eMerchant pro

If you want to make it big in the burgeoning electronic marketplace, check out eMerchant pro to get your feet wet. For a very small investment, you get everything you need--except a brilliant idea. Once you've got that idea, pop open the box and get started. You'll find plenty of templates inside to get you started designing the major parts of your site. You can catalog thousands of inventory items, register a domain name (free!), and set up your first three months of Web hosting (also free)--all in the first few minutes after installation. From there, you can begin to provide audio, video, and snazzy graphics to show off your products or services and easily start attracting customers from the far reaches of the planet.

Through the unfortunately named, but powerful Telemarketing feature, you can communicate directly with live customers and tailor your sale nearly as well as face to face; this is a significant advantage for the little guy. Through various cool reporting tools, you can observe site traffic, adjust your content, and improve sales all with a few mouse clicks. You don't have to be a computer techie or a marketing whiz to make it all work either; eMerchant pro has excellent tutorials to guide you along every step of the way (except for that brilliant idea).

Process credit card information securely, use shopping carts, calculate taxes and shipping charges automatically, control your inventory on the fly--there's so many features attached to eMerchant pro that it's hard not to think they're trying to pull a fast one. Over time, you'll see that if you've got something other folks want, this package is a transparent means of doing commerce. Medium- and large-scale businesses will want to move on, but if you're just starting out or just moving your small business online, then by all means find a need and fill it with eMerchant pro. --Rob Lightner

Create effective e-commerce Web sites. Catalog thousands of items with secure online transaction technology. Easily create and update a secure e-commerce Web site. Step-by-step wizards show how to get your business online in about an hour. Showcase your services and products with animations, photos, sounds, and videos. Communicate directly with online customers. No design or technical experience required.