Help- After a e-commerce website with built in website builder.

[simpson7647]

hi all, im after a e-commerce website with simple builder so that i, who does not know how to build websites, can build the website myself with a simple builder.

Ive been looking at 123-reg.co.uk, but has anyone used or had any experiences???

U.K hosting and 8.99 GBP a month for the hosting sounds a decent price.

Any opinions or other websites any recon i should try?

Many thanks all

 

[OldWelshGuy]

EKM is simple, there are alsso other hosted solutions. they are not ideal however, are limited, and you are tied to them many pretty much for life.

What market are you operating in?

 

[simpson7647]

hi there, thanks for your help.
How do you mean pretty much tied to them for life? i would prefer contract yearly, nothing more as thats too much i would say

thanks

 

[OldWelshGuy]

What I meant was that if you start on one of these sites, it is a massive step to then leave them, not that you sign up for life.

Again, what market are you working in? this is important as if it is competitive, then you are going to need SEO in there, and not all of these (very few) are Search Engine friendly, most are restrictive.

 

[fisicx]

AS OWG suggests, using one of these inhouse services means you can't take it with you. You will stuggle to acheive anything using the 123reg package as you would with any other of these cheapo deals.

You have a choice. DIY on the cheap and don't sell anything or pay someone to build it for you and sell stuff.

Building an online business is not cheap. Apart from the development costs your marketing can cost you an arm and a leg. You will also be spending hours tweaking, adjusting, testing and writing to make your site effective. It doesn't happen overnight and can take years before you see a decent return.

You aren't going to be able to do all this with an £8.99 123reg ecommerce package.

 

[simpson7647]

hi all and thankyou very much for your input.
At the moment, theres only one other company sellin what im going to sell in the uk and im going to be undercutting them by around 5-8 pounds.
Yes im going to want SEO, but other free ways of marketing i have got my eyes on.
Im just wanting to create the site myself, although i have little knowledge, sell around 5-10 different items which is what im going to sell first of all.

thanks

 

[simpson7647]

EKM is simple, there are alsso other hosted solutions. they are not ideal however, are limited, and you are tied to them many pretty much for life.

What market are you operating in?

sorry, didnt see this question, the market will be vehicle/car modification. But the part im concentrating on, only one other business deals with in the uk and i can undercut their prices by a good 5-8 pounds with buying my load from the usa
I would like SEO but i would also really like to have a good go at it myself with one of these sites that offer a builder,although which one should i use which will keep my business going and the website active (such as through SEO)


thanks

 

[deniser]

Do your own site.co.uk is easy to use and is SEO friendly.

If you aren't selling anything complicated it is fine.

My problem with it was in category management but that shouldn't affect you.

 

[simpson7647]

Hi there, thankyou very much for your reply. So if I set up on the website you said, it has a simple builder to build a shop? I'll be looking to sell around ten dif products, is this good for what I'm after as I don't hve experience in making sites, thanks

 

[VNP Design]

Have you looked in to the shopify.com they have quite easy solutions for the ecommerce sites. It has professional look and simple to use system good to start with but as others said it will be impossible to move your shop anywhere from them, so you will be stuck with them for life and will get % cuts on your revenues.

My opinion building your own ecommerce site in the beginning might sound as very expensive feature but it will pay off in long run.

p.s. In online business there are no shortcuts.

Tomas

 

[simpson7647]

hi there, thankyou VPN and all for your opinion.
Shopify looks quite good but what do others think on it?
Is it SEO friendly?

thanks

 

[simpson7647]

The problem i see with shopify is that it is usa based and i think i'd prefer a uk based one.
Many thanks all and i look forward to your responses.

 

[oph]

I went to a build your own site with a uK company called Freeola. The reason I did it was because I wanted to be able to update things myself which previously i couldnt do. Its £9.99 and its an ok idea but their templates are very basic and I have to question whether it was actuall the right thing to do. Maybe I should have asked the guy I used previously with the original website to set up the same format for me

 

[simpson7647]

thanks for your reply oph.

Is it a good e-commence and what does it have build in?
link to your website so i can see how good it is?
Does it support seo?
thanks

 

[oph]

thanks for your reply oph.

Is it a good e-commence and what does it have build in?
link to your website so i can see how good it is?
Does it support seo?
thanks

If I'm really honest I have no idea if it would be suitable for you. Its ocklyngeplumbing.co.uk and yes, it needs a lot more work ( a lot more) but I needed to get at least some sort of web presence again

 

[simpson7647]

o ok thanks for your help.
I dont think they do e-commerce so there no use.
Someone please help me, is shopify any good although its from usa?

thanks

 

[thomas-design]

What I meant was that if you start on one of these sites, it is a massive step to then leave them, not that you sign up for life.

Again, what market are you working in? this is important as if it is competitive, then you are going to need SEO in there, and not all of these (very few) are Search Engine friendly, most are restrictive.

Seconded, these types of ecommerce websites are usually the devils spawn when it comes to search engines, or anything else for that matter!

 

[simpson7647]

I need one which is search engine friendly for sure though, and I'd really Like to create it myself, thanks and I look forward to your replies

 

[wdltd]

Sorry to repeat what others have said, but you get what you pay for. If you can avoid it, don't get tied into a 'cheap' ecommerce offering from a big host. It won't do your business any favours at all.

If budget is the issue, why not start out selling on Ebay or Amazon (or both). You'll have ready made traffic for your products, and will start to make some money. When you've got enough cash, invest in a decent eCommerce website from a reputable developer.

Elliot

 

[simpson7647]

I'm after a decent one but would like to build it myself, willing to pay and I'm serious about this website and business

 

[wdltd]

I don't think selling on Ebay would mean that you're not serious about your business - but it would be easier for you to get sales quickly on Ebay than it would with a brand new eCommerce site.

We use Jshop for our clients - but it wouldn't be the easiest package unless you're a bit technical - and there aren't really templates available for it. I don't have much experience of open source options - but that might be a possible direction for you to go in e.g. oscommerce, magneto etc.

 

[simpson7647]

Thanks for your help, please keep the help coming,
thanks

 

[justintime]

I can offer you domain name and hosting for £50 a year together with free installation of shopping cart. I would heartily recommend cubecart as it is simple to use and can be customised to your style with the use of templates. Price assumes you will add logo's etc and products yourself, but I am happy to to offer help and advice if needed.

10 gig webspace and 30 gig bandwidth a month. If you go over that you won't be penalised but you would be asked to upgrade your package if it was a regular occurence.

If you just want a domain name £9.95 for 2 years .co.uk or £12.95 1 year .com and I can point your hosting to wherever you want. Uptime is 99.9%

You would not be locked into a contract and you would be free to move your domain and hosting elsewhere if you became unhappy with service.

Cubecart 3 can be supplied free but I would go for Cubecart 4. It will cost you between £95 - £130 and a decent template £20-£100. SEO functions are included and you can individually SEO each product. You can get further info about cubecart at http://www.cubecart.com

PM me if you are interested in taking it further.

 

[thomas-design]

As someone mentioned above you get what you pay for in terms of eCommerce or websites for that matter so there's alot more too it than just simply editing a template.

If you haven't got a budget you might be better with something like eBay to begin with as it already has 'traffic' whereas a new eCommerce venture usually takes quite alot of effort and work to then reap the rewards afterwards.

 

[simpson7647]

hi there, thanks for the replies all and i really like the look of this justintime.
Provide more info please?
e-commerce?? simple builder??

thanks

I can offer you domain name and hosting for £50 a year together with free installation of shopping cart. I would heartily recommend cubecart as it is simple to use and can be customised to your style with the use of templates. Price assumes you will add logo's etc and products yourself, but I am happy to to offer help and advice if needed.

10 gig webspace and 30 gig bandwidth a month. If you go over that you won't be penalised but you would be asked to upgrade your package if it was a regular occurence.

If you just want a domain name £9.95 for 2 years .co.uk or £12.95 1 year .com and I can point your hosting to wherever you want. Uptime is 99.9%

You would not be locked into a contract and you would be free to move your domain and hosting elsewhere if you became unhappy with service.

Cubecart 3 can be supplied free but I would go for Cubecart 4. It will cost you between £95 - £130 and a decent template £20-£100. SEO functions are included and you can individually SEO each product. You can get further info about cubecart at http://www.cubecart.com

PM me if you are interested in taking it further.