I need to set up an ecommerce web site, from the beginning a domain name to payment by credit cards. I hope to save cost by using do-it-yourself to design the web site, etc. Is it easy using their template? Or should I just pay some professional to design it. Which would be better to have contract with, godaddy.com, register.com, or yahoo small business? Welcome any suggestions and samples of ecommerce site that are up and running.
Also, which payment processor would you recommend.
Thanks
save yourself all of that hassle….go to Prostores!!
Personally, if you have the funds (which can be somewhat steep…a few hundred to a thousand dollars) then I would hire a professional web developer. You would likely be pleased with your results, and the site should look professional from the start. Hopefully they would continue assisting you with your website though, because if it’s just a one shot deal, then it will be tough to update the website in the future.
Godaddy.com is a large domain name and hosting seller. I do not see getting very much business support from them, but they probably would be reliable. I have never heard of the other two hosts, so I cannot comment. I personally like 1and1.com, but I have never used it for commercial/business needs, and so I do not know how that would work.
For the payment plans online, look into VeriSign. It’s security and certificate information, which isn’t actually allowing customers to pay online, but it helps keep the process safe. As for the actual paying process, I’m not sure how that works. Best and easiest way would probably be through PayPal.
Hire a developer – if you don’t have technical skills, you will not be able to do it yourself. Or you’ll end up paying more in support and lost sales.
If you can’t afford a developer, you can first set up a shop at Yahoo Stores.
As far hosting goes, it doesn’t matter that much. GoDaddy is okay.
Programmer should be able to select appropriate credit card processor. This is a good one: http://www.chargem.com/
The web site is your store. If you were creating a brick and mortar store, would you build it yourself to save money?
Perhaps you would, if you happen to already be an experienced carpenter, understood the safety and legal concerns, and could afford to have the store non-functional while you built it.
You could also learn carpentry and architecture to save money, but that might take a long time.
You could also get a “store in a box” which gets delivered on the back of a truck. I suspect it wouldn’t be very inviting nor would it necessarily be customized to your needs or those of your customers.
If you’re already a skilled web developer (by that I mean you can hand-code XHTML and CSS, can manage a server, can use a server-side language like ASP.NET or PHP, understand basic server security, and have a grasp of relational database concepts) you can certainly set up an online store of your own. I suspect if you had those skills, you’d be selling websites rather than furniture. (Nothing wrong with selling furniture. I’m just guessing web development isn’t your primary interest.)
There are lots of programs out there that will help you “build your own e-business.” They may or may not be useful to you, and they’re pretty hard to judge, unless you already understand the technology.
If you’re going to have a physical store, you should have it built by professionals. If you’re going to have an online store, it should also be built by someone competent and trustworthy. Getting a good web developer is probably cheaper than learning it yourself. Of course, if you do want to learn it yourself, I’ve got some books to recommend. . . (grin)
Paypal or any of the other big services are fine. They will assess a fee, but it’s worth it. You definitely should not manage credit card transactions on your own site unless you’re very comfortable with Internet security. The last thing you need is to have a database full of credit card numbers leaked to some hacker in the hinterlands because you weren’t aware of a database loophole.
Good luck to you! I hope the store works well for you!
Keep your domain registration and hosting separate. Godaddy is great for domain names, hostgator.com is great for websites at a decent price.
Don’t go with a sitebuilder. This is because site builders are extremely limiting – you can only do so much with it – and SEO is a bear on these kinds of sites.
Payment by credit card: If you’re looking for a merchant account, there are tons out there, depending on what you plan on doing. If you are looking for a merchant account, go to your own bank first, and see what they can provide.. Sometimes they can offer you a better deal than other merchant services.
Paypal is a good option and easy, but it’s not the only service out there.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=merchant+services&btnG=Google+Search
You’ll need a SSL certificate – they go from really expensive to really cheap. Starting out, I would go with godaddy for this for the first year (You also have an option with different hosting companies for shared ssl)
I would go with oscommerce as an ecommerce platform. It’s free, but you need to know what you’re doing (or have someone on hand who knows what they’re doing, it can be buggy.
I would also hire a developer. You can check out http://getafreelancer.com, but be ware here. There’s a lot of people who will take the money and run and leave you in the lurch.
Good luck.
Use Paypal. You can find step by step guide on how to create a website at website like http://www.aplis.net/ .
At Site Builder Designs building your own website just got easier.
Step 1: go to Site Builder Designs.
Step 2: TEST DRIVE and build your own website. It is so amazing and easy. Has awesome feature like themes, web design, images, videos and mp3 music or you can use your own.
Note: TEST DRIVE IS DEMO MODE ONLY. PREVIEW AND PUBLISH NOT AVAILABLE.
Step 3: Sign up. Choose package that’s right for you.
Step 4: Create your website. SAVE, PREVIEW at anytime. When your done PUBLISH and it’s on the internet, it’s that easy.
Site Builder Designs you get domain name (as long as it is available) web hosting and web builder. Paypal integrated (credit cards accepted). 2checkout payment processor will soon be added.
I hope you like it, have fun in building your own website.
Its definitely easy to use a web template.
Here are some, these templates are the easy to edit and manage and very affordable.
Webmaster Templates – http://www.webmaster-templates.net
Free Web Templates – http://www.freewebtemplates.com/
Free Website Templates – http://www.freewebsitetemplates.com/
Free Layouts – http://www.freelayouts.com/
Free Templates Online – http://www.freetemplatesonline.com
Web Design Elements – http://www.webdesign-elements.com
HTML website templates can significantly ease the burden of designing and creating websites by providing webmasters with a ready-made web layout, structure, basic graphics, and color scheme. Templates can generally be edited and customized with any HTML editor. The biggest advantage for webmasters using ready-made templates is the amount of time that can be saved. There are a number of websites that provide ready-made HTML templates. We have compiled a list of some popular sites to make the search process easier.
This article details a number of other sites that have HTML Web Templates available – http://www.small-business-software.net/html-web-templates.htm