VA Toolbox: 1 Shopping Cart

I have to confess. When I first heard about 1 Shopping Cart, my first reaction was, “What’s the big deal? Isn’t that just one of the software tools that create those virtual shopping carts that Amazon uses? Unless you sell something online, who would need it?” Boy, was I wrong.

1 Shopping Cart (“1SC”), being offered under various brands like Easy Web Automation, Marketers Choice, and many others, is one powerful online marketing tool. Enabling you to easily create online shopping carts is just a part of the whole package. The other things you can do with 1SC include:

• publish eZines.
• send out autoresponders, not only with eZine signups, but with product orders, information requests, or whatever you want to use to trigger the series of email communication. And you can do more than one!
• set up autoresponders to segment people by product order.
• create and manage affiliate programs.
• test the effectiveness of your online ads.
• set up coupons and bundle offers.
• offer your e-products.
• …and more!

And once you set up the system correctly to meet your needs, many process can be automated. For example, if somebody purchases your eBook from your website, the payment will be processed, the eBook link will be automatically sent to the customer, you will have upsell/cross-sell opportunities, s/he will be added to your customer database and to your eZine subscriber list if customer opts in, and s/he will be categorized based on the purchased product, making the future marketing effort easier. Throughout the process, you don’t even have to lift a finger.

Of course, to set up 1SC so that everything flows well, you need to know how. 1SC has great video tutorials included in the subscription (It’s web-based, so there is no software to download.), and there are some third party training programs available as well. If you are interested, I recommend starting with Christina Hills’ (aka “ShoppingCart Queen”) Shopping Cart Membership Club. She offers the first 3 months of membership for $1, and once you become a member, you an access to her basic video tutorials and participate in her monthly call to learn more in-depth techniques. Every time I attend her monthly call, I get at least 3 A-HAs. I am also taking a video training course on 1SC offered by Internet Monster Tamers School right now. This course was created for virtual assistants by Meredith Eisenberg, my fellow AssistU VA. I had a chance to meet Meredith about half a year ago in L.A. and was very impressed by her knowledge in Internet Marketing. So, when I heard she was going to offer a Shopping Card class, I checked out her free class videos first, and then decided to take the class right away. I believe this would be a great class for me to make sure that I am comfortable with all the aspects of 1SC.

If you are a VA wondering if you should learn 1SC, I recommend checking out above two resources. Again, Christina Hills’ Club is only $1 for 3 months, and Internet Monster Tamer’s School offers a few free lesson videos, so it’s worth checking them out.

And if you are a small business owner who are getting serious about online marketing, 1SC could be the great help to streamline and grow your business. If you have any questions on it, just holler!

(This article was originally published in my May 2009 Making Things Happen eNewsletter. To receive this complimentary eNewsletter directly in your inbox, please sign up in the sign-up box on the top-right corner of this page.)