Looking to create own website.

I am not saying he should not learn it but what he is asking for will need experience. He is talking about having a shopping cart on his site also.

This is not just a simple static site anymore.
 
I am not saying he should not learn it but what he is asking for will need experience. He is talking about having a shopping cart on his site also.

This is not just a simple static site anymore.

Refer to OP's posts:

I'm looking to build my own website for my business. Initially it will be for promoting/advertising a product I designed but hopefully as things progress I can start to sell the product on the website.

The content will consist of information regarding the product, what it does how it works etc with some pictures and perhaps a video to help fully understand how it works.

To begin with, it would be all static.

After that's all done and later on, shopping cart functionality can be added later either by the OP or a professional.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys! I can understand both arguments. I will give it a go myself (got plenty time to mess around) and if I'm not happy with it I'll perhaps look for professional assistance.
 
I have a website design company that was founded in 2009, so I've been doing this for awhile for all types of businesses. A situation like yours is, unfortunately, very common. It's unfortunate, because many business owners want to do it all on their own, yet --as you stated--do not have any experience in doing so. Not only that, but you said you want to eventually sell products on your website, which means you're attempting to create an eCommerce website on your own without proper knowledge or experience. So really, you have to ask yourself the following questions: How much is your time worth? (You will spend 10x more trying to do this on your own than if you hire a professional. You will also be delayed in your business goals because you will probably end up needing to hire someone anyways to get it looking the way it should in a competitive Internet market, which means all the time between now and then will be lost because you could have already had it done by going with a professional from the beginning.) How much is your business worth (to you)? By your post, I'd say not much. Which is exactly how your customers will perceive it. Can you build a site on your own? Maybe. But when you look at a do-it-yourself site next to a professional site, the results are like night and day. And if someone is a potential customer, they're going to choose the business that looks more professional. Every time. (You would probably do the same thing.) Hiring a professional to do you site benefits you in several ways. In addition to those listed above, you are already (hopefully) up-to-date with the latest technology (meaning, your site will actually function properly, and work on mobile phones and tablets as well as include social network integration). The chances of you doing all the proper SEO on your own without experience is pretty slim. So even if you have a site up, it will be much harder for anyone to find it. If you want your potential customers to take your business seriously, then you have to do that also. Invest in something that will end up earning more than what you put in. Right now you have 100% of nothing. If you pay a fee to a professional, then you'll have that temporary loss, but the long-term benefits will BY FAR outweigh any loss. You'd make MORE money on a professional site than one you did on your own.... so you'll either lose the money now or later, but with you doing it yourself, you will be limited long-term.

That being said, here are a few tips.

1. Make sure the domain you hope to use is actually available. Domains are super hard to come by these days. I recommend GoDaddy because it's just easy to use and cheap. You can search for the domain (URL) on their home page and instantly find out if it's available or not. You can also bundle other services like hosting and e-mails. (Domain is the name of your website. Hosting is the bandwidth that allows your website to work, space on a server). If you google search GoDaddy promo codes, you'll find a ton of them. (More savings).

2. Hire a professional photographer to take photos of your inventory. If you would like to appear professional, this is important. Even with a nice website, if your items are photographed with a camera phone, or even a decent camera on the kitchen counter, it will look....less than professional.

3. Make sure you (or your designer) doesn't infringe on copyrighted photos. This is more common with people who try to do it on their own using whatever photos they find online. You'd likely get hit with a lawsuit eventually because people don't like their digital property to be stolen. Also, many stock photos are just boring and won't allow your site to stand out among competitors. A talented designer will make your site look like one-of-a-kind.

4. Make sure the site images are able to be enlarged. No one wants to see tiny little thumbnails. Further, when they are enlarged, they should open in a popup (like Lightbox), not go to a separate page. This creates unnecessary navigation for the visitor.

5. No music. Never use music on a site. That's so 1996.

6. Include all of the proper keywords and tags for SEO so your site shows up in search engines. Also, don't use text images. They will never be recognized.

7. Incorporate social media throughout the site. (Gives your more credibility, creates less work for the customer as they will likely want to look you up anyways, and allows visitors to essentially advertise your business for you for free.)

8. Check it out on various browsers and devices to make sure there are no mistakes in the coding. What might look lovely on a firefox browser on a computer could look like a mess on Google Chrome or Safari.

9. If you decide to go the route of hiring a professional, be sure you know exactly what you are getting (total cost without hidden fees, what it includes, turnaround time, any kind of maintenance period should some bugs need to be worked out in the beginning, etc.). Also, even when going with a professional, it's a good idea to always maintain control of the URL and even hosting yourself. While many of us are honest, many are not and you don't want a "web guy" going MIA or holding your stuff hostage for money (I've actually heard about this). You will also want to access your site yourself whenever you need to.

10. Feel free to contact me privately if you'd like information on my company and even to use as a bargaining tool with local companies. I live in Florida. You don't. I've done business with the UK before, but sometimes an ocean is a big separation. Totally understandable.

Good luck! Just remember, your website is your company's vehicle. If you wouldn't build a car from scratch yourself and trust it with your life (on the autobahn), then don't put the life of your business into the same inexperienced hands.

p.s. I sincerely hope this helps. I try to be honest because this is important and I hate to see people get in over their heads with websites.
 
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