 Online Help |
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Online Help |
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Miva Merchant enables you to easily create and manage an online store, taking your products to a virtually unlimited market, with little initial investment, and low overhead.
In many ways, opening a Miva Merchant online store is just like opening a new store in the "brick and mortar" world. You decide what kind of products to carry, stock and price your items, attract customers to your location, take orders, and ship merchandise.
There are a few new concepts to grasp, and some unfamiliar technologies to understand, but none are difficult, and we will go through them one-by-one in this guide.
You will need a web host for your store. A landlord, of sorts. We will review the three most common options for hosting.
We will cover all the basics of starting and running an online store, like handling orders and collecting money. You will learn how you can suggest products to shoppers, and offer discounts. There is even an easy way to bring your store data into QuickBooks Pro™.
Special financial and security services are needed for doing business on the Internet. We will discuss payment gateways, merchant account providers, and security certificates.
When you are ready to explore in more depth there is a complete online Help system, support for Miva Merchant, and other Miva Merchant products at www.mivamerchant.com. Immediate assistance is available as well — as you work with Miva Merchant. Each administration screen offers an online Help topic providing explanations and definitions. To access this information just click the Help button.
Relax. You'll be an e-commerce expert before you know it!
Relax... You are not expected to know how to accomplish each of these action items at this point.
This checklist will just give you an overview of the entire process. We will cover each step in more detail in this guide and there is more at www.mivamerchant.com.
Be sure to review the Glossary where you can learn the meanings of the new terms you will encounter here.
It can be a little overwhelming to start any business. Making use of an unfamiliar technology can make it even more daunting. Take heart — thousands of entrepreneurs just like you are succeeding with Miva Merchant. Let’s break the process down into simple steps and work through them one at a time.
Here is a quick to-do list for getting your first e-commerce site up and working for you. You may have accomplished some of these tasks already and there will undoubtedly be other tasks you'll need to accomplish as well.
This overview checklist will help you get started:
Choose a web hosting provider that offers Miva Merchant or that supports you in using your own copy of Miva Merchant.
Decide on a name for your business. Part of this decision may hinge on the availability of the domain name you want to use (www.yourbusinessname.com). Acquire the domain name and arrange for hosting. Secure any business licenses or fictitious name statements that are required in your area.
Familiarize yourself with the features of Miva Merchant. You might want to take advantage of Miva Merchant Service Club to get your store up and running quickly.
Check out some existing Miva Merchant online stores for ideas and inspiration. There is a large collection of great examples in the Miva Merchant Galleria.
MivaScript is the language that Miva Merchant is written in. It offers development tools to third-party developers so they can create advanced, specialized modules. You may find that these after-market plug-ins provide exactly the features you'll need to customize your storefront just the way you'd like it. Browse through MivaCentral to find specialized modules for add new functionality to your store and training resources available from third-party developers.
Decide what products you will offer. You can enter them directly, using a wizard. If you currently have these products in a database you can import them including their pricing and inventory levels, into Miva Merchant via a flat file.
Design the look of your store. Don't worry about getting it perfect on the first try. You can change it later. Arrange to accept payments. Most merchants take credit cards. You might want to take advantage of Miva Merchant Payment™ an easy way to accept credit cards online.
Use Miva Merchant Mailer™ and MIVA Ad Center™ (formerly Marketplace) to drive shoppers to your store. Both focus your marketing resources on attracting the shoppers who want exactly what you have to offer.
Once you have your store designed and stocked to your satisfaction, you’re ready to invite shoppers in. Bring your store online and have a Grand Opening party!
... you are well versed in running your business. You have a good understanding of your own pricing, inventory, taxes, and shipping.
... you are skilled in using the Internet. You can navigate web sites, use search engines, and work with online forms.
... you are familiar with the basics of creating web sites and are comfortable doing simple design and screen layout.
Perhaps you have managed a local business for years, and you are ready to open a new branch — on the Internet. You are an experienced user of e-mail, do your banking online and have purchased items from online sellers. Even so, you probably have a lot of questions — most people do. Let’s go over some of the questions that most new online merchants ask:
Q: How Do I Get a Website?
A: Websites and online stores are just data and programs stored on a Web server — a computer linked into the World Wide Web. Each site has an address called a domain name, like www.mystorename.com, where others on the Web can find it. You will need both — space on a Web server and a domain name.
Q: How Do I Get Space on a Web Server?
A: Providing space for websites is called Web hosting. There are three kinds of hosting: virtual, dedicated, or your own on-site server.
Many small merchants use virtual hosting, where a company offers space to many sites, all hosted on the same server, each in its own private folder. Some companies, especially those with larger sites or higher traffic, have dedicated Web servers — whole machines just for their own site's files — provided and maintained by centralized facilities just for that purpose. The third way would be to purchase a server, arrange for a high speed commercial Internet connection to your business, and handle the whole operation on your own. How to do that is beyond the scope of this guide.
Virtual hosting is an excellent choice for most online businesses. Many Web hosting companies provide a supportive incubator-like environment, with powerful, user-friendly tools and services. Offering such services as Miva Merchant, payment gateways, security certificates, and usage reporting. Some provide excellent online and telephone support services as well. Before you choose a Web host be sure that they support Miva Merchant.
· You don't need to install any software on your own computer to create and manage your Miva Merchant
· All the work you do in the Miva Merchant administration interface is done right in your web browser, via the Internet, working directly with the software and your data on
· You can work with your Miva Merchant store from any computer the local library, at your favorite coffeehouse, or from an Internet-enabled cruise ship anywhere the world. With Miva Merchant, you are never tied to your office.
Q: How Do I Get a Domain Name?
A: Your Web host can help you register a domain name when you arrange for hosting services, or you can use any number of companies that specialize in registering domain names. You can find them with a quick Internet search for "register a domain name". Be sure the name is registered to you or your company not to the Web hosting company or to your Web designer. You may want to consider private registration, or use a P.O. box for your address, to protect your privacy.
Q: How Do I Sign Up for a Miva Merchant Store?
A: There are two ways you can have a Miva Merchant online store. Most conveniently, your Web host may offer e-commerce accounts that feature Miva Merchant storefronts. Simply contact them and arrange for an e-commerce account. They will take care of everything you need, and will invoice you directly.
If your Web host does not offer Miva Merchant storefronts yet, you can purchase a store license directly from Miva Merchant, and install the software on your website. For this option, your Web host must be Miva Merchant-enabled (that is, they have Miva Merchant Empresa Virtual Machine running on the server), or, if you have access to your own cgi-bin folder, you should be able to install Miva Merchant Empresa Virtual Machine yourself. If you prefer, Miva Merchant offers a service where, for a fee, we can install your Miva Merchant and Miva Merchant Empresa Virtual Machine software for you.
Q: How Do I Learn to Use Miva Merchant?
A: You'll quickly gain expertise as you go. Each administration feature of Miva Merchant offers immediate, detailed Help at the click of a button. Additional information, including resources for store design advice is available in the documentation and support areas of the Miva Merchant website.
Q: How Do I Set Up My Online Store?
A: Miva Merchant provides a "Simple Administration" mode to get you started, with wizards to guide you through each basic step. Once you have the primary features configured, you can switch to "Advanced Administration" and fine-tune each area to work exactly the way you like. You can customize the look and incorporate your store into your current site, if you have one.
Most stores have photos or graphics to show their products. It's easy to transfer these to your online store individually as you enter each new product or upload a large collection of images at once. You simply reference them in the database fields when you import your product information all together.
You can always make changes to your store administration, add more products, or update your look store-wide, so don't worry about getting it exactly perfect on the first pass.
Q: How Do I Let Shoppers Know About My Store?
A: Once you have an attractive store stocked with your products and ready to go, you need customers to find you. Two of the most effective ways of driving serious shoppers to your store are services offered by Miva Merchant that work seamlessly with Miva Merchant: MIVA Ad Center (formerly Marketplace) optimizes your products’ visibility in search engine results to bring in new customers. As you establish a customer base,
Miva Merchant Mailer gives you the ability to send targeted e-mail messages to keep inviting them to return.
Q: How Do I Get My Existing Product Information Into My Miva Merchant Store?
A: You can upload your entire existing product database via a plain-text flat file.
Q: How Do I Know When a Shopper Orders Something?
A: If you expect to be getting lots of orders, you will probably want to check regularly — daily or more often — and download all the new orders. If you anticipate receiving orders infrequently, you can set up Miva Merchant to notify you by e-mail when an order comes in.
Q: How Do I Collect Money from My Customers?
A: If you are already set up to accept credit cards, that's great. Accepting them via an Internet store is a natural next step. If you don't accept credit cards yet, it is easy to set that up. For more information, see “Accepting Credit Cards”, in the box below.
You can also ship COD, hold orders for checks to arrive, or charge orders to a customer's credit card manually, via your terminal, just as you would if they came to your business in person.
Q: How Can I Transfer My Store Data Into My Business Accounting Software?
A: Miva Merchant Synchro is a powerful product from Miva Merchant that gives you a quick and automated way to transfer your accounting data from your Miva Merchant online store into your QuickBooks™ accounting system (2003/2004/2005, Pro and Premier).
If you use something other than QuickBooks Pro, you can export your store information to a flat file, and import it into almost any commercial accounting software.
You can sign up on your own for each of the services you need to accept credit cards, or, for an easy, reliable way to handle everything in one place, with a company you know and trust, you can use Miva Merchant Payment™.
Miva Merchant Payment provides all the tools you need to accept all major credit cards, including a Payment Gateway, virtual terminal for manual transactions, fraud screening, and detailed reporting seamlessly integrated into Miva Merchant.
To accept credit cards, whether your store is on Main Street, or on the Internet, you need a merchant account—a special account that routes deposits from the credit card companies to your business banking account. You can arrange a merchant account with any compatible online Merchant Account Provider (or MAP). Your own business bank may offer them. A merchant account is an additional service available with Miva Merchant Payment.
If you are not using Miva Merchant Payment, you will need to arrange for your own Payment Gateway. Miva Merchant passes the shopper’s credit card number and information to the Payment Gateway, which communicates with the shopper’s bank, and verifies that the card is valid and can cover the payment. The Payment Gateway collects the money from the shopper’s bank, and routes it into your merchant account.
Another way to accept credit cards is to get the card information from your customer, then manually process the transaction through your in-store credit card terminal. If you already take credit cards, you are ready to go—but this requires your time, is prone to input errors, and creates a delay in collecting the money.
Q: How Do I Provide Security for My Shoppers?
A: Just like in the "brick and mortar" world, doing business on the Internet requires giving some thought to the security of your shoppers' personal and credit card information. The most common and effective way to keep their information secure during online transactions is to equip your store with a Secure Certificate or SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificate. This encrypts the information that the shopper's computer sends to your server, and displays a small padlock in their browser's status bar, to assure
them that your site is secure.
Q: How Do I Get a Secure Certificate?
A: Many companies, called Certificate Authorities, provide Secure Certificates, with varying standards for validation, encryption, and authentication. Your Web host may provide this service, directly, or through a partnership agreement. If not, you can find many suppliers on the Web. Miva Merchant can work with any available SSL Certificate.
Bringing new customers into your store is vital to your success. In the “brick and mortar” world you try to locate your business where people will find you. On the web, you need to put out virtual signposts, to guide shoppers to your store. MIVA Ad Center gives you the power to put your store’s products right in front of people who are looking to buy them. You choose exactly the keywords you want, and bid to have shoppers directed to your products. Among many powerful account management features in MIVA Ad Center, you can have top product-specific search result positioning for just a penny more than your competitor’s bid, and you are only charged when a shopper actually visits your site. For complete information on MIVA Ad Center, and to sign up, visit the Ad Center
Another way to bring more, and better-quality, traffic to your business is to fine tune your site’s functionality, and make sure it is working its best with Internet search engines. Miva Merchant Submit provides 12 effective and easy-to-use optimization and enhancement tools. Verify your HTML, check the site’s links, and ensure browser compatibility. Monitor your site’s uptime, and test page load times. Analyze your keywords, check your search engine rankings, and much more... For details about Miva Merchant Submit, and to sign up for your free 90-day trial, visit Miva Merchant Submit
Once customers discover you, and have purchased items from your store, keep them coming back for more! These are people who know your company, and who buy the products you sell. You want them to return to your store again and again. A very effective way of keeping your name in front of them is by sending targeted, personalized e-mail messages, with Miva Merchant Mailer. You can create as many lists as you like—maybe “Monthly Home Gardening Tips”, or “Pro Landscapers’ Specials”. You can offer users the chance to opt-in to receive messages, and they can unsubscribe if they like. The messages are sent from the Miva Merchant servers, so they don’t tie up your office e-mail, or use your company’s server bandwidth. The service is charged to you monthly. Learn more and start taking advantage of Miva Merchant Mailer.
The Miva Merchant suite of products handles every aspect of e-commerce, from the tools to enable you to easily create a professional store, to the underlying technology your web host needs to make it all run.
Here is a brief overview of each of the Miva Merchant products. In addition, the graphic below illustrates the relationships between many of these products and shows where each fits into the Miva Merchant e-commerce environment. When you are ready to learn more, extensive information on each is available at www.mivamerchant.com
A browser-based storefront development and management system that provides the tools for merchants to create and manage an e-commerce site on the Internet. Miva Merchant makes it easy to create and run an online store.
MIVA Ad Center™ (formerly MIVA Marketplace)
Introduces buyers to sellers at exactly the right moment — when buyers are searching for products and services. With Miva Merchant, buyers are sent directly to the relevant product pages, via this bid-for-position, pay-per-click, keyword-targeted advertising service. Results and revenue generated can be easily measured.
An e-mail marketing service giving merchants the ability to send targeted messages to customer mailing lists.
A user-friendly credit card processing service that performs real-time credit card authorizations from Miva Merchant stores, and enables merchants to manually input credit card transactions via the Internet. Miva Merchant Payment optionally includes a merchant account.
A product that makes it possible for the online merchant using Miva Merchant to easily transfer their store data into the third-party accounting applications, QuickBooks Pro™ and Premier™, 2003/2004/2005 from Intuit
MivaScript™
A proprietary XML-based web development language that supports the easy creation of interactive web pages that can accept and retrieve stored data. Miva Merchant modules, including those that make up Miva Merchant itself, are written in MivaScript, and compiled into executables.
Miva Merchant Script Compiler™
Compiles MivaScript into applications that run under Miva Merchant Empresa Virtual Machine and Miva Merchant Mia Virtual Machine. Compiled code runs faster, and the source is concealed so others cannot read it.
Miva Merchant Limited Source Kit™
A collection of source code files (not compiled) for Miva Merchant modules (4.14 and later), giving developers well-written, tested examples on which they can base their own MivaScript modules.
Miva Merchant Empresa™ Virtual Machine
The Miva Merchant engine installed on the web server to run compiled MivaScript applications, including Miva Merchant. The engine includes database functionality, and supports commerce library functions that communicate with remote services via the Internet.
Virtual Machine An engine and personal web server environment that runs compiled MivaScript applications, giving store designers and software developers the means to run and test their work on their Windows desktop.
