - $199
Here at Digi Donkey we use Kryptronic Click Cart Pro software for ecommerce development. We have specialized in this software so that our ecommerce websites can be built quickly. This software has an easy to learn user control panel. There are plenty of free ecommerce solutions out there but we have found that the learning curve for most non-tech users is so high that it is not worth using it since our customers still ended up having to call us to make edits and changes. Plus, Kryptronic has great customer support which is nonexistent with the free ecommerce software that is out there.
5) Payment Gateway - Price Varies
One of the critical elements in selling on the Web is the payment gateway, which allows online sellers to accept credit cards on the Internet.
As a consumer, when you check out of your local convenience store, you may swipe your credit card through a point-of-sale device and your gas, coffee, and donut are paid. But what if you are the retailer and your business is online? It's not like you have a card-swiping device at every customer s PC! There must be a way for you to process that information. Essentially, that is the job that a payment gateway does for online retailers. Your project manager will put you in touch with someone to help you get set up with a payment gateway . This is not handled by your web designer and is handled by an outside service. The cost associated with this service varies.
6) Basic Ecommerce Setup & Training - $95 Per Hour
Digi Donkey charges an hourly fee for setting up your ecommerce website. Basic setup for your average ecommerce website includes:
- Configuring your server and web hosting account.
- Creating your database.
- Installing your ecommerce software onto the web server.
- Setting up your web store.
- Designing a banner and color scheme for your online store.
- Adding in categories and your first 100 products.
- Uploading of 1 image for each product and category.
- Set up of ecommerce website homepage.
- Set up of SSL certificate.
- Creation of 1 email address for online store.
Once this is done your online store is built. You will be given the login and password to your account so that you may add in the rest of your items. A project manager will go over the basics of how to add products, options and categories. You will also be given a user guide that covers everything you need to know about running your online store. The basic ecommerce setup will get you to the point where you should be able to handle everything else yourself from that point. Obviously, if you require more work to be done by our designers you will need to pay. Our hourly rate is $95 per hour.
Typical things that fall outside of of basic setup and can add to cost are:
- Items with multiple options (size, color, accessories, etc.)
- Additional graphic design. Some clients want a very customized look for their ecommerce website that goes beyond a custom banner.
- Image editing. Some times clients want us to edit all their images for them. With the basic setup you get image editing for 1 item for each of your categories as well as 1 image to represent each category. If you want us to edit all of your images you will be billed hourly for us to do so.
- Population of items. We will be happy to add in all of your products for you. This is billed hourly. Adding products yourself is not hard but it can be time consuming. If you have a tight budget then we suggest adding in your products yourself. This is usually the most time consuming aspect of building your ecommerce website.
- Copy writing. Each of your categories and products will require written descriptions. If you are not a writer or don't have the time our writers can write all your content for you. This is usually the second most time consuming aspect of ecommerce development.