Unless you have bottom-less pockets or access to a well of money, most authors will need to sell their books from their own websites. Dedicating a portion of your site to e-commerce is an excellent way to move inventory and collect profits. No surprise, there’s an amazing amount of e-commerce information available for anyone seeking to learn more. After combing through countless sites, blogs and articles, we discovered some standouts.

If you’re just starting out and wondering what you’ll need to include in an e-commerce site, consider reading 5 Universal Principles for Successful eCommerce Sites. Smashing Magazine has written a detailed piece that walks you through some of the core features that an e-commerce site needs in order to be effective.

Unlike a basic website or a simple blog, e-commerce sites require additional functionality in order to process financial transactions safely and securely. Depending upon what your needs are, the amount of inventory that’s being sold and what your budget parameters are, you may want to consider using Magento. As an open-source e-commerce platform, Magento has a tremendous amount of support and customization options for users. The high-level of flexibility makes it a leader in e-commerce software solutions.

Conducting research on e-commerce trends, industry changes, new technology and consumer demographics is vital to remaining competitive and staying business. Knowing that consumers are growing averse to using credit cards for online purchases or why they’re abandoning shopping cart sites can help you avoid failure before you have a chance to get started. Research can also dispel any myths or preconceived notions about e-commerce. For instance, men spend more than women online not vice versa.

Launching an e-commerce site sounds like a great idea, but if you don’t really know where to begin it can seem pretty intimidating. A quick read of E-Commerce Explained: A Research Paper will help synthesize the process and make the concept and process easier to digest.

It’s important to keep your finger on the pulse of the e-commerce industry. Knowing that e-commerce growth is slowing, but still out-pacing retail can help with profit forecasting and expenditure reduction. Digging up data that shows how Facebook and social media is influencing the buy process can be used to adjust your marketing strategy.

Take some time to get familiar with what works, before you spend your resources on implementing an ecommerce plan. If you do it right, you’ll have your e-commerce shopping cart full in no time.