Best "Design Your Own" Website with Shopping Cart

retenzo12

Can anyone recommend a Free / Low Cost Design your own website with shopping cart which if needed can be SEO by an expert at a later stage.

I was looking at wix.com but am told because its a flash based platform that it wont get recognised by google.

Any help be greatly appreciated.

Graham

There's quite a few threads on this subject, click on 'search this forum' on the main forum page. Loads of useful stuff there.

e.g.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=82434402

retenzo12

Graham wrote: »

There's quite a few threads on this subject, click on 'search this forum' on the main forum page. Loads of useful stuff there.

e.g.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=82434402

Im looking for something that I can build myself without web building knowledge....Something like a wizard builder like wix?

Graham

The thread I linked to suggests one such service.

http://www.bluepark.co.uk

Ballyman

retenzo12 wrote: »

Im looking for something that I can build myself without web building knowledge....Something like a wizard builder like wix?

If you have no web building knowledge then get someone to do it for you that has. Put an and somewhere to find a student or similar to build a website cheaply. Anyone with a bit of knowledge on WordPress will put together as proper site for you quickly and more importantly it will look professional.

Wix and similar wizards will make you and your business look cheap and unprofessional and thats not the kind of first experience your customers will want or forget.

Graham

While that may be true for websites, I don't think the same can be said for e-commerce stores that all tend to follow a familiar pattern.

A good turnkey e-commerce solution can work out (and look) much better than something bolted together by someone with 'a bit of knowledge of word press'. We're not talking about a brochure-ware site here.

How much experience is your student going to have of integrating with online payment gateways? Credit card security? Back-end accounts?

When your online store goes down at 5:30pm on a Friday, where is your student going to be?

thomas01

Wordpress is the way to go and with a bit of patience, you should be able to get it up and running yourself. You might need some help with graphics and your logo. There is a huge amount of Wordpress themes with inbuilt shopping cart functionality. Basic SEO is easy with these themes as there are lots of free plugin's you can use.

The main drawback is that you will need to use PayPal for taking payments. I'd suggest starting off with this and if things pick up, you can always spend a few quid getting someone to add Realex or another payment gateway.

A decent Wordpress theme will set you back about €50 but it will get you up and running fast. You should be able to request a demo from most theme sellers so that you can see how things work.

Axwell

Thread Moved..

Graham

A cobbled together wordpress site is definitely the way to go if you want to end up with something that looks like it has been cobbled together.

KonFusion

Shopify

Ballyman

Graham wrote: »

A good turnkey e-commerce solution can work out (and look) much better than something bolted together by someone with 'a bit of knowledge of word press'. We're not talking about a brochure-ware site here.

This guy/gal is looking for a Wix type website so reading between the lines I would imagine the budget for a website is tiny/non existent therefore a WordPress site with an e-commerce plugin developed cheaply is pretty much the only option available.

Obviously it's not going to be the best solution but it's better than a free Wix website is ever going to be.

I'm not saying it's the correct solution because for a business website that will be your first interaction with most of your customers it's obviously not but it may be a solution for the OP.

Graham

The OP is looking for a Wix type solution, with a low cost.

The fact that Wix is mentioned would indicated the OP has little/no html experience. Hence build-your-own is not an option.

Both turnkey solutions suggested appear to offer a free trial and no up-front cost for something that looks fairly credible.

www.bluepark.co.uk starts at €30 month
www.shopify.com starts at €30 month

Are you suggesting a viable alternative?

Ballyman

Wordpress Template Website - from €0 per month
Zen Cart e-Commerce Plugin - from €0 per month

Graham

Ahhh, so that come with free hosting, free payment gateway, free backups, free setup, free installation, free customisation, free security.

That would be like me suggesting this as an alternative to a wedding photographer:

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/7/xx/xx/2/1/criteresn.html

Ballyman

Let me guess, you're a web developer???? I understand your pain but the man is looking for free.

I was also working on the presumption that he already had a domain and hosting. Paypal is also a free payment gateway. Setup/installation/customisation is back again to my student suggestion.
Security is covered by Paypal.

We're not going to agree, I accept that. I am offering an alternative solution to a monthly subscription.

Graham

Ballyman wrote: »

Let me guess, you're a web developer????

Let me guess, you're not a web developer.

Ballyman wrote: »

I was also working on the presumption that he already had a domain and hosting.

Why would you presume the OP has a domain and hosting if he's previously looked at Wix as a solution? If the OP does not have a domain and hosting, these are ongoing costs that he will need to factor in.

Ballyman wrote: »

Setup/installation/customisation is back again to my student suggestion.

I'm assuming you wouldn't be so quick to recommend a student to take someones wedding photographs.

Ballyman wrote: »

I understand your pain but the man is looking for free.

Ballyman wrote: »

Free has absolutely no value and never will.

What often appears to be free/cheap has other costs in terms of time/effort spent and the quality of the end product. I'm sure this applies as much to professional photography as it does to professional web development.

Ballyman

Whatever, I've said several times already that it's not the best way to do things but if you have no budget then you have to sacrifice on quality but you seem to only pick out the pieces that annoy you.

There is always going to be cheaper/free options especially in the digital age to what you provide. The OP is obviously not your type of client so why worry about it?? People looking for a photographer on gumtree are not my clients so I don't worry about them.

If the OP wanted a quality job done they would have asked for that. Instead they asked for a free web building tool so where is your beef with the suggestions they have been given? €30 a month is not cheap to someone looking for free! Anyway argue away with yourself, I've given my recommendations.

retenzo12

to clarify, budget is minimal. I cant afford to pay a monthly subscription. I am looking at this a more of a project and will perfect it over the year, so I will hopefully learn as I go! I will check out shopify!! thanks for all the input

nellyshark

OP could you just clarify what features you require other than something being easy & free/low cost.

Its impossible to assist if we have only a few lines of information.

Do you require;
Domain
Hosting
SSL
Maintenance
Backup/Recovery
Import/Export
Subscription
What types of product are you selling (Digital, Physical)
Payment Gateways
Who is going to Admin this project
Have you the ability to configure & run software yourself

There are hundreds of more questions that should be asked.

Is selling on eBay out of the question?

Edit: I mean is whether the ability it is easy to design the only contributing factor

H0wdo

sorry wrong thread, how do you remove a post?