Step 2 Ready to put the B&M Store online

[dynocat]

We now have a couple domains from GoDaddy. Next is an online store with a shopping cart to come later.

Would a Google site work for the basics: home, about us, contact us, email signup, photo gallery and map/directions page?

Or could someone give me specifics of where to host a site on a low budget? I do need a template and site building tools from the host. I can do FTP and CSS if I have access to that. Please pm me if you don't want to post recommendations here.

We've had long discussions about employee training, in-store marketing materials and low-cost advertising options. For now it's a matter of implementing. The employees are all very knowledgeable and willing to pitch in.

I mention employee training but it would more appropriately be called, "boss" training. I called the store for their fax number so I could send something over. First, neither of the two employees there knew how to use the fax machine to get a fax (they use it as a copier). Second, neither knew the fax number.

What a hoot this job is going to be. I'm really looking forward to it. I love cleaning up messes and seeing results in a short time (kind of like painting a room).

[eborg9]

Without getting on my soapbox, know that I am not a fan of site builders, but if time is a factor and you need to get something up as just a basic placeholder with contact and location information, I would suggest that you just go ahead and stick with Go Daddy and use that tools that they have available..this way you can get support a lot easier should you run into any problems.

One site builder is not any better , IMO, than another. If you don't have time for the learning curve then I guess this would be the way to go to put something up.

I am actually on the phone with Go Daddy right now hashing out a problem with a clients website (FTP access) , so I can give them a thumbs up on service...it's nice to get someone on the phone when you have a problem, and they seem to be knowledgeable and experienced, unlike 1and1 who seem to be reading from a troubleshooting script.

Since you mentioned some CSS and FTP experience, my suggestion for a newbie looking to administer his own site is always going to be Wordpress, with a premium layout/template.(You can get something nice for under $40 and the platform itself is Open source)

As far as cheap hosting goes, I have also had positive experiences with Blue Host when working on others websites.

[billbenson]

One site builder is not any better , IMO, than another. If you don't have time for the learning curve then I guess this would be the way to go to put something up.

mmmm, ya but one can be worse than another. Who would you use godaddy or 1 & 1 for a site builder?

[eborg9]

mmmm, ya but one can be worse than another. Who would you use godaddy or 1 & 1 for a site builder?

Well, since he's already with Go Daddy, I'd just use theirs. If he were with 1and1, I wouldn't suggest moving to Go Daddy just for their site builder..and you can't use someone else's site builder on another company's account.

I'm not a fan of 1and1, but site builders are pretty basic, you only have so many parameters and options...I can't imagine 1and1's site builder just being awful, but then again, I don't know.

Doesn't Quicken have a new site builder service ? How does that work, do you have to host with them as well ? I'm guessing that's how they all work.

[vangogh]

I'm not a big fan of site builders either. I think they're fine for personal sites, but if the site is meant for business than it really should be on your own hosted account somewhere. You should have direct access to files and be able to develop any design you want. You don't want to be limited by the templates offered or how much control you have over your site.

Will a site builder work for you at the moment? Maybe. I've never worked with a Google site, but I did look at what they offer. If you look through the templates they show on the template page (I see 6 as I'm not signed up) you'll notice names like club site, and family site. What's missing is the business site template. Maybe they do have that kind of template once you're registered, but I think it's telling.

A domain will cost you $10 a year and shared hosting will cost $10/month. (You can get both for less if you're willing to commit to paying beyond the yearly or monthly time frame for each.) That's $130/year. A business that can't afford to spend that has little chance of succeeding.

Of course that still leaves the cost of design and development and copywriting and marketing, etc. Truthfully you shouldn't skimp on any, but as far as the design and development part if you need to save money then install WordPress and choose a theme. You'll have more theme choices than you will template choices from any site builder and you'll have more functionality with WordPress than you will any site builder. WordPress isn't the only choice of CMS of course. It's my preference and it's relatively easy to work with even for newbies.

Who would you use godaddy or 1 & 1 for a site builder?

Neither. I refuse clients all the time who insist on using any site builder. It's actually much more work and time to make changes to the site when you don't have direct access to files.

Doesn't Quicken have a new site builder service?

Yes. Intuit now has a site builder and they make some incredibly misleading claims in their commercials. They seem to indicate that all you need to do is sign up and the search engines will be sending you more traffic than you can handle. Good luck with that.

I'm not saying site builders don't have a use They can be fine for personal sites, though there are still much better options. If your site is going to be for business then stay away from them. Spend the small amount of money it will take to get a domain and a hosting account. If you can't figure out a way to afford $150 or so a year for your business then you might want to rethink going into business.

Would a Google site work for the basics: home, about us, contact us, email signup, photo gallery and map/directions page?

I'm sure a Google site will let you create a home, about us, and contact us page. I would think they'd let you integrate a Google map and there's likely a way to add something that serves as a photo gallery.

I doubt they'll have anything in the way of keeping track of a real email list. At best I would think you could get someone's email mailed to you via the contact form and then you'd have to figure out a way to store the emails. There's a lot more to an email list than letting someone enter their email. Most people serious about email lists use a service like Aweber or Mail Chimp or similar. There are some open source options for mailing lists as well. Part of what these services offer is credibility so your mail gets through to its intended recipient.

[nighthawk]

Liek others have already said, using a sitebuilder is a very bad idea.

When you opened your B&M store, did you do so on a low budget? Did you choose the cheapest location you could find, create the signs yourself, paint the store yourself, then put up your own shelves? Or did you hire someone in to do it all to a high, professional standard?

If so, then why would you consider doing the same for a website? A website shouldnt be treated any differently to a real store, if anything it is even more important, as it is competing against far more rival online stores, and has the potential to bring in a lot more business if done right.

If you use a sitebuilder and do it yourself, then the chances are the website will never receive a significant amount of traffic, and probably wont even pay its way. A proprly designed and marketed site created by an expert could potentially bring in more revenue than your store currently does.

Do you really want to pass on such an opportunity, just to save a few hundred dollars?

[vangogh]

When you opened your B&M store, did you do so on a low budget? Did you choose the cheapest location you could find, create the signs yourself, paint the store yourself, then put up your own shelves? Or did you hire someone in to do it all to a high, professional standard?

Exactly. I don't know why people think that they can set up shop online without putting anything into their business. Can you set up shop with free site builders? Sure. Will you have a successful site that way? Well, do you think your B&M would be successful if you set it up inside a cardboard box on the corner?

[eborg9]

If you are going to do this with a site builder, let it be more as a 'placeholder', just to have something on the domain..with immediate plans to put up a real website.

Don't look at it as a real solution, because they aren't. They are just enough to get by so that the web space isn't blank.

I'm not going to totally dismiss the idea because I don't know your time or budget constraints, but you are going to spend more on the extra fee for the site builder, than you would if you just installed Wordpress, threw up a basic template with the same information that a site builder would allow, and paid your normal hosting bill.

At least then, you are in the ball park and all set to either build a nice site in the near future, or if time doesn't allow for the learning curve, the foundation is already set for a professional to step in and take it to the next level.

[pete]

dynocat, do yourself a favor. Get off of GoDaddy. If you have your domains with them fine, they are good at that. And they are the online masters of putting the bread and milk at the furthest corners of the grocery by walking unsuspecting newbies through many minefields to get to the cash register. It looks like you played directly into their hands.

I sell hosting to guys like you. I have probably 150 shopping carts on my server, many of them first time online merchants, some entirely new to sales, others with a B&M operation, moving online.

I don't mean to step on the toes of others here, because there are some talented designers on the forum, BUT you can host with someone like me, or even Hostgator and many of the biggies, and simply get a "cpanel account" and have your own store open in little or no time.

All of the guys above cuss site-builders. What they don't get into in depth is that eventually you will leave GoDaddy or any other such site. AND - you will lose everything you have done. It's all theirs. You can't take it with you, even if you wanted to. And some will even hold your domain "hostage" in order to keep you tied in.

I've been hosting for I guess 5 years now. I started with a source who offered a site-builder. I had one - yes one - out of easily 200 cart owners ever use it, rather than the free carts also available through the cpanel.

There are 3 free carts than you can install with a couple of clicks - CubeCart (my favorite, it is what I use for my worldwide dropshipping site), OSCommerce and ZenCart. In addition, there are 2 other free carts that may take 20 to 30 minutes to install, but both are newer and fresher - OpenCart and PrestaShop. All are free and relatively easy to use. I have actually had clients report sales from CubeCart - the easiest - the first day it's installed!

There is also a free version of Magento, but it is a corporate type deal, much more than online start-ups require.

Just for giggles I took a GoDaddy cart for a month, just tp play with it. What a waste of time. Get away from them ASAP. And their hosting, as well. As mentioned, they are not like most of the others in the hosting business. What works virtually universally with UNIX/LINUX servers does not work on theirs. Coming somewhere like here for advice will be useless, as you are on a proprietary system, not an open cpanel type.

I hope I'm scaring you. I don't write this to promote my services, but I will offer them. Unlike the big guys, I work with you one on one, know you by name and I speak English as a first language.

BTW, Bill is definitely correct, 1 and 1 is right there with GoDaddy, but they don't have Danica.

[vangogh]

What they don't get into in depth is that eventually you will leave GoDaddy or any other such site. AND - you will lose everything you have done.

Pete that's a great point that none of us mentioned. It's why I want access to my piece of the server. I want to be able to control those files, whether it's to edit them or to back them up and move them elsewhere. That's not happening with a site builder.

I know people go for them because they seem easier and they might even seem less expensive since you can do it yourself over hiring someone to build the site. Long term you're much better off avoiding the site builders. If it's a personal site fine, but if it's for business you have to do it right.