2015 is the year I transform into an adult....true story I am going to shortly open my own tiny business. I am currently looking at a small/affordable building to rent, to invent/build custom products [what I have always done for other's business]....but all of my niche product will be sold through the internet. ....and unbelievably, I am not business or website media saavy My goals this month or two, are to: -buy a website domain. -build a website that is easy for me to use and make changes to. -be able to post photos and videos of product on website. -have a shopping cart, that shows what items are in stock and at what quantity. -have a way for the internet customer pay with credit card through the website. When I have all that set up and ready to go, I will rent the 1000ft building I just bought a nice camera to take detailed pix of my products, to build an online portfolio of my custom work. Bought/built a nice/$ business pc & printer/fax, But I am lost as far as how to build a website, how to get a shopping cart, how to get set up to use credit cards, etc.... I don't think that I need to explain that I am a unknowledgeable disaster when it comes to real life stuff....so any help advice and direction would be much appreciated. I know how to invent/hand-build custom products [and ride a good wheelie], but I do not know much else. I am tired of being an indentured servant....the company I work for is nationally known for my designs, in our niche. Can anyone help me get started on this, which easy to use software to buy, how to get a c/c shopping cart etc. I need to make a business change in my life, very soon and am finally motivated to do it....but I need guidance. And I need to make this happen as cheaply as possible. Thanks!!!!
I did the same thing in Jan of this year. I went with a Wix.com premium account and I use Ecwid for my shopping cart. Depending on the number of options that you need to have for your product, you may be able to use Shopify, which is easier to maintain and has a few more options for you, but limits the number of options that I can apply to my products. The Wix website designer is a true WYSIWYG development site and was super easy to use and set up. Ecwid and Shopify both have options for CC processing through PayPal or you can integrate most of the major CC processing companies into them. Send me an email if you have any questions about it. [email protected] (you should be able to figure out the website from that without me "spamming" the site...) ETA: I was using a CSS page, that was managed by a friend, before I switched to Wix. It was a real PITA to maintain or change anything, and EVERY customer who ordered from me ended up calling me and telling me how difficult it was to navigate the site/store. Plus, every change that I wanted made to the site, had to be "submitted" to my friend and would get changed when she was able to, with Wix, I make the change and publish it in a matter of minutes.
I'll be making selling standard standard products...so the shopping cart would be good for that. I'll also be modifying customer's existing product, that they uPs to me......I don't know how you would do that on a shopping cart....would probably need a way to charge their card after the work was completed, as well.
Is it expensive in comparison to building one w/ a wesite build template I could buy at Best buy, or somewhere. It looks awefully complicated and expensive