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New Ways the Net Can
Boost Your Business
Real Shopping Systems that Will Help You Sell and Don't Cost a Ton

In the beginning there were shopping carts. They were expensive, often costing thousands of dollars. They had limited features. They were often hard to use. They often didn’t work. But they were all we had. The carts have gotten better, but today your best bet is to look for a shopping system.

The difference between a shopping system and a simple shopping cart is that the system offers you a number of tools beyond the basic order handling that will help you do more business. Here are some things to look for in an online shopping system.

• Does it tie in with your current Web site?
• Does it allow for visitors to make inquiries?
• Does it offer autoresponders to follow up on inquiries and orders?
• Does it work with payment gateways?
• Does it allow you to provide order acknowledgement pages?
• Can you handle special offers?
• Can you cross-sell?

In addition to the basic features check out the quality of the technical support. No system is so simple that you will be able to make it work without ever having a question. That's when tech support becomes critical. When is it available? How long do you have to wait for help? Do the tech folks treat you like a customer or do that treat you like an idiot?

Now, here's the good news. The cost for these sophisticated systems has dropped considerably in the last couple of years. I use a sophisticated system called KickStart Cart that costs me about $600 per year. You can check it out for yourself.

• Yahoo and All That — Stores Have Gotten Better
• Merchant Accounts that Work with the Systems

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