Website advice

[Silvera]

Hi,
I have recently decided to bring my art business online and would really like some advice on the website.

Currently I've just used a template and make changes myself but as it is a site to display and sell my artwork I really want something that looks really great.

I am aware that for e-commerce flash sites are a no-no. I am selling artwork on commission basis and am now wanting to make sales online. I do think some flash sites looks really good and there are templates I can use which would function well (with a html site as well).

Could you give me your oppinions on what you'd do in my situation?
I am capable of creating a website but not a flash site and don't have the time to create one from scratch myself. I'm reluctant to pay for a website to be built for me at the moment as I make all of my money offline and not sure how much busines I'd get online.


Any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

[That Guy]

Personally I wouldn't use Flash for Speed and SEO reasons, but this is just me.

Can't you just use a shopping cart like OpenCart and customise the design to exactly how you want it?

 

[Silvera]

SEO issues would be a major factor so I'd count that out then


I've used two shopping carts before (not on this website) and found them really restrictive so far. Mainly that is due to the fact that most of the pages are information pages and articles and only a couple are for the commission requests so a cart may not work particularly well I don't think.

I'll have an explore of the carts I've not tried though.


Thanks

 

[Mike George]

Would one of the gallery sites designed for photographers be suitable? There are quite a few hosted ones or you can get open source ones to host yourself.

 

[Ali-v-8]

use cube cart
its cheap easy to learn and require only some basic knowledge.
seo is easy
you can display and sell your artwork in one simple step.

 

[alienzdive]

First step is to purchase a website and put a few key words into it! Then build from there.

 

[bdw]

I'm reluctant to pay for a website to be built for me at the moment as I make all of my money offline and not sure how much busines I'd get online.

It's called speculating.

Stay away from Flash and on an art website forget about making it look too special. IMO it's the product that should stand out on this type of website. Classy/plain would be better.

.

 

[designnudgewill]

I think alienzdive is right why not test the water by starting a art blog using free software like WordPress. This would give you a good ideas as to whether your site would be successful and at the same time help you build up a potential customer base.

 

[pcross]

If you web presence is anything other than 'Professional' your online business may never really meet your expectations. Bite the bullet and get a good, professional web company do the site and make it work for you. I'd stick to doing the art business and let the web people to the web business - after all - they do that all day long.