Websites; Getting Started

[onlinegirl]

Like a lot of you here I have been doing various business things on and offline for years, I don't know everything about business but what I do know is that it's often very disheartening when things don't go to plan. We are obviously all here for the same reasons, we want to make a success (and money) out of our businesses.

If (like I did a while back) you made the mistake of putting all your eggs in one basket with Ebay or Amazon you are probably looking at what else you can do to avoid loosing money should you find yourself in a similar situation again.

A lot of people already have websites set up. But for anyone that doesn't or for those that are unsure where to begin hopefully this topic will help you. It would be good to have advice from others too.


Why a website?

Why not?

A website is something that YOU have full control of. Not Ebay or Amazon, or any other company. You can rest assured you won't have the worry of only being allowed to sell a few products. You won't loose customers from your website suddenly being suspended like Ebay accounts. You will be able to showcase your products, VERO or not and create a new or extra way of generating income. Ultimately stopping you having to worry about potentially loosing money because you no longer have an account to sell on.


Don't want to do it yourself?

If you have no knowledge of HTML etc and you don't want to learn or create your website yourself, pay a professional web designer/developer. Normally you can source them locally but if you search online you will have plenty to choose from.

Free Ecommerce Websites

I have tried to include as many links as possible to free Ecommerce websites. It's down to your personal preference which software you use. Have a read and see what you think about each option. If you need any help ask away and let me know if you can think of anymore.

ZenCart - www.zen-cart.com
OpenCart - OpenCart - Open Source Shopping Cart Solution
CubeCart - eCommerce Software | CubeCart
Magento - Magento eCommerce Software and Platform | Magento
PrestaShop - PrestaShop - Start an online store today with PrestaShop's free e-commerce software.

You can also set up Wordpress as a website to sell online if you are familiar with it.

All the shopping carts above can be customized in various ways such as obtaining templates. GOOGLE is your friend here!

Hosted Ecommerce Websites

You also have the option to have a hosted shop from different suppliers, I find these can be quite costly every month, but they can be convenient for an easy set up. Most of them have trials.

Please note I am in no way associated to any of these companies.

EKM Powershop - Ecommerce Software | Ecommerce Websites | ekmPowershop
BigCommerce - Shopping Cart Software & Ecommerce Software Solutions - Bigcommerce
1and1 - 1&1 Internet - Home
Shopify - Ecommerce Software, Online Store Builder, Website Store Hosting Solution- Free 14 day Trial by Shopify.

DON'T FORGET YOUR DOMAIN NAME!

Once you have chosen which platform you are going to use you can start navigating around the CMS/Control Panel. Familiarize yourself with the tools you have available, a lot of the carts have additional extensions for you to add to your site. If you encounter problems or need some extra help look for the support forums that are free to use and watch video tutorials on You Tube.

The control panel is your admin area. Upload products, prices, set user permissions, input SEO (or get some help) and gradually your website will begin to take shape. Remember you don't have to use Paypal as a merchant, you can integrate most checkouts such as Google Checkout, World Pay, Nochex, Money Bookers.

Need a Logo?


FACEBOOK & TWITTER

These are often overlooked as fantastic ways of marketing your online store/products. Setup an account specifically to work alongside your website, network, ask your friends to join the page/group and get promoting your business. You can easily link your accounts together with social widgets.

Also, if you spend time setting up these accounts you may be pleasantly surprised at how many people will purchase products off Facebook. This week alone 40% of my sales came from social networking sites.

Right,

That's it from me! If anyone wants to add anything that would be great.

Good Luck.

[GreenBean]

aspkin is THE master of websites. Nothing he does not know about this topic.

He has written a masterpiece of a web blueprint.

This thread is now in the WEBMASTER JUNGLE forum

There's heaps of info here

[onlinegirl]

I most certainly wouldn't question Aspkins or any other persons knowledge. If it helps it helps, if it doesn't then it's no skin off my nose

[rsot]

A nice post onlinegirl - good time taken and info seems good look forward to further contributions

[onlinegirl]

Thank you rsot appreciated

[gr8]

Yes i Agree Great Useful info

[slim jim]

Originally Posted by onlinegirl

Why a website?

Why not?

A website is something that YOU have full control of. Not Ebay or Amazon, or any other company. You can rest assured you won't have the worry of account limits. You won't loose customers, money or your reputation as you make the rules. You will be able to showcase your products, VERO or not and create a new or extra way of generating income.

h

While this is a very nice post, this info is just wrong. You can NOT do what you want. You are always at the mercy of a payment processor

[onlinegirl]

Obviously everyone has to adhere to legalities, or terms they have agree to when using a payment processor. I didn't mean it in the way it's been interpreted.

In comparison to the rules set by online selling sites a website can place whatever terms and conditions they desire, they can set payment rules on their website too if they offer methods of payment that don't need a third party processor.

In regards to avoiding limits, you avoid selling limits and payment limits IF you offer other methods.

[slim jim]

The rules you make up do not matter. People can still put in disputes or charge backs and they will get their money back. Your rules would only apply if you tried to sue someone over the matter which would not be realistic in most cases

[onlinegirl]

I'm really sorry but I'm totally confused.

I don't believe anywhere in this post I have said that people will be EXEMPT from charge backs and disputes? Common sense would prevail I would hope...

[GreenBean]

Common sense and online users are not a good combination.

Think over issues you may have had on ebay/paypal.

One's own website does not exclude those issues occurring.

[slim jim]

It says pretty clearly that you won't lose money in that paragraph. I did not answer the post to get into an argument but if you would like to go back and forth we can do that

[onlinegirl]

I understand that GreenBean, I think I should rephrase it

[rsot]

@onlinegirl, how many websites do you currently operate?

[GreenBean]

Why not share what you do too,rsot? We ask all other users to share info

We have one being created

[rsot]

I am trying to create a medical-based one soon (in the works) but not really sales - more like consulting. I am also looking at 2 other ideas but it's a bit tough to juggle work and consulting and other personal interests.

[GreenBean]

So true. Time is an issue. Mine is stretched in a similar way

[danshan]

Websites are worth negative money unless you have real buying traffic thats the key

[onlinegirl]

I currently have 2 selling websites up and running and approximately 30 domain names which I intend on building websites or blogs on. I'm working on a project at the moment for a friend where she wants to sell babies accessories/clothing, I also have another project for another friend which involves showcasing his DJ business. I do find it addictive buying domain names!

[GreenBean]

Are you using any particular site for these domains?

[onlinegirl]

At the moment I use godaddy and I also use them for some of my hosting, which in all honesty I wouldn't recommend. I will be looking at transferring some of the domains to hostgator in the next few weeks. I want a cpanel for the likes of opencart but unfortunately godaddy only offers a few solutions.

Who do you use Green Bean

[GreenBean]

Never have all your eggs in one basket.

Wise to have everything apart.

Not sure if you have ever had issues with a host being off line? TRAUMATIC.

I like godaddy both .com & co.uk. Also have ipage .

Special reason for that