New Website Query

i.D

Hey all,

I intend on building a site for selling goods online. The site would be similar to donedeal.ie or the likes.
It will involve people being able to submit photos and a short few words to describe item they are selling

My questions would be would the cost opf hosting such a site be expensive once you register your domain name?

I am new to webdesign and online business so any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

i.D

enviro

Hello i.D, the cost of hosting wouldn't be "expensive", it all depends on the traffic the website will be getting. For a start up it wouldn't be a big issue.

After the initial costs of building the website, Marketing would be the biggest cost or at least it should be... beware though if you are going to attempt to take on donedeal, ebay ect... You will require a big budget and plenty of know how, I wouldn't enter this market without doing some extensive market research and try to enter with an angle, a niche. In saying that it would still be extremely difficult. There are existing businesses in this area who are struggling.

What makes you think there is room for another player in this area and what is your own business background?

My advice would be to play to your strengths but be realistic at the same time, good luck.

i.D

Cheers for the reply,

In relation to my business background, I guess I would not have the attributes to challenge the likes of those company's as stated but I just used that site as a reference of what I expect and would like to achieve.

In the main I would like to set myself apart from such sites in relation to lower charges etc.

I guess I would be marketing it on quite a low budget but would be using facebook, twitter and other media such as boards and links with other sites etc.

I also have very little experience online, yet I do have a good interest and would like to succeed with such a site.

What you reckon are the pros and cons. I would be willing to put in the effort and time to make a success of it.

RATM

i.D wrote: »

Cheers for the reply,

In relation to my business background, I guess I would not have the attributes to challenge the likes of those company's as stated but I just used that site as a reference of what I expect and would like to achieve.

In the main I would like to set myself apart from such sites in relation to lower charges etc.

I guess I would be marketing it on quite a low budget but would be using facebook, twitter and other media such as boards and links with other sites etc.

I also have very little experience online, yet I do have a good interest and would like to succeed with such a site.

What you reckon are the pros and cons. I would be willing to put in the effort and time to make a success of it.

Before you undertake any website venture you should go work for an online company- even if it is only for 6-12 months. There you'll get exposure to web programmers, creatives, digital marketers, SEO specialists, Database Admins, etc.

Without that experience under you then I think you will make serious mistakes that could end up costing you a lot of money. With that experience you will know what all of those functions do and how they operate in a successful business before you go it alone yourself.

jimmybeige

I believe there are lots of websites like this out there already, many with even free listings and big marketing budgets. It is unlikely that you are going to compete with these unless you have a unique selling point. Just thinking you can offer cheaper adverts and people will flock over to your website won't work when there are plenty of free listing websites out there, including adverts.ie which has the strength of boards.ie behind it.

Even Ben Dunne's donedeal clone with it's huge radio marketing didn't do any good.

Not trying to sound negative, but I think you should focus more on an original idea that hasn't been done before, because in that field there seem to be more websites than items that need to be sold. However, if you have a unique selling point, then go for it.