Ravi Saive: A Technology Blog For Newbies

Savvy entrepreneurs have access to a wide variety of e-commerce solutions that are simple to implement and in some cases, virtually free. Whether you want to add a shopping cart to your site to sell an occasional product to pay for your web hosting, or you see yourself as the next Amazon.com a few years down the road, these 5 ways to get a free shopping cart on your site will get you started.

1. Pick the Right Web Host

Some web hosts offer a shopping cart, either pre-installed, or as an add-on. If you haven't yet selected a web host, you may want to consider choosing a best web host that offers a shopping cart. Find the specific shopping cart software they offer and do some research to find out how well satisfied users are. Read the documentation and see if it's within your ability to implement and maintain.

Pros and cons: Easy to get started. Web host may provide support for the shopping cart. Be careful that the shopping cart the host offers will meet all your needs.

2. Install an Open Source Shopping Cart

The boom in open source projects has resulted in several top-notch shopping cart solutions. Some of the most popular and well known are osCommerce, Zen Cart, Agora Shopping Cart, OpenCart, and CRE Loaded. Tip: Find a demo install for the cart you're considering, browsing through a live site built on the cart is a great way to evaluate whether it's the best cart for you. Below are the some useful tips that will help you to choose better online shopping cart for your web site.

1. 8 Smart Ways to Build Your Online Store
2. Make Your eCommerce Website More User Friendly

Pros and cons: usually very full-featured, but also complex. Many business owners will require a web developer to install, modify and/or maintain an open source shopping cart.

3. Just use PayPal

Probably the easiest way to add a shopping cart or payment solution to your site is with PayPal. It doesn't take anything more than copying and pasting a few lines of HTML to get the little orange PayPal "Buy Now", "Add to Cart", "Subscribe" or "Donate" button on your webpage. You'll pay a small percentage of each sale to Paypal, but there are no setup or monthly fees. The drawback to using Paypal is limited flexibility, you won't be able to track cart abandonments, you won't be able to do upsells, users have to use the Paypal interface, etc.

Prons and cons: Super-easy to setup, limited flexibility and options.

4. Use Google Checkout (aka Google Wallet)

This is a Google product that is somewhat similar to Paypal. Easy to setup, but limited flexibility and users will have to sign in with a Google account to purchase. As with Paypal, you'll pay a small percentage of each sale in financial fees, but there are no setup or monthly fees. Paypal and Google Checkout are great options for small businesses that are just getting started.

Prons and cons: Super-easy to setup, limited flexibility and options.

5. Use Wordpress Platform

The ubiquitous Wordpress, originally designed as a blogging platform, has several free e-commerce templates and plugins available. Given the wide range of themes and support for Wordpress, if you haven't yet built your site, this solution is definitely worth considering. Wordpress has a directory of shopping carts that includes customer ratings.

Prons and cons: Great for small to medium, relatively simple ecommerce sites. Can be difficult when implementing for more complex sites.

Bonus Tip: Online Payment Processing

No matter which shopping cart solution you choose, there needs to be integration with a financial institution to process the actual payment. If you chose Paypal or Google Checkout, you won't need a separate processor. For other shopping carts, you'll need to integrate Paypal, Google Checkout, and/or a merchant account so you can accept credit card payments.