Setting up a small online business

cruais

Hi guys.

I have a little business idea that I wish to set up. Currently working full time shift work and so plan to have this business venture on the side.

It will focus on online retail and I have done my research and all going well, my buy/sell margin will be profitable.

Can anyone point me in the right direction in regards to setting up a website? I plan on registering this week.

Many thanks

Dades

Look at Wordpress or Squarespace if you don't have any web experience. They offer all-in websites based on templates and can look after hosting etc.

If you want a .ie Domain you might need to register a business name with the CRO for €20.

Graham

Dades wrote: »

Look at Wordpress or Squarespace if you don't have any web experience. They offer all-in websites based on templates and can look after hosting etc.

If you want a .ie Domain you might need to register a business name with the CRO for €20.

Squarespace isn't a great choice for ecommerce, the selling options are very limited.

Shopify may be an appropriate solution, it's a SaaS so the OP won't need to know about hosting, servers, extensions, backups, etc etc etc etc.

hairyslug

I have very little experience at all but i found that shopify was easy. I had originally purchased a domain and hosting from blacknight but I just found that their Web builder didn't offer enough.

jimmii

I use shopify too. It's quick and convenient but quite versatile if you need it to be too.

JMR

cruais wrote: »

Hi guys.

I have a little business idea that I wish to set up. Currently working full time shift work and so plan to have this business venture on the side.

It will focus on online retail and I have done my research and all going well, my buy/sell margin will be profitable.

Can anyone point me in the right direction in regards to setting up a website? I plan on registering this week.

Many thanks

I would recommend selling on ebay or similar first to prove a market exists before spending anything on website development.
If you do proceed to your own website, as mentioned above a .ie domain name may require you to register the business name with the CRO.

ttineff

If you want to set up a business with a website and your own domain first register with Godaddy - its free.

Then go and look for all the discount coupons for Godaddy and especially for Wordpress hosting. Now they have a great promotion for 1EUR per month and it includes a free .com domain. So for 12 EUR you have everything set for a year. If you make enough money from your business it pays off to keep it as it will cost more next year otherwise just cancel the automatic payment option and all is clear and you can move on.

Wordpress is a bit complicated to manage but you will get the hang of it fast enough. During setup it allows you to choose a free online shop template so in about 30 min you are setup with your own domain name, website that includes a blog and a shop.

As for your accounts if you are looking for a good free POS /point of sale/ software for small business I suggest to download the loyverse app for Android and IOS as it offers free POS Software and customer loyalty program with bonus points. Also lets you track your stock . Makes accounts very easy as all receipts stored and sorted. I love it and its free.

Nika Bolokov

One thing I wish Id known is how incredibly hard it is to get traffic to your site unless your operating in some tiny niche in which your personally well known.

People will say things like oh do some 'SEO' i.e. design the site so it comes up well on Google searches but that seems like a mysterious dark art with various gurus throwing in their tuppence as to how you do it for a handy fee.

Unless you have thousands a month to spend on very expensive advertising with Google you can end up having a beautiful site that nobody knows exists,

The way to go as one poster alluded too is to use somewhere that already has traffic so eBay, adverts , Etsy, if you have a business youll make sales and then you can build your own site from the repeat business.

Also its been done to death but social media platforms like Facebook and instagram are really really important (duh I know) but you wouldnt believe how much traffic a single post can send and how much Google would charge you for same. If you build a presence on social media whilst selling on existing platforms youll do great.

MOH

Nika Bolokov wrote: »

One thing I wish Id known is how incredibly hard it is to get traffic to your site unless your operating in some tiny niche in which your personally well known.

People will say things like oh do some 'SEO' i.e. design the site so it comes up well on Google searches but that seems like a mysterious dark art with various gurus throwing in their tuppence as to how you do it for a handy fee.

Unless you have thousands a month to spend on very expensive advertising with Google you can end up having a beautiful site that nobody knows exists,

The way to go as one poster alluded too is to use somewhere that already has traffic so eBay, adverts , Etsy, if you have a business youll make sales and then you can build your own site from the repeat business.

Also its been done to death but social media platforms like Facebook and instagram are really really important (duh I know) but you wouldnt believe how much traffic a single post can send and how much Google would charge you for same. If you build a presence on social media whilst selling on existing platforms youll do great.

Yeah, establishing a presence can be pretty difficult.

Couple of things on the SEO front, beware of scammers:
If anyone ever contacts you unsolicited offering SEO services, hang up - if they're contacting small businesses looking for work, they're not well established and they're probably looking for someone inexperienced to fleece
If they promise to get you on the first page of Google, hang up - that's relatively easy, but it'll be for an over-specific search term nobody ever actually searches for ("blue widget suppliers online Ballydehob")
If they offer to do all your SEO for 100 quid - even if genuine, how much do you expect they'll actually get down in the 2 hours that will pay for?
If someone unsolicited offers to both design+host your site and do SEO work, run - they'll overcharge you for both.

Graham

MOH wrote: »

Yeah, establishing a presence can be pretty difficult.

Couple of things on the SEO front, beware of scammers:
If anyone ever contacts you unsolicited offering SEO services, hang up - if they're contacting small businesses looking for work, they're not well established and they're probably looking for someone inexperienced to fleece
If they promise to get you on the first page of Google, hang up - that's relatively easy, but it'll be for an over-specific search term nobody ever actually searches for ("blue widget suppliers online Ballydehob")
If they offer to do all your SEO for 100 quid - even if genuine, how much do you expect they'll actually get down in the 2 hours that will pay for?
If someone unsolicited offers to both design+host your site and do SEO work, run - they'll overcharge you for both.

+1

I'm in the process of putting together an e-commerce site for someone and I've come across all of the above.

Personally I don't think you can beat doing your own SEO but it's not a quick/easy process by any stretch. I'd say 3 months of a 5 month dev cycle have been SEO and it's only the last few weeks we're beginning to see some reasonable rankings in the Irish site, UK site is still largely under the radar.

Digital_Guy

I've been working in SEO for some time now, both for a company and as a consultant in my free time.

As mentioned, be careful who you hire and note that the worst mistake you will make is to do it cheaply. More so than any other other marketing channel out there, because your website in the wrong hands can end up penalised by Google - something it can take some time to recover from (if ever).

The best SEOs out there will be turning down clients due to time limitations or because they are picking and choosing their projects, so that tells you everything you need to know about those spamming or calling you up!

Key things to look out for when considering hiring an SEO (or potentially any other consultant for that matter):

-An online presence (do they have a blog / site, ideally with references and testimonials?)

-Demonstrable proof they can do what they say they can do for you. Case studies, sites they've ranked - ideally these will include their own.

-Walking the talk - is there proof that they understand and have implemented their own recommendations across their sites, client sites, do they really understand what they are recommending and the terminology they are using?

Happy to answer any SEO-related questions here. I'm also looking to develop a free 7 day email course I can add you to, so if interested in that let me know also!

rorygally

I'd have to endorse Shopify aswell. It's easy to set up with little knowledge needed regarding coding etc. They have several apps available too that make design and inventory control alot simpler.

One downside with Shopify is that when a customer buys an item, Shopify waits for 7 days before even starting to process the payment. So it could be almost 10 days before you get payment into your account!