Hello everyone,
Due to my deteriorating health, I have decided to stick with a turnkey business, a mall and all I have to do is upload the other 3,200 products. I am wondering how does one make a turnkey site not look cheap and what can I do to interest consumers to buy from such a site? Any advice would be welcome.
Katherine
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Making a turnkey site look professional?
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Hi Katherine,
There are a number of solutions for that type of site. 3200 products?? I thought you said you were thinking of taking it easy??
Anyway, what you want is a e-commerce platform that dynamically presents the individual product pages and category or catalog pages. The decision of which one will usually come down to price and how much you are capable of doing yourself. Yahoo Stores are pretty simple to get going, you can get that info at yahoo.com for pricing and they have a nice video tutorial that will walk you through setup and design. They also have nice templates that are already to plug in your own create touch.
I also like Storefront by Lagarde. You can see a demo store at www.storefront.net You`ll want to look at the Storefront 7 platform. I`ve both a Storefront 6 and a Storefront 7 site and have been real happy with the value vs. price.
I`ve setup a number of these stores for my other business friends, so if you`d like more info about it you can always shoot me an email.
What kind of products are you thinking about?
-------------------------
Dave Barnes
Spider Climbing, Inc.
(734) 994-0646
www.spiderclimbing.com
2009 Elevator Pitch Contestant Please vote for us!
Yahoo merchant? Storefront? Come on Dave?
You could have done better. Dave I`m assuming you don`t have 3200 products on your web site do you?
Katt33, here are a few tips and hints to look out for when launching an ecommerce web site,
Is it Database driven? if so, what type? I can guarantee you that anything in the Microsoft family is going to take a dump after the 1200th product.
Also, is it easy to upgrade? what type of Credit Card Processor are you going to use? Pay Pal, Linkpoint, Authorize.net or 2checkout? What features features can I use? for example: if you have a product in 3 different colors? is there a drop down menu for the customer to choose from?
Honestly, Katt33. I would suggest you going with Zen Cart or Magento Ecommerce simply because they are open source, and you don`t have to pay anyone other than your designer/developer to handle the maintenance for you. Zen Cart and Magento Ecommerce are free, and most of all they are easy to upgrade, and the only month charge you will have is your hosting which is about 5 to 9 dollars a month. The reason why Im pushing you more towards these two is because Magento E-commerce is similar to what Target uses [the functionality], and it is made to handle anything over 1200 products. The shopping cart systems run off of a MYSQL database and PHP(which is very powerful and reliable).
-------------------------
Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net
You could have done better. Dave I`m assuming you don`t have 3200 products on your web site do you?
Katt33, here are a few tips and hints to look out for when launching an ecommerce web site,
Is it Database driven? if so, what type? I can guarantee you that anything in the Microsoft family is going to take a dump after the 1200th product.
Also, is it easy to upgrade? what type of Credit Card Processor are you going to use? Pay Pal, Linkpoint, Authorize.net or 2checkout? What features features can I use? for example: if you have a product in 3 different colors? is there a drop down menu for the customer to choose from?
Honestly, Katt33. I would suggest you going with Zen Cart or Magento Ecommerce simply because they are open source, and you don`t have to pay anyone other than your designer/developer to handle the maintenance for you. Zen Cart and Magento Ecommerce are free, and most of all they are easy to upgrade, and the only month charge you will have is your hosting which is about 5 to 9 dollars a month. The reason why Im pushing you more towards these two is because Magento E-commerce is similar to what Target uses [the functionality], and it is made to handle anything over 1200 products. The shopping cart systems run off of a MYSQL database and PHP(which is very powerful and reliable).
-------------------------
Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net
The site is pre-loaded, paypal set up. What I would need to do is choose the right color scheme and layout from a number of choices they provide. Since I am not sure what the best would be and am really much better at planning than nitty gritty, day to day, I guess it will come down to budget or do I hire an intern from a college and they can earn credit, as well as build a portfolio.
Hey there Edgar,
So we find each other again... Yea, I suggested Yahoo, because I wasn`t sure where katt33 was going with this. It`s a simple process. Of course if you you`re looking for the business, have at it. At least be up front about it and detail the costs. As I said in my earlier post I have 2 Storefront sites myself. Both sites use secure Authorize.net gateways and are also SQL database driven. In addition, it also has a user friendly interface for my Customer Service staff and can handle large product volume imports and live inventory tracking. So what`s your beef? I was telling the Lady about a $1200 platform option. Finally, if you can find a designated or even shared VPS host server that has adequet support for $9 bucks a month, I want some of what you`ve been smokin`...
katt33,
There are a lot of options out there to choose from. You`ll need to decide how you want to manage your product base, accounting, shipping and receiving, PayPal is fine for a very low volume sales website, but for the kind of site you`re talking about, you`ll need the server bandwidth and gateway capabilities that can handle the transaction traffic. It`s also a slow and clunky checkout process, that many customers will avoid. You`re also going to want multiple major credit card checkout options.
I have no doubt that Edgar is a good web guy. I`m just another e-commerce merchant, and I probably know enough to be dangerous when it comes to programming and writing code. But I do have 20 years of experience managing e-commerce websites, so from my perspective, I want to know how things will work when my staff is fullfilling orders and when we go home for the weekend. I want things simple, operating with the least TLC, and most cost effective platform.
You might also checkout MarketLive they are another very well respected platform.
Good luck with the Startup.
Edgar...hang in there buddy.
-------------------------
Dave Barnes
Spider Climbing, Inc.
(734) 994-0646
www.spiderclimbing.com
2009 Elevator Pitch Contestant Please vote for us!
Dave,
I don`t know much of you buddy ... But believe me if I was pitching my services to Katt33, I would have done it in a much professional manner. If I wanted to pitch my service to her, I would have offered her Not only installation of her new web site, but also the re-deign to fit her needs and full 1 on 1 over the phone tutoring and a free Zen Cart book that she can reference back if needed. Which, Yahoo merchant nor Store Front Offers.
Dave, not to discourage you! But, you might be computer literate and e-commerce savy... But if you`re running an ecommerce business using Store Front, you don`t leave me much room but to think that you`re an amature trying to pass off as an expert. In other words, you`re in diapers buddy.
Dave you`re making a big deal about Shared VPS hosting? If she wants to run an SSL certificate she needs a dedicated IP, not shared.... I bet you were clueless about what shared VPS meant right? I only touched 1% of what it is to have a shared VPS... I didn`t even begin to explain what it really means... that is another topic...
I just looked at one of your web sites and you`re on A CPanel Platform with WHM installed correct? NS.Savantnetworks.com, hmmmm again you don`t leave much for the imagination.... but anyways...
KATT33, Here is what you need:
-------------------------
Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net
I don`t know much of you buddy ... But believe me if I was pitching my services to Katt33, I would have done it in a much professional manner. If I wanted to pitch my service to her, I would have offered her Not only installation of her new web site, but also the re-deign to fit her needs and full 1 on 1 over the phone tutoring and a free Zen Cart book that she can reference back if needed. Which, Yahoo merchant nor Store Front Offers.
Dave, not to discourage you! But, you might be computer literate and e-commerce savy... But if you`re running an ecommerce business using Store Front, you don`t leave me much room but to think that you`re an amature trying to pass off as an expert. In other words, you`re in diapers buddy.
Dave you`re making a big deal about Shared VPS hosting? If she wants to run an SSL certificate she needs a dedicated IP, not shared.... I bet you were clueless about what shared VPS meant right? I only touched 1% of what it is to have a shared VPS... I didn`t even begin to explain what it really means... that is another topic...
I just looked at one of your web sites and you`re on A CPanel Platform with WHM installed correct? NS.Savantnetworks.com, hmmmm again you don`t leave much for the imagination.... but anyways...
KATT33, Here is what you need:
- A web hosting account that has php5 and Mysql 5 capabilites.
- Ask that they put your account on a Dedicated IP (this is for SSL installation purposes)
- Use a shopping cart that is Open Source like Zen Cart (if you need help installing it I will do it for you for "free" NO SALES PITCH HERE
- You can purchase a nice Zen Cart Template from Template Monster for around $60.00
- Once you`re set up, I will give you a Zen Cart e-book for free (a $49.99 value)
-------------------------
Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net
Edgar why is it that discussing anything with you is like chewing on aluminum foil...
You obviously didn`t mention the other two sites I left as examples for katt33. Interesting...
You`re right the Savantnetworks.com site is crap and wasn`t setup by me. That was from a predicessor, who`s a physics teacher. Wanna throw some mud at him too?? Since it`s not an ecommerce site, I get it cheap and I don`t spend any time on it. The other two sites though, I created, and are very strong ecommerce sites and run on dedicated servers at appliedi.net I suppose you have a problem with them too??
So you`re the expert buddy... have at it, no skin off my butt. Interesting I didn`t see any of your sites listed on the Internet Retailers best ecommerce sites??? But then everybody`s an expert in the webdesign biz.
Go ahead and insult away Edgar
-------------------------
Dave Barnes
Spider Climbing, Inc.
(734) 994-0646
www.spiderclimbing.com
2009 Elevator Pitch Contestant Please vote for us!
Dave,
My intention was not to insult you in anyway. I know you`re new around here and have a lot of expertise and knowledge to share with the rest of us. But, there is one small detail that I personally don`t like about you and that is how to talk down to others "meaning, you come off very sarcastic"
Now on another post "Mr. David Jackson" told you to back off... in a polite manner. Now, as for myself, I won`t tell you to back off... I will just fire back at you.... and I will pick at every little detail until I make you realize that you were at fault. DON`T MAKE YOURSELF THE VICTIM HERE DAVE" if you`re going to bully and try to talk other members in the community down, that`s cool and you are entitled to do so, But I`m not the one you want to confront .... What do you get mad about? what sets you off? Who cares if you`re 53 and been in business all your life... How many of those years were you incompetent running your business? 20 per say? and now that you have things finally down you think you can just talk down to others?? Give me a break....
As far as my portfolio, Dave, Please.... If I were to send you my portfolio, believe me you wouldn`t even know where to start .... E-commerce and Facebook type applications is my forte.
-------------------------
Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net
My intention was not to insult you in anyway. I know you`re new around here and have a lot of expertise and knowledge to share with the rest of us. But, there is one small detail that I personally don`t like about you and that is how to talk down to others "meaning, you come off very sarcastic"
Now on another post "Mr. David Jackson" told you to back off... in a polite manner. Now, as for myself, I won`t tell you to back off... I will just fire back at you.... and I will pick at every little detail until I make you realize that you were at fault. DON`T MAKE YOURSELF THE VICTIM HERE DAVE" if you`re going to bully and try to talk other members in the community down, that`s cool and you are entitled to do so, But I`m not the one you want to confront .... What do you get mad about? what sets you off? Who cares if you`re 53 and been in business all your life... How many of those years were you incompetent running your business? 20 per say? and now that you have things finally down you think you can just talk down to others?? Give me a break....
As far as my portfolio, Dave, Please.... If I were to send you my portfolio, believe me you wouldn`t even know where to start .... E-commerce and Facebook type applications is my forte.
-------------------------
Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net
Hello Edgar,
Well it looks like it`s just the two of us here now my friend. We`ve probably scared the hell out of katt33. If you look at the posts in this thread you`ll see that you were the first with the sarcasm. You`re welcome to your opinion. I was just trying to help the lady. You didn`t like my advice...so? You`re welcome to post your thoughts too. It is a public forum. But as you did in Jackson`s thread, your not welcome to belittle people because they don`t agree with you.
And if you look back at what went on in Jackson`s thread, I was actually agreeing with you, and you were going at him the same way. Maybe you didn`t appreciate my sense of humor. Sorry...you`re not the first. Then you started with the sarcasm towards me too, so hey... I got no problem with that, I don`t mind getting in somebody`s face either. I definately don`t attempt to talk down to anyone. But when someone comes off as a Know-it-all, then yea, I got a problem with that, and I don`t mind pointing it out. It also doesn`t matter if I`ve been posting here two days or two years.
On the other hand, yes, I can be forceful with my opinions, and it seems you share that trait as well. Put two strong willed people in an open ended discussion and things will get interesting. So I will conceed that to you. And you`re also right that you don`t know me at all. And from your previous comments you decided to pick and choose what you wanted to find out about me. If you want to quote things out of context as some kind of vindication for your statements, go ahead. Fortunately, there`s a record of everything that`s been written here. And if you look at responses from those I have tried to help, it has been appreciated. So I have no problem standing by my words.
So come and trash me if you like. You can be ignored. However, maybe we could agree to disagree about some things and continue the discussions. In closing I hope you`ll choose the later, I`m sure we both have something to offer. But I`ll leave that to you. Come at me with an open hand, I`ll shake it. But don`t think for one minute that I would back down. But I would like to find some center ground with you. There things I`d like to know. And I know I have things I`d like to share. So it`s up to you. What`s it gonna be? Does the crap end here and we move on to better things?
Don`t worry whatever you decide, I won`t bring this up in other posts. I`ll just ignore you. But I would rather trade ideas.
-------------------------
Dave Barnes
Spider Climbing, Inc.
(734) 994-0646
www.spiderclimbing.com
2009 Elevator Pitch Contestant Please vote for us!
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