How to start an online store

This title may be a little misleading, due to the fact that my experience is limited in starting an online store.  But I wanted to share what I know so far, though my earnings have been slim.  I've decided to start a sporting goods store www.fourthquartersports.com.  If you were to click on this link you would see that the website is still under construction, due to the complexity of installing zen-cart for a beginner.  It will wear you out, but its free, so I press on.

The number one priority in setting up an online store is finding a domain name.  I used www.netfirms.com, I like them better then Go-Daddy because they are more conservative in their values.  Once that is complete, I used hostgator.com to be my website server.  I also created a logo on www.logogarden.com.  That logo won't compete against Nike or Fedex (with the subliminal arrow) but its not bad for a beginner.  So far I'm out about $75, and feeling pretty good about things.  That is great compared to starting a brick and mortar retail store.  But reality set in as I realized that there is a great deal of competition in the sporting goods arena.  Never-the-less I have decided to plug along.
When I returned home from being out of town, I started to set up my business in Utah.  This was a bit tricky as you need to accomplish several things, and it has to be in order.  First I went on the Utah.gov website https://secure.utah.gov/osbr-user/user/welcome.html.  This is the go to website and answers many questions. I called them to make sure that my business name Fourth Quarter Sports was still available, and to my joy it was.  Next I contacted the IRS to get my employer identification number.  You'll need this as you set up your business.  Back on the secure utah website I did the one stop online business registration.  This took care of my LLC, (which is important for protection), my business name, and it generated a utah sales and use tax number.  I took all of this imformation down to the utah state tax commission 210 N 1950 W, slc, utah.  Everything was finalized there, and I was able to get my customer tax id number so I could set up shop with vendors.
With all this in hand I started searching the web for "setting up vendor accounts for sporting goods".  I looked for those that would drop ship my products right to the customer.  This alleviates stocking up items at home.  There are many companies that are happy to do this, but your margins become thinner.  I was surprised to link up with several wholesalers, even while my website was still under construction.  While I have great hope that my business will do well, worst case scenerio is I'll have some products for family, friends, and my team, at wholesale prices.  I've also starting learning my way around computers, and the science of SEO strategies for Google, bing, and yahoo.
Now I'm off to the hardest part yet for a beginner like me; installing zen-cart.  While there are many good shopping carts out there, I'm whats called (a tight wad), so I'm going with the free, super complex shopping cart system (Zen Cart).  I am super excited to be selling great sporting good products, and apparel such as Nike, Ogio, Port Authority, Sport-Tek, Russell athletic, active wear, outer wear, and the list will continue to get bigger.  Please stop by www.fourthquartersports.com, and like us on facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fourth-Quarter-Sports/168308039985288, and follow us on twitter https://twitter.com/fourthquarters/lists.  Oh and again if you know of a 6 foot 5th grader, with great basketball skills, living in the Lehi, Utah area, let me know.  We are thinking of putting together a traveling team, that travels exclusively to Montana and back.