We Have Liftoff Our "Biz 101" tech makeover winner launches her new Web site.
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"Wow! Cool!" was Deborah Nail's first responsewhen she saw her business's new Web site go live online."My vision was expressed in this home page," says Nail,41, founder of handbag manufacturer Pursesnickety!and winner of Entrepreneur and Interland's TechMakeover. But a lot of work went on behind the scenes before thisAtlanta entrepreneur got to that moment.
Entrepreneurs building online stores must decide what storefrontlevel to go with. There are solutions that cover anything from ahalf-dozen items to hundreds. Nail got one of the most advancedstorefronts Interland offers. Chip Corbitt, an Interland Webdesigner specializing in e-commerce, says, "The number-onething you want to do is make shopping easy." The advancede-commerce engine will help Pursesnickety! better manage itsinventory of colorful, reversible purses and baby bags; offerseparate wholesale pricing; and handle real-time credit cardtransactions.
One perk that's sometimes overlooked is the ability to doreports to see who's buying what, discover what products arepopular, and pinpoint sales trends. "It will help them spendtheir marketing and development dollars a little better," saysCorbitt. More advanced e-commerce engines generally offer morerobust reporting.
There are ways entrepreneurs can help make the Web site buildingprocess go smoothly when it comes to setting up an e-commercesystem. Nail was already well-organized and had her product images,descriptions and item numbers together before they built theshopping cart. "It was a big, easy puzzle to puttogether," says Ann Vo, Web designer with Interland.
Once the Web site neared launch, the designers and Nail took onelast look and made a few adjustments. And then it took off."We [are] already swamped with responses," said Nail oneweek after launch.
The designers are also pleased with the way it turned out."This site fits her personality," says Corbitt. The nextstep is for Nail to go through training on how to use thesite-builder features, make updates, and start working with searchengine optimization. Stay tuned as the saga continues.
