Website Design Startup.

I Drink It Up!

Hi there, I was just wondering how much it might cost to set up and run a website designed primarily for the advertising and subsequent sale of some green technology I hope to sell.

What are the legalities of same? How does a website take peoples credit card/paypal details and make sure they are kept safe?

Are there running costs? Who "owns" the website, or is it rented like an apartment is?

Any background info and advice is kindly appreciated. Thanks.

padocon

I Drink It Up! wrote: »

Hi there, I was just wondering how much it might cost to set up and run a website designed primarily for the advertising and subsequent sale of some green technology I hope to sell.

What are the legalities of same? How does a website take peoples credit card/paypal details and make sure they are kept safe?

Are there running costs? Who "owns" the website, or is it rented like an apartment is?

Any background info and advice is kindly appreciated. Thanks.

Costs vary see adverts.ie to get an idea of design cost. Running cost to run yourself with didiweb or blacknight would come in at 60 euro ish for .com domain and hosting.
The designer will set up the paypal system on your website. Paypal get the card details not you and they also charge a fee. Then they give you the money eg by bank transfer ect.
Ask web designers for samples of their work and some rough prices.

Hope this helps!

nellyshark

I Drink It Up! wrote: »

Hi there, I was just wondering how much it might cost to set up

For any website you will need:
a) domain name - cost varies depending whether you want .ie/.com etc
b) hosting - cost varies depending on your hosting package

I Drink It Up! wrote: »

and run a website designed primarily for the advertising and subsequent sale of some green technology I hope to sell.

This really depends on your requirements. Do you just require a brochure type website or do you require a website which will provide information and also have eCommerce functionality. If it is the latter then would to define your requirments. Some things to think about: Categories?, Products?, Manufacturers?, Multi-Language?, Multi-Currency?, Product Reviews?, Product Ratings?, Multiple Tax Rates?, Related Products?, Information Pages?, Shipping Weight Calculation?, Discount System?, Backup & Restore Tools?, Printable Invoices?, Sales Reports?, among numerous others

I Drink It Up! wrote: »

What are the legalities of same? How does a website take peoples credit card/paypal details and make sure they are kept safe?

Storing your clients credits card details is not recommended tbh. There are numerous legal requirements attached with this method. It would be advised to use third party gateways such as Paypal, Google Cart etc but you have to be wary of fees attached

I Drink It Up! wrote: »

Are there running costs?

Depending on the the type of website you need it is difficult to answer this questions. For example you would need to do regular backups of you site: would you be personally able to do this? If you have an eCommerce site developed would you be able to apply security updates etc? You can also choose to have a hosted eCommerce package e.g. from shopify.com who look after hosting, maintenance and updates.

I Drink It Up! wrote: »

Who "owns" the website, or is it rented like an apartment is?

There is some good info here: http://www.mhc.ie/news-+-events/legal-articles/182/

Edit: Also AFAIK there are some grants available from CEBs for website development up to a figure which escapes me atm

a1guy

Since you are just starting off I would try www.hostso.ie .
Very cheap hosting and .com domain name from under €20.00 for the year.
You can pick what type of website you want

nellyshark

a1guy wrote: »

Since you are just starting off I would try www.hostso.ie .
Very cheap hosting and .com domain name from under €20.00 for the year.
You can pick what type of website you want

Bit of an anomaly there that the .ie (which redirects to the .com) is registered to one person and the .com to another

a1guy

a1guy wrote: »

Since you are just starting off I would try www.hostso.ie .
Very cheap hosting and .com domain name from under €20.00 for the year.
You can pick what type of website you want

I'd be wary of trusting my website to a company whose own website shows a batallion of PHP warnings on the home page, amongst other grave problems.

John368

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd be wary of trusting my website to a company whose own website shows a batallion of PHP warnings on the home page, amongst other grave problems.

What are PHP warnings? I assume it is something to do with the HTML code and how well it is written. I suppose a well put together site gives you more confidence in it. Are there any other pointers to a well constructed site?

John

John368

John368 wrote: »

What are PHP warnings? I assume it is something to do with the HTML code and how well it is written. I suppose a well put together site gives you more confidence in it. Are there any other pointers to a well constructed site?

John

The php warnings are that weird text you can see on the front page

"Warning: include(includes/tel/.txt) URL="http://www.hostso.com/function.include"]function.include[/URL: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/hostso/public_html/includes/inc_header.php on line 117

Warning: include(includes/tel/.txt) URL="http://www.hostso.com/function.include"]function.include[/URL: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/hostso/public_html/includes/inc_header.php on line 117

Warning: include() URL="http://www.hostso.com/function.include"]function.include[/URL: Failed opening 'includes/tel/.txt' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/hostso/public_html/includes/inc_header.php on line 117

etc...

The server or application should be configured to hide them on a production site. A hacker could learn a lot from those warnings.

John368

SBS

Thanks for helpful explanation. I did see not see those types of errors on the website. It might be something to do with the fact that when I go to www.hostso.ie, I get www.hostso.com. I am in the UK. Is this something to do with the way the site is set up? A bit like when I go to google.com, I get google.co.uk.

John

Axwell

No it is just a redirect that brings the site from .ie to .com. The errors are due to missing files which contain information that goes in that part of the site.

tricky D

Rule of thumb:

When buying on the Internet, make sure you buy from a company which displays a postal address.

I can't see any address for hostso.

John368

tricky D wrote: »

Rule of thumb:

When buying on the Internet, make sure you buy from a company which displays a postal address.

I can't see any address for hostso.

This is good advice in any dealings. As far as I know it is a legal requirement to put you name and address on invoices. This probably cannot be enforceable when dealing internationally on the web.

Just one question? How do you know that it is not an accommodation address or even the addresss of just a random member of the public?

John

Axwell

Only Limited companies are required to put their address and details on documents either electronic or paper format and must contain their registered address, their registered business number and VAT number.

byrne0f56789

PayPal is an option, also there is an Irish company called Realex. I think their charges are €20 or so a month.

You might want to consider which one will have the higher conversion rate for you. It may be a good idea to offer both.

Regarding your questions:

What are the legalities of same? How does a website take peoples credit card/paypal details and make sure they are kept safe?

A payment processing provider such as Worldpay, Realex, Authorize.net etc. act like the credit card terminal in a shop and automatically process the card transaction. They are authorized by the card companies such as Visa to do so. You will never know the credit card numbers.

Are there running costs? Who "owns" the website, or is it rented like an apartment is?

My webhost costs $80 a year for unlimited bandwidth, space and domains. I run a number of sites from one server. The domain fees are $10 a year but this comes free with my hosting package. I use .com addresses because .ie is too restrictive and if you are selling online you may as well go international.

You "own" the website for as long as you pay the fee and keep the domain registered in your name.

I have just set up a blog to help non-techie small business owners and entrepreneurs like myself with web design. You might find this guide helpful http://www.easywebdesigncentral.com/wordpress/create-your-own-website-how-to-gude/

I hope your site goes well.