Getting Started Setting Up an ECommerce Website: Finding Info

Back in November, I posted about exploring ecommerce solutions in an effort to set up an ecommerce site. I was able to get some initial research done, but did not get very far. So, I am now restarting my quest to learn and set up an ecommerce site..

Finding ECommerce Blogs

My first step was to see if I could find any good ecommerce blogs. I did a search and could not find one that rivals what sites like Problogger does for blogging. That is quite disappointing!

In the search, however, I did find a site that I found to be interesting. Through their ecommerce blog (which I found to be mostly a corporate blog with a few good posts on analyzing other ecommerce sites), I eventually came to the main Varien site. This company is a design firm focusing on ecommerce solutions. They seem to have a pretty nice portfolio, but there is no pricing info on the site - you have to call to get a “custom quote.” I might give them a call if I get stuck doing it myself, but for now, it is just good to have the site to refer to.

Finding ECommerce Information on Forums

Striking out in finding a good ecommerce blog, I decided that maybe I could find some kind of detailed, step-by-step guide to setting up an ecommerce site. Again, after a few searches, i have nothing to go on. At this point, I decided to go to one of my favorite places, SitePoint to see if there was anything good in the commerce section of their forums. While the forums are quite active, the only sticky topics are not detailed walk-throughs for setting up a site . . . they are: 3-D Secure Payer Authentication, FAQ: Merchant Accounts, Detailed List of Online Monetary Transactions Providers, and Comprehensive List of eCommerce Software / Systems.

I’m sure these will all come in handy, but for now, they don’t look like they will get me started at step 1, which is ???