E-commerce is an appealing option for many businesses. After all, your online business is operational 24-7 and your market is worldwide.  Also the cost of running an e-commerce business is relatively minimal as opposed to renting a space, paying employees etc. How appealing is that!

According to the site www.howstuffworks.com,  three easy processes involved in an e-commerce set include

• Creating your web site
• Taking the orders
• Accepting payment

There are many software options for creating an online store. Here are a few brands.

·         Viaweb

·         Intershop

·         Microsoft Site Server

·         iCatCommercePublisher

·         Mercantec-Softcart

·         Inex Corp

·         I-Central Shop Manager

·         Pandesic

·         Open Market

If you are not particular tech savy, another option would be to hire a company to build your e-commerce site for you.

While you are creating your site, consider having a link (most commonly placed in the footer) to an affiliate marketing program. Again there are quite a few software products that provide this feature. Basically you would have a team of affiliates who would make product referrals on their own blogs or websites. They would be paid a commission. Affiliate marketing software will enable you to track your affiliates and monitor their activity.