Thread: Websites

Also how did you get .com.au at the end of your site name? Where is the option to do so?

I am by no means an expert on this but I believe you buy the website with .com.au included but to do this you must have an Australian ABN (Business Number) otherwise you can only get .com Domain Names.

Cheers Ian

Originally Posted by Dorno

I am by no means an expert on this but I believe you buy the website with .com.au included but to do this you must have an Australian ABN (Business Number) otherwise you can only get .com Domain Names.

Cheers Ian

Unfortunately you can't get a .com.au TLD with an ABN, you must be a registered business which can be done through your state government. Does cost money though (like anything from the Government).

Originally Posted by Bupton

Looks good, How does the shopping cart work do you just connect you paypal account

Sort of. You (obviously) need a paypal account then create a button on paypal. You then need to copy the code from that button into your HTML. You can find a little more info here Bupton:

https://www.paypal-australia.com.au/...al/sell-online

One thing I'd suggest you try to do, is to get away from using Hotmail for your email. I know in the recent past, many spam filters throw out a lot of stuff from hotmail because it has been so abused.

I suggest you at least go to gmail, but talk to your web hosts and see if they can provide a custom email address for your domain. You can have it redirect to whatever email system you are using, so you don't have to change providers yourself if you don't want to. I current have about 5 different web sites, and all my emails from them go via my one gmail account.

Russell.

I got an ABN through the Australian Tax Office. It only takes a couple of minutes to fill out the form and doesn't take them long to send out the number. An ABN is free. I registered a Business Name with the State Government (Office of Fair Trading) and that was the most expensive part of the entire exercise (around $120 for a year). It really does nothing other than ensures someone doesn't steal your business name and like most government costs is a rip off..

I just used Net Registry to register a domain name at around $12 for a year. You have to have an ABN to register a .com.au name. You don't need an ABN for a .net name. Its probably an idea to register .com .com.au and .net again to stop someone stealing the name but that's all money of course.

The web host I use provide you with an email address when you set up your site. There is a tool on the program which allows you to automatically divert any email or enquiries received at the site to any email address, There is no limit on the number.

When I used the Fat Cow webhost with their Weebly drag and drop webwsite tool there is also another program on the main control panel that provides the click on "Add to Basket" or "Buy Now" icons. They will appear automatically and cost $2-95 a month to use - doesn't matter how many you use its just the one low cost. They link into PayPal. If you have a PalPay account it does the rest in terms of collecting any money. It is an idea to go for the business PayPal account rather than the individual account as you get more choices, including sending an automatic reply confirming an order. It doesn't cost anything.

Hope this helps and sorry for the delay in replying.

Greg

Originally Posted by plantagenon

When I used the Fat Cow webhost with their Weebly drag and drop webwsite tool there is also another program on the main control panel that provides the click on "Add to Basket" or "Buy Now" icons. They will appear automatically and cost $2-95 a month to use - doesn't matter how many you use its just the one low cost. They link into PayPal. If you have a PalPay account it does the rest in terms of collecting any money. It is an idea to go for the business PayPal account rather than the individual account as you get more choices, including sending an automatic reply confirming an order. It doesn't cost anything.

Hope this helps and sorry for the delay in replying.

Greg

That's a bummer they charge extra for Paypal linking, as it's simple to set up if you know a little html, and costs nothing to do, but I understand not everyone can edit their own pages.

As for the business Paypal account, yes that's the best way to go, but do realise that if you do that, you are still hit with their fees even if you want to do personal transactions, unlike an individual account, and from memory, it's against their TOS to have both an individual and business account?(check though, I could be wrong or they may have changed).

Russell.

Russell

How's your website going? I remember you set it up only a short time ago. Are you getting much work from it?

Greg

Originally Posted by plantagenon

Russell

How's your website going? I remember you set it up only a short time ago. Are you getting much work from it?

Greg

I assume you mean the craft supplies one? I've had a couple of orders, but that has been more from forum friends that cold hits on the website. I don't really expect very much from people doing Google searches I'm afraid. The days of Google being your best friend for marketing have long gone. Our hobby is too niche for that, and Search Engine Optimisation used to be all about stuffing your web page with keywords, but they wised up to that ages ago and it no longer works.

If you do want your website to be popular, you have to have ongoing, fresh, meaningful and targetted content, and get out there and sell, sell, sell via twitter, facebook etc etc to those who may be interested. I don't have the need or the desire to do that at the moment, and I'm a terrible salesman.

As for the pen sales side of my website, I had several orders not long after I set it up a couple years ago, but have had nothing since. Mind you, I haven't done anything to promote it, and haven't updated it in a long time.

Sorry, not trying to discourage you, just trying to point out the facts. You need a web presence if you want to do anything these days, but just having a presence is not a goldmine, it's simply your shop front. You still have to do all the marketting any business needs to do, to make a profit out of it.

Russell.