Online business idea - where to start

boomdocker

So I have an idea for an online business

Luckily I have the startup capital required and have a firm idea of what I need to to

What I don't have any idea about is how to go about building a decent website. I do know that I don;t want to go down the wordpress/paypal/zencart diy route. I would rather pay a decent company/person who knows what they are talking about to lead me in the right direction

So where do I go? Are there resources out there to point me in the right direction??

areyawell

It really depends on what you website to do. Is it a shopping website?

boomdocker

yes, sorry it's a merchant website

Kumejima

Check out Volusion - great support 24/7 and features. If you like what you see PM me and I'll be able to give you my experience with them

bucks

Magento is also worth looking into: http://www.magentocommerce.com/

TsuDhoNimh

The OP isn't looking for a platform or CMS suggestion, they're looking for guidance on who to talk to to gain independent advice on elements of the business (such as which platform to use, which is all but impossible to give for now given the limited information provided to date [e.g. magento is great, but it isn't the best solution for every ecommerce site in every scenario]) and, presumably, who to use to implement the site on that platform as they don't wish to go down the DIY route (a decision I'd personally agree with, if you're looking for the best possible site to do your business justice).

The biggest problem you'll have is that the type of people who would give a genuinely independent and non vested reply to a query like this tend not to give them, as the person receiving them have no way of knowing if it is vested or not and would bring into question the independence and legitimacy of the person in question. I'm not suggesting you wouldn't get any, but if you did it would be mixed with vested referrals (I'm sure you'll get a few of those and probably already have via PM) and trying to identify which ones were genuine and which ones were not would pretty much render all of the suggestions useless.

If you know people who operate existing online stores, a word of mouth referral (knowing that they've no ulterior motives in their recommendations) would be ideal. However, you might not be in that position and even if you were you're gaining a suggestion based on a very limited view of the market (chances are they're only familiar with a very small number of suppliers and though they're happy with one, it doesn't mean they're the best bet for your business - different industries and different businesses can require very different things). It might also be worth having a read of the sticky in relation to websites on this forum for some general advice in that area.

Peterdalkey

We have two online shops that are complete shop-in-a-box solutions, one for Ireland only in Euro and one for the UK in Sterling. They are full operating software and hosting on a monthly fee basis at very reasonable cost. They offer a huge range of templates and are very easy to update/change, have really superb data/customer communications and reporting features. We did one completely in-house in terms of layout and design with no special skilled staff and used a designer with the other one, as it aimed at the design marketing and advertising sectors. Take a look at www.bluepark.co.uk and feel free to PM me if you want further information or have any questions.
We have no connection to them other than as a customer.

You can sign up for a free trial with no commitment and play with it for a few weeks!
Cheers

Peter

B1gft

Look at PrestaShop Two million downloads hit on the 23ed of October. I am looking and testing it myself at the moment and I must admit it looks great.
I got to know it when it won they open source script in 2011.

And my favourite word, its free and a large support forum.

If I can help you at all send me a PM

HellFireClub

OP I've a friend who went with a custom made "consultant" built/tailormade software solution, he put a lot of money into it and ended up with no business at the end of it, because he didn't have enough IT knowledge to engage on proper basis with his consultant, who ultimately put a saddle on him and rode him out of business.

There is a lot to be said for trying something proven in the technical sense, that doesn't involve a big financial outlay to access the market firstly, and also in the wider business strategic sense, (and we don't know what the economy will be like from month to month in this country), it would be a wise strategy in these times to hold onto your seed capital and don't just plough it straight into an untested, unproven bespoke custom made website development product, until you can prove that the product can sell in the market.

Buttercake

It's great having capital at the startup stage of any Internet project but test the waters first, prestashop is a fantastic tool and willl get you up and running. i would be putting my money into advertising/sales/marketing at the start.

if you start shipping serious volume after 3months then look at getting a bespoke ecommerce system in place.

Seen LOTS of people spending thousands at the start up stage and abandoning them when the cash has ran out.

cooper38

There's a million and one solutions out there. I can only speak for our experience, when it comes to testing out an online concept and you aren't sure whether there is likely to be a clear run to market go cheap. Just make sure to check a designers portfolio to make sure you like what they do. If you want a knockout design try richard in circus.ie

I have used him in the past and he can show you what he has done.
No connection other than I have used him and highly recommend

boomdocker

Folks

Thanks a million for all your posts / advice, very helpful

What I am learning is that contrary to my thoughts in my original post, I now realise that I would be making a mistake ploughing my hard earned cash into engaging a designer at the front end and that really I should be going the Volusion/Prestashop/Magento/Shopify route at the start to test the waters.

So that's what I hope to do..

Buttercake

You should definitely engage a designer that will set out the website project plan and install/configure the software and customize a theme for you to your style.

By going with an "out of the box" solution like Prestashop etc you are saving on development costs but you'll still need UI/UX

Ive done the above for clients before, if you need any advice send me a PM

dublinwp

it would be great if you could provide more info. But based on what you have told so far I would advise you to start selling one product. Set up simple page with simple domain with paypal integration. Or just facebook page .Get paid traffic to the site, set up re-targeting campaign and wait. If it will work then expand the range get the store etc. If not then adjust on what you learned and start again.

M.umair

First you would decided about earning sources like affiliating marketing,ppc program and other like domain purchasing selling.After deciding just registered a domain and start working on that.