Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss I need a Website? "been there done that" Advice?

Im getting off topic with this one, but have been struggling in getting info from anyone so i thought i'd try here.

I have a small business im wanting to setup on a website for people to look at my products. Its mostly metal art type stuff. I have around 250 products that i want to show and include ecommerce for buying online. Each product has different finishes like painting etc that i'd offer. Hence its not gonna be just a information site with a couple pages. If it were that this would be a lot different process altogether.

I would like to have control of the site to add/edit products and pricing etc, so i'd think a sitebuilder online might work but there are TONS of them to choose from. Its either that or have someone build it for me than have it where i can manage it.

I live just south of dallas so there are also a ton of web design business around town but once again, i don't have any real input or recommendations on what to use or who to use to get a good website going that won't kill me or my wallet.

anyone have any input on site builders or know of any good people that might be worth talking to.

Gosh, there are a ton of options. The two players in the ecart do it yourself world are virtuemart and magento. They are nice (and virtuemart is free) but require some knowledge of CMS software.

Regarding webspace, I give free webspace to businesses and individual entrepeneurs in Texas (although there are some limits to this offer). I also know independant contractors who do websites like the one you are looking for. If you are interested, shoot me a private message and i'll pass along the information.

You can set up a google blogger account and write posts about all your products with pics, etc and then have a paypal shopping cart buy it now button. This is all free and is connected with google so you will show up much better in search engine rankings much faster than if using any other type of blog.

Or I would recommend Volusion.com for do it yourself approach to ecommerce website. Very easy to use and they also show up great in search engine results for your keywords and products.

the biggest key is being found online.

I took a online class in website building, read the books, and still failed miserably at building a site for my wifes business!

There's a company that does several sites for pro fisherman and other business in the DFW area. I believe the link is thekernans.net If my link doesnt work then look at janetparkerfishing.com Scroll to the bottom of the page and there is a link to the website builders.

Good Luck! Keep us informed!

I need a website also. My dad owns a nursey that hes been running for the last 40 years and its time to change with the times. He cant even turn a computer on so I need the names of some people that build them. Just a way for our customers to find out about us on the internet.

Call your local University and asked for the Computer Science Lab, let them know what your needing done. Computer Science students are fast, cheap, have the best software and access to a large data base.

thats some great info, i didn't even think about a blog.

anyone else have any experience with websites...

there are lots of people that work in the i.t. field that build sites in their free time cheap, thats how i got mine. i own the site thru godaddy.com.

godaddy might have info on their site.

are you on facebook? ask there and see if you get any help. somebody knows everybody on facebook!!!

Of course it all depends on what you want.

Like someone said GoDaddy.com has website builder
templates that range from very basic to more elaborate.

Just last week I had a guy at our office design a basic
one page web-site for a painter friend of mine that
had no website. Nothing fancy.
BarryRidlingPainting

It is very basic, but now the guy has a website and
if you search Google for him he now pops up. This
basic website cost about $50 to do and there will
be a $10-15 yearly renewal with the hosting company.

I would think anyone you know that has some computer
skills could throw together one of these 1-2 page basic
websites fairly easy.