We have decided to release our eCommerce shopping cart software for the low price of $199 (this covers the license and install) and $54.95 per month. This is the same software we use for our high end eCommerce clients.

The software has a built in editor that will let you change the layout, logo and colors of the website and if you want more we can create a custom skin for you for a few more bucks.

We realize a lot of people want to sell online but can’t spend a few thousand dollars for a complete custom eCommerce website so this is a good way for you to get started. The great thing is you will get all the great features of our eCommerce software and at any time in the future we can add a custom design and assist you with marketing.

The eCommerce website software comes with a full user manual so you will never get stuck. It shows you how to add your categories, products, set up payment options, shipping and much more.

You can go here and read more about what we are offering.

I think one of the biggest things I have run into while working online is people not seeing value. Since the economy started getting crazy it seems more and more people are just looking for the cheapest thing they can get by with. Now I’m not saying that we should all not be frugal with our hard earned money but come on people, have we forgotten about quality?

It’s not only in our line of business but in countless others and maybe we all tend to do it but I have tried to pay more attention to the value of something rather than if it’s the lowest priced. You know the old saying, “you get what you pay for” holds even more true now days.

The funny thing is that cheap usually ends up costing you more because of the lower quality, you have to spend more money to add more features, you have to spend money to fix it because it didn’t last or you find out it’s not even close to what you needed so you have to scrap it and start all over.

Outsourcing website design is one of the best examples of this… you hire an offshore designer to do your website and pay them 1/3 the cost that you would pay a professional here in the USA. They are cheaper by the hour but they take three times longer to do your site, you have a communication nightmare or you simply end up with something that was not what you wanted. Was going cheap really worth it?

We should all compare apples to apples and look at quality and value rather than who is the cheapest.

I was just thinking this morning about the economy and about how it’s affecting online business. I’ve heard mixed comments from clients and other business people; some say their business is good, some say it’s bad.

Here’s my take on it…

I saw a comparison on recessions and job loss yesterday on Time’s Blog (you can see it here) and my thoughts were kind of mixed. There are a lot of people out of work now and it affects all of us. In a sense a lot of online business people are unemployed very frequently.

Being in any type of sales I have always heard that you are unemployed every time you make a sale till you get your next one and this can hold true for online business as well. Would we not all be better off if we concentrate on creating residual income or even passive residual income so that even in crazy times we have a cushion?

I think back to a story I heard as a child, I think it was about an ant and a grasshopper, the ant was busy working and putting food away for the winter while the grasshopper was sitting around being lazy with no regard to the approaching winter. It came winter time and the ant had plenty to eat but the grasshopper was starving because he had put nothing away and now there was no food to be found because it was covered in snow and ice.

I’m looking at these economic times as summer rather than winter, now is the time even though it’s lean to plan and “put back” so that later we will have something and not starve financially.

Even doing smaller things for your online now can really help not only now but later down the road. Think about marketing, social media, blogging and just doing things to “tidy up”.

If business is slow for you then you should at least have time to evaluate what you have and even write some good articles for your blog, it will pay off for you later if not sooner.

Think about ways you can create residual income, what are you good at? What are you passionate about? You may have to think outside the box but that’s ok, it’s time we all get a little more creative, isn’t it?