Website Advice

[Blood Lust]

I need to setup a website and need to know what is available for what it needs to do:

1. It needs professional looking business templates.
2. It needs show a range of online services and prices.
3. Interested businesses need to be able to create an account and log into the website.
4. Once logged in they need to be able to select a service for a number of their staff and pay for it. Upon which they need emailing a set of login codes (one for each employee) allowing each employee to log in with their code. And complete a set of questions.
5. Once completed the outcome of the questions needs emailing to the business with the collective outcome findings.

So lets say its a HR tool, a yearly evaluation of employee satisfaction, they need to login answer the questions and then the manager who purchased the service receives the outcome reports.

6. Needs to be able to generate emails and postage mail to prospective customers.
7. Needs the room to grow to add more tools from psychometric testing to online management training.
8. Needs to allow me to use python or java to build further tools.

I`m looking to keep the price as low as possible while still having a professional looking website.

 

[fisicx]

1. It needs professional looking business templates.

This is so difficult to do. Everyone has different opinions on what looks professional. Your best bet is to view the thousands of templates and just pick one you like and hope your clients feel the same way

2. It needs show a range of online services and prices.

That's just content. You can create this yourself

3. Interested businesses need to be able to create an account and log into the website.

That's basic functionality for a CMS

4. Once logged in they need to be able to select a service for a number of their staff and pay for it. Upon which they need emailing a set of login codes (one for each employee) allowing each employee to log in with their code. And complete a set of questions.

All possible but can get very complicated and costly.

5. Once completed the outcome of the questions needs emailing to the business with the collective outcome findings.

Which business? Email functions aren't complicated.

So lets say its a HR tool, a yearly evaluation of employee satisfaction, they need to login answer the questions and then the manager who purchased the service receives the outcome reports.

OK. As above, can get very complicated.

6. Needs to be able to generate emails and postage mail to prospective customers.

Email OK. Postage mail just means printing out the results. You probably need a PDF generator for this.

7. Needs the room to grow to add more tools from psychometric testing to online management training.

Once again, can get very complicated and expensive.

8. Needs to allow me to use python or java to build further tools.

Not really sure what you mean here. Both are just languages used to create things but neither are really suitable for what you want.

I`m looking to keep the price as low as possible while still having a professional looking website.

It's not going to be cheap. I've built loads of applications like this and the cost often run into thousands. One I'm doing right now for a Finish client is already at £1500 and we aren't even close to being complete.

Sorry to be all negative but this isn't a low cost or easy project.

 

[Blood Lust]

This is going to be a second attempt at creating my own business. Hopefully I will be able to build enough demand for this one, but if not I guess I will have a third try.

Its going to be an online business only, offer business services, but it will largely be autonomous once up and running. I need a website that has good business looking templates, can allow business customers to log in, select and pay for whatever service they want, receive codes for their employees to login, then they log in and complete whatever was purchased.

I have the programming skills to do it no problem, but of course I need a website engine that will allow me to use Python and Java. I have looked at Wix and SquareSpace but neither give me the information to tell me if they have everything I will need. Their prices at around £20 to £30 per month are fine.

I`m not after someone to create a website for me, its going to be my own project.

 

[fisicx]

Python and Java alone are of no use to you. Nor are site builders like Wix or Squarespace.

This would be a database driven project and will need a lot of custom work. WordPress or similar could look after the heavy lifting for you but there is still months of work ahead of you.

Just building the tool for clients to build their own forms is a massive undertaking. Each company will want their own industrey specific questions. You can't just build a generic questionnaire.

And it won't be autonomous - it will be a full time job managing both the database and your clients.

And you will need very deep pockets for marketing. There are a lot of strong competitors already working in this niche.

Whilst I applaud your idea it's not really viable on a small budget.

 

[fisicx]

Wasn't this the same idea:

Business Websites

Hi All I am interested in hearing from people who built their own websites. What I`m after is software which is easy to use (as in click n drag), contains lots of free professional looking templates, lots of free widgets, and with reasonable monthly fees for a domain that doesnt become...

www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk

 

[Shopclicks]

I have the programming skills to do it no problem, but of course I need a website engine that will allow me to use Python and Java. I have looked at Wix and SquareSpace but neither give me the information to tell me if they have everything I will need. Their prices at around £20 to £30 per month are fine.

I`m not after someone to create a website for me, its going to be my own project.

You're certainly not going to get the automated functionality you need on a small budget. I'd suggest that you prove the concept using a Wordpress platform so that you can add the functionality later. Process your purchases, email functions and forms manually using an appropriate CRM.

 

[Blood Lust]

Python and Java alone are of no use to you. Nor are site builders like Wix or Squarespace.

This would be a database driven project and will need a lot of custom work. WordPress or similar could look after the heavy lifting for you but there is still months of work ahead of you.

Just building the tool for clients to build their own forms is a massive undertaking. Each company will want their own industrey specific questions. You can't just build a generic questionnaire.

And it won't be autonomous - it will be a full time job managing both the database and your clients.

And you will need very deep pockets for marketing. There are a lot of strong competitors already working in this niche.

Whilst I applaud your idea it's not really viable on a small budget.

I need a website engine which comes with customers being able to create accounts, login, and buy my services. Then with each service purchased either display questionnaires or training material to their employees. Thats all I functionality I need, nothing more, nothing less. All for £20 to £40 per month.

Thank you everyone for the other advice, I know you are trying to help and I`m really grateful. But I wont need a database or CRM. I`m quite literally a wizard at Python and Java. The only cost besides the monthly website fee will be the cost of marketing. Along with regular overheads.

 

[fisicx]

There isn’t such an engine.

 

[Toni Anicic]

If you are a wizard at programming, all you really need is a web hosting and a domain.

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

"I have an idea for a business but I want the core function of that business to already have been created by somebody else and I demand I pay no more than £40 a month for me to use it".

Interesting approach.

 

[antropy]

I need to setup a website and need to know what is available for what it needs to do:

1. It needs professional looking business templates.
2. It needs show a range of online services and prices.
3. Interested businesses need to be able to create an account and log into the website.
4. Once logged in they need to be able to select a service for a number of their staff and pay for it. Upon which they need emailing a set of login codes (one for each employee) allowing each employee to log in with their code. And complete a set of questions.
5. Once completed the outcome of the questions needs emailing to the business with the collective outcome findings.

So lets say its a HR tool, a yearly evaluation of employee satisfaction, they need to login answer the questions and then the manager who purchased the service receives the outcome reports.

6. Needs to be able to generate emails and postage mail to prospective customers.
7. Needs the room to grow to add more tools from psychometric testing to online management training.

All sounds like WordPress probably.

8. Needs to allow me to use python or java to build further tools.

Until this part. What kind of tools would you build in Java or Python?

I`m looking to keep the price as low as possible while still having a professional looking website.

Then again probably WordPress.

Paul.

 

[antropy]

I have the programming skills to do it no problem, but of course I need a website engine that will allow me to use Python and Java. I have looked at Wix and SquareSpace but neither give me the information to tell me if they have everything I will need. Their prices at around £20 to £30 per month are fine.

You could go on https://sourceforge.net/ and search for web CMSs that are built in Python/Java?

Really though you should probably just learn to code in PHP, it's not very hard if you can already code at wizard level.

Paul.

 

[Nick@Daydot]

I need a website engine which comes with customers being able to create accounts, login, and buy my services. Then with each service purchased either display questionnaires or training material to their employees. Thats all I functionality I need, nothing more, nothing less. All for £20 to £40 per month.

Thank you everyone for the other advice, I know you are trying to help and I`m really grateful. But I wont need a database or CRM. I`m quite literally a wizard at Python and Java. The only cost besides the monthly website fee will be the cost of marketing. Along with regular overheads.

What @fisicx says makes sense to me. I'm assuming you've costed a marketing budget - if you're in a crowded space as a newcomer it's going to be hard to get your name in front of prospective clients, and there will be many different marketing approaches available.

One aspect to consider is whether you have the UX skills to build an effective site from a user's point of view. Maybe you do. Many business owners make the mistake of thinking they are the user, or know what the user wants, and the site underperforms as a result. Once the marketing gets people to the site then the site has to sell the value proposition - why should people buy from you and not someone else? Usually to be able to answer that question and design the right site - including critically the words, tone, language - it's necessary to do some customer research, for which you need to get hold of prospective customers and know how to do good research (you may know all this).

You've described a non-trivial workflow of which I've seen many engineering-designed versions which are barely usable. Whatever you have for launch you'll need effective feedback and updating processes built-in.

Good luck.