1. Web Site Creation & Hosting 
   At AI-NetComm we offer a Site Builder Tool with every hosting account. Just click on 'Web Site Builder' in your Control Panel to start creating your Web site. Or, if you prefer you can use any other Web site creation software. For your convenience we have put together a list of recommended software packages that you can use to create and maintain your Web site. Finally, you can hire someone else to design your Web site. We have partnerships with some of the top web site designers and they all offer a 10% discount for AI-NetComm customers.

2. Setup Your Online Storefront
   E-commerce software is what is necessary in order to setup your products, input pictures, manage orders, invoice customers, and take customer payments. All of our hosting plans come with FREE award winning Miva Merchant E-commerce software. Miva Merchant offers browser based administration, making it easy for you to setup your storefront anywhere you have access to the Web. Just add your products and the software will total your customer's order, calculate the tax & shipping, email you with a description of the order, email the customer with an invoice, and more. It will even process your customer's credit card and put the money directly in your checking account. This is called 'Real Time credit card processing' and requires a merchant account & payment gateway or a Paypal account as described below.

3. Get a Merchant Account And A Payment Gateway or Setup An Account With Paypal
   In order to accept credit cards online you need a merchant account and a gateway or you can sign up with Paypal and use their merchant account and gateway. If you are just starting out, and only expect a few orders, then Paypal is the most inexpensive way to start. But, if you expect to have more orders, then you should go ahead and get your own merchant account and gateway. Having your own merchant account and gateway makes it easier to do returns, search for orders, perform sales reporting etc. Both are easy to setup in Miva Merchant.

To apply for your merchant account and payment gateway online or signup with Paypal, click here.

4. Setup A Secure Environment (SSL)
   In order to take credit card information from your customer's you will need to have a secure certificate setup on your account. At AI-NetComm we supply you with free use of our secure certificate! No need to purchase your own certificate just use ours. Then just put in your secure address in your shopping cart software where it asks for the secure address, and all your check out pages will be secure.
   
   If you decide you want to get your own secure certificate, we make that easy for you as well. Just click on the 'secure certificate' button in your control panel and you can easily generate the code to give to either Thawte, Geotrust, or Equifax to request your certificate. Then when you get your secure certificate code from them, just go back to your control panel and input that coding. It's that easy!

5. Generate Traffic
   With each of our E-commerce hosting plans you get a Search Engine Submission Tool located in the Control Panel. This powerful tool will submit your site to multiple search engines with a click of a button!