eCOMMERCE

Choosing the right place to start with ecommerce can be overwhelming. We recommend the DIY Package if you only have one or two products.

For example you might be getting your book published and want to sell it through your website, or you might have an ebook. This package is easy to use for that sort of thing and can be easily linked through directly to your Paypal or Stripe account.

If you have a few digital products e.g. a book, a couple of e-books, an e-course etc then the E-commerce with Flat Rate Shipping Package would suit you better as it is a proper shopping cart option and enables you to have a list of products that you can continue to add to as your business grows. 

The Online Store Package is best recommended for those who have retail products because it includes shipping setup OR who want to link their payments through with their email marketing campaigns and have sales occurring while they sleep. 

If you still aren't sure and need some help to decide then book a no-obligation call with one of our consultants to discuss it further. Click here to book a time.

To add to this explanation, here is a benefits and drawbacks analysis of each option:
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1. DIY Button linked to product hosted elsewhere - This option depends on where the products are being sold. For example, if your book is available on Amazon then you simply add a button to the page and link it to the URL of where the book is for sale in Amazon. 
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The benefits of this option is it is easy and quick to set up. The drawback is that the other platforms i.e. Amazon take a percentage of each sale.
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2. DIY Button linked to Paypal - This option is where you create a button and then link it to Paypal. Paypal has explanations on how to do this. 
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The benefits of this option are Paypal manages the sale. The drawbacks are a) you have to pack and post the book(s) yourself b) the postage can only be one flat rate so some you win on and some you lose on depending on the postage c) the tax has to come out of the payment d) Paypal charges a fee
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3. E-commerce with flat rate shipping - e-commerce can be added to your site and we recommend the WooCommerce plugin as it is the most widely used. But then it needs to be configured and often additional plugins are required to create functionality. In its simplest form, it can be used with a flat rate for shipping. 
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The benefits of this option are: a) the sale goes through your website so you are in control of the sale b) all the money ends up in your account c) WooCommerce manages the tax calculations. The drawbacks are a) you have to pack and post the book(s) yourself b) the postage can only be one flat rate so some you win on and some you lose on depending on the postage
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4. E-commerce with Aust Post Shipping Plugin configured - this option has WooCommerce plus the Aust Post plugin and consequently enables complete shipping options. 
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The benefits of this option are: a) the sale goes through your website so you are in control of the sale b) all the money ends up in your account c) WooCommerce manages the tax calculations d) shipping is calculated based on where the item is being posted to. The drawbacks are a) you have to pack and post the book(s) yourself b) This is more complicated to set up and therefore more initial costs
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Absolutely! All of these packages are designed to work with any of our Websites and most WordPress websites. As your business grows you can scale up your website with what it needs.

When you have an ecommerce store on your website, this usually means you will be attracting more traffic because you are wanting to sell more products. The more traffic you have on your site, the more space on the server it uses.

Also, there are a lot more moving parts to an ecommerce website and therefore when you have ecommerce added to your Blue Dog Website you will have more questions for our support team each month, plus there are more plugins and software for our team to update and manage for you.

Therefore, with each of the ecommerce packages there is an addition to your monthly Blue Dog Club membership to cover this. 

Also, to sell a product from your website you will need an SSL certificate. If you are a Blue Dog Club member and have a Blue Dog Website then these SSL certificates are free but some hosting companies do charge for these. Therefore, if you are hosting your site elsewhere then you would need to contact your hosting company for the pricing for that.

Plus, Blue Dog Websites uses Woocommerce for ecommerce and therefore, depending on the functionality you want within your store, if this is outside the standard Woocommerce setup Blue Dog Websites offers, there will be additional charges to set this functionality up for you.

The Blue Dog Websites ecommerce products are designed to expand with your business as it grows and therefore can integrate with an email marketing CRM, the Blue Dog Websites Sales Funnel Products, Blue Dog Memberships, and so much more. These are all additional to the ecommerce options here on this page and some automation functionality requires you to have additional software and plugins, for example, an email marketing CRM to integrate with the shopping cart. (We recommend Active Campaign which currently costs $9/month but this price can change at any time.)

All of the packages can be added to your website within 1-3 working days depending which package you choose but only if once we have received all the details we need. your accounts (set up prior) i.e. Paypal, Stripe, Active Campaign, SSL certificate etc and if we are provided with the correct product descriptions and images.

For example your Paypal, Stripe, Active Campaign, account information, your SSL certificate (if you aren't a Blue Dog Club member) and all of the correct product descriptions and images.

The Automated Package may require two extra days to tweak the shipping settings.

Once you have these packages set up on your website you can start selling straight away.

Each package comes with its own training videos and tutorials.

If you currently a Blue Dog Club member your monthly membership will increase and then all of your ongoing support is included in that membership.

If you have your own WordPress website hosted elsewhere and are not a member of the Blue Dog Club then any assistance will be at our standard support rate of US$78 per hour.