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I've spent most of the morning reading through the FAQ's in this forum, and have gotten some good information. But it's still pretty confusing for somebody that hasn't done it before. I have a screen printing business, and I would like to add a simple online store to sell some of my shirts I've created. Can somebody give me a simple roadmap (Step 1, Step 2, etc.) to creating an on-line store. I just need to know where to start. Do I start with a layout? a host? software? Finding a freelance designer? Are there free store "plug-n-play" templates I can use? I would like to go the less expensive route and do as much of the work myself if possible. Just not sure where to start. Thanks!
Rusty
The first step in the process Rusty is to determine what you want the site to do and what its purpose is. A site that actually handles transactions and lets you sell individual tees will require a bit different build than a site that is just a brochure type with a form for people to submit an email for a quote. Assuming from your post that you are looking to build an actual transaction processing store with shopping cart, etc... here's how I'd go about it step by step...
1. Determine what you want. Will the site sell just a few tees? Or do you have 100 shirts to offer in a variety of catagories. Are you stocking inventory, or printing one offs as people order. Will you offer options between different tees, colors, sizes, styles, etc... Most people underplan their site and then are not happy with what the designer they hire puts together, You should know exactly how many shirts you plan to sell, how they will be organized on the site, what sizes, pricing, and shipping you will offer, and any other relevant details. Get your ducks in a row first, or you end up paying to have work done twice....
2. Get your domain name if you do not have one. I use GoDaddy and you can register your .com domain for less than $10 a year. I personally always select the private registration which adds to the cost a bit but minimizes the spam and postal mail solicitations you get when you publish your actual data in the WHOIS registry.
3. Buy some hosting. Do not get GoDaddy here. They have very restrictive plans for use of CGI/PHP/scripts and it is a pain to have an ecomm site on GoDaddy. If you plan on outsourcing the design and build of the site there are two schools of thought. First, let your designer recommend a host or buy hosting from them. This is good in some ways, but also places you at risk for paying a substantial mark up on what you could have found yourself. Alternatively, if you will have the time and skill to build the site yourself, you might look into one of the third party applications for creating and maintaining your store. These are offered through Yahoo, Volusion, BigFoot, and others.
4. If you go the build it yourself route, set aside a weekend or two to get things in order and get the site up. If you decide to outsource, take a look for a contractor. Check CraigsList.com, ask friends, and even use the yellow pages. You'll find large companies charge quite a bit for an eComm site and may try to upsell you on SEO, a new merchant account, and 100 other things. The good thing, as they are usually more timely in responding to your requests. If you go with a freelancer or college kid, you can save a bundle, but things may not get done nearly as expeditiously. Consider the tradeoff.
5. Once you've hired your contractor, be as specific as possible. Also make sure they include some training for you after so you can add new products, images, etc.. to the site without having to pay them again everytime you need to make a change...
Think that is the very succinct nuts and bolts of it... if anything is unclear, drop a line...
1) Currently I probably have 40-50 different shirts I would like to sell (each one in various sizes of course). I don't plan on a lot of sales in the beginning (maybe just a few a month), but of course hope to grow over time.
2) I've got my domain name already. Right now my website is informational, and I want to add the ecommerce, so it will need a complete redesign.
3) I've read through the hosting discussions, and have several in mind that I will check out.
4) I would like to try to build it myself first. And if I get into it and find that it's too much for me, I will then look for somebody to do it for me.
Hopefully this clears up some of the questions if anybody has any more suggestions. I just looked at the Yahoo stores and it seems pretty simple with getting everything from one provider. But if I were to get hosting from somebody like Lunarpages and use CubeCart, I could do it cheaper than the Yahoo Store, right? I would just need a website design, and hopefully I could just get a cheap/free template from somewhere right? Are my assumptions correct?
Thanks again,
Rusty
Last edited by rusty; December 3rd, 2007 at 01:25 PM.
If you are pretty comfortable with simple HTML, a little PHP, and graphics, you can likely build the site yourself. I built the bOffensive.com site, and am just finishing up my newest one at FunkJungle.com. It is definitely cheaper to just install a script like CubeCart, OSCommerce, or X-Cart and build your store, it just may take a bit of time to figure out how the program works and to get it to do what you want.
Both mine are done off X-Cart, and I actually do not use any of the "catalog" features of the site. I prefer to create simple HTML product and category pages, and then link those directly over to the cart for the transaction processing. That way, my main pages are all well done for SEO and other things and I am not forced into some store that looks exactly like everyone else who uses the software I use.
Also with scripts like XCart, CubeCart, etc... there is a decent community out there so if you get stuck, you can always post to the message boards and ask questions about how to fix whatever is not working for you.
If you aren't afraid to take a chance at putting it together, I encourage you to do so. Worse case you waste a few weeks worth of time and end up paying someone to do it for you. But if you do get it done, you'll know your store incredibly well and when it comes to upgrading and maintaining you'll have no problems.
Lemme know if you have any other comments or questions.
JohmmyMo, it's a pleasure - I've been a big fan of bOfennsive for a long time. To the OP, I'm using CubeCart after trying Xcart, osCommerce and Joomla (with cart plugins) and I just find CubeCart the easiest. Similarly to JohnnyMo, I also use regular HTML pages and link to the items in the shopping cart directly, instead of using a pre-set cart theme.
I have no experience in html and a bit with sitebuilder and pagebuilder from Yahoo but is there another place were I can transfer my site to that had good software also, possibly with flash capabilities that will allow me to create a storefront? I just saw the myspace information and that's very interesting!
-regina :-)
Online Store Creation Roadmap? 
