meena Posted June 25, 2016 Posted June 25, 2016 I'm looking into starting a website for a business idea I've been considering for a few years. I've put it off for a long time and now just feel I need to make the leap. Are any sites better than others for buying a domain and hosting a site? I don't want to spend too much initially but eventually I'd like to have a virtual storefront for my products, so it would need to be able to support that potential growth. Also, are there any website platforms that are easy to learn and use but still good for e-commerce? Any books or websites that are super helpful? I'm a novice but willing to learn if it doesn't require too much technical know-how. I'm hoping, at least initially, I can do a simple storefront on my own. I know eventually I could need to call in the experts, but I don't want to invest much in that until I know for sure there's a market for what I'm trying to do. Any and all advice welcome, including saying "Don't do it!" (as long as you can tell me why not and/or give me a better alternative). Quote
AnthemLights Posted June 25, 2016 Posted June 25, 2016 My sister just started a website for their small home business. She also helped me start one for my husband's business. I don't know much about it except for that she used wordpress, she has a shopping cart with hers. and I think it turned out beautiful. I could ask her more about it tomorrow. 1 Quote
eternalsummer Posted June 25, 2016 Posted June 25, 2016 squarespace is very user friendly, pretty cheap, easily customizable, and has a free trial period 1 Quote
muttmomma Posted June 25, 2016 Posted June 25, 2016 I used wix. It's pretty good. I upgraded from free but it's still cheap, and has storefront features too. Quote
wendy not in HI Posted June 25, 2016 Posted June 25, 2016 squarespace is really easy. Even I have had success with it, and I have zero web skilz... Quote
meena Posted June 25, 2016 Author Posted June 25, 2016 My sister just started a website for their small home business. She also helped me start one for my husband's business. I don't know much about it except for that she used wordpress, she has a shopping cart with hers. and I think it turned out beautiful. I could ask her more about it tomorrow. If you could find out and pass along any information from your sister, I'd be truly grateful! Quote
meena Posted June 25, 2016 Author Posted June 25, 2016 Thank you for the site suggestions. I'll look into squarespace and wix. I was reading about weebly and shopify last night, and both seem like they would work as well. I'm glad to have several options from which to choose! Quote
FairProspects Posted June 25, 2016 Posted June 25, 2016 We've used Weebly to do them ourselves, but are moving over to Word Press because search optimization is so much higher on that platform. Word Press is not the easiest of platforms though, so it might take more work, but search optimization is significant to consider as far as marketing. Quote
AnthemLights Posted June 25, 2016 Posted June 25, 2016 We've used Weebly to do them ourselves, but are moving over to Word Press because search optimization is so much higher on that platform. Word Press is not the easiest of platforms though, so it might take more work, but search optimization is significant to consider as far as marketing. The bolded. :iagree: I have another sister (she is the one that got us all started with WP) who does web design for a living and her recommendation is definitely word press for that very reason. Also, according to her, word press gives the best, "professional" look for being done by an amateur. :001_smile: After our website was built, I got a quick 15 minute tutorial on how to make changes. I didn't think it was super easy, but not hard either. Decently intuitive. Quote
Pink and Green Mom Posted June 25, 2016 Posted June 25, 2016 I used to run a home based business. I used Merchant Moms as my hosting/shopping cart. This was quite a few years ago but it was really easy and user friendly for me. Quote
LarlaB Posted June 25, 2016 Posted June 25, 2016 (edited) I built and use Wordpress for my site...it was a learning curve and not the prettiest interface but looks great and SEO friendly. I'm a massage therapist and need a good scheduling program which has online purchasing built in...(for gift certificates and packages etc) So that is embedded within my site. Not the most straightforward approach but for me the website is secondary to online scheduling. Essentially my advice is the determine what features are the most important to your business and build from there. It's dizzying in the beginning but there are a lot of great options! Good luck! Edited June 25, 2016 by LarlaB Quote
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