# Need advice on starting a website for my business



## Black Panther (Feb 5, 2015)

Basically there's so much info on google that I'm overwhelmed!

Now I'm starting this from scratch - please advice on what you would do if it were you.

- Registering the domain name - there's a big choice, with whom would you register it?
- Web host - same issue as above.
- Templates - since I don't know html I need one, and there are millions to choose from. I need a template to cater for a small/medium sized business with an online catalogue of approximately 500 products, possibly also an online shopping facility.

Something like this would be ideal.


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## Frick (Feb 5, 2015)

I'd pick the same supplier for everything, preferebly something with good support even if it does mean you have to pay a bit more. The catalouge/shopping thing is beyond my experience though, so I'm not much help. I have very good experiences with one.com, but I don't know if they do shopping.


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## Black Panther (Feb 5, 2015)

Ho hum... I've got some quotes from local web publishers, who offer everything from a to z. Yes they offer very good support and everything is so easy, but they charge a fee of between €500 and €1000 per year...


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## lZKoce (Feb 10, 2015)

Well, here's my experience so far. I started online shop few months ago. I picked a ready made product. I would say which one, but it's not going to help you because it's a local company called Maxcart. They might work abroad as well, I really don't know- you could always drop them an email. It worked like this: you pay the lisence fee and what you get in return is:

a template 

admin panel to upload my stuff and products/promotions, blog etc etc.

hosting fee included
support
free tutorials and advice how to develop your on line shop
The lisence fee is about 665 Euro or 750 bucks (that's their most complete package, there are other options depending on what do you need). I have no knowledge of HTML or something like that.

Good side of this approach is, you can start right away, the interface is alright.

Bad side of the things is, you can't install every plug-in you want. Let's say you want to track users with CrazyEgg, you can't do it, unless the firm implements it in the whole system. The other downside is if I decide to leave them, I can't pick any leftovers in the form of ready-made web pages. I can copy the content of course, but basically if I decide to drop them I only get my domain name.

Now, you are obviously more qualified than me about PC's and programming, so if you want to build your shop from scratch that's viable. But depending on the time and energy you have, I'd suggest to look for some similar product you can get. The initial investement is not that big compared to what you would spend in work-hours or other fees. And you can start right away. It's not all daisies and roses with E-commerce platforms and I can get into smaller details, but having in mind my situation, it suits me good.

May be something like Shopify?


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## kn00tcn (Feb 10, 2015)

wordpress+shopping plugins arent a choice?

the biggest problem if i were doing this is if i am accepting payments directly, i would need SSL & precautions for the database... would much rather use an external merchant service


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## rooivalk (Feb 11, 2015)

Black Panther said:


> - Registering the domain name - there's a big choice, with whom would you register it?
> - Web host - same issue as above.


Registering domain and Web Hosting could be done with the same web hosting company.
Usually not much different between them, pick whatever you trust or cheaper or people recommend.


			
				Black Panther said:
			
		

> - Templates - since I don't know html I need one, and there are millions to choose from. I need a template to cater for a small/medium sized business with an online catalogue of approximately 500 products, possibly also an online shopping facility.


I assume you want to do e-commerce.

Agree with kn00tcn, wordpress + template would be relatively cheap choice and good for starting point, also comes with boatload of other plugins.

You need to install Wordpress yourself (pretty clear and easy also free) and then buy and copy template file to your wordpress installation.
You could buy e-commerce template from here. At average it'll cost you $45-60. Usually it comes with good manual and forum to setup your e-commerce and other parts of your site.
Most of the time the thing you need to do is just setting here and there and upload your catalog.


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## RCoon (Feb 11, 2015)

Rackspace are by far the best no-nonsense hosting company I have ever had the pleasure to deal with. Prices are extremely fair, and the service is second to none. Uptime is also top notch. We've been with about 5 different hosts so far for our web stuff, and rackspace have had 100% uptime since we made the switch over.


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## Cvrk (Feb 15, 2015)

I was 7 seconds away from starting a new thread. I also need help. And i have so many questions.

A month ago,at starting of 2015 i both a domain name. I got it from http://www.dhost.ro The domain has .ro extension.
I went on booble and did some research. After looking at many naked women, i got back to google.com There,the real fun begin.  You name it,reviews after reviews,youtube videos. All with the purpose to figure out the best website builder out there. The conclusions came crawling in. http://www.squarespace.com is expensive. But looks like you can make something look really dreamy.
The prices were to big. So i went to web.com
I both something worth of 37$. Couldn't tell you what was,cuz i don't remember. But i can tell you after about 2 hours i discovered there website builder was very bad. On top the 37$ was just the start. So i can get the website up and running i had to pay hundreds of dollars. The reason why i went to web.com was the positive reviews. Thing is ,web.com does not have a trial session. You have to give them money from the start just so they can let you in to start using there tools. I asked for my money back. And i got them in about 2 days time.

After some more research,i both a one month at godaddy.com Can tell you a lot about the website builder,because i did my website about 80% of the way. Couple of things that i was displeased with.To long to mention all of them here,but lets just say they have very few customization tools. It does the job,but you always feel that you can get better looking websites from other places.

Moved on,and yesterday i just lost the most amazing deal. On Wix.com you had 50% discount on premium membership. Instead of 12 euro you had 6. It said that it will last for 5 days,but today it's gone. Why i did not get it yesterday. Because i hesitated.

Today i wanted to get a look at wordpress website builder. To have access to the free premium trial,you need to fill in the form with your credit card . I don't trust them! I have the feeling after the trial is over,they will not ask for the money,since they have all of my data they will just take it. This is how Blizzard operates in World of Warcraft.
I went to youtube to see some long 2 hours videos about there website builder,what they have to offer.
Did noticed something very insteresting.Once you have the premium account witch is 100$ discount from 165$. You can install a lot of plugins. Those plugins give you an edge over other websites builders. At least this is what i gathered so far.

My best beet is on Wix. I did the website 30% in about 2 hours. It has so many more features then godaddy.com. I even wanted to give them the 144 euro for the entire year,but first i went to there forum to ask if they support my domain extension. They say ,they can connect your domain purchased elsewhere,but my question for them was....if they support .ro extension. They have not yet answered.
Same question would be for wordpress as well.  At wordpress the domain connect cost 13$ + the premium thats 113$ plus tax more,but still it's cheaper than Wix.

Wix also has a 8 euro a month plan. But it does not include website booster,or form builder.

What i need is a presentation website that looks as good and fancy as possible. I only need about 5 pages,no big deal and a form were my customers can write something. A contact form.
When it comes to looking fresh and fancy Wix does the job. But i am waiting for there response first.

For a person earning there salary in euros (not me), for what these website builders offer it's incredibly cheap. These are very powerful tools,with them creating a 1000$ value website in just 1 day.

I accept criticism ,suggestions, advice, tips or just plain input.


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## lZKoce (Feb 15, 2015)

Cvrk said:


> And i have so many questions.
> 
> I went on booble and did some research. After looking at many naked women, i got back to google.com



Call me provincial, but I didn't see any questions asked. No offense, but was the naked women part really necessary? For such a long post, I only got one thing for sure: you are happy with Wix.  and you also tried godaddy.com and squre-something.


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## Cvrk (Feb 15, 2015)

lZKoce said:


> Call me provincial, but I didn't see any questions asked. No offense, but was the naked women part really necessary? For such a long post, I only got one thing for sure: you are happy with Wix.  May be you should have taken those 7 seconds....editing


You are unsophisticated . No offense was taken on my part.
Yes i had to mention the naked women. Every internet post must consist out of naked women and cute cats. By the law of its creator,this is the purpose of the internet. 
No i am not happy with Wix unless  my demands are met.
The questions are there. But i will point them out ,hopping for a faster resolution.
Do wordpress or Wix support .ro extensions ? I know for sure that godaddy does.

Witch is the best website builder all-around Wix or wordpress ? You can mention your own if you have different experiences. 

Does a website booster really matter that much ?

For what i need,will i be good with the 8 euro basic plan from Wix ? 

Considering that wordpress has all those plugins ,can i get a website booster or similar plugin for free once i have the 100$ premium ?

Witch has faster loading time ,wix or wordpress ? Godaddy has bad loading time.

Wix works more with flash,starting to integrate more html5 in 2015. People that don't have flash on there web browsers can still view my website ? 

Does wordpress use flash ? 

Can you integrate CSS elements in wordpress ? You can't with godaddy.

Does wordpress website builder have a build in tool that does the following: when inserting an image you can add writing that will fade in when you hover the mouse on top of the image. With godaddy i can host the image elsewhere and use html coding ,and insert all that in the website builder. Problem is the image uploaded on a different website in time it will expire so i have to redo the thing all over again. I need this specific tool to be integrated in the website builder, it's important for my website.


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