Shopping cart software is ecommerce software which enables merchants to run a business online. The shopping cart software is made up of an ordering system, by which users can choose products from a list, place the product in their virtual ‘basket’ and then pay through credit card or other media.

Web content management software allows webmasters to organise and handle all information

The first most important step in online selling, is choosing the right shopping cart system and content management tool. You need to find an ecommerce system that will accommodate the smooth running of your online business and at the same time give your customers an effortless shopping environment. It’s therefore important to identify the features you think you will need from your shopping cart software and web content management software.

To identify the features you will need, it is essential that you know your product well and your future intentions. What you intend to sell online and how you intend to expand your business will greatly determine what features you need from your shopping cart system and web content management software.
To help you evaluate some of the features you may need to run your online business, it will help to think about how important the following features are to you. The level of demand for each of these features will depend a great deal on how experienced you are with shopping carts and web site content management.

In part 1 we will look at what shopping cart features you may want to think about:
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The UK Government announced last week that they are to collapse more than 551 (out of 951) government websites.  The move has been made to make accessing information easier for both businesses and citizens.  Will this have a positive effect on the way their content management sites are used?

Government websites are based on web content management software.  Their decision to collapse so many .gov websites may have a very positive impact on the way content management sites are used.  As mentioned in my previous post (The Importance of Web Content Management Software), web content management software primarily allows a shared service, it allows multiple users to work together and communicate with the same audience from one entire system.

By taking all of the information from all of the collapsed sites and putting it into two places: Direct.gov.uk (For citizens) and BusinessLink.gov.uk (For businesses) it will truly ensure a shared content management system.  Users will be able to visit one website and know they can find what they are looking for at that site.

Web based information is huge and it is growing. For a website to compete effectively information must be managed and updated frequently. Web content management software allows webmasters, without any programming experience to handle all information that is uploaded to a website no matter where they are located.

Web content management software is especially important in handling constantly updated information if there is multiple users controlling the information on one website. For example, large ecommerce organisations might have numerous departments handling different sections of a website, therefore web content management software would need to be in place to allow the entire system to operate in a multiple user environment. Web content management software can be especially important for global teams, allowing employees miles apart to work together and add content on a daily basis.

Web site content management can additionally allow webmasters to integrate customer services tools such as forums and help desks. Forums can become a widely used feature of a website, this is more so the case if online retailers sell equipment users may need product support for.

As well as organising content, a content management product can manage and customise the design of a website. Web site content management systems often provide template-based designs that allow users to build up a website from scratch without any HTML knowledge at all. On the other hand, for people with advanced PHP knowledge or a definite idea about how they want a website to look, it is important to find a flexible shopping cart and web site content management product with an advanced scripting engine behind the scenes.
With the web moving at such a rapid pace, online businesses that set up years ago are finding the need to update their content management product so it works in conjunction with the current ecommerce environment. With SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) becoming increasingly important webmasters are looking for web content management software that will support RSS (Really simple Syndication), customisable META data and static pages with dynamic layouts, for example. On a similar note, if an affiliate program is part of an ecommerce business plan, webmasters are looking for a content management product that integrates banner management.

When selecting web content management software it is important to think about such features and consider how much content will need to be stored. If you plan for growth make sure your content management product can support this and if you do not feel confident about installing, running and managing your web content management software the availability of technical support will be important to you, so do consider this too.
The very purpose of every website is to distribute and communicate information. In today’s competitive online marketplace every ecommerce business needs to realise the importance of frequently updated, fresh content.

Whether a website is being built by experienced users with complete HTML and PHP knowledge, or by first time shop owners, there is shopping carts and web content management software out there that will give every sized business the practical features necessary to compete effectively in today’s competitive ecommerce market.
A post on the Millennial Web Content Management Blog supports one point I made in this article - the need for updated and managed content in todays competative environment . The post and video explains the need for content in order to succeed in the online marketplace. SEO and content management come hand in hand. A good content management product that supports SEO friendly features will help webmasters in their quest to succeed in ecommerce.