We found two carts that we like so far, which look like they’ll be sustainable. One has a fussy (but flexible) templating system, the other is more standard, though less flexible. The backends are the same – both are surprisingly navigable, though the terminology isn’t exactly intuitive, and both are highly functional cart systems, one with more choices than the other. For the first time, we’ll have two stable database cart options, one in the $500 starting price range – a first. We have that now for our CMS systems, but not for our cart systems, so this will be a benefit to our clients long term.

Carts have some functions that you expect. One is that there will be a functional installer. Sure, you still have to create the database, but the installer runs and creates the config file.

One of the systems did not have that. No documentation on their site about it either, they put it into the install folder instead. In the current technological arena, nobody OPENS an install folder to LOOK inside it, they point their browser to it instead! Not this one… You had to import the database file yourself, and set up the config.

Sure, I know how to do those things, they’d take me an extra 5 minutes or so to do. My point is, why should I have to? Every other cart does that for me. If that is left off, what else is left off? How much can I trust the rest of the software, or the development team to see to the needs of the user?

I did not even install it. I deemed it unworthy of my time, based on the fact that the first function I expected from it was missing.

Fair? Maybe not. But that is the reality of business, software, and the web. If you lose someone on step 1, they’ll never get to see how great step 2 is.

So after a long day of sorting through cart systems, I have two that are worth offering. Neither one was even available as a viable option a year ago when we last made this search. This time though, I’m more experienced in seeking out information about carts, and how to assess them. I searched for several weeks last time, and was able to do most of it in a day this time.

So, we’re now offering a deep discount on the first client site builds in these two systems – one a functional but lightweight system, one a full featured system. First come, first served.

Note: The opinions expressed in this post are the perceptions of the writer, and should not be interpreted or quoted as fact without corroborrating evidence.

We use free Open Source systems. We don’t do so to be cheap, but merely as a way of producing affordable solutions.

I know that my clients will not be able to afford or justify a yearly subscription fee, and most cannot afford software fees at all unless they are just for a few necessary add-ons. They already have to pay ongoing fees for maintenance, to keep the site software updated. One more fee on top of that is a deal breaker for them, and I know that it will be for others also.

By becoming “just another commercial cart”, I believe that CRELoaded will lose a huge portion of their user base. That, in turn, will reduce the viral nature of a good Open Source project. Joomla, and CMSMadeSimple, which are the other two major software systems that we build site solutions around, do not have any indication of going commercial, though they do have some commercial enhancements.

There are other projects, still free, which have been nipping at the heels of CRE for a long time, and which have made significant progress in the last six months. Our company will be testing those, and adopting the most flexible solution. We have no choice with the market we serve. I’ll report on what we find when we make a choice, and I’ll start testing the two most promising ones today, in between working on a Joomla template.

Our clients give back a great deal over the long term. But they use freely available Open Source software as a means of getting a foot in the door, until they have the means to give back. In the mean time, they are donating time and service, volunteering to move good projects forward, and giving in other ways while they do not have money to give. They are people worth helping, and we keep our own service prices low by building site solutions using Open Source software.

Our company gives back also – we support and assist with several Open Source projects, offering documentation assistance, usability help, and promoting them. We aren’t parasites who are just complaining about the loss of a free tool. We’ve invested in every system we’ve used, and provide training, tips, and encourage their use with both clients, and colleagues. Each system we use has a section in our Trade Association pages, where we are assembling resources and tools for them.

We are not the only company out there that promotes Open Source software, nor which contributes to it. When an Open Source project moves from a freely usable business model, to a commercial business model, they lose a large portion of their user base, and an equally large portion of their contributor base. Active members drop from the help forums, abandon the Wiki, and contributing developers wander away to more promising projects. After all, why should they contribute freely to a project for which someone else makes money but they do not? And why should they develop paid contributions when the likelihood of sales are much lower?

I faced the same issue with Front Porch Folks. I could develop it around a free membership model, a paid membership model, or a combination with free and Premium memberships. Before I made the final decision, I took a poll of the membership. Even though the free model meant ads in places that reduced the value of their membership, most members voted for an ad based revenue model. We had to think creatively to make that work within the structure of that site. But it was worth it, because the support of the members is very strong. They know now that we listen to them, and that we’ll be responsive to their requests. Most of the new members that come in are doing so from promotions that the members are initiating. They know we have to make money from it to keep it going, and they don’t mind that. They just want the most open community possible for networking, and that happens best by keeping it free. The same holds true of Open Source – indeed, that is the power in it.

It is also not wise to load every kind of revenue generation into a project. If you are going to charge for the service, then don’t plague the users with ads at every turn. They already paid for it, and built-in ads that are not a genuine service to the user should be left off.

There is no perfect solution to it all, it is going to be hard any way you do it. But I believe that in this current economy of high competition, and plentiful freebies, that some businesses and products will simply be stronger, and healthier, and be able to earn more, if they remain with a free option.

Note: The opinions expressed in this post are the perceptions of the writer, and should not be interpreted or quoted as fact without corroborrating evidence.

Version 6.3 was released. No upgrade path is offered for recently purchased versions of the B2B version, and they do not yet have a B2B version.

More importantly, they are now charging on a yearly subscription instead of a lifetime fee. And they are charging $99 for the version that used to be free. A huge percentage of their most ardent defenders will be dropping off the CRE map.

The bug reports are starting to flood in as well. Obvious things. This makes one wonder how well they tested it before greed got the better of them and they decided to release it in the paid version.

We’ve noticed other changes lately also, which speak ill of the company.

1. They put a merchant account signup into the install process. They made it look like part of the install process, with just a very tiny “skip this” link at the bottom. I don’t have a problem with them monetizing things, but this is deceptive. If you fill it out, it doesn’t help you anyway, it just results in a sales call a month or so later.

2. They now sell templates from the inside of the design area in the system. The company that sells them is obscured, it uses an affiliate link and a generic URL, with private registration. It also offers an “exclusive license” with no reports on who else has purchased the template first – so the word “exclusive” is misleading and dishonest.

Add that to lackadasical development, and you come up with a picture of a company that I want to do business with less and less.

Up to this point, we have used and recommended CRE because of the available Open Source carts, it is the simplest to configure, and the most sustainable. It isn’t by any means close to what is really needed, but at least it can be maintained without costing the businses owner a fortune in custom file alterations each time an upgrade has to be done (can you say “Cube Cart”), and without something as clunky as Zen cart’s unintuitive setup and template overrides (which still have to be hand edited if an update includes any of those files).

Sad to see something with some potential go this way.

Note: The opinions expressed in this post are the perceptions of the writer, and should not be interpreted or quoted as fact without corroborrating evidence.

Joomla is a content management system – hereafter called, a “CMS”, in the grand tradition of techie acronyms which confuse the uninitiated. It is a “fork” of Mambo – another CMS. The codebase (like the foundation on a house) for Mambo, was older, and built before coders had figured out that there were ways to do it that made it more sustainable (again, like a house built before there was such a thing as a building code).

So the Joomla team fairly quickly realized they’d have to rebuild a good deal of the codebase if they wanted to continue to improve the CMS in ways that users needed to have it improved. They worked on this for years, and last January, they released Joomla 1.5 to the community at large.

I’m somewhat puzzled by the response of many within the community. There are now two versions of Joomla – 1.5, and the older 1.0. There are people who cling to 1.0 as though it has a future. Yet anyone could see, the minute Joomla 1.5 was released, that it sounded the death knell for Joomla 1.0. At that point, it was no longer wise to build a new site in 1.0 – why do so when you’d just have to rebuilt in a year or so when 1.0 became unsustainable? Not a good choice to make for myself, or on behalf of a client. (We ended up starting over on two contracts in order to put them into 1.5, and will be migrating the ones that were too far along at the time to rebuild easily.)

Yet we still have people building new sites in 1.0, clinging stubbornly to the past. There are a few RARE instances where the necessary new components are not yet ready, but for the most part, there is now as much available for 1.5 as for 1.0, and many things available for 1.5 that are not available for 1.0.

The best templates are compatible only with 1.5. Some of the best new extensions are available for 1.5 exclusively.

We went out on a limb with a few contracts, building in 1.5, on the expectation that the extensions we needed would be available by the time we needed them. This has proven to be the case – all have been updated in time for us to use them with 1.5, or we have been able to locate alternates.

Most extensions (except a few rare ones) are now either compatible with 1.5, or being rewritten to be compatible with 1.5. Most coders have abandoned further progress for 1.0. The majority of new sites have been built in 1.5 for the last several months, and smart designers are migrating sites on a consistent basis. A few coders have delayed releasing versions that were compatible with 1.5, and new coders have come in to fill their place with 1.5 compatible alternatives.

What I do not understand is why the holdouts did not see this coming. Why they still foolishly cling to a system that will no longer be improved, instead of rebuilding their sites in 1.5 and moving forward. Yes, I know a few have compatibility issues, and I am fully aware of the issues in moving a very large site. I’ve done it – not once, but about 5 times now. Each site took between 2 and 20 hours, depending on the complexity of the site. I did a lot of hand database recoding on sites that could not be migrated using the migration tool. Even with it, I had additional work to do to get it right in 1.5.

I didn’t really want to move forward in this way either. It is a pain in the nether regions to have to rebuild a large site. But it is preferable to do it on my time now, than to be forced to on someone else’s schedule later. And I just cannot see saddling a client with the cost of building now, an rebuilding later, when a little wisdom on my part would eliminate the need for a rebuild.

There is no room in technology for standing still. Sure, you don’t have to use it all, but when you depend on a structure like Joomla, and it is clear that one option has a future, and the other does not, it is time to get on board and learn to work in the future instead of the past.

They make it sound so easy – just create an info-product, or a replicatable product.

The reality is much harder.

The problem is, if you sell services, or products that have to be set up, you lock yourself into an hourly rate barrier – you can only do so much in the hours of the day, and if you have an hourly rate, you cap out when the working hours are filled. You hit the styrofoam ceiling.

So you need to find a way around it. Take on more clients simultaneously, automate part of the process, package a do it yourself version, create informational or training packets, etc.

But doing that creates its own set of issues:

• You now have to work to create the resources for the automation, package, or informational product. And you don’t get paid for that right away, so if you are already maxed out on time and money, where are you going to fit in product development?
• Creating each one is a lot more work than it looks like – you have to create the product, the packaging, the marketing, and the instructions. A LOT of work!
• Selling it isn’t as easy as it sounds either. Everybody and their dog has a training packet or membership site, or something exactly like what you are trying to develop. It takes smart marketing, persistence, and time to get them to sell.
• You have to differentiate them. Because everybody and their dog has one, yours has to be different, or all the marketing in the world won’t help. Making it different and desirable means you have to approach it creatively. Often more difficult than it sounds.

Still, if you can get it developed in a creative manner, and start marketing it well, there are potentials to use automation to deliver surprisingly sophisticated services, or to assist you in adding an extra layer of personalization to what would otherwise be just another book spread out across a lesson platform, or another dime a dozen training pack.

It is worth considering this early on in your business – then you can begin assembling materials as you go along, instead of having to create them cold when you suddenly realize that the day in which you’ll hit the ceiling is closer than you thought.

The right website can be a huge asset in all of this – both in providing the creative approach, and in delivering it in a unique and effective way. We are learning that just about anything is possible, and for far less than anyone would have ever thought just a year ago.

She introduced me to her daughter. She said her daughter was studying computer sciences at the University, and loved web design. I asked her, “Are you a geek?” She smiled and admitted it.

There are two kinds of techies:

• Those who are embarrassed about it, or think that they need to apologize for the name “geek”.
• Those who take pride in it, and wear the name of “geek” as a badge of honor.

She was obviously the second type.

People have tried to define what a geek is. They talk about glasses, social ineptness, and a love of pizza. In reality, geeks don’t fit any stereotype, other than this:

They are universally passionate about their area of technical expertise. They speak a language that boggles the mind of regular people. And they can get in and solve a problem that makes other people think they are a genius (we actually like that part!).

The thing I’ve noticed lately is that you can create a geek. At first, the candidate isn’t even aware it is happening. But soon, words like “processor”, “code”, and “compatibility” begin to creep into their vocabulary. It isn’t long after that before they drop their first acronym (HTML, PHP, SEO, CMS, IP, DNS), and at that point, you know that it is only a matter of time before you can hold a conversation with them which will sound mostly like real English, but which will confuse the heck out of any average person!

I happen to like the confident geeks. The ones who fully understand that it isn’t just something they do, it is part of who they are, and they take pride in their ability to comprehend and puzzle out the problems.

It isn’t a closed club. It is populated by people all across the world, of every shape, size, color, age, and lifestyle. If an overweight, middle aged, gray haired mother of eight can be a geek, pretty much anyone can!

Attended the IT Summit in Laramie, and learned some good things about internet crime from a presenter from the FBI. Some of the information was illuminating.

Much of what he said was a reiteration of what I know – common sense protects you the majority of the time. But automated crime is not only on the rise (as we feel the impact of in spam and increasing site threats), it is exponentially increasing as technology makes it easier and easier for people to automate exploitation.

The real eye opener though, had to do with website exploitation reporting. Just what do you report to the FBI? I asked him. I told him I’d had a site that was exploited, and that since the web host had shut down my site due to abuse by someone else on the site, that I assumed they’d reported it to the FBI. He said they would not! So if your site is hacked, it is up to YOU to report it, and to preserve evidence.

Evidence comes in the form of two things:

• First, any files that have been placed on your website.
• Second, the log reports that show the activity during the time in which any material was installed on your site without your consent.

So how do you get that?

The typical scenario, is this:

• You install some kind of insecure software, or a form, onto your site.
• At some point, your email from the site stops working, or you get a report from a site visitor that the site is down, or you discover for yourself that your site is down. A notice appears that it has been suspended.
• You call your hosting company, and they inform you that an abuse has occurred. At this point, you are UNABLE to access ANY files! You cannot preserve any evidence at all!
• Usually, the hosting company will remove the offensive material, and then reactivate your account.
• You can then access the log files (if your hosting package has visitor logs), but the offensive files are gone.

If you want to preserve evidence and report, you’ll need to ask your hosting company to cooperate. You’ll have to ask them to zip or tar (compress) the offensive files BEFORE they delete them, and then report the offense to the FBI, making the log files and abnormal site files available to them as requested.

To report a violation, go to: http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/. This organization is a cooperation with the FBI, and they aggregate small cyber crime reports, including site attack data, and looks for patterns, so that violators can be prosecuted. When they gather sufficient evidence to build a case worth investigating further, it is turned over to the FBI. Your report can help isolate an offender and bring them closer to prosecution.

The point here is, YOU must report. No one else will do it for you, because YOU were the victim.

Had I known that previously, I’d have reported and collected evidence on the three prior attacks experienced by myself or my clients during the last 4 years.

I’ve learned to protect sites better, but the risk is still there. In the event that it should happen again, a report will be filed, now that I know that I SHOULD, and now that I know HOW.

I had something in mind with this topic – You see, I take notes as I think of ideas, and I write down a title. Then I progress through the list when I have the time, and write each article. Only sometimes I forget what it was that I had in mind at the time… Takes some thought. And sometimes it never goes back to what it was originally.

Ah, yes. Now I recall.

I had blogged previously about trusting your own intuition and knowledge, when you get advice from an “expert” that doesn’t sound right. But there is another side to that. Sometimes the experts are right!

As a small business owner, you can’t know everything. A specialist can sometimes offer valuable insight – and often they will require you to make a shift in thinking that you do not want to make. The question is, how can you know when to trust your gut, and when your preconceived ideas are holding you back?

The first thing, is to not hire an expert just because they say they are an expert. Make sure they have some experience with businesses the size of yours, and with issues relevant to what you need. It is a lot like hiring a child psychologist who has never had children, or a marriage counselor who is divorced or has never married – personally, I’d never trust either one! Find out what their background is.

The next thing to ask yourself, is, “do they know something I do not which causes them to recommend this, or do I know something they do not, which makes their advice unworkable?”. This is critical! A good professional will be willing to discuss such things with you to help you figure it out. The answer to this helps you know if it is an understanding of the inside of your business which limits your options, or whether it IS fear holding you back.

And lastly, did they listen? I mean did they REALLY listen to your ideas, your explanations, and your own expertise? No one is an expert in every business! No “expert” can POSSIBLY advise you unless they have listened, because every situation is different. Experience helps us recognize patterns, but solutions are always individual. If they advised before listening, or if they insisted that they were right without hearing your objections, then they did not listen, and you are free to walk away and find someone who will listen!

I’ve had clients who wanted to approach a problem from a different perspective than I did. In the end, the client is the boss – but each of those situations was also very unique. Sometimes they knew something I did not. I had a chance to learn from them to increase my expertise. Sometimes I knew something they did not, and either could, or could not, help them understand it. But there is also usually MORE than one “right” way to do something. So it isn’t like if it doesn’t go my way that all hope is lost. And if you choose not to heed the advice of an expert, there may be an equally successful way to do it.

Most really good consultants will offer you a range of suggestions, and be willing to discuss the pros and cons of each, to help you think through your options. There is tremendous value in that, and one hour with a skilled consultant can save you hours and hours of trial and error and research. Like tapping into someone else’s experience for a short time – it empowers you if they have the right experience.

But if you consult a logger about baking bread, chances are you aren’t going to get the answer you need!

As a web service provider, I share a responsibility for the well-being of many of my clients’ businesses. When recession hits, I can either schlump along hoping that things will get better, or I can learn enough to help my clients pull through. By helping them, I better my business along with theirs.

In order for that effort to be successful, I have to learn some things:

• I have to be familiar enough with my clients’ target markets to understand how they are likely to react in regards to the product or service that my clients sell.
• I have to learn strategies for cost effective optimization, so they can be implemented when need is great, but money is tight.
• I have to think creatively and logically, to help them find product or service adaptations to help my clients successfully adjust their business to keep it healthy. Generally, if I understand their business well, I can help them with this.
• I need to help them devise ways to alter their marketing to reflect the changes, or to change their target market enough to help compensate for loss of revenue from their current market.

Mostly, it is a matter of learning how customers think in relation to various products or services when money is tight, and then thinking of ways to help a business compensate.

It is also important that I keep in communication with my clients, offer help when needed, and help them spot trends early that may indicate that a recession is affecting their business. Sometimes they will know something is off, but a good stats analysis can help them define where the problem is – whether people have stopped visiting their site, or whether they are still visiting, but just not buying.

To a certain degree, whether my clients survive in a poor economy, is partly due to my efforts.

Many of my colleagues are noticing a slowdown in some types of work, as people assess their resources and put off purchasing upgrade services. Even within a slow economy, there are growth potentials. Finding them can help a business weather the storm, and be one of the survivors instead of one of the sinkers.

It is important that you begin the process with the basics in place – good optimization which was prioritized to your level of growth, combined with a solid marketing plan. If you go into an economic slump with those elements in place, you already have the edge. If you don’t, then trying to put those in place when you are already hurting is very difficult. It is easier to maintain a position if you are already on top than it is to fight your way up against a double challenge.

This means, if you feel that a recession is coming, get a good marketing assessment, make sure your site is performing well NOW, and implement a long term marketing plan to keep it growing. Once that is done, you can watch for signs of flagging customer response within your market, and you’ll be well positioned to respond in effective ways.

Certain things gain ground when the economy is tight, and having a basic understanding of how the market changes can help you be prepared to adjust should the need arise:

• Frugal solutions
• Cost effective marketing services – IF they can be proven to work, or carry a guarantee
• Work at Home solutions – the spirit of gambling increases in this arena, but so do the sincere startups.
• Businesses that have been coasting as a sideline may need to pull their weight, requiring purchase of services.
• Do it Yourself options increase in popularity.
• Free informational and instructional resources gain ground.
• Necessities continue to be purchased, though at a lower price.
• Some kinds of entertainment gain ground due to escapism behaviors, but prices may need to be lowered.
• There is more scope for creative solutions, but people are less willing to pay for it.
• Guarantees, reliability, durability, proof of efficacy, full value, payment plans, and other factors become more important, so offering them can increase salability of your product or service.

People don’t STOP buying in a weak economy. They spend less, or they economize more, but they do still buy. The key is to analyze your business, and determine where the money is transferred to, or where people want to economize, and then offer them that option.

Refusal to change, or changing in the wrong way, will kill your business. The earlier you adapt, the more likely you are to continue to adapt, and hold your ground against your competition. Watch your business trends. If you have declines where you usually hold steady, or plateaus where you usually gain, taking into account seasonal trends, then you may need to assess the changes within your target market, and find a way to adjust your product or service offerings to the needs of your customers – or find a way to attract a new customer base that is migrating from another area in the market.

You’ll also need to adjust your marketing materials to reflect the differences in what you are offering, and who you are trying to attract. Most changes are subtle, not dramatic, but they make a big difference in how people respond. Marketing assistance IS available that is affordable, provably effective, and which can help you make those small changes in a way that pays for itself and more.

So far several of our clients have discussed the potential recession issue with us. And those who are watching for it have largely just gone through a series of marketing adjustments anyway. They are not seeing signs of flagging business, but rather, are experiencing growth due to the prior changes in their marketing and website promotional strategies. They are already well-positioned to hold their own, because they optimized their site and developed a solid marketing plan prior to facing potential downturns in customer purchasing.

There is no reason yet to make a pending recession a self-fulfilling prophecy. But if you own a business, it is certainly time to prepare if you have not done so, and to keep a sharp eye out for changes if you are already prepared.