Advise on setting up a Web Site

[firestone]

If you have any queries with it they get back to you really quick with an aswer (although lots of people on here use it aswell so we can also help!). I think it costs about £35 from MrSite website or you can buy it off Amazon where I think it costs about £20 (thats where I got it from).
Hope this helps. Nicki.

[Equus Leather]

My OH made our website. Link in my signature.

[Mervyn]

setting up a web site

Hi all, I have been designing my own sites for a while now and have used oscommerce for selling on one site, and a company called prestashop for my other site, prestashop has everything you need and it is not too complicated to setup, where osc can be.

Both are free but prestashop is much better and more modern looking and has an off the shelve template, so no designing is really needed, prestashop is a front-end and back-end shopping software with some really quirky image transition and it is FREE just type prestashop into Google and take a look yourself.

If anyone does go with prestashop there are some very slight modifications to add (SEO) search engine optimization this is not expensive to have done by someone who knows what they’re doing, and it will pay dividends later.
Hope I have helped in some sort of way.


Mervyn

[QueenJewels]

I bought Mr Site pro and my husband and I put together my first website using it. It seemed great in theory but it was a very frustrating experience for too many reasons to list! So my husband Mark decided to learn how to build websites and built my current one from scratch with everything I need and it looks fab!

He enjoyed doing it so much he's happy to make websites for other people.

Instead of charging a fee he would just like a donation to his London Marathon sponsorship charity which is Parkisons, he has to raise a certain amount so any donations will really help!

If anyone's interested look at my website and if you like the style and functionality (obviously themes/cols etc would be as specified) please pm me for more details

[sg-cards]

hi. i use moonfruit for my website SG cards. Its very good for beginners!

[turquoisebay]

Website start up

Hi, I used create.net to build my own site (with no website background at all!) and I found it easy. I wrote the text and then just played with the templates until I found one that was pretty but functional. It costs £5 a month and comes with a checkout cart all ready built in.

The site went live a few days ago and I thought my work was done - but then I started reading about meta-tags and stuff like that. I couldn't find any help that wasn't written in complete techincal garble. Then I discovered that google has help pages to get you listed - they have a thing called Webmaster Tools on the page that you will find this Analytics and if you follow their instructions it's not too complicated. Seek and ye shall find...! I'll just be glad when I am able to get back to actually making jewellery - given that's what I really love doing. You could get terribly caught up in running a website and forget the crafting is much more important.

Next thing to do with the website is take better photos and upload them all over again! My project for the weekend is to source some velvet jewellery stands and make a light box!

Joanna x

[Sarah Jackson]

I've just set up my website, finding it hard to get many visitors at the minute though

sarahjacksonjewellery.co.uk

[AmandaJ]

We provide all the necessary marketing tools for artists to promote themselves online. Do what you love and leave the trouble to us.

visit our link below for more info. Hope this will be helpful to you.

[eryka91]

Good luck with you idea.

My website went live today and all I can say is please check the fine print with any hosting pakages. Check how many pages you can have, what image size you can load. Watch out for the hidden extras it is minefield out there. Do not bother with a shopping cart, unless you want it to manage all sales. I can recommend paypal it free and easy to use. You pay %3 on sales. some hosting sites advertise a cheap price but when you look closely its only for the first three months, then doubles in price.

I hope that has helped. If you have any questions I am happy to help.

Eryka

[Enfys]

I started off with a free site, then used the space provided by my ISP. Later I moved to Mr Site and I really have to recommend it.

I also use FrontPage for the editing and have learned a little html along the way so that I can alter some of the coding.bits

While I agree with all the SEO comments (and I have to confess to not having read the whole thread) my most important suggestion would be to get a domain name. They are not expensive and, if you change your server for any reason, you don't have to spend hours changing your links and business cards. All you do it change the forwarding addy for your domain name.

This is especially important if you want to start off with a free site and later change to a paid one if it is working for you.

I bought Mr Site from eBay for £20 but an going to have to pay the full price to renew when the year is up. Still, I think it is worth it.

[Melissa Ysh]

Mr Site all the way!

I can vouch for mr site all the way, my friend has one and has the online payment option which works really well for her.
Go with a simple template and instead concentrate on your own images - a white background is perfect and will encourage your viewers to stay - no mess and no fuss! just good design. Good luck!

[labelhuntjewellery]

I thought http://www.webs.com/ is good

simple and for free
i guess it would be pretty easy to use a PayPal button for your shop

If you need help drop me a line pls

w

[Hebe73]

Hi all,

I know i am new, but i just want to give some tips for people with webshops. I have a shop at the moment, but it is not craft related, so i wont give the web address.

Please, please read up on on trading standards for distance selling regs.
It wont let me post the weblink to the regs, but search for office of fair trading or distance selling regs.

Be sure to put a terms and condition on your page. This will give your customer information about general information about returns (for instance no returns on bespoke pieces and such), shipping information etc. Read some terms and condition on big company site similar to yours.

Another legal requirement is to have contact details on the site and this can not be just a contact form. You will need your (trading) address and a contact number on the website if you sell through your website. Like me, alot of you wont have a store, so you just have to mention as well that the address noted is for postal communication only.

Just so you are covered in case of any complaints or anything. It is vital to read up on these.

Cheers,

Giovanna

[Kitty24245]

Craft website

If you have trouble setting up your own website or just want your crafts to have more exposure you could set up a shop on homemade trade .co .uk


Its an online farmers market/craft fair and works a bit like eBay
You set up a free shop and just pay a small percentage on what you sell. Also a lot of products are advertised on their homepage and twitter.

Hi

I was thinking of setting up a web site to sell my cards. Has anyone any advise for me or where to begin ? As im not very up on this subject

thanks in advance Sarah

[Incognito 1]

If you have trouble setting up your own website or just want your crafts to have more exposure you could set up a shop on homemade trade .co .uk


Its an online farmers market/craft fair and works a bit like eBay
You set up a free shop and just pay a small percentage on what you sell. Also a lot of products are advertised on their homepage and twitter.

Hi Kitty, I noticed this is your first post. The last post onthis thread is over three years old. Date and time top left in burgandy/red bit.