So many people are frustrated with e commerce solutions that feel more like straightjackets. If you’re ready to take the bull by the horns, there are open source options . . .

Magento is a one-stop shop to manage and sell your products online. The open-source platform allows merchants full control over their eCommerce business and the underlying software that runs it. With Magento, you can create feature-rich, professional storefront including:

• multiple images per product, with zoom-in capability
• product reviews and ratings
• stock availability
• shopping carts and wishlists
• suggested or optional product lists
• send to a friend” product referrals
• customer service and customer account management
• full online payment options and integration with Google checkout, Paypal, and Authorize.net accounts

But some of the best features of this platform are on the back-end. Magento gives merchants the ability to customize their database and manage their inventory, orders, and customers from a simple and easy-to-use web interface. Pull sales reports and user analytics like cart abandonment rates and most popular products. Set RSS feeds to notify you when new orders pop up or customers leave a review.

While it may not be for the faint of heart, it’s at least worth a bit of sniffing about if you’re interested in making your platform part of your secret sauce.

Every market has its “lighthouse customers” - those that are going to be out ahead of all of the others (and ideally the ones that will show everyone else the way). The challenge - how do you find them?

One easy way is to submit your product to ThisNext. It’s a community of people who are such enthusiastic shoppers that they want to tell the world about their latest purchase - ranging from what’s a good baby gift to where should you buy tires. The site lets its users engage in shopcasting - a combination of shopping and broadcasting.

In any case, if you are looking to introduce your product to potential buyers, you can submit your product to the site and they will consider sharing it with their mavens (their most enthusiastic shoppers and reviewers).

This is an easy way to engage in some targeted sampling that may help give your new product a little more oomph in the marketplace.

You can run all of the ads that you want and you may not get your target to do what you want. Depending on the category of product or service, sometimes it’s just too hard to overcome the switching costs. Especially in banking, now that everyone uses services like electronic bill payment. We won’t say that consumers are inherently lazy.

Think about how something like BankSwitcher might be able to help you. It’s a tool that simply makes it easy to switch from one bank to another. Users indicate what bank they currently use and which one they would like to switch to. Then, it asks you to go to your online banking site and download a detailed file of transactions and account balances. Then, it asks you to indicate which things you want to change and which ones you don’t. The point here is that there’s more than one way to skin a cat.

If you’re facing an entrenched competitor with what appear to be high switching costs, don’t forget that there are ways to make it easier to switch to your camp. Have you made the effort to put tools like this one in place?

We might be biased, but we tend to think that all of the fun in e-commerce is in the marketing and selling - not putting stuff in boxes and handing them off to the guys in brown. Or whatever color you prefer.

That’s why a company like Shipwire can be so helpful. If you sell something online, they can help handle all of the warehousing and shipping. That way, you can focus on things like optimizing for search, improving your merchandise and merchandising, and even investing your time and effort in marketing. To get things going, first you arrange for your inventory to be sent to one of their warehouses (there are several). Then, once you’ve integrated with their service, when you close a deal on your site, they will handle the processing and shipping. So, is there any catch?

Nope. Unlike many other services, all you have to do is pay a monthly fee for storage, and then a per item fee for shipping. Do you want to sell something, but not deal with the hassle? Here’s how.

Even if you’re just getting started with selling something on your site or just have a small business that’s finally ready to move beyond a brochure, it doesn’t mean that you want to sacrifice your sense of style.

Nor will you have to, thanks to the e commerce offering from Shopify. You can create a store in about 5 minutes. Provide the requisite email and password, then choose a domain, then pick your initial design. There, you’re done. You have a store and administrative sections where you can add products, set up advertising, or even enable coupon codes. While this sort of e commerce option won’t give you everything, it can get you moving quickly with a basic set of options for managing your online sales. In addition to the setup, you will also need to choose how you would prefer to process payment - every merchant’s favorite part.

Oh, and best of all, you can set up a store and sell up to 10 SKU’s for free. Otherwise, the system takes both a transaction fee and a monthly charge. Try the free system - it’s a great way to see what happens behind the scenes and build your own skill set. Why not dive in?

When you’re looking for a way to generate incremental revenue but don’t have much leeway to charge more for your products, what can you do?

Try creating a new stream of service revenue with Ether. It’s a simple system that lets you charge your customers when they call your Ether phone number. When you sign up, you indicate your rate (either by the hour or the minute). The service provides you with a free phone number / extension that you can then publish as part of your new service.

When customers call the number, they’re charged by the system. The system makes money by taking a 15% cut of what your customers pay.

Whether you want to turn your free customer service or support into a paid version or maybe want to add something special for a targeted segment, here’s an easy way to get into the service business in just a few minutes.

So many service companies think that e-commerce just isn’t relevant for them. Not true. Your company may be expert in the production of electronic assets and need an easy way to sell online … and then download.

E-junkie is a service that lets you sell downloadable merchandise directly from your website. Just about any electronic media is fair game, with no bandwidth limitations. E-junkie stores your files on their secure server. When a buyer makes a purchase (e-junkie provides an integrated “fat free” shopping cart), they are routed to a payment processor, like paypal or google checkout . When the transaction is completed, the processor pings the e-junkie server, which notifies both the buyer and the seller via email, and and starts the download process. Voila! Buyers get their merchandise instantly, with very little effort on your part.

Are you sitting on electronic assets (reports, research, software) that might earn a few dollars? What’s the risk in hanging it out there for sale?

Word of mouth refers to the sometimes mysterious way that one customer might contact or influence another potential customer. From the beginning, the web has been a powerful vehicle for referring a friend … to just about anything.

Now there are tools that can help you go beyond a simple email referral, such as BazaarVoice. It’s a service that lets businesses put user-generated content like comments, ratings and reviews to work with no help from your IT department. While it does take some IT effort to get it implemented, this company will actually host all of the content and do the heavy lifting. The point here is that it doesn’t take much to let your customers provide reviews and feedback.

If you want to build an Amazon-like customer community, here’s how. Relevant and credible customer-reviews influence online purchasing more than traditional marketing channels. Just talk to your friends.

Every time you buy an asset, you’re adding to the capital base on which you have to earn a return. If you’re looking to make sure you’re getting the most out of every asset, now you have a new opportunity beyond your current business.

Zilok is a rental service that allows people to connect online and rent things out for a simple daily rate. Think of it as eBay but for rentals. Users enter into their own rental contracts and arrange the item hand-off. Similar to Ebay, Zilok also runs off of a basic search engine and offers a community forum for gathering ratings and feedback. Features like a built-in map and an item availability calendar help users manage the rental process. Currently, Zilok only offers a handful of items in a few cities, but the site is growing.

If you want to turn any of your company’s assets into more revenue, here’s a good way to do it. It may be too early, depending on where you live. Stay on top of this site if you think you’re a good candidate.

You don’t have to leave search up to the big players. There’s an emerging class of search tools that are more targeted and easier to use.

Getitnext represents how a custom search tool can add value to a site that has a lot of content. In this case, the site in question is eBay. Getitnext clears out the extraneous, and often erroneous, items that pop up in traditional eBay search results. Users are presented with more accurate results and incentives like real-time auction countdowns and shipping-included cost. The Find a Deal feature serves up prime items with zero bids and less than 4 hours remaining in auction, essentially doing the legwork for the customers in search of a deal.

Consider partnering or (for you big guys) building a custom search that makes it easier for your customers to find you, shop, and then buy. Auto dealers would be a good example.

We live in a service economy, but e-commerce seems so far to be restricted to companies who sell stuff - not services. Every invoice, whether it’s for pest control or custodial engineering, presents an opportunity to join the party.

If you manage a service company, consider using Freshbooks to let your customers view invoices and pay online. If your current version of invoicing is to write up a word document and email it, you’re going to be in for a treat. You can sign up for free (to try it out with just a few clients). Set up a client, create a custom invoice (really just upload your logo), and then you’re off and running. You can create an invoice in a matter of minutes. Then the fun stuff begins.

When your client receives the invoice (by email), he/she can follow a link to view it on your custom site (customized with your colors and logo). Once there, they can pay with a simple click of a button. The system lets you configure your system to receive payment via a long list of e commerce gateways (e.g., Paypal, Authorize.net).

If you’re looking to use every customer interaction to differentiate yourself from the other guy, here’s an easy way to do it that your customers will love.

When you’re good or lucky enough to have someone decide to buy something from you, the last thing you want to do is make them wait around.

Google Checkout can help you close the deal … fast. This offering from the search giant doesn’t really do everything that the online payment leader Paypal does (see You’re so money). However, it shines when it comes to getting people checked out quickly. Checking out takes place in just two simple web pages, limiting second-guessing. Also, the system gives you smart assurances, such as “You can still make changes to your order on the next page.” Setting up is very easy to do - simply provide your company information (including bank account), copy the code provided, and paste it onto your site. The service is free for the remainder of 2007. Even better, while there will be transaction fees in 2008, they’re partially offset by your investment in Google’s search ads.

Are all of your buyers making it all the way to checkout? If not, there’s no risk in giving them a speedier option.

For many people, it’s a real mystery as to what you can and can’t track on a website. Most of the modern analytics tools rely on a script found on each page to provide information about who clicked where (and when!). This approach works well and is easy to implement. However, with outlinks (links that go beyond your site), they tend to drop the ball.

Now you can answer the “where did they go” question, thanks to Google analytics. We’ve covered this free analytics package before (see Follow the Yellow Brick Road), but there’s a lot underneath the covers. If you’re wondering where your site visitors are going, first, set up Google Analytics. Then, make sure that all of your outlinks are coded according to these instructions - you may need your webmaster to make it happen. Then, when you pull up your account, drill down into top content and you will be able to track activity to these links (even to some of our favorite mad scientists).

Remember, this tool is free, so there’s no reason not to know. Why not get it loaded up and start analyzing where your customers are going … today?

While price promotions can be the dangerous third rail of marketing, they can be enormously useful for so many things - inducing trial of a new product, filling the cupboard before your competitor launches a product, or maybe just getting rid of stuff that you produced just too much of.

Now you can publicize your promotions to web buyers with Mpire. It’s a shopping search engine that also pulls together promotions from across the web into one simple site. For example, if you’re looking to buy a HDTV and want to see who might be holding a promotion, this is the place. A consumer can simply enter HDTV as a search term and see what special deals are available from across the web. If you’re having a special promotion for anything, here’s a free way to publicize it and drive traffic to your site.

Just choose post a deal and add the information about your promotion. There - now you can take the rest of the day off as Mpire’s users can find your special deal and drive sales.

While there’s much talk about mobile payments, you would think that the only thing available is a faster way to charge a credit card - not really move money from buyer to seller.

That’s just not true. You can make real payments using your mobile phone and PayPal mobile. Now you can send a text message payment just as easily as an email payment, opening up the opportunity for buying and selling wherever you are. If you don’t already have one, get yourself set up with a PayPal account. Then, select a phone number to activate. The system will call you and ask you to enter your PIN. There, it’s done. Now you can send payments to any email or phone number from your phone (and in just about any currency). You can even do handy things like checking your balance.

Doesn’t this make you wonder why your bank doesn’t offer this kind of service?

Remember - the easier you make it for your customers to buy - the more likely they actually will. Are you making it easy to collect money from your customers?

Despite the fact that nearly everyone over age 10 has both a credit card and a cell phone, most retailers still require you to show up, find what you want, pay, and then leave.

Time to evolve, using the web-based system called GoMobo. Here’s how it works: 1) Your customer (who has configured an account) sends you a text message order, 2) You receive that order either on a PC or by fax (what is that?), 3), Customer picks up the order (no waiting in line), and 4) GoMobo deposits payment directly into your account. While this service has focused on making fast food even faster (users include Dunkin’ Donuts, Papa John’s, Popeyes, Quiznos, and Subway) - there’s a lesson here for nearly every business.

If you make it easy for your customers to re-order and, even better, help them save time and eliminate hassle … they are likely to buy more from you. Are you still making people wait in line?

Loyalty seems to be the exclusive domain of man’s best friend, not customers. There are so many advertisements, so many temptations. Then there’s the natural inclination for customers to be a bit … promiscuous. What are you to do?

Why not let them subscribe to your product or service using Paypal’s subscription and recurring payments service? As you’ll see in this demo, all you need to do is define the parameters of your subscription (provide a name, a duration, and a billing cycle), choose or create your own customer subscription button, then publish it on your site. This system will take care of everything else: Accept credit card or bank account payments, and then maintain detailed transaction records of every subscription.

Here’s your chance to get creative about how you might use subscriptions. While of course traditional subscriptions are helpful for publications, don’t forget that you can subscribe to products (how about a toothbrush subscription … ) just as easily as you can subscribe to services (landscaping, cleaning, even … search marketing). Don’t you need to work harder to keep your customers in the fold?

Sales on the Internet are expected to reach $116 billion this year, or 5 percent of all retail sales. With so many products being sold on the web, and so many stores, it can be hard to really stand out in the crowd.

One potential way is to use Amazon’s webstore to create a micro-site to sell your unique products. For a price of $60 per month and a charge of 7% of sales, you can create an unlimited number of stores - perhaps carrying special products or even unique brands. Instead of making your shopper scan through inventory, you can create a focused store through the combination of a targeted website domain (sorry, bigdogbeds is taken, but groovydogshoes.com is available), search optimization and a search ad campaign.

These webstores can be created in a matter of minutes and may be just the secret to growing sales, especially for your unique, hard-to-find products. Do you have a product or brand that’s so special that it deserves a store of its own?