Advice needed for possible on-line business

theshamu

Hi Guys,

Looking for some advise..

I'm a graphic designer working for an established printing company, mainly b2b but also do the odd wedding booklet, party invitations etc.. I do a fair bit of of party invitations some times making between 30-50% of my weekly wage, these are done as cash work (nixers). All thru word of mouth.

So got the idea of setting up a site a few months ago as well as a facebook page showing different types of invites and a range of other hi-profit ideas that fit well with the theme of the site.

Problem is, I want to do this part time (starting off) while still working for my current employer, altho I'm currently on a 3 day week! :mad:

Came across a site called weebley.com for creating a free e-commerce sites and find it very professional. Only way people can order is thru paypal tho but cant see this been to much of a problem starting out.

I honestly think this could work really well as I believe there is a big demand for what I have to offer, well I know there is as I've been doing it for years :cool:

So any advice will be gratefully appreciated!!

Cheers.

fishy21

Hi

I have been using weebly for a while now, and its a really good cheap website builder. It is only free when using their domain example- boards.weebly.com. At the moment I am building an online business guide site using it (to help people like yourself). You will not be able to use a dot ie domain though. Unless you redirect the dot ie to the dot com. As regards paypal, it doesnt except irish laser so thats going to turn away potential customers.

Best of luck.
Peter

TheWaterboy

My advice is that if your going to do this dont do it half ar$ed

Get a .ie domain and hosting. Your a graphic designer so you can design the site and then get someone to develop it for you with shopping cart. Total expense shouldnt be more than about 500 euro.

As your selling a graphical produced product, your website is going to define how people see your product and designs. A bad website will not look good for the work you produce.

If you need any advice PM me

LauraOrlagh

I would say you would need to talk about this to your employer before you go ahead and have your own business on the sideline which is in direct competition with your employer's, whilst you remain working for him/her. Otherwise you could find yourself out on your ear for going behind his back.

Also I agree with the Waterboy - you're a graphic designer so you'd know more about website building and content than most, registering a domain can cost as little as €30 a year and if you build the site yourself (and build it to the best of your abilities showing off your talent) your own website will act as a promoter for your product.

A poor website and doing things on the cheap such as using weebley instead of registering for your own domain will turn customers off. The first thing I would ask myself as a business owner if I saw a graphic designer using the likes of weebley is what else is he doing on the cheap? If I hire him I won't get a quality job done.. etc

Seriously if you are making a break for it.. do it right.
Consult your boss, have a proper website, have a marketing and financial plan.

nellyshark

Hi,

I would agree with what has been said above.

Get a .ie or .com domain name and get a proper shopping.

Depending on whether you want down loadable material then there are some pretty excellent scripts about.

You can PM me for further details if you have any questions

CompanyBureau

Yes you're best doing it properly. You can get domains and hosting cheaply with www.irishdomains.com and you can get a website built for only EUR399 with www.omniserve.ie

Axwell

CompanyBureau wrote: »

you can get a website built for only EUR399 with www.omniserve.ie

Sure if you want a badly coded website made from a generic set of templates with little or no SEO work involved.

If you are looking for a website shop around, ask questions and check out the portfolio of the company/freelancer. There are also plenty of open source ecommerce options out there you could look at which would come out of the box so to speak and with your graphic design background you could edit the images and theme so suit what you wanted.

Chet Zar

Axwell wrote: »

Sure if you want a badly coded website made from a generic set of templates with little or no SEO work involved.

If you are looking for a website shop around, ask questions and check out the portfolio of the company/freelancer. There are also plenty of open source ecommerce options out there you could look at which would come out of the box so to speak and with your graphic design background you could edit the images and theme so suit what you wanted.

If it's built from templates then does that necessarily mean it's badly coded?

I am actually considering going with Omniserve for a template site - can I expect for my site to only show up on page 6 for key terms, even if I have great relevant content and a forum with lots of relevant content?!?

panda708

Check out Erol ecomerce software. They have a special deal going at the moment. http://www.erol.co.uk/

siennam

Hello,

I too am looking for a website but either people just confuse me with lots of technical talk or I cant get a simple price as they need to know everything "to quote" and then I find after spending ages the quotes are over my budget. (which I know isnt much)

Even here I'm being told to get a domain or hosting, I've no idea what hosting really is so know even less about what type I need and any time I ask I just get techno speak back.

I contacted all the companies above on foot of this and at least one speaks in a manner I can understand.

Just please remember we aren't all experts and all don't have lots of money for a website or even know where or what to do.

Thanks
Sienna

CompanyBureau

Axwell wrote: »

Sure if you want a badly coded website made from a generic set of templates with little or no SEO work involved.

If you are looking for a website shop around, ask questions and check out the portfolio of the company/freelancer. There are also plenty of open source ecommerce options out there you could look at which would come out of the box so to speak and with your graphic design background you could edit the images and theme so suit what you wanted.

I'm not a web designer or a techie so I can't comment on whether this is true, but I think it's a good and cost-effective option for start-up's and includes a content management system whereby people can update their own text. A bespoke website with SEO will cost a lot more.

Axwell

Chet Zar wrote: »

If it's built from templates then does that necessarily mean it's badly coded?

I am actually considering going with Omniserve for a template site - can I expect for my site to only show up on page 6 for key terms, even if I have great relevant content and a forum with lots of relevant content?!?

The sites in their templates are built using tables which are dated, css is now the standard when it comes to web design. This isnt a techie forum so im not going to go into the boring details but as I said tables are dated and times have moved on.

It takes more than content and a forum to get you to page 1 of the search engines. There is work to be done on page titles, meta tags, proper coding, the type of business you are in and the competition you have etc. Starting out you wouldnt have a forum with lots of content and users, you need people to find ther site to use the forum.

While they offer a cheap service for startups so do many other design companies who will also offer a CMS and other features but will design a website using todays web standards. They offer a service and with any service you will have the cheaper options and the more expensive but the cheaper option is not always the best.

Chet Zar

Axwell wrote: »

The sites in their templates are built using tables which are dated, css is now the standard when it comes to web design. This isnt a techie forum so im not going to go into the boring details but as I said tables are dated and times have moved on.

It takes more than content and a forum to get you to page 1 of the search engines. There is work to be done on page titles, meta tags, proper coding, the type of business you are in and the competition you have etc. Starting out you wouldnt have a forum with lots of content and users, you need people to find ther site to use the forum.

While they offer a cheap service for startups so do many other design companies who will also offer a CMS and other features but will design a website using todays web standards. They offer a service and with any service you will have the cheaper options and the more expensive but the cheaper option is not always the best.

Hey Axwell,

Definitely get what you're saying and from my research I am fully recognising that you get what you pay for (just as in every area of life). Also aware that there is more to ranking than content. However, I won't actually have anything to sell on my site - at least not until I get an audience - it will be a purely informational site starting off and so I couldn't really justify spending approx 1k+ on a better service when what the site amounts to right now is an nice little side project which I intend to promote once content is at the right level, but which may or may not take off (I do intend to make it take off though!).

My rationale is that if I do see it getting legs and catching on through word of mouth/direct branding through friends/family/social media etc I will then have cause to invest in a more bespoke/better solution.

Axwell

I think when it comes to having a business people are aware they need a website but some businesses get more use out a website than others. Another thing is technology just isnt some peoples thing and they arent aware of the marketing possibilties of a website or using social media networks, blogging etc and all the other tools that are available. A website is like a full time sales person working for you 24 hours a day, always there to answer questions people have, showing your contact details, the who you are, what you do etc.

Getting the most out of your website benefits your business in the long run which is why I suggest people dont always go with the cheapest option when they are looking at a new startup, a website is as important as any other part of the business and shouldnt be just throw up on the web to say you have a website. If people cant find it or it doesnt look professional there is no point having one in the first place.

@Chez Zar - as i said different people have different requirements. Your website at the minute is more a hobby/side project for you as oppose to a business or service provider so it probably doesnt require you invest a lot of money at this stage. From your posts you have looked into social networking etc so im sure you will get to the stage you wish to be at with hard work. Best of luck with it and if you have any questions or whatever feel free to send a pm. Send one on anyways when you are up and running and you will get one more fan on facebook!

Chet Zar

Axwell wrote: »

I think when it comes to having a business people are aware they need a website but some businesses get more use out a website than others. Another thing is technology just isnt some peoples thing and they arent aware of the marketing possibilties of a website or using social media networks, blogging etc and all the other tools that are available. A website is like a full time sales person working for you 24 hours a day, always there to answer questions people have, showing your contact details, the who you are, what you do etc.

Getting the most out of your website benefits your business in the long run which is why I suggest people dont always go with the cheapest option when they are looking at a new startup, a website is as important as any other part of the business and shouldnt be just throw up on the web to say you have a website. If people cant find it or it doesnt look professional there is no point having one in the first place.

@Chez Zar - as i said different people have different requirements. Your website at the minute is more a hobby/side project for you as oppose to a business or service provider so it probably doesnt require you invest a lot of money at this stage. From your posts you have looked into social networking etc so im sure you will get to the stage you wish to be at with hard work. Best of luck with it and if you have any questions or whatever feel free to send a pm. Send one on anyways when you are up and running and you will get one more fan on facebook!

Yep, this is at the 'testing the concept' stage and I wouldn't hesitate to invest further if required. Heheh you read my mind, will do!! I was just thinking reading your post that I definitely plan to come back and let folks know about the site when it's up and running Thanks for the good wishes - looking forward to continuing to working away on it part-time and having it tick away!

Axwell

Just be careful how you post about it when you are up and running, you arent allowed advertise the website but you can look for feedback on it or stick a signature in your profile which would appear on your posts. Anyways pm me when you are up and running!

Vurnon San Benito

I think if you're looking to show your portfolio or the sorts a 'blog would be best for you.

WordPress.com is an absolute gem for that craic, and free.!

emmax

you should look in to content management sites. i also agree .ie are better. you should also think about advertiseing on some of the online diectories for example is you google "accountant in cork" and see what sort of directories show up, then go for the cheapest this will generate traffic to your website!:o

Chet Zar

Axwell wrote: »

Just be careful how you post about it when you are up and running, you arent allowed advertise the website but you can look for feedback on it or stick a signature in your profile which would appear on your posts. Anyways pm me when you are up and running!

Ah yeah, know the way, am a long time boardsie despite my post count, have a new log in since the hack!

Cheers.

Andy_Black

I use Wordpress and am not a web designer.

It's a great framework and you can get lots of cheap themes that can fit the bill and have good support.

Check out www.studiopress.com and www.ithemes.com for various cheap themes you can buy. You can get people on their support forums to customise the themes and add your own graphics for a few hundred US dollars or less.

You can also Google for "100 free wordpress themes" and see what you can get for free. Personally, I think $70 for a theme that is supported is worth the money.

My own philosophy is not to spend more time and money on anything than I have to. Why not throw up a quick site and showcase some of your work and maybe use an Adwords campaign to send traffic to the site and see if anything sticks?

I've documented this in the following post:
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2055721635

Cheers, Andy

theshamu

Hi guys,

Sorry about the delay in responding..

Thanks a mill for all your advice and opionions, opened my eyes more in taking the next step.. Thinking of putting it on hold for the time being as I have other priorities e.g. getting my finances in order as well as getting my full time employment back for now.

Again thanks for the comments..

tatli_lokma

emmax wrote: »

i also agree .ie are better.

just to be aware, you need to have your business registered before you can get a .ie domain name.