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Thread: Diy website

  1. #1
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    Default Diy website

    Hi Everyone,

    I would like some advise please
    I really need to get a Website up and running, for my craft business that I’ve started, without a website I’m pretty invisible.

    I’ve been looking around on the internet for do it yourself platforms , but it can be a little intimidating to be honest if you don’t know a thing about building a website .

    I’ve found Site123 they look ok and hosting(if that’s the right term)is about $200 a year price includes purchasing domain name .

    Big things for me is being able to build it myself and run and manage it myself .
    Plus ,also hook it up to my media groups ie Facebook plus PayPal.


    Cheers Sally

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  3. #2
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    Default

    Sally

    I will watch with interest to see what is recommended. Twenty years ago we had a website for the business we ran at the time, but still I have almost no idea how to do it and I'm sure much has changed in that time. One of the tricks is to establish links that bring visitors to your site and I guess that is why you wish to link to facebook. Twenty years ago Facebook was, well, faceless.

    Regards
    paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  4. #3
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    Have a look at weebly.com
    I am involved with a high school history group and one of our group set up our web-site there.
    I have the password and am able to get into it for updating and altering things quite easily.
    Tom

    "It's good enough" is low aim

  5. #4
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    Default

    Hi Chesand ( Tom )

    Ok thank you very much for your advise .

    I will take a look at that website then.

    Cheers Sally

  6. #5
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    Hi Bushmiller,

    Yes i am sure a few things have change over the twenty years .

    Yes that is one of the things i want on my website .To add a link to my facebook page.

    Yep it sure wasnt


    Cheers Sally

  7. #6
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    Default

    I think you can do something similar on Facebook itself

  8. #7
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    Default

    As a long-time web/internet/tech geek, and having built dozens of pretty technical websites, these days I can't be *bothered*. It's so much hassle looking after servers, updates, backups, policy, security, blah blah. These days I just use squarespace. Sure it costs a few bucks, but my time isn't free either, and it's a helluva lot better to spend $ on squarespace rather than wasting time on it myself (and probably doing a rubbish job).

  9. #8
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by CraftySally View Post
    ...Big things for me is being able to build it myself and run and manage it myself .
    Plus ,also hook it up to my media groups ie Facebook plus PayPal...
    OK - so you are intending this to be a transactional website where you will be processing orders & collecting customer data.

    You will have a whole lot of security issues, including regulatory compliance, to deal with.

    A DIY approach is not a good idea unless your IT security skill levels are at the high end and you have the time to constantly devote to maintenance. The fact that you are seeking advice here indicates this is likely not the case.

    SquareSpace, Weebley, Wix, Shopify et al can provide the platforms, but you still have to manage these proactively. There is a thriving industry in consultancies helping businesses set up & run eCommerce websites built on these platforms, evidence that its not necessarily a trivial setup & run exercise.

    You also have the issue of how to drive traffic to your website. It is not a "build it and they will come" situation. You would need to invest heavily in marketing to get the traffic there, and in SEO to try and get Google search rankings at a level where people are likely to find your site in a search.

    If you are just starting out I would seriously consider using an existing marketplace, at least until you see how the business goes. Etsy would seem the logical choice for this. Marketplaces already have high SEO rankings and have the security & payment gateways etc all sorted out.

    You could build a simple non-transactional website (e.g. www.mycraftstuff.com) and have a link to a Marketplace store in something like Etsy. Much easier to set up, way more secure & easier to manage.

  10. #9
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    One other thought on this is the issue of trust.

    In this era of daily reports of scammers, hackers and other "cyber crooks", how are you going to convince people to enter their personal information & financial details on your DIY website? Trust has to be earned, so unless you have a significant database of customers who already trust you as they have bought without incident before, you will struggle to get people to finalise a shopping cart, even if you do manage to get traffic to your site. Stats show that even once you have people who want to buy on your site, about 75% of shoppers on retail sites will abandon their shopping cart instead of proceeding with a sale. For many its a niggling trust issue that does this.

    An established marketplace also helps here, as they have the recognition and trust already. It helps both you and the buyer, as most marketplaces have seller and buyer protections in place.

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