daymobrew wrote: » As soon as you added "appointment making" and "booking deposit acceptance" the requirements stopped being basic. For appointments you need a database listing existing appointments and available slots. For money transactions you need a service that will securely accept the debit or credit card details (e.g. PayPal, Stripe or Realex/Global Payments). Be aware of being too cheap - this website would be an important part of your business so put the appropriate money into it.
Deleted User wrote: » As I am typing this, I see the potential for it to be interpreted as condescending. That is not my intention. If this a punt, half an hour on Google will tell you all you need to know about the main website self-build players. Generally, it's a trade off between control and quality, but some platforms do well on both and some suck at both. By the time you are getting to booking calendars, you are passing the limits of what these builders do well, and there's the issue. In all my years building websites for clients, it was usual for them to say they wanted a basic site, usually to indicate a limited budget. However when we drilled down on how the site needed to support the business, it usually transpired that the requirements were much more complex than initially thought. The cookie cutter approach will get you online, and could be better or worse than a facebook page depending on you and your business and how you promote it. If you need to make a statement and appear credible, something you cobble together will never be up to the standard that an agency can produce in terms of design, functionality and the associated online marketing. Of course the latter approach will cost a lot more, but may in turn recoup the investment many times over by the sales you bring in. Indeed a bad online presence could ultimately cost you sales, as people are habitually checking websites to get a feel for whether the business is reputable, has a bricks and mortar address and phone number, and a person they can talk to if they need to.
Allie Quiet Upholstery wrote: » One thing though - facebook business pages have a timetable for bookings. .... Why would that be beyond the scope of a simple self built personal site/domain?
Allie Quiet Upholstery wrote: » Online bookings, seem to be pretty straight forward to take care of also. Tutorial vids seem to suggest that, unless something highly specific, gone are the days of having to employ expensive site builders and coders. ..... AmIRite?
Scotty # wrote: » That tutorial is specific to Wordpress. Have you decided you are building on Wordpress? Wordpress is a good option but it would have a steeper learning curve than say Wix or something like that. Basically what people have been saying to you is you can do it for cheap but the cheaper you go the less control and options you will have. Lets say you want to change the layout slightly, you can't. Or you want to use a different font to the one on offer, you can't. If I was in your shoes, and wanted booking and ecommerce, with a high level of control, I'd be looking at Shopify. You can do everything in house, domain, hosting, booking, payment. It's a good all in one solution.
Allie Quiet Upholstery wrote: » Shopify seems something to consider. Though their fees for online transactions suck.
Allie Quiet Upholstery wrote: » Apparently when you register a business on google maps they can also provide with a website build and domain for a nominal fee each year. Anyone ever try this?
Deleted User wrote: » Changing the 4 hour window to 28 hours on Monday for the upstairs rooms, because it's only Mary working on Mondays and she can't manage the stairs.
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