Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi everyone. I hope I`ve come to the right place for advice.

I basically want to know whats the steps in creating a website. For example I know one has to decide on shopping cart software. What else does one have to decide on what to purchase to run a site. I`ll be selling electronics in the beginning most likely. Things to consider and costs are what I`m looking for in advice. TIA.

I suggest you go with a reliable developer that knows how to setup carts and has built a successful online shop for others. You spend your time on the business, the brand, lining up deals, etc. You cant do everything.

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He who gets greedy like a pig, gets slaughtered like a hog!

There are a few posts on SUN about website development. What you need depends upon what your goals are for your website, what you want and need it to do (functionally).

There is a great desire and tendency to want to do it yourself, and there are many programs and bundled website builders that can help you do it yourself. The important question is where is your time best spent? Learning to create, creating, and maintaining a website or devoting your time to growing, improving your business and providing customer service?

Like any of the business decisions you make, there are trade-offs, pros and cons to your decision. Less up-front cost for DIY versus potentially better results using a web designer.

At the very least, you might think about getting some quotes to create your site. Through the quote process you may discover what you need for your site even if you do not end up hiring a web designer.

~Roland

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

A Web site is like a TV Guide. :-)

There`s a cover (home page or landing page). It should attract people to buy it, but also instantly explain the function and purpose of what`s inside.

Then there`s a table of contents, which is the "navigation" system. People need to know how to "jump" to their particular area of interest. So a TV Guide might have page numbers and sections for movies, sports, specials, daily serials, weekly serials, and special articles.

Think about how you open a guide like this, read something, then turn to some out-of-sequence page. How do you a) know where you are, b) know what you`re reading, and c) get back to where you can jump somewhere else?

This is the "customer journey" catch-phrase-term that works so well. It`s also one of the most sadly-lacking aspects of many, many Web sites.

I guess I should be more specific. For example a service like this:
http://www.monstercommerce.com/index.html?kbid=1315

Does anyone have experience with them? Is this the only kind of service I would need?

Yes I dont want to spend my whole time developing, minor cosmetics which I believe some of these services provide tools for that. I just want to get a site up, ready to take orders.

Monstercommerce is a bundled ecommerce solution. A bundled solution has its pros and cons. Typically a bundled solution has some restrictions  on design and certainly on moving your site to another web host.

I think the monstercommerce is a little expensive... the "pro" version is $999/yr.

Alternatively you could get a Zen Cart site hosted for around $90/yr, the solftware is free. Other costs a would be for a merchant account or PayPal to process credit cards.

If you wanted to change from the default Zen Cart look you could use a template - usually around $150 to $160. 

~Roland

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

osCommerce is another option. You will also need a domain name, host, payment gateway, SSL certificate and a shipping and returns method.

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A good idea is a good idea NOW![sup]TM[/sup]

ethnicomm inc. | sales | marketing | web | strategy consulting

Btw, thanks for the info. Its like I need step by step advice :)
I may go the Zencart or Oscommerce route. I mean I am technically inclined somewhat. Can anyone tell me what would be the easier choice. Is using this software sort of what the bundle ecommerce solutions would offer minus the other stuff?

Two things: I have created, used, and manage both osCommerce and Zen Cart ecommerce website... at this time I recommend using Zen Cart over osCommerce because it has more features included and is now more css based.

It may be easier to use a bundled solution (monster, yahoo stores, there are others too) that is what they are designed for, to enable people to start-up fast with minimal technical involvement. The drawback is living with some design limitations and your ability to move your site/online store should you want to at a later date.

~Roland

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

We`ve tried a lot of the out-of-the-box, turnkey store options available. We have no real startup money at all, and have to do much of this ourselves.

However, we also really enjoy taking pictures and messin` with them in Paint Shop Pro. We also like to mess with layouts, our own writing, and inter-connecting things with hyperlinks. So we want something that can handle the shopping cart, transactions, and money. But....we also want something we can customize according to our visual choices.

We found that none of the turnkey solutions really fit the bill. Yes, you can customize to some degree, but it`s usually not easy. Nor is it always possible. For example, some sites only allow X number of photos, and they must be in locations defined by a template.

Our ultimate choice was to just put our own site together (some day). For now, we advertise on eBay, SuN Marketplace, and a few others. The cost of going professional with the one-step solutions is easily on a par with having someone help customize something like OS Commerce or Zen Cart on our own eventual site.