moving on from actinic express.....

[becky]

Hello all

Well my site's been up and running for a little while now, and while actinic express was good to get it started, I'm now thinking about moving on to something a bit more flexible that I can update and tweak myself.

I'm thinking of getting actinic catalog, or maybe investing a bit more to get the business version, but then part of me thinks maybe I should just go the whole hog and get a professional to design the site for me.

Any advice would be welcomed. Should I spend a bit more now on getting a professional in, and based on the sort of site I've got at the moment could anyone let me know roughly how much it would cost to get a site put together.

Thanks in advance

Becky
www.newlittleperson.com

[Ravenfire]

Hi Becky

What type of thing are you looking to be able to do with your site?

Did we link exchange at some point (I noticed my link on your site - thank you - unfortunately you missed out the s in mumszone :)) If you havent already put a link on my site give me a shout and I will give you the link page to submit.

My web designer does an awful lot of OScommerce but it depends on whether you want something like that or something different?

Toni

[Astaroth]

The "problem" with getting a truely bespoke website including the back end is that either you either tie yourself into a designer or if you do decide to switch to another company have to pay more money for them to fully understand how the back end works. The advantage of using an off the shelf catalogue/ shopping cart system is that most designers will know how the top 20 work and how to customise it.

Of cause the big advantage of customised is that it works exactly how you want it to.

Given I used to aways code from scratch I would be more inclined to go with bespoke but there are longer term considerations.

[bitsnstuff]

Hi,

I was in a similar quandry when I first started and my site is in Actinic Catalog.

Hope that helps.

Kate :lol:

[DuaneJackson]

I think a bespoke system would give you a better return in terms of your visibility in search engines, number of sales and saved admin time.

Do bear in mind Astaroths points above though

[Whistle Ink]

Hi Becky,

You can certainly update things yourself using Actinic. Can you not do that with Express? Also what do you mean by 'tweak'? What extra / different do you want the cart to do?

http://www.actinic.co.uk/products/matrix.htm

Overall the ideal situation would be to get a custom job done. As Duane says it can save on admin time and as your business grows, things can be tailored to suit you and the way you work.

However I also agree with Astaroth too. The problem will always be finding the right person for the job. This is harder than than the decision to get a custom job now rather than later. If you find the right person then your business will beenfit greatly.

The advantage of using an off the shelf catalogue/ shopping cart system is that most designers will know how the top 20 work and how to customise it.


I don't totally agree with that as I can't get non actinic designers to (or at least the ones I want to!) to work on my actinic shop!

If you are looking for a custom job I'd recommend that you get in touch with Rob at Matrixx or Duane from Key One / Kash Flow.

Bye

Paresh :D

[Astaroth]

I don't totally agree with that as I can't get non actinic designers to (or at least the ones I want to!) to work on my actinic shop!

It has been 6 years or so since I "professionally" designed any websites and so the world of web development may have changed since my day. I am only 27 and already having to say "since my day" :cry: