The goal was to have a business with minimal overhead that could be run from virtually anywhere with a laptop, an Internet connection, and a cell phone.  Well, I have accomplished that and more and you can as well.

In 2004 I decided I wanted to have an Internet store and sell products over the World Wide Web.  I did not know what HTML meant nor did I know where to begin.  It couldn’t be that difficult, there are all sorts of websites out there.  Sound familiar?  Well, there is a lot more to it than you might think and these tutorials will help you get started and understand the dos and don’ts of web development and e-commerce integration.

It took several years, a lot of research, and much trial and error but I finally accomplished the goal.  I have built several e-commerce websites, web based accounting programs, and customer tracking applications.  I have explored and continue to explore the many avenues to website creation and e-commerce management.  I have been asked by so many people if I would help them get started with their web interests that I was compelled to create these comprehensive tutorials.  These tutorials address issues and procedures that will help anyone interested in creating and managing anything from a small website to an e-commerce web store.  But, more importantly, attain the goal!

I paid several thousand dollars to have a 3rd party build my first website.  This was an expensive lesson by which I only garnished a few static web pages that did not even begin to fulfill my needs.  While on this journey, I was not able to find any comprehensive information about what I was trying to achieve.  The few books I did purchase were of little help and quite costly.  I found that the information I needed was scattered in bits and pieces here and there all over the place.  This is understandable because most of the elements that make up this process are sciences unto themselves with volumes written about each.  There are more variations, choices, similarities, and differences than a maze.  These tutorials are an attempt to sort that all out for you and educate you enough to be able to function, maneuver, and evolve in this ever changing e-commerce environment.   

Within these tutorials I discuss each topic listed in the left hand side bar from a macroscopic perspective so you can learn the alternatives available, and there are many, for each element of the e-commerce process.  I also show you the nuts and bolts of the methods I think constitute the easiest and most cost-effective alternative for someone just starting out.  I demonstrate the use of software and programming languages that are some of the easiest to grasp and use.  Exposure to these programming languages and methods will provide you with a foundation of understanding that will prove invaluable should you decide to move on to more complex solutions.  The subject matter of the tutorials is such that you can attain the level of expertise and involvement that you are comfortable with and still accomplish the goal.

• Tutorial 1 is for anyone who wants a global understanding of developing any web presence up to and including an e-commerce web business.  It touches on the topics contained in tutorials 2 through 6.





• Tutorial 2 is an in-depth look at all of the elements required to have anything from a simple web presence to developing and running an e-commerce web business.  I cover subjects including but not limited to domains, website, hosting, shopping carts, and payment processing and how they relate to one another.





• In tutorial 3, I globally discuss server types, coding languages, and a myriad of related topics.  I build a basic static example e-commerce website using tables, HTML, ASP (Active Server Pages), Microsoft FrontPage web authoring software, and Windows hosting.  I show you how to connect a 3rd party shopping cart to the website.





• Tutorial 4 looks at the dynamic side of web page programming.  I further develop the example website from tutorial 3 and convert it into a web application with dynamically driven components utilizing ASP (Active Server Pages) and Microsoft FrontPage coupled with Microsoft Office Excel, Microsoft Office Access, or Microsoft SQL Server data sources to accomplish this task.  Why ASP?  Cost and simplicity!  It's all explained in tutorial 4 where I also discuss the use of PHP with MySQL and the latest web creation and management tools like Microsoft Expression Web (ASP.NET), and Adobe Dreamweaver.  I am currently working on sections that demonstrate the use of these advanced web creation and management tools to accomplish the same result.  Unfortunately, as you will see, the programming languages and methods that accompany these advanced tools are much more complex to learn and use than ASP and largely the reason I do not currently provide examples using these methods.





• In tutorial 5, I connect the example dynamic website created in tutorial 4 to an invoice tracking systems I build using Microsoft Office Excel.  I also show you how to utilize and implement a real accounting system.  I then place "dummy" orders from the example web application and go through the steps to process them to completion.  This system is paperless, eliminates the need to rekey data, and is relatively easy to build and customize.  Yes, you will have to learn some things about Microsoft Office Excel, but it fulfills the cost and simplicity requirement as opposed to other methods of achieving the same result.  You will learn how to manipulate data using Microsoft Office Excel to make the maintenance of several thousand products a manageable task.
  
  I take you inside the back door of an operating e-commerce website (appropriately modified to protect client privacy) built from the same elements previously mentioned.  This will let you have a first hand look at a real operation along with providing you with the necessary elements to mimic the  business model being demonstrated, if you choose to do so.
  
  I provide insight into key backend elements you are going to need to be versed in to be able to conduct a successful e-commerce business such as what to expect from suppliers and how to work with them, how to choose products and present them, and how to keep everything up to date using various forms of data exchange.





• Tutorial 6 covers advertising, search engines, business integration, and legal issues as applied to e-commerce websites.  The importance of these elements can not be overlooked as they are vitally important to an e-commerce success no matter which programming language your website is built with or what type of database you use.  I show you where to obtain various forms of advertisement, some that cost you money, some that make you money, and some that are free.  Last but not least, there are legal issues you need to be aware of so you do not accidentally infringe on the rights of others.  I show you how to keep up to speed with this evolving industry so you will not find yourself in trouble.

You will gain an in-depth understanding of the choices that are at your disposal and see first hand the good and bad points of each.  The tutorials are a road map that will get you from where you are to where you want to be.  You could spend months perusing the Internet to find even this small amount of information and figuring out how to make it work.  More importantly, I provide you with the knowledge to market, manage, and protect your web creation so all of your hard work and effort deliver a profitable and enjoyable experience.

In the market today there are literally hundreds of companies who offer free Internet stores and Internet sales opportunities in price ranges from free to several thousand up-front dollars coupled with monthly fees.  Others offer “canned” or pre-written software that can be purchased to facilitate the creation of websites or web stores.  Some require little or no programming knowledge while others require the user to have already attained a relevant level of competent programming skills.  Others offer templates or code snippets that can be used within your web pages by simply copying and pasting some code in the appropriate locations within your web pages.  All of these entities have their place and can be a good or bad choice depending on your requirements, abilities, knowledge, and the time and money you have to invest in your intended endeavor.

The caveat is that, should you choose to go in a direction that does not best suit your needs, backing up and starting over can be a costly and time consuming process.  I strongly suggest you know what is available, understand the good and bad points of each, and evaluate your options carefully before and while moving forward.  These tutorials are the antidote to this problem.

This is not a get rich quick scheme.  I will not tell you that just anyone can do this - no experience required - or promise you first page search engine listings.  These are sales gimmicks that attract the uninformed and are more than likely designed to liberate you of some of your money.  Caution is advised when such promises are touted.  Web building and maintenance coupled with actually running a business is a lot of work and can be costly and frustrating with little reward when not correctly pursued.  Very few e-commerce websites actually turn a profit.  To make a reasonable income from an Internet business requires the culmination of many elements, many that do not have anything to do with the web environment itself.  So, just having a great website and a handful of products is not going to make you a dime if other critical elements are poorly planned or nonexistent.  The following tutorials will give you a total understanding of what is needed to bring all of the elements together into a well oiled Internet machine.

Now that we are done with that disclaimer, let’s take a look at what can be accomplished.  These tutorials will help you learn how to develop a simple database driven e-commerce web store for an all up cost of around $52.00 per month.  Yep - that is what it costs me for my domain, hosting, payment processing ability, and shopping cart that facilitates a 3000+ product 700+ page dynamically generated e-commerce web store with the combination of elements I chose.  The price doesn’t change or fluctuate over time or as sales go up or down as they can with many available service plans.  More importantly, I can alter my website, order processing, or invoice tracking to suit my needs as circumstances change with minimal effort.  Now that $52.00 monthly cost assumes you are already using a computer with a Windows XP or Windows Vista operating system and have Microsoft Office installed.  Your computer will need to be able to handle having several memory intensive applications running at the same time.  I found a 1GHz processor with 1GB ram works but is a little slow.  I am using a 2GHz processor with 2GB ram and it runs nicely.  You will also have to be hooked up to a high speed Internet connection.  Dial up won't cut it.  This overhead is not included in the $52 cost nor is the cost of the Internet connection or phones.  Additional software required will be a one time cost of around $400 for accounting software and a copy of Microsoft FrontPage. There are many choices and therefore the opportunity to do more and save some money or do less and spend more money are available.  So, as you look at all the available options keep these figures in mind.  I point these opportunities out to you.  Generally, the more you have someone else do for you, the more it is going to cost you.  There are exceptions and we discuss them in tutorial 2.

Let me give you an example.  One particular website service charges $90 per month with a minimum of a 1 year subscription to create and maintain a simple 5 page static website for you.  A little pricey don’t you think?  This is a real offer from a very large company who I will not name who claims to have over 70,000 customers.  Imagine if you wanted to expand into a real business?  It can get expensive quickly.

There are several websites referred to within these tutorials.  These websites have been created using the techniques and information contained within the various tutorials.  All but the Dinky Dog Accessories website are currently operational entities either selling products or being used by the client for the intended purpose.  From these, you can experience the result of what these tutorials will teach you.  The look, feel, and subject matter is up to you.

These websites are:
Ultimate Health Research Institute - Health improvement and sustainment information and supplies.
Best Home Systems - Home improvement products.  Lighting, Audio, Wiring, & Security.
Bill Magee - The California Gem Miner - A site dedicated to gem mining in Southern California and the Blue Lady Mine.
Under Water Hunters - Free diving spear fishing information and supplies.
SC Builders & Construction - Southern California Contractor - Online job invoicing and accounting system.
Ikai Surfboards - Custom surfboards and accessories.
TC Mobile PC - Online job invoicing and accounting system.
Dinky Dog Accessories - Example fictitious website developed within tutorials 3 & 4.

All but two of the above websites are using Microsoft Office Excel spread sheet software as a data source.  Two of them use both Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Office Access and one of them exclusively uses Microsoft Office Access for a database.  TotalWebInfo.com uses Microsoft Office Excel  as a data source.

Please have a look at the websites and if you would like to understand how to build and manage such creations please read on.   

Have fun and enjoy!

Links To Other Quality Websites

Written by someone who actually builds and operates e-commerce websites.  I have dealt with domain name issues, web hosting issues, shopping carts, merchant services, payment processing, data transfer, e-commerce accounting, and e-commerce legal issues.  Therefore, much of the tutorial information stems from an end user or e-commerce owners perspective.     

These tutorials are written for those who are interested in...

...becoming involved in the Internet realm with aspirations of developing anything from a personal website to an e-commerce web application and would like a global view of the process.  Tutorial 1 is for you.  Beginner!

...having a web presence but have no idea where to start, what is involved, or what to expect.  Tutorial 1 covers all of the elements without going into too much detail.  Tutorials 2 and 6 cover much of the same information as tutorial 1 but in significantly more detail.  Novice!

...developing, owning, or operating a type of e-commerce website.  Tutorials 2, 5, and 6 are a must!  Novice!

...sorting out all of the different avenues available for e-commerce and web development and actually seeing some of them in action.  Novice!

...building their own e-commerce website using, Windows Server operating system hosting with FrontPage web creation and management tool extensions, ASP, JavaScript, and HTML will find much to enjoy in tutorial 3.  Tutorial 4 explores this same environment with the addition of database development and connectivity utilizing Microsoft Office Excel, Microsoft Office Access, and Microsoft SQL Server that is offered by various hosts.  Expert!

The knowledge you will gain from these tutorials will significantly contribute to a savings in time, money, and frustration when building and/or operating an e-commerce website.  If you are an individual who desires to get involved with anything from a simple web presence to an e-commerce website, these tutorials offer an outstanding starting point, a global perspective of the entire subject, and pertinent details that will help you along the way.

The tutorials are broken down into subject categories so you can purchase 6 months of access to only the tutorial you need.  Access to All tutorials, for a 6 month period of time, can be purchased by selecting one of the "Buy" button in the upper or lower portion of the left hand sidebar.  Upon completing your purchase, you will automatically be emailed a link that when pasted into a web browser will allow you 6 months of access to the tutorial(s) you purchased.  Preferred client access has no time constraint.  To obtain preferred client access, select the Preferred Client Logon topic at the bottom of this page.

• Tutorial 1 is for anyone who wants a global understanding of developing any web presence up to and including an e-commerce web business.  It touches on the topics contained in tutorials 2 through 6.





• Tutorial 2 is an in-depth look at all of the elements required to have anything from a simple web presence to developing and running an e-commerce web business.  I cover subjects including but not limited to domains, website, hosting, shopping carts, and payment processing and how they relate to one another.





• In tutorial 3, I globally discuss server types, coding languages, and a myriad of related topics.  I build a basic static example e-commerce website using tables, HTML, ASP (Active Server Pages), Microsoft FrontPage web authoring software, and Windows hosting.  I show you how to connect a 3rd party shopping cart to the website.





• Tutorial 4 looks at the dynamic side of web page programming.  I further develop the example website from tutorial 3 and convert it into a web application with dynamically driven components utilizing ASP (Active Server Pages) and Microsoft FrontPage coupled with Microsoft Office Excel, Microsoft Office Access, or Microsoft SQL Server data sources to accomplish this task.  Why ASP?  Cost and simplicity!  It's all explained in tutorial 4 where I also discuss the use of PHP with MySQL and the latest web creation and management tools like Microsoft Expression Web (ASP.NET), and Adobe Dreamweaver.  Over time, I intend to add sections that demonstrate the use of these advanced web creation and management tools to accomplish the same result.  Unfortunately, as you will see, the programming languages and methods that accompany these advanced tools are much more complex to learn and use than ASP and largely the reason I do not currently provide examples using these methods.





• In tutorial 5, I connect the example dynamic website created in tutorial 4 to an invoice tracking systems I build using Microsoft Office Excel.  I also show you how to utilize and implement a real accounting system.  I then place "dummy" orders from the example web application and go through the steps to process them to completion.  This system is paperless, eliminates the need to rekey data, and is relatively easy to build and customize.  Yes, you will have to learn some things about Microsoft Office Excel, but it fulfills the cost and simplicity requirement as opposed to other methods of achieving the same result.  You will learn how to manipulate data using Microsoft Office Excel to make the maintenance of several thousand products a manageable task.
  
  I take you inside the back door of an operating e-commerce website (appropriately modified to protect client privacy) built from the same elements previously mentioned.  This will let you have a first hand look at a real operation along with providing you with the necessary elements to mimic the  business model being demonstrated, if you choose to do so.
  
  I provide insight into key backend elements you are going to need to be versed in to be able to conduct a successful e-commerce business such as what to expect from suppliers and how to work with them, how to choose products and present them, and how to keep everything up to date using various forms of data exchange.





• Tutorial 6 covers advertising, search engines, business integration, and legal issues as applied to e-commerce websites.  The importance of these elements can not be overlooked as they are vitally important to an e-commerce success no matter which programming language your website is built with or what type of database you use.  I show you where to obtain various forms of advertisement, some that cost you money, some that make you money, and some that are free.  Last but not least, there are legal issues you need to be aware of so you do not accidentally infringe on the rights of others.  I show you how to keep up to speed with this evolving industry so you will not find yourself in trouble.

I use several aids to help you develop a working and complete understanding of the various subjects.  Below you can select from multiple windows that demonstrate some of the learning aids I use such as screen shots, video, and example website.

Part Of Tutorial 1 | Example Website
Example Video OR | Video List - All Tutorials | Example Graphics

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