Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello,

Fist off, thank you for taking the time to read my post.  I just joined SUN yesterday and have been addicted to this site.  There are a lot of useful tips provided by everyone.

So on to my website.  I`m planning on opening up a site that sells aquarium products to salt water aquarium hobbiests.  I myself have been in this hobby for close to 20 years and have worked in the business for 10 years as an employee of a pet shop managing the fish room.  The site is very early in its development and it uses www.shopify.com for it`s template.  I`ve never designed a website before so this is my first time.  I would like to know if I am heading in the right direction or if i`m totally off base.  Being that the site is still very early in its development, with your feedback, I`ll be able to get it focused on where it needs to be sooner than later.

Here is the site I`m building www.thesaltedreef.com.

There really isn`t any content of value at the moment and I`m far away from opening up shop. 

Thanks again for looking.

Rich

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www.thesaltedreef.com

Hi Rich,

Using a proprietary program like shopfly has some pros and cons. The start up may be shorter but in the long run, there are limitations to the site and especially if you want or need to move the site at some point.

The cost of shopfly  - a % of your sales - is, I think expensive... compared to the cost of hosting a site. But that is a business decision.

At this point it`s hard to review your site because of its` preliminary status.

The real work of getting an ecommerce site going is not in the creating but in the promotion of the site when it is operational.

~Roland

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

Yes, it is very difficult to review anything since you have no content. The
template itself is unexciting but then again, a nearly blank template
would be. Let us know when you`ve got more up and I`m sure the
opinions will be coming!

Hey Joel! ;-D

Would others agree that it would be A Good Thing to have a forum category devoted to experiences with turnkey online store-building sites? We have Cafe Press, Shopify, Etsy, eBay, Amazon, V-Stores, and so on and so forth.

Per this specific post, there`s no content so there`s no site critique. However, we DID try using Shopify ourselves. We found it`s based on some Web 2.0 language, not regular HTML. (I can`t remember the name....does "Ruby" sound right?)

As such, there aren`t any simple WYSIWYG editors for Shopify, and you can`t easily go to long-in-place HTML tutorial sites to learn how it works. It was very hard to make the site do what we wanted other than to follow the templates and leave our stuff there as it came out.

We eventually abandonned the site, closed the shop, and moved over to etsy.com, which is only for hand-made products.

I think that with the costs all balanced out, time, effort, and so on, a site for a straight-ahead inventory of standard equipment would best be done by hiring a site developer AND designer, and setting it up as a typical e-commerce site on your own domain.

There`s an old, old expression: "Penny wise, dollar foolish." Keep it in mind. If your company takes off, you`ll most likely be stuck with shopify for the rest of time. Better to have a really slim shop of your own on your own domain, and start right from the git-go attracting customers to that domain name.

Hi,

This is the reason why I signed up for SUN.  Thanks for your feedback everyone.  The more I begin to work with the site on Shopify the more I`m seeing its limitations.

I agree with Craig, if there was a forum dedicated to devoted to experiences with turnkey online store-building sites it would greatly help newbies like myself in the start up phase.

Thanks all.

Rich

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www.thesaltedreef.com

Most ecommerce solutions (like shopify, osCommerce, Zen Cart, Xcart...etc) have their own forum where users and non-users can ask questions and research issues with using the respective program.

If asked, I would recommend using an open source (non-proprietary) program/script (like oscommerce, Zen Cart, Xcart, etc. - not Yahoo stores, Shopify... and the like).

Using a proprietary program (sometimes tied to the hosting) may hinder your ability to move the site if and when you want/need to do so in the future. You may have to start all over and lose customer data.

`Roland

 

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

Hi Roland :-)
I think what I`m suggesting, here on SuN, would lead to an unbiased (maybe) or at least more generalized view of lots of e-commerce solutions. The onsite forums are usually very helpful, but they`re constrained to only discussion of that one product.

What I`m seeing in my mind is a sort of Consumer Reports, or "Epinions.com" review based on personal experiences of what happened when someone tried a solution.

As an update.  I`ve closed my store on Shopify.com.  I`ll post again once I have any further updates.

 

just wanted to thank everyone for their feedback.  There is no sense in rushing things if I want the business to be successful.

Rich

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www.thesaltedreef.com

Based on our experiences, that sounds like a wise decision. Whatever you initiate today, the likelihood is you`re going to have to live with it for quite a while. So, as the cliche goes, "Whatever`s worth doing is worth doing right." :-)