Website set up

Miss_Vick

I'd like to set up a website for selling home made crochet items. But I don't really know where to start. I know about hosting and there are some free web design templates and things. But are there any tips for good quality web design for a mini business like this?

unnameduser

great suggestion. it'd be a great way to test the water to see if your items will sell.

PaulPinnacle

ezeway wrote: »

... won't find any better option

If you're currently only playing with the idea and need to keep the costs to a minimum, I'd personally suggest that your best option might be to use a shop front created on Facebook and start from there.

It's by no means a full website, so has serious limitations in comparison, but it also involves far less headaches (if you have no idea where to start, trying to complete a full e-commerce website will involve a huge learning curve) and provides one of the best options for you to do it all without a significant outlay.

It means you can check the viability of the business, gain your initial customer base and then upscale to a website at a later date when you're in a position to do so. It's not the only option, obviously, but it's one I'd seriously consider if you're currently not in a position to outsource the website development and feel you don't have the knowledge to do a 'good' job yourself.

PaulPinnacle

ezeway wrote: »

I've hosting with...

Probably worth pointing out that discussion of hosting packages is banned on boards.

The original poster is asking for suggestions on 'good web design', not on cheap hosting, so probably worth avoiding going down that route too much.

nellyshark

How much of a priority is this?

What you could do is use some of the self hosted shopping scripts such as shopify or etsy. Also note that there are scripts out there such as ecwid which you can integrated with Facebook, LinkedIn and a few other social sites.

Another option would be to self host a shopping cart. You could download something like Xampp locally and test a few of the open source carts such as Open Cart, Zen Cart, Cube Cart et all. You will be able to apply download and apply free themes and have a good look at the admin backends

Failing that you can put together a full spec and leave it to a professional

tricky D

ezeway wrote: »

I would recommend bluehost.. You can get your .com domain for free and hosting it's only $7 p/m + free website builder... won't find any better option..

Your 'recommendation' is, as PP says, generally not permitted.

Also considering the fact that you are working for them as an affiliate means your recommendation is not objective.

Lastly, your hiding the affiliate code is poor practice.

Post reported.


OP etsy (mentioned above) looks like a good option for you, at least to stick your toe in the water.

gl

ezeway

OMG, why you should be such a p**cks... I honestly tried to recommend a hosting with good website builder for free... Or is it better to choose <removed> and pay much much more??... "we're better, coz we're Irish..."

ronaneire

ezeway wrote: »

OMG, why you should be such a p**cks... "

No need to be rude :eek:

PaulPinnacle

ezeway wrote: »

OMG, why you should be such a p**cks...

You choose to break the posting guidelines and discuss hosting when it's banned on the site. You choose to hide an affiliate link when linking to the aforementioned hosting. Tricky and I take a moment to highlight that this is against the posting guidelines (as much for your own benefit than for anyone else)... and you choose to make personal attacks? The logic there is honestly lost on me.

jor el

PaulPinnacle wrote: »

Probably worth pointing out that discussion of hosting packages is banned on boards.

Yes, web-hosting discussion is banned across all forums on this site. All web host related posts have been removed so this thread can get back to it's topic which is website design tips.

ezeway wrote: »

OMG, why you should be such a p**cks... I honestly tried to recommend a hosting

An outburst like that following your posting of an affiliate link on a topic that's forbidden makes me think that you really don't belong here.

DecKenIT

Hi Miss Vick,

Have you considered trying to sell your products online using e-bay or some other online store system to test the water... We have used ebay in the past before moving to our own online store running OSCommerce system.

OSCommerce is very easy to use and manage. There are loads of OSCommerce hosting packages out there just google it.

You will also need some sort of credit card payment gateway system on your own site like paypal, realex, worlpay etc.

Good luck with the business

Freddy W

nellyshark wrote: »

How much of a priority is this?

What you could do is use some of the self hosted shopping scripts such as shopify or etsy. Also note that there are scripts out there such as ecwid which you can integrated with Facebook, LinkedIn and a few other social sites.

Another option would be to self host a shopping cart. You could download something like Xampp locally and test a few of the open source carts such as Open Cart, Zen Cart, Cube Cart et all. You will be able to apply download and apply free themes and have a good look at the admin backends

Failing that you can put together a full spec and leave it to a professional

Hi,
I think, if you are new in e-commerce it is better to get a shopping cart software. It will help you manage your online store. I'm not a big professional in this kind of stuff but I'm running my t-shirt store without any problems with a special shopping cart software. It allows me to import/export products,manage orders, customers in a couple minutes. I'm using a Store Manager for CRE Loaded, and I am pretty happy with it. You can try it to. It is really much easier to work with such a tool.