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Web 9

Ministry eCommerce Solutions – Part 3

Posted By on November 3, 2008

This is the 3rd installment of a 4 Part Series on Ministry eCommerce Solutions.

Looking for the other parts of the Series?

  1. Hosted Services and Carts
  2. Free Self-Hosted Solutions
  3. Self-Hosted Solutions for Purchase
  4. WordPress eCommerce Solutions

Self-Hosted Solutions that you can Buy

Below you find solutions that you’ll have to host on your own servers and hardware but also you will have to purchase the software to use.  Generally speaking, purchasable solutions have two characteristics (in addition to price) that one should consider:

  1. They are (generally speaking) more robust and “complete” products.  This is definitely NOT always the case but you can have piece of mind that they are comprehensive products.
  2. Service and Support.  You get it when you buy it.  On the freeware, you don’t.

So, here they are:

  1. 1ShoppingCart – 1ShoppingCart offers you the ability to add “Buy Now” buttons to your already existing site, while offering you many of the features you expect from complete shopping carts.
  2. Actinic – Actinic offers multiple shopping cart solutions based on your budget.  Packages range from $499 to $3499 depending on your needs.
  3. CS-Cart – Gives you full access to the source code so that you can customize your online store as you see fit.  Makes heavy use of AJAX to reduce server load as customers change only a portion of a product’s page.
  4. Interspire – Offers three versions of their software, all with numerous addons. However, if your store is of any substantial size (over 500 different items), you have no choice but to go for the ultimate $1800 version.
  5. JShop Server – A UK-focused online shopping cart system with all of the usual bells and whistles.
  6. JustAddCommerce – A “buy button” system that will work with HTML editors such as Dreamweaver and Frontpage to add an online store to any site.
  7. Lite Commerce – A direct competitor to X-Cart, they have a lower initial price, but charge for numerous add-ons for extra functions.
  8. Miva Merchant – One of the oldest purchasable shopping carts seeing as it has existed since 1995.  Offers QuickBooks sync, all of the usual bells and whistles, and the company offers unique designs.
  9. ShopSite – ShopSite offers a free starter version, but it is extremely limited.  Paid versions range from $495 to $1295, and they also offer hosting if needed.
  10. VP-ASP – VP-ASP offers three levels of their shopping cart software, all of which include 12 free months of updates in their purchase price.  In addition to US shipping, offers options for Australian and Canadian post shipping.
  11. WebMasterCart – Cart has been around since 1998 and has been continually upgraded. Offers licenses for 1 site for $199 or unlimited domains for $995.  Price is a one time licensing fee with 1 year of updates.
  12. X-Cart – X-Cart offers both single merchant installations and versions capable of handling multiple merchants checking out through the same shopping cart.  Offers numerous payment and shipping module integrations.

Stay tune for the last part of the 4 Part Series… you won’t want to miss it!

Did I miss any?

Social Media, Strategy, Web 6

Meatspace Monday 2

Posted By on November 3, 2008

Today’s Meatspace Monday is a guest post by Tyler Gillies.  Some interesting thoughts here and I’d challenge you to think how we can get off our butts and help someone in need, not just technologically!

Thanks Tyler!

Social Serving

You all have probably heard the term “Web 2.0″.

For those of you not in the know, this term is used to describe the “second phase” on the World Wide Web. It is a place where we do not just interact with a client/server paradigm. We now interact one-on-one, mano y mano. The Web is no longer something you experience yourself, but it is now something you share with your friends.

Out of this era of Web 2.0 has risen a beast we like to call Social Networking. Social networking is essentially the same as face-to-face networking, except that it occurs through the internet.

What is the purpose of networking? I’m talking about networking as we experience it in the physical realm. Isn’t it just used to establish some sort of relationship with someone, so that, in the near future you might be able to call upon their services. Here is an excerpt taken from Wikipedia under “Social Network“:

In its simplest form, a social network is a map of all of the relevant ties between the nodes being studied. The network can also be used to determine the social capital of individual actors. These concepts are often displayed in a social network diagram, where nodes are the points and ties are the lines.

This “social capital” is what I’m addressing. We measure the worth of our network contacts by how much social capital they provide us.

What if we started something radical? Something that was different than the rest of the way the Web functioned?

What if we no longer judged people by how much social capital they provided us with, but rather judged their relational worth the way Christ does?

What if instead of spending our time seeking what we could get from other people, we dedicated our time and resources to helping other people get what they need done?

I’m thinking that we could form together as our own network to purposefully seek others to help out. Christian Crowd Sourcing if you will. What do you think?

I haven’t really developed a model by which to accomplish this yet, so I’m open to your opinions.


Christian Social Networking from Tyler Gillies on Vimeo.

Web 6

Ministry eCommerce Solutions – Part 2

Posted By on November 2, 2008

This is the 2nd Part of a 4 Part Series on Ministry eCommerce Solutions.

Looking for the other parts of the Series?

  1. Hosted Services and Carts
  2. Free Self-Hosted Solutions
  3. Self-Hosted Solutions for Purchase
  4. WordPress eCommerce Solutions

“Free” Self-Hosted Solutions

Self-hosted solutions are a great way to get your ecommerce needs met, especially if you have an IT team and the administrative resources to manage the site.  It can also give you complete ownership over your entire site.  You’ll have to have (among a number of things) your own server, databases, and staff to assist in the development and admin.  You’ll also have to install these yourself.

So, even though the software if free, the time to develop, install, and administrate (which you’d have to do in Hosted Solutions) is not.  Keep that in mind!  In addition, many of these are also Open Source, which I really really like…!

  1. CubeCart – CubeCart offers version 3 of their software for free, but charges for version 4 after a free 30 day trial.  Offers bulk upload, inventory management, shipping modules and everything else you would expect from a fully operational online store.
  2. Ecommerce Shopping Cart Software – A fairly new free shopping cart that puts a heavy emphasis on not having to know how to code, run databases or anything else.
  3. IdeaCart – A free cart still in its Alpha phase, features fraud detection, newsletter support and more.
  4. JadaSite – JadaSite is a bit unusual in that it’s Java based, as well as fully integrated with a content management system.
  5. Magento – Launched in 2008, Magento is one the newest open source shopping carts on the market.
  6. OpenCart – An open source PHP shopping cart.  It’s been a while since it has been updated, but everything appears to still be up and running.
  7. osCommerce – One of the best known shopping carts out there, this open source cart enjoys a large community of plugin creators.  It has been quite a while since their last major release, v2.2 RC 2a, but they are in active development of version 3.0, which promises some major administration upgrades.
  8. PrestaShop – An extremely new open source shopping cart that already seems fairly full-featured, and promises more to come with an area for expansion modules to be opened in the near future.
  9. Quick.Cart.Lite – Quick.Cart.Lite is the free version of the Quick.Cart software and will allow you to build a simple online store.  Offers two more robust levels of the same program with more features.
  10. Satchmo – Built on the Django framework, Satchmo offers highly customizable shop building with a long list of built in features such as Google Analytics incorporation, PDF invoice generation and more.
  11. Ubercart – Ubercart is a full-featured shopping cart that also integrates with a Drupal site so that you can build a community around your store or featured products.
  12. VirtueMart – A shopping cart built specifically for integration with the Joomla! and Mambo content management system.
  13. Zen Cart – Zen Cart is an off branch of osCommerce that comes with several of the most popular modules built into it.

Stay tune for Part 3 as we explore Self-Hosted Solutions that you have to pay for.

Did I miss any?

Google, RSS, Web 16

Google Alerts for Ministry

Posted By on November 2, 2008

Being “in the conversation” is something that’s already widely understood by churches, ministries, and organizations as they seek to become more internet-savvy.

One of the biggest mistakes for an organization is not knowing what is already being discussed out there before they jump in (or simply being ignorant, period).  Like many things, the internet, (especially local pockets) can have a distinct culture and being ignorant can be detrimental to one’s engagement.

That’s why using tools like Google’s Alerts can be especially helpful for staying in the loop, not only for the current and established ministry but also ones that are being planted.

Google Alerts is an easy way to get updated (instantly, daily, weekly) about what’s going on and what’s being talked about surrounding key words that you establish.  These sources can be from news, blogs, web, video, groups, or all of the above (comprehensive) and delivered to you by email or by rss.

And did I mention it’s free? There are tons of services that you could pay for the same results and service, but with budgets being “slim” let’s keep it real…!

Launching a new ministry/organizational campaign?  Put some keyword searches surrounding your ministry/marketing initiative and see how the ROI is coming along.

As you can see, I’ve established some alerts for the following keywords so that when ever they are talked about, I can be one of the first to know:

Remember to use ” ” (quotations) for specific strings or multiple key words tied together.  One specific alert that I’m particularly excited about getting is the “church in atlanta”, so that wheneever someone writes, blogs, or talks about a “church in atlanta” I can be made known about it and join their conversation (if appropriate and with wisdom).

Just think, now I can be privy when discourses such as the following are created:

  • best “church in atlanta”
  • worst “church in atlanta”
  • where can I find a “church in atlanta”
  • I hate that “church in atlanta”
  • I’m never going back to that “church in atlanta”
  • etc…

Remember, the more specific your keywords, the better (so adding “church in alpharetta” and “church in buckhead” and “church in brownsbridge” is wise too).

Imagine the possibilities and how valuable this resource could be for your ministry (or future ministry for a church plant) from an internet perspective…!

Check these example results that I got just today!

and

Also, check out this alert!  An “atheist” strangely found an Andy Stanley CD in his backyard and decided to blog about it…  Google Alerts picked it up from his blog, let me know about it, and I decided to drop this guy a comment about the CD (and related book – The Best Question Ever) which I happened to just finishing reading 2 weeks ago…!

Really really cool.

So try it out!  It’s easy to get started, easy to modify, edit, and you’ll start getting news instantly.

A final note:

Once you start this, you’re going to get “addicted” to it.  Information is good, but, it can be overwhelming (remember, be specific).  In addition to the “overwhelming” part, you’re going to get a lot more email and being strategic on how to engage and who in your organization is going to be tasked with the engagement process is also a consideration: It can take a bit of time from someone’s schedule.

Have fun with it and let me know your findings!

Web 12

Ministry eCommerce Solutions – Part 1

Posted By on November 1, 2008

One of my tech buddies over @ North Point Ministries is doing some research for some alternative eCommerce solutions for some of our properties.  I threw him a recommendation and then thought I’d do some personal research, because I haven’t dev’d an eCommerce site in a while (although that won’t stay that way for too long).

So, here’s Part 1 of a 4 Part Series on Ministry eCommerce Solutions.

Looking for the other parts of the Series?

  1. Hosted Services and Carts
  2. Free Self-Hosted Solutions
  3. Self-Hosted Solutions for Purchase
  4. WordPress eCommerce Solutions

Hosted Services and Carts

Hosted services simply means that you pay a business to host the software for you and you simply use it.  Here’s the “long” definition:

A Hosted Service Provider (xSP) is a business that delivers a combination of traditional IT functions such as infrastructure, applications (Software as a Service), security, monitoring, storage, Web development, website hosting and email, over the Internet or other wide area networks (WAN). An xSP combines the abilities of an application service provider (ASP) and an Internet service provider (ISP).

This approach enables customers to consolidate and outsource much of their IT needs for a predictable recurring fee. xSPs that integrate Web publishing give customers a central repository to rapidly and efficiently distribute information and resources among employees, customers, partners and the general public.

Hosted Service Providers benefit from economies of scale and operate on a one-to-many business model, delivering the same software and services to many customers at once. Customers are charged on a subscription basis.

So, with that in mind, here are some top tier hosted services:

  1. AAcart.com – Offers three levels of pricing plans that come with hosting included.  Also offers customized solutions and design.
  2. eCrater.com – A free online store builder that also allows you to enter your products into their marketplace for free, while also entering them into the Google Product Search.
  3. Etsy.com – An online store builder and marketplace that restricts itself to products that you make.  This include all sorts of arts & crafts, buttons, clothes and so on.
  4. GoEmerchant.com – GoEmerchant offers both fully hosted options and the ability to just add buttons to your already existing site.
  5. NetworkSolutions.com – The well-known domain registration company also offers online storefront hosting and setup.
  6. SmallBusiness.Yahoo.com – While Yahoo offers you the ability to use their shopping cart on a site you build yourself, their wizard powered store is by far their most popular product.  It offers you pre-built templates for the look, but uses their own brand of HTML, which makes hiring a designer for a unique look almost a necessity.
  7. StoreFront.net – Focuses on customized solutions that vary by store size, hosting needs and so on.
  8. Stores.eBay.com – eBay stopped being just an auction site a long time ago and offers you the chance to set up your own storefront on their popular site.
  9. FlyingCart.com – A very simple and super easy to manage and setup system for a few items for free.  Increase the items sold, incease the cost.
  10. Interspire.com – They have both a hosted as well as downloadable self-hosted system.

Stay tune for a list of Free Self Hosted Solutions next!

Did I miss any?

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