Do your own website or hire someone?

[tylixxa]

Hi
Have had my website since 2003 and only been updated one time in 2009. The people who did it no longer in business and never really helped me with keeping it up to date. But anyways, it worked and I got orders. Up to a month ago, now i have several links that no longer work. According to my host linksky it is because I have a old old old shopping cart back from 2003 oscommerce and it is way out of date and not secure. So they say I need to rebuild the website with a working shopping cart. They of course recommend Linksky Visual. Is it that easy to build a website? I mean I have very little computer sense at all! :shh:
I rather hire someone but prices are ridiculous and I dont have that kind of money. What are your thought?
Here is my half working website if anyone wants to peek....www.bellabomb.com
None of the products will pull up though
Thanks!!!!

 

[dalewaite48]

I started my own web store about two months ago. My website is through the web builder Weebly.com. Feel free to check it out,
Homemadesoapsbythewaiteestate.weebly.com
I have liked it very much so far and it's quite easy to build

 

[Saponista]

I think it's worth opening a new website with one of those easy to use website with shopping cart packages like godaddy.com it's far easier than trying to build your own totally from scratch if you have no experience and no one to help. There are lots to choose from just have a google.

 

[cmzaha]

We had our designed. It is still work in progress and now we do a lot of it ourself. Ours was done through Yahoo

 

[tylixxa]

thanks for all the help! we've decided to try rebuilding it ourself. So far so good, it is just time consuming and a learning experience. one good thing about doing it ourself is if we need to make changes or updates down the road at least we will know how! :idea:

 

[SoapyGoats]

I first used Weebly, but changed to Wordpress. Wordpress is a bit more complicated, but you get unlimited free pages, plus tons of free plugins. And a free shopping cart.

 

[seven]

i am using a shopping cart. they gave free templates to choose from. i did and maintain it on my own coz i simply could not afford to hire someone to do it for me, my business is not up to that level yet.

i quite like using a shopping cart, although i wish i have the knowledge to tweak the template here and there myself. but overall, pretty happy with it.

 

[carvan]

we have been at this for few years now. I think in beginning you should use inexpensive platform but as you grow you should let another company do the heavy lifting.

This is what we did (feel free to follow):

1. buy domain from godaddy.com (you shouldn't buy your domain from same company you are hosting. Reason for this is some hosting companies will block you from re-newing your domain if you switch to competitor hosting). Summary: keep domain & web hosting companies seperate.

2. Download and install opencart on your domain. Then buy a custom theme (we spent $45 on this).

3. Grow business. Make your images high quality.

4. Move your shop over to shopify.com Cost is about $30 month and last year they eliminated transaction fees on sold items. You may need to purchase custom theme (usually $100-$150).

5. Go to bed knowing they are handling web security.

 

[jackalawson]

I own a website and have registered at http://qualitytrade.com/( B2B portal) for my bulk sales and global market research.

 

[shunt2011]

I too have mine through Weebly. About 8 months ago they made some changes and I just couldn't get it to do what I wanted it to do. So, I deleted everything and had my daughter just recently start to re-do it again. I decided I wanted to get it up and running full tilt so I went in myself this past weekend and they have done more updates and it's back to being a breeze to work with. I just need to take more photos of my products and get them in. Feel free to check out mine as well. It's still a work in process.

 

[Jeanea]

I've been using the market from square. It's the easiest thing ever. You don't get to choose a template but I can list my items photos and all on the go. Easy as pie.

 

[bumblewood]

I use Shopify, and while there is a monthly fee and credit card processing fees - the cost depending on what plan you choose - the ease of use and clean look are what got me hooked.

I have (horribly outdated) training in web design so I have done a little of the design work myself on the backend, but there is LOTS of support articles on how to add specific things beyond the basic site, and they have extensions that you can install (like reviews and contact forms). If you want to take a look my site is www.bumblewoodhandmade.com.

 

[Jeanea]

I like it. I may give them a shot in the future

 

[Ann Marie]

I know it may be a task but it is worth getting a weebly or wix site and putting it together yourself. It takes a bit of learning but you can learn and you can call and they can help you if you get stuck but if you actually learn how to do it then you can update it as needed which means more sales. Not worth having someone else do it for you, too costly and you can definately learn to do it yourself. I am not computer saavy at all but I learned and am so grateful I did.

 

[Moody Glenn]

I too have mine through Weebly. About 8 months ago they made some changes and I just couldn't get it to do what I wanted it to do. So, I deleted everything and had my daughter just recently start to re-do it again. I decided I wanted to get it up and running full tilt so I went in myself this past weekend and they have done more updates and it's back to being a breeze to work with. I just need to take more photos of my products and get them in. Feel free to check out mine as well. It's still a work in process.

I must agree - Weebly is a breeze to work with. My "contract" with Shopify is about to end and after some consideration I decided to go with Weebly - the business plan. Shopify is just getting too expensive (with adding the extra apps). Weebly has some good free themes, no transaction fees and fun functions. I tried to export my product files from Shopify to Weebly but it did not take. So, I have been copy and pasting all my important files, products and other information. It is not taking too long doing this - in fact Weebly makes building the site very easy. So far I am thrilled of the results but I am taking my time. Hopefully in a short time I will relaunch my website.
By the way - a tip: always make a computer file storing your website product copy (descriptions, photos etc.) You never know when you might need to change your shopping cart system or where you host your website. Don't rely solely on export functions.

 

[Crombie]

I made my own website at squarespace.com. I love the clean crisp templates, the way it tracks inventory and does state taxes - everything about it. Technical support is amazing - which is a good thing because I am not a technie. Feel free to look at my site:
www.sadiesmissionsoaps.com

 

[Crombie]

Bumblewood - NICE!

I love the clean look of your website. Very well done.

I use Shopify, and while there is a monthly fee and credit card processing fees - the cost depending on what plan you choose - the ease of use and clean look are what got me hooked.

I have (horribly outdated) training in web design so I have done a little of the design work myself on the backend, but there is LOTS of support articles on how to add specific things beyond the basic site, and they have extensions that you can install (like reviews and contact forms). If you want to take a look my site is www.bumblewoodhandmade.com.

 

[bumblewood]

I love the clean look of your website. Very well done.

Thank you!
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

 

[Aki_onlineboutiquesource]

Website

Hi everyone, I've set up a number of online stores.
I prefer self hosting your site and using WordPress and Woocommerce. There is more of a learning course but in the long run you have less issues, you're not stuck rebuilding if you want to change host. And your site is already set up if I the future you want to hire someone to really customize it. It also turns out cheaper than paying monthly fees.

 

[MaitriBB]

I do my own via Wordpress, hosted by Arvixe. I use WooCommerce for the shop feature. I also just started doing freelance soapmaking websites via Wordpress/WooCommerce and am building one for a local soapmaker in my area.

I charge $15/hour and it would take approximately 2 hours to set you up with a Word/Woo site. You would have to pay the hosting fee but I could set that up for you. Then depending on how often you update your products, it would probably be 1-2 hours work per month.

If anyone's interested, pm me and I can give you the url of my site to look at.