Build-a-web-shop is definitely in it's infancy and we know we have a long way to go. Relative to other shopping cart systems on the market, for the price, you can't beat us! But as someone who went through the aches and pains of setting up web stores for myself and other people, I quickly became aware that the guy with the most features, or the cheapest guy on the block, doesn't necessarily translate to success.

We did a LOT of research before we settled on our technology. We have an amazing feature set but first and foremost we went for ease of use. There are a few things that set us apart from some of the typical ecommerce products. Our goal, and our focus is on YOU! That's the biggest difference between us and the other guys. Allow me to explain.

There are a TON of "free" shopping cart systems. But are they really free? Here are some of the things you might go through implementing a "free" ecommerce product.

1. Hosting ($15 - $100 / month)
2. Secure Certificate, SSL ($50 - $200 / year )
3. Domain ($10 - $30 / year)
4. Installation Services (Free - $100)
5. Merchant Account Services ($15 - $75 / month. Paypal standard is zero)
6. Credit Card Transaction Fees (1.5 - 4% / transaction)
7. Product costs, inventory ( customer dependent)

We bring this up simply because it's natural to go for lowest price. That's Ok though. We took price out of the equation. Build-a-Web-Shop is a flat $19.95 per month for web stores with up to 500 products. That covers most of our market. The price beats our "free" open source competitors. But that's not why we win!

The build-a-web-shop system is built on a centralized software application. There are huge advantages to this approach. Since ALL of our clients are on exactly the same platform, our ability to provide service to our clients is miles ahead of the "free" alternative solutions. Quite simply, we can offer 24/7 email support and because our techs are intimately familiar with the software that runs these web shops, our ability to solve problems quickly goes up dramatically. The poor soul who has installed the "free" open source solution is in a much more precarious position if there are bugs and possibly security issues in the version of software that he has installed. Most likely he wouldn't even know it until it crashes. When an issue is discovered on the Build-a-Web-Shop platform, it is corrected by our techs - not just for one client but for ALL clients on the platform. Chalk one up for having a centralized platform.

A centralized platform also makes it easier to deliver new features to ALL of our clients. When a new feature is added to the Build-a-Web-Shop system, all of our clients can take advantage of it. Everybody gets upgraded!

So we have a very competitive feature set, an ecommerce system that is extremely easy to use, 24/7 support, 100's of pages of documentation. But still, it is NOT ENOUGH. Successful website absolutely need good, stable technology, with reliable service and support. But successful business owners need more than that. Successful business owners need KNOWLEDGE! Frankly, anyone can build a web shop. With proper guidance, or experience, success is predictable. Without it, so is failure. We want successful customers! We say it so often that it's becoming our mantra!

So with that, what are we doing? We are installing one of the best eLearning systems available and it will specifically address the concepts that determine a successful website. There will be specific courses regarding internet marketing, search engine optimization, article marketing and in general we will show you a myriad of ways to get your shop noticed. If you complete the course that we put out there, you WILL succeed in growing your web traffic. In fact, you will do it according to the plan that we help you develop. We'll also have courses for setting up your store, your merchant accounts and all the other nuances of ecommerce. We'll have a course on dropshipping, eBay integration and shopping site promotion of your wares. We'll build a course at the drop of a hat if we think that it's something that will help you. Basically, we want to build a centralized, easy to navigate, knowledge solutions system that blows away the competition. We're ONE WEEK AWAY from launching the system and we can't wait! We know you'll love it.

Greg Newell