Website advice?

[Borghesehouse]

I'm looking to start a website soon to sell products online I haven't what goods to sell yet but I was thinking of designing the website myself through software i have on my MacBook
My question Is whether it is better to get the website done by professionals so it is really nice looking?
Also if anyone has any advice about driving traffic to the website it would also be really handy!

 

[5iron2]

I'm looking to start a website soon to sell products online I haven't what goods to sell yet but I was thinking of designing the website myself through software i have on my MacBook
My question Is whether it is better to get the website done by professionals so it is really nice looking?
Also if anyone has any advice about driving traffic to the website it would also be really handy!

Use a professional - its always worth it. but make sure you own the IP of the software

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

What software do you have? If you have the know-how and ability there is no harm starting out designing the site yourself using open-source shopping carts such as OpenCart, Magento or ZenCart but you can also consider all-in-one hosted cart solutions like ekmPowershop, Free Webstore, OpenMindCommerce or eShop Systems. Each will give you the ability to launch a new online store and grow it as the business grows.

If you do not have the know-how then of course you can consult a professional to either assist or develop the whole site but obviously you will have to pay the going rate for such a service. I am sure there are members on here who would be able to assist you and offer advice which ever path you chose.

 

[webgeek]

I recall building a first cart for someone as a favor using ecommercetemplates, because it worked in Dreamweaver and was very easy to install, configure and administer.

If you're not in a huge hurry, and you have the skills and aptitude to develop them further, then there's nothing wrong with getting your hands dirty with the development.

If you want a flawless, turnkey solution up quickly, with minimal headaches, then pay one of the pro's to put one together for you. Often the time you save can be used to do what you do best, so that you can earn the money to pay for what others do best. Specialists are worth their weight in gold.

 

[bdw]

My question Is whether it is better to get the website done by professionals so it is really nice looking?

You are really the only one who can answer that question since we don't know what standard of a job you will be able to turn out. If you have the design skills then it could work but bear in mind what your reaction is when you are looking for products or services online and a poorly designed, DIY website comes up in the results. Are you likely to buy from them or from one of the other, more presentable options?

.

 

[saronkorn]

It is up to your goal and your expectation and your time is also money
advice about driving traffic to the website
SEM SEO SMM

 

[Websitehandyman]

In an ideal world we would all be able to afford to get others better suited to do such things but that not the world we live. You'll need to do your business plan and see where you are spending money. If it makes sense to do things yourself then why not the are plenty of options and also halfway services that will help you archive what you want to do for the budget you have available. Here are some basics you might want to concider whichever way you go;

Domain - buy this at a place that allows full freedom to point to nameservers of your choice. Don't use anyone who charges you to move your domain hosting. Keep your domain hosting and your website data host separate. This keeps you in control.

Hosting - Base your choice on what you need most. Know that it's seldom the case that best support comes with best price but if you don't need support you can get far better prices. If support is a big issue for you because of your own lack of experience then add a bit to pay for that and checkout the forums for comments on any host you think about using.

Shopping cart - Base your choice on real world experience NOT comments from web developers who seldom have to deal with maintaining stock, payments gateways or customers in large numbers. Bear in mind some cart need more resources then others so although they might be free or cheap the may also be other costs you will need to pay. Some free cart look great till you find out to get them working in the UK you need to buy plugins. Also if you go for a off the shelve cart don't change much of the code or updates will be a big pain. Base your choice on what you need to run your business, don't forget about product importing and exporting, gateway you need and postage options.

Hope that helps.

 

[enjoylife]

I designed my website three years before, eventually saw problems here and there. The pagerank of it is still ZERO ;(. So my advice is to use professional one please!

 

[ecenica]

My question Is whether it is better to get the website done by professionals so it is really nice looking?

As others have hinted, it's impossible to say without knowing more.

If your budget stretches to a hire a Web Designer then go for it.

Otherwise you can still get a nice looking site and good SEO by buying some WordPress hosting and installing a WordPress theme.

Rich

 

[QuirkieGifts]

you can use a professional or use 123reg.co.uk

They provide you with templates and shopping cart. I use them for my websites, find the templates really easy to personalise and add products to my site and very cheap each month.

Good look with your store

 

[webstore]

Put your effort into sourcing at best possible prices the products you are going to sell on-line (buy hard / sell easy), get those listed with as much detail as possible in an Excel spreadsheet (for eventual export as a suitably laid out .csv file) and at the same time make sure you have decent images - if not get those photographed.

In our experience the big headache to getting an on-line shop started is not the on-line shop software and seo (there's plenty of technical people here in this forum to help with this) but it's preparing the product data, making sure its all properly categorised etc etc which only you as the business operator can do.

Also make sure you have a realistic achievable business plan.

 

[Websitehandyman]

Put your effort into sourcing at best possible prices the products you are going to sell on-line (buy hard / sell easy), get those listed with as much detail as possible in an Excel spreadsheet (for eventual export as a suitably laid out .csv file) and at the same time make sure you have decent images - if not get those photographed.

In our experience the big headache to getting an on-line shop started is not the on-line shop software and seo (there's plenty of technical people here in this forum to help with this) but it's preparing the product data, making sure its all properly categorised etc etc which only you as the business operator can do.

Also make sure you have a realistic achievable business plan.

Having had my store online now for 11 years I can say that is very good advice. And as google is really on the march now I suggest if you do have suppliers product details you try and rewrite those to make your unique.

Problem is the more effort you have to put in for adding products the more time maintaining the site will take up. This is why it's vital that you test any cart you use to make sure you can quickly import and export products in bulk. Some bulk import make you use all sorts of codes for product options and feature choices like colour, size etc and it all takes time.