Hope this is the right place to ask this - my first post here so don’t want to annoy everyone!
I really need a website designed (trying to start up my own business) - its got to be dynamic content and have a secure shopping cart/ payment system and in total I’ve got about £2000 to spend but I know barely anything about site designing and haven’t got a clue where to go to get something custom designed that will look really professional. Any recommendations?
(and love this site btw, was a lifesaver when i was discussing the aeroplane/conveyor belt question with someone and needed to prove i was right! )
For that amount of money, you will have people lining up outside your house, begging you to let them design your website! Hell, I’ll do it for half the money!
To be quite serious, log onto 1&1 Internet Inc. and read what they have to offer. There are other similar sites, but these are good, reputable people and the prices are cheap. They have a built in website builder that is really simple to use, and fun. Shouldn’t take you long to get the hang of it.
Also, if you should have a Microsoft package on your computer, many people are not even aware there is a nice Website design package called Microsoft Office Publisher that is also pretty easy to use with some great looking results.
I think Opal here on the boards also has a nice, free, website hosting server for beginners, with a larger, inexpensive package once you are up and running and need more features. You might want to put out a shout to her.
Also, check out Pay Pal for billing info. They have a package that will allow you to take credit cards and checks and Pay Pal funds…there is a fee, of course, but pretty easy to set up and you will have to pay a fee no matter where you go.
In other words, unless you are in a mad dash to have this up and running, give it a try on your own. You will be surprised how easy it is to create something that looks good and is functional. But if you don’t want to be bothered, there are lots of people out there who offer website design services - I would, however, ask the price before you volunteer your budget…I think you can get something quite nice for not a lot of money.
Something else to consider, especially if you choose a small independent designer. Make sure you are clear about what you want and expect, some people are more artistic where others dream in SQL. Web work is getting more and more specialized by the day and finding someone at a reasonable price that can do everything you need the way you need it can be difficult.
If you want to chat with someone who can perhaps answer a few questions, drop me a line, or an IM. I’ve done a couple of sites like you are describing, and can maybe help bring you up to speed. Do guests have access to our profiles?
Thanks for all the replies - i’ve seen 1&1 and think i could vaguely cope with designing something myself but its all the ‘back-end’ stuff that throws me, like I need to be able to easily add new stuff for sale and delete stuff I’m not selling anymore and adjust stock levels and designing that myself is totally over my head. Will look into paypal as a payment system though - was looking at Worldpay which is around £500 to setup on its own. I also need a really reliable ordering system, where I can always access customer details and what they’ve ordered (friend of mine had a cheap system and it kept losing addresses so she couldn’t send stuff and got a few pissed customers!).
Plus I want someone to know what to do if it ever crashes, I wouldn’t have a clue. I don’t need it very quick, have barely got the money for the site, let alone for stock to go on it (trawling round bank managers at the moment). But I’d like the peace of mind knowing someone who knows what they’re doing has designed it and will fix it if it all goes wrong.
i’ll try and sned some of you messages about it then (if i can manage that!), as long as it works and looks professional I don’t care who does it
)