The 5 steps in building a successful e-commerce Web site from GCIS - Canada's oldest and largest e-commerce application developer

The Center is pleased in providing this new section. Two pages of important things you need to consider before you start building your e-commerce Web site. GCIS has been developing secure e-commerce transactional portals since 1996. These two "How To" pages are filled of techniques we have learned since all those years.

Step no. 1
Register a .com, a .biz, a .cc or a .ca domain name (.ca are reserved for Canadian companies only). Whether you're looking to reserve domain names for use now or at a later date, you should seriously consider doing it now, while some still might be available, although the best choices in the .com range have most certainly been taken by now. We have found some good domain names in the .biz, .cc and .ws category. The choice is yours.

There are also many additional options that can be added to any e-commerce registered domain name at any time such as the ability to:

Park the domain with a "Coming Soon" page

Redirect the domain name to another of your choice

Redirect to a subdirectory of another domain name

Start using your new domain name email address

Add relevant body text & keywords to your pages

From time to time we hear about domain names, mistakenly or otherwise, not registered in the name of their rightful owners. Even if it’s just an oversight, rectifying this situation can become time consuming and costly. Before finalizing your domain name order, make sure it will be registered in your name and the admin., technical and billing contacts will be determined by you only at the time you are registering your new domain name (s). GCIS offers the registration of all Internet domain-names in all the available extensions.

Be sure to own your own domain name because you can have a web site without owning your own domain name. Many ISPs and other organizations offer free web addresses for web sites. Often these are easy to get and use, but there are important benefits to having your own domain name, such as:

1. Branding - Your web site address can be a valuable brand name for you. You want people to remember it and use it on a regular basis, with each use acting as additional brand reinforcement. You lose that strong identity if your visitors have to type something like www.yourcompany.isp.com

2. Independence - Should your ISP or hosting service provider no longer meet your needs or goes out of business for any reason, you'll want to move your site traffic along with the physical transfer of your site's server address. After all, you've invested time and money to build traffic, so you shouldn't have to start all over again simply because your needs change or for whatever other reason. Registered domain names are associated with name servers.

When you decide to change the location of your web site, your new name servers will be updated in the whois record kept by your domain registrar. As a result, your site visitors will automatically be sent to your new host. The bottom line is that you keep all your traffic, and... your sales! If you don’t own your domain name, you will not have the luxury of taking your traffic with you.

3. Promotion - Your company alone gets to enjoy the increased traffic from every dollar spent promoting your site. If you don't have your own domain name, the company associated with your web site name is also reaping the benefits of your promotional efforts.

e-Comm Budget™ - Annual plan $ 29.95 CDN / month, 50 MB

e-Comm Professional™ - Annual plan $ 49.95 CDN / month, 100 MB

e-Comm Enterprise™ - Annual plan $ 99.95 CDN / month, 200 MB

Toll-free & email technical support free of charge on all of our plans

SSL secure servers & connections on all our e-Comm plans

Fast DS-3 Internet backbone connections 365 days a year

All your files in any of our e-Comm plans backed up daily

Unique, dedicated IP adresses on all our e-Comm plans

Guaranteed 99.99% network uptime in writing

Unlimited POP-3 email addresses, alliasses and free forwarding too

Free email autoresponders with your custom, personalized message

PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) email encryption included on all plans

Free search engine submission in Google, AltaVista and All the Web

Complete daily Site traffic statistics with full hit analysis

Microsoft® FrontPage® 2000 extensions and drivers all included

Full FTP (File Transfer Protocol) included 365 days a year

Sub domains (ie- info.yourdomain.com) included at no charge

Java Servlet Support (Java is supported with all our plans)

Your own cgi-bin with free (approved) CGI support scripts

My SQL database included, always the latest version

Mime types and anonymous FTP included at no charge

Full access to all your log files, 365 days a year

Server Side Includes (SSI) at no additional charge

Custom 404 error pages with your company name & logo

Multimedia support, Real Audio & Real video support included

Shockwave, Flash and Quicktime Video support included free

Whatever plan you choose for your e-commerce needs, it is strongly suggested you consider some of these important options that will make a big difference in the overall success of your online business:

Premium Search Engine Optimization (SEO) with Pagina+™

Monthly or weekly advertising banner impressions on banner networks

Your custom newsletter manager (w e-Comm Professional™ & Enterprise™

Extra My SQL databases for only $ 7.95 per month