Starting Online E-Commerce Site in India

Do you have a business plan? But can't spend thousands of Rs. on its website development? How will you get hosting, payment gateway etc.

All these things trouble for any new online e-commerce startup. But recently I stumbled upon a new service and they are really superb for starters. The First and foremost thing for starter should be ease of use. If your site grows then you will surely need a customized solution but that solution will need funds too. But for starting you won't need such things. The only requirement will be a site which has easy to use admin panel, easy to add products (I have used opencart too and I can tell you even opencart is easy but still its time consuming), easy to navigate for customers, easy login/signup, and integration of Payment Gateway.

Apart from above, you will also need a reliable webhosting which will cost you around $100-200 per year. If you are yourself a web developer and have lots of time then you can make your own website but if not then you will need some solution and I am giving you the solution in this post.

First of all let me tell you one small thing, if you want to start a hobby website like selling your craft products, selling your antiques etc. then you won't be having Sales Tax registration number which is mandatory for almost all payment gateway but with Zepo you can register as individual, and get payment gateway facility. Isn't it great?

First of all here is the link for the website : Zepo

Now something regarding its service and comparison with others:

1. Costing: Zepo has three plans, Basic, Starter and Pro. Though for many basic will suffice but I will not recommend it as you won't be getting payment gateway along with this plan. Pro is also not very useful plan. Its useful only if you have more than 1000 products. For any starting website, the best plan is starter. And they also give 20% discount on annual payment. Price of starter plan is really good and at the cost of hosting (with any reputed company) you will get full website.

2. Features : Zepo is full of features required by any starter but my fav feature is having the ability for facebook login. That gives advantage for new customers who don't want to signup with lengthy forms.

3. Payment Gateway:  They give free payment gateway with their plans. Yes I am correct, they pay the initial payment gateway themselves, so you will get free payment gateway. Consider this a payment gateway registration fee is Rs. 25000/- and this you get for free.

4. Support: They have great support and provide free 14 days trial so that you can check their website and make your store ready even before paying.

5. Themes: They have attractive themes for your use. You will love them.

I would only say that having an e-commerce website was costly affair previously, running it was a tiresome job but with Zepo everything is at ease.

PS: I also checked for similar service providers but their prices were so high that even if I joined them then my whole year's profit will go for their initial setup only. So do check with others too and you will know what I want to say.

To join you can also click on following banner:

Get Free Software Daily

Giveaway of the Day is a service or better say an idea through which you get daily one paid software for free. There are no ads or any shareware softwares. They all are fully functional paid softwares.

The only catch is that each software is available for 24 hours only, if you don't download and install in those 24 hours then you won't be able to get it for free but if you have downloaded and installed it in those 24 hours then you can have it forever for free.

Site link : Giveaway of the Day

Online Personal Factory

Do you want to start your own personal factory?
Do you want to fabricate your own designs?

Do you want to create your own prototypes using high quality 3D Printers?

You do not want to invest a lot in getting all the above things.

If answers to all or any of the above question is YES then do not worry. There is an online solution, sad news is that it is cheaper for US but the shipping cost is very high for Indian Customers. But if your product is mission critical or if you compare the cost of purchasing your own 3D printer then it is nothing.

So Here is the website : Ponoko Online Personal Factory

Its easy and you can create great stuffs there. Even you can create your Metal Visiting Cards with die cut design.

So what are you waiting for head over to Ponoko.com and enjoy.

Deep web Searching for Files on Rapidhare or similar sites

There are times when you might like to get any file from internet but you don't know from where to get it. When you search on google then you get a lot of results but many of them don't work properly, with properly I mean they have information on the file but no download link, and even there is download link then those links are old or deleted.

Even in Forums you find lots of download links on files hosted at Rapidshare, Megaupload, Hotfile or similar files sharing site but due to inactivity many of these files are deleted. So how to search for those files which are not deleted? Surely you don't want to waste time and bandwidth on searching files which when you try to download is deleted by the Downloading Site?

Here is a solution. In fact it is a website which does deep searching on Internet with the search string you provided for files hosted on Rapidshare, Megaupload, hotfile or similar hosting sites. It also provide you the link where these files were posted.

I was able to locate Windows Mobile Device Center with this website.

So here is the Link : Filecrop

Enjoy

Update Manager for Joomla

Updating a Joomla Installation can be a nightmare, but there is a very small component which makes the update process so simple that any novice user can also update his Joomla Installation.

All you will need to do the following steps to update Joomla:

* Download Update Manager for Joomla from Here : Update Manager
* Install it on your Joomla usings Extensions->Install/Uninstall
* Run the Update Manager from Components->Update Manager
* Follow the onscreen instructions.
* Update of your Joomla Installation will complete within few seconds.

So enjoy updating your Joomla and stay ahead.

Beware of Speakasiaonline.com (aka Speakasia)

I know that this title can raise many eyebrows, but I am sure that in a year or two people will thank me for this post.

I generally do not speak much about MLM as ultimately they all run away with people's money and by now everyone should have learned this, but in recent days I saw a rising trend of people speaking about speakasiaonline.com

Here are some points which I wanted to tell you then you can yourself verify whether Speak Asia is good for you or not?

1. Speakasiaonline.com is a Singapore company but it need to host its mail on rediffmail? Everyone knows that Rediff Mail is an Indian Company with global presence but the majority of Rediffmail pro users are Indians and if anyone from Singapore needs outsourced email then they can easily select gmail but not rediffmail pro.

Here is the DNS Record for Speakasiaonline.com :

SPEAKASIAONLINE.COM DNS RECORDS
Record Type TTL Priority Content
speakasiaonline.com A 30 minutes 113.197.34.110 ()
speakasiaonline.com MX 1 hour 10 mail.rediffmailpro.com
speakasiaonline.com NS 1 hour ns05.domaincontrol.com
speakasiaonline.com NS 1 hour ns06.domaincontrol.com
speakasiaonline.com SOA 1 hour ns05.domaincontrol.com. dns.jomax.net. 2011033100 28800 7200 604800 86400
speakasiaonline.com TXT 1 hour v=spf1 include:spf.qlc.co.in ~all
speakasiaonline.com SOA 1 day ns05.domaincontrol.com. dns.jomax.net. 2011033100 28800 7200 604800 86400
test.speakasiaonline.com A 1 hour 113.197.34.99 ()
www.speakasiaonline.com CNAME 1 hour speakasiaonline.com

2. It is very strange that a Singapore based company is giving its payout FAQ only for Indian Bank?
Check out The FAQ section under Rewards, you will find this line:

Q3) How do I redeem my reward points from the company?

A:The reward points can be redeemed for buying products , services and subscriptions . Un utilized reward points can also to transferred from your e wallet upon request to your bank account at the end of 30 days from the date of filling up the survey. Within 7-14 working days (depending upon the local bank in India) the amount gets credited to your bank account. Amounts are credited in your local currency by the bank. A bank transfer charge at the rate of 3% is applied subject to a minimum of USD7.5 .

3. Traffic source

Being a Singapore based company focusing all world, it is very strange that 80% of the traffic for the site is from India and the remaining 20% is from Bangladesh.

4. Enough of the above jargons as most people will not understand and those who understand above matter will not easily fall into prey of these sites. So here is one example which can raise the doubt:
According to one person who tried his best to convince me for Speak Asia, that they pay Rs. 1000 per survey. Which company on earth could pay such a large amount for one Survey? lets be genuine even if the amount is $1 USD i.e. Rs. 50 per survey then also its too much. I mean in present time you can get thousands of accurate survey done in much lesser amount.

That guy told me that a company pays Rs. 30 lac for advertisement then instead of that advertisement they can reach to clients much faster than survey. Then here is the answer I gave, when a company pays Rs. 30 lac for an advertisement then they reach a very large audience. For instance an Ad in World cup final would be viewed by atleast 50 million people. But if this amount is divided by 1000 then the target audience would be only 3000. So why would a company leave 30 million viewers to achieve only 3000 for the same amount? Will you do it?

4. Rs. 11000 for subscription to their website only. There is no commitment from them, i.e. any legal bounding for providing you any survey. So you can't do any case against them. Even if you do then whom you will file case against?

5. How long speak asia will stay?

Thats a question which is even uncertain for the owners of the Speakasiaonline. The simple answer is they will stay online as long as their income is more than their debts. That is as long as the number of new registrations on their site is giving them more money than what they need to pay to their existing users. The day when the income is equal or less than the debt, they slowly will disabling accounts and then reducing the number of surveys, then claiming surveys as fraud. This way they can squeeze maximum profit and sooner they will close down their site.

So as long as the site is online then you can make money but there is no certainty how long they will remain active. So take risk if you want.

And for those who want to comment that this site is reliable, they are making money, they can show proof I would like to say only this thing :

I don't care how much money you are making or you have purchased a brand new Honda Civic with the earnings. I don't want to join this or any kind of MLM. I am happy for your profits but I prefer the hard way of doing business rather than such fast methods of earning money.

Working on a Craft Blog and Craft Site

Now I am working on a Craft Blog and a Craft Site, I have set up the design and added some content and also working on to increase the content. Since there I will be updating my Craft Work and other information related to Paper Craft so there is a lot of work to do. Right now I am trying to create atleast one Greeting Card per 2-3 days so that I can update those on my new blog. I am also working on a Kirigami White House, which might complete in this April.

Other than that I will be adding some more content in my website (Adityastar.com) also.

My other plans for the blog are : To start a contest and to start a blog candy (Both for my Craft Blog)

So those who love making Cards and Crafts should stay tuned as I will introduce a contest and a Blog Candy in April 2011.

Here are links for My "The Craft Zone"

The Craft Zone Site (Contains Gallery, Resources, Information and a Shop)

The Craft Zone Blog (Contain Articles and Tutorials)

The Craft Zone on Facebook (A Facebook Page which will have some exclusive information other than Blog and Site)

So stay tuned to get latest info on Art and Craft :)

Some new changes at Adityastar.com

Recently I introduced some new changes in Adityastar.com and also some valentine themes stuff.

So head over to Adityastar.com to find out...

PDFZilla for Free till 5th Feb 2011

Have you ever wanted to convert PDF File to Word, Image or any other format?

You might try PDF Zilla, its license cost is $29.95 but wait you can get it for Free from them. Yes!! PDF Zilla is offering Free License Giveaway to every one till 5th Feb 2011.

Just download it and use the serial no given on their site.

What PDF Zilla Can do :

Convert PDF to Word
Convert PDF to Word with all text and Graphical data.
Convert PDF to RTF
Convert PDF to Rich Text Files. You can edit all text and graphic by Windows Wordpad.
Convert PDF to TXT
Convert PDF to plain text files. You can edit text by Notepad.
Convert PDF to Images
Convert PDF to BMP, JPG, GIF or TIF files.
Convert PDF to HTML
Convert PDF to HTML files and automatically generate the Index file.
Convert PDF to SWF
Convert PDF to Shockwave Flash Animation files which can be published on websites.
Page Selection
Convert all the pages, or partial pages of PDF file.
Easy to use software
Add a PDF File -> Select the Output File Format -> Click on Start Converting button, then just have a cup of coffee :)

PDFZilla is a great software which will help you do all the conversion you need for PDF File to any format.

I am using it and I love it. I know that you will surely love it. It can be used for many purposes like :

1. You might want to edit some image in PDF file and you don't own Photoshop or any other costly graphic editing program which allow you to edit PDF File directly.

2. You might need the content of any PDF File to use for your document.

and many more uses...

PDF Zilla Website

PDF Zilla Free License Give away Link

Enjoy!!!

Create your own Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar

Kingfisher has provided a facility on their website where you can do your photoshoot with their model using their online flash interface.

In this you will be given a virtual Camera and a movie clip of around 3 minute playing, you can click photos which you can use for creating your own calendar. Its very easy and you can download the calendar as Wallpapers for your Computer.

Here is one picture which I created using this Service:

So what are you waiting for just visit the Kingfisher Calendar site and create your own Swimsuit Calendar.

Website : Kingfisher World Photoshoot

Tip: Try to click as many picture as you can as you have 99 photos but less time.

Duckload.com - Get paid for your file downloads

There are lots of sites which pay per download and among them one is Duckload.com, its a pretty new site but it has one major advantage which many other sites don't have i.e. they count all the countries.

You can get as much as $25 per thousand downloads of your file.

They have a nice user area and stats display and they pay weekly through paypal.

I have joined recently and I will update how it is going.

Till then for those who want to join here is the link : Duckload.com

Get Paid To

Getpaid to is a real PTC website which pays. Though payments are less as compared to fake sites which claim to pay $50 per click but since they pay (minimum payout $0.01 by paypal) so its a nice site to try.

Check : GetPaidto

Print on Demand with Justprint.in

Print on Demand is not new but the problem is that till date only business documents and books were available through it. What if you want to pint paper models? Literally there were no service available earlier for Indians. In US you can get documents printed through Staples but in India no one was there.

But now there is one which not only provides cheap rates but also fast service. Almost next day delivery. The Service is of Overnite Express, name Justprint.in

To test their service I ordered 10 A3 Size printouts on 225 GSM Matt Finish (cost Rs. 19.60 per page), in which I put some tiles of HVStreet Model (WorldWorksGames) and my personal tiles of Grass which I am making for my future Forest Model. I ordered on Monday morning, I also got Rs. 50 off since it was my first order. So a total cost was Rs. 196 (cost of 10 paper) + Rs. 40 Courier Charge - Rs. 50 (Discount): Total - Rs. 186. I got the printouts on Wednesday morning (they reached my city on Tuesday itself but the courier guy didn't delivered on tuesday) still a fast service considering the order was small. Now the Quality: The paper was good and the packing was great so that the papers may not fold (A big point), printouts were a bit glossy but they were clear. Grass printout looked very impressive and the HVStreet tiles were a bit dark but thats due to the Tile Set also. Overall I can safely give 9/10 points for Quality of Printout. Since the printouts were through Laser Printer so there is also no problem of fading of prints by water drops.

Overall the service of Justprint.in is so good that soon I am going to make a big order of around 40-50 A3 pages with them (I am preparing the pages). I also recommend all Indian Paper Model makers to try their service and save time, money and efforts for printouts.

Their website : Justprint.in

Get $50 Facebook Voucher and $75 Adwords Voucher for $6.99 only

Here is a method through which you can get $50 Facebook Voucher, $75 Adwords Voucher for $6.99 only. Though you can use this trick only one time but if you have access to Virtual Credit Cards then you can get as many vouchers as you want.

Here is how it works :

Goto Godaddy through the following link:

Hosting at GoDaddy.com - World's largest Web host!

Then Order for 1 Month Deluxe Plan ($6.99 per month), don't use coupon codes otherwise you won't get vouchers.

After finishing the order you can get the Vouchers(it take 2-8 hours to add the voucher to your account) through Account Manager in Godaddy.

You can also get a Domain name for $1.99 with this order so if you planned to buy a domain name then don't forget to order it at the time of checkout. This way you will be able to get a Domain Name, $50 Facebook Voucher, $75 Adwords Voucher and one month hosting for $8.98 only.

Here is a tip: If you need only Facebook or Adwords voucher then you can sell your space voucher at Digital Point Forums or other Internet Forums.

Star Gift App Generator

Today Adityastar.com has launched it new Gift Application Generator, Star Gift App Generator, its a Facebook Application which allows facebook users to create their own Gifting Application and earn money through Advertisements.

More information on Star Gift App Generator is available on Adityastar.com at Star Gift App Generator Information.

You can use Star Gift App Generator as a secondary source of income. I will post tutorial on how to make the best out of it very soon.

Stay Tuned.

Free Mailing List Software

An E-Mail Newsletter is a great way to attract users to your website and inform them about new products. There are lots of mailing list softwares available on Internet but most of them either are feature less or are heavily paid. For instance many users will say MailChimp (www.mailchimp.com) is a great service for email marketing, but I found it a bit difficult for those who are not living in US, i.e. they often put your account on scrutiny and never revert back to you. Only way I found with Mailchimp is that you need to buy a Package. While if you have a small scale website and want some free service with total customization then you might find difficulty.

So here is a solution : Acymailing List

This Software is for Joomla (Only drawback that you will need your site in Joomla). It is a plugin which when installed will provide you a mailing list service.

All you need to do is to download this plugin from : Website (Download the Standard One as it is free)

Then install it in your Joomla (Using Install->Plugin)

Then you will need to enable one module i.e. Mailing List (This will allow guests on your website to register for mailing list).

You will be able to find a Component ACY Mailing and using it you can send various newsletters. There are some readymade templates and designing a newsletter is very easy if you know how to create article in Joomla as it is an article which will be sent to your mailing list.

You can create unlimited Newsletters and Mailing Lists with Different Users in every list. You can also see how many have opened the mail in stats, also you can send a test mail before sending it to the list.

You can manually add users in the list or send mail to all Joomla users and many more options to configure.

There are 4 types of Acymailing, but for most users the Standard one which is free is good enough. I have installed it on my website : Adityastar.com , and using it I am sending 2 different types of newsletter and my users are liking it.

Try and you will sure like it.

Website : AcyMailing Starter

Have Fun
Aditya

cpSync Backup Service

A very difficult task for Web Host and Web Masters is to have backup. Many website owners find themselves in a difficult situation when something bad happens and they loose their data. To help them here is a nice service by cpSync. Its easy to set up and both webmaster and clients can have their own backup.

From their website:


cpSync Backup Manager is a completely free cPanel® plugin developed to automate the full cPanel® backup generation for resellers and end users. By using this plugin, a reseller or a cpanel user can generate backup of all his accounts and send it to cpSync remote servers every day!

cPanel® users no longer need to login to cPanel® for generating a full backup, let this job be done by cpSync Backup Manager, everyday or every week!

cpSync has been divided as two

1. cpSync Backup Manager : This will backup all data including files,databases, emails, sub domains etc
2. cpSync DB Backup Manager: This will only backup the databases of ALL users or Selected users

In both cases, the backup will be generated and send to the cpSync.net servers immediately

cpSync Backup Manager is for every end users where as cpSync DB Backup Manager is only for the server owner.
If you are a server administrator/owner, install our free plugins for your users, see the Download tab for instructions. See the FAQ page to find out why you should install cpSync on your servers!

If you are a cPanel® end user or a Reseller, select one of the backup space package and purchase it. Once you purchase the package you'll get a welcome mail instantly, which contains username and password to access your backup account. You'll also get instructions how to activate the login.

Website : cpSync

Enjoy

Facebook Connect With Joomla

Today after much thought I finally decided to add Facebook Connect facility with my site Adityastar.com which is based on Joomla. My Site is in Joomla because there are lot of useful extensions available for joomla and most of them are free to use.

For Facebook connect I used an extension named : myAPI

It is free, easy to install and configure. All you need to do is download myAPI from Joomla Extension Directory (Direct Page for myAPI at Joomla Extension : Here)

Then install it. You will need to create an application in Facebook, just follow the instructions given in myAPI and you will be able to set up an application.

Then enable the Facebook Connect component, Facebook Fan Box component and Facebook activity component and configure them as per your requirement. Your Joomla site will be connected with Facebook.

You can see it is extremely easy and very much effective. For Demo on its working feel free to visit : Adityastar.com

Have Fun

House Model 1

A nice House Model I made using Google Sketchup and Textures from rendorsity. You can download it for free and print and make your own Paper House.

You can change the size of the printout to make a variety of houses.

Here are pics of the house :

Download

Convert your blog to book

Have you ever wanted to convert your blog into pdf? or better in a physical book?

Here is an online tool which will help you do it within minutes. You can also order it in a physical book. So try today :

Website : http://blog2book.pothi.com/