OsCommerce which is also known as Open Source e-Commerce Solution is one of the most commonly and widely used online shopping cart programs to manage online store or ecommerce site. The osCommerce application can be easily installed through Fantastico in your cPanel control panel. It can be integrate with any web server having PHP and MySQL installed.

This osCommerce shopping cart program is a free software available under the General Public License (GNU). This article will explain you the simple steps to install an osCommerce software as well as steps to configure the dedicated SSL and shared SSL certificate to secure your online transactions.

Steps to install osCommerce Shopping Cart:

1) First login into your cPanel account and click on the Fantastico icon which can be easily notice by a smiling icon at you on bottom of your main page.

2) Now, navigate to the “E-commerce” section and simply click on the “osCommerce” link.

3) Next, click on the “New Installation” link.

4) Now its time to go through a multi-step procedure in order to define the installation location:

• Select your domain from the drop-down menu on which you want to install osCommerce.
• Enter the name of the directory where you wish osCommerce to be installed.

Remember that never add dashes in the “install in directory” field. Enter a simple phrase of the new folder or else every time the installation will fail.

• Re-check the information you have entered in the above fields. If you wish you customers to access your e-commerce site using “http://domain.com” then leave the “Install in Directory” field blank.  Or if you already have an existing website, you want to enter a given directory name in that field.  Suppose, if you decide to use “store” as the directory name, customers would access your osCommerce online store by visiting “http://domain.com/store”.

5) After entering the required information for the installation destination, enter a user name and password for your osCommerce administrative area.

6) Lastly, enter the name of your store, an owner name, and valid email address.

Steps to Activate SSL Certificate:

Once you have the installation destination squared away, the proceeding steps are self explanatory.  The SSL process deserves a little bit detailed explanation.

1) Set the “Use SSL” option to”Yes”

2) Enter the hostname for your secure server.

Remember, that if you have a dedicated IP address and SSL certificate for your website, just enter your domain name in the next field. If not, simply use the server name entered above.

3) Select the information you want to require from your customers. You will see that these options are pretty straightforward and can be simply set to “Yes or “No.”

4) After entering the information, click on the “Install osCommerce” tab.

5) At last, on the next page click “Finish installation”.

Now, you have successfully installed the osCommerce shopping cart program integrated with an SSL certificate to secure your online transaction. Now, simply open the appropriate URL into the browser to log in and set up your online e-commerce store.

Now all you have to do is the click the provided link or type the appropriate URL into your browser to log in and set up your online store. Checkout the SEO Secrets for E-commerce Websites to boost your online business.

The search engine spiders that crawl your E-commerce website will be looking at several different attributes on every page to determine where it needs to go and how relevant it is to specific searches done at Google search engine.

Another factor worth mentioning is a Keyword. What is a Keyword?

A keyword is basically an elaborate name for what people might search for when trying to find your E-commerce website. I am using a Bodhost.co.uk website as an example. People could search for “Web Hosting”, but they might also search for “Cheap Web Hosting”, “VPS Web Hosting” and “UK Web Hosting Service”. All of these would be keywords, or probably more properly could be said to be key phrases.

However, they are generally all referred to simply as keywords. Note that almost all On-site SEO has to do with is placing high-quality keywords throughout your E-commerce website content where search engine robots, spiders, or software might be able to decide what your website is about.

6 On-Site SEO Factors That Can Influence Your SERP Ranking:

• The Title of the Page
• The keywords used in the text on your website
• The keywords are used in H1 Tags
• Keywords used in your domain name
• Keywords used in the URL of a webpage
• Meta Keywords

3 Major Off-Site SEO Factors That Can Improve Your Search Engine Ranking:

Backlinks to Your E-commerce Website

This is without a doubt one of the keys to having your website listed in the search engines results page for specific keywords. Google likes to look at what others are saying about your website to determine what it is about. For example, if someone is a huge fan of a UK Web Hosting, and you provide that service, they may link to your website with “UK Web Hosting” as the text that people would click on to get to your website. This text is called anchor text and Google will see that link as a simple “vote” for your website to appear higher than others for that keyword. In short, these are commonly referred to as backlinks.

Quality of the Websites linking to your Website

Those linking to your website should also have some form of importance. For example, there are many websites with loads of outgoing links to many websites. Google does not want to give these websites as much weight in their “vote” in comparison to a link from Bodhost’s official website or something along those lines.

The Age of Your E-commerce Website

The reason I listed this as an off-site related issue, because it really doesn’t fit in either category. This is a simple issue that the search engines will evaluate. This is not to say that it is the most important factor, but many older websites will naturally rank higher than new websites that have more backlinks.

I am not sure why this occurs, but many would say that it does. As compare to Google, Yahoo definitely puts more weight on this.

Why consumers are afraid of shopping online?

The reason is Fraud. Today, making money online is very easy and there are lots of opportunities available on internet. But, the major problem E-commerce site owner’s face nowadays on internet is fraud. Consumers will always hesitate to shop online from your e-commerce site, unless you provide them some evidence that your e-commerce website is 100 percent secure and the sensitive information they provide is completely protected. Luckily, there are number of protective actions that can be taken to prevent your E-commerce website against fraud.

Fraud Detection Service

A service called Fraud Detection actually helps you to verify that the individual entering credit card information is real the owner of that card. While useful, this type service does not entirely eliminate the risk of fraud. Let’s see how it works.

The fraud detection service asks the consumer to verify an address and compares it to what is one file with the credit card issuer.  It the address matches, the customer is allowed to proceed with the purchasing. And, if it doesn’t they will be denied rights to make a purchase.  For the simple fact that numerous residential addresses can be found online, a determined fraudster may be able to bypass this mechanism.  This service is still a great option as it will diminish the fraud risks.

Credit Card Verification Codes (Aka CCV)

The credit card verification code is the three important numbers found on the back of a credit card. You need to insert those numbers when a customer shops on your site. In order for someone to place website fraud, they most acquire the credit card numbers and the credit card as well. By implementing this type of scheme on your site, you can decrease the risks of fraud significantly, mainly because credit card numbers are typically stolen rather than the actual card. Certainly, a credit card can be stolen and used to purchase items online, though it’s less likely to occur because people usually notice that their card is missing and cancel it before any damage is done.

Site Design

While a fraud detection service can be very effective, this mechanism should always be paired with a flawless website design that limits the possibility of fraudulent activities.  Your E-commerce site should be designed with the latest versions of scripting languages and programs to fight off hackers and protect the integrity of your business. You may have to shell out extra money to make sure fraud is not occurring, but it is well worth it in the long run.  Having a secure site will save you money and protect your customers, which is perhaps the most important aspect of online business.
Before creating your own E-commerce website, make sure you have a pretty good knowledge about the dangers of internet frauds. Having this knowledge will help you to find better ways to prevent your website and your consumers from the internet frauds. Fraud occurs everyday online but neither you, nor your customers have to be a victim.