Web Marketing - Websites

[MilosCandles]

I saw another topic post get off topic about websites, so I thought I would post another about it.

 

This is what I did for my website.  I suggest you do your own research, it took me a while to say YES this is what I want.

 

I signed up for a 3 year account at Blue Host $3-$4 a month for 3 years paid up front - https://goo.gl/1E7y9X  (Wordpress site with Woo-commerce)

I watched this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKBSrdKWb4Y&t=1961s

Purchased the Flatsome theme.

Signed up for MailChimp

 

 

Over a 2 month period, few hours here and there I made my website.  The most time consuming part was taking "proper" pictures for my website.  Right sized, right product right look.  I probably invested like $200 out of pocket, and lots of time.  By the time I was "done", I had a good understand why it cost so much for someone to make the site for you.  I put done in quotes cause I am really never done, always tweaking and updating.

 

 

I watched many other youtube videos from "Darrel Wilson" on various different topics for word press and woo-commerce and good plugins and things to try.  Some I tried and liked, otherwise I tried and did not like.

 

 

I was looking to do this cheaply and look professional.  Wordpress/woo-commerce combination has endless capabilities because if all the plugins available.  I do not think I did any "TRUE" programming on my own.   There is basically a plugin to do anything you want.  The purchase of the Flastsome theme and being able to follow along with the video helped.

 

 

I will say...  One of the MAIN reason I choose woo commerce was related to shipping.  It amazed me how much Stamps.com and Shipstation.com charge per month for shipping.  It was hard to justify paying $10-$30 a month to be able to easily ship packages.  This was one reason I was not rushing to do this.  I discovered woocommerce has a built in way to ship USPS, but I ended up using PirateShip.com which integrates with woocommerce and it costs nothing (besides shipping)(BONUS).  This was great cause I also have an ETSY store and PirateShip also integrated with Etsy and their rates were lower than etsy's.  I could do all my shipping from 1 place.

 

 

The really free part is Facebook,  Twitter,  Instagram for me.  Once I discovered that Instagram and post a pic and message to Facebook, and Twitter and Instagram from right within their app I was sold.  So I basically do all my posting in Instagram and select to post it to Facebook, Twitter at the same time. This was another perfect solution for me also.  I know there are website that do this also.   So I suggest you setup a Facebook,  Twitter,  Instagram account and start using Instagram to post to all 3.

 

 

Then I discovered a plugin for Woo-commerce that will list my shop items on Facebook, which then I can TAG my products I post about in Instagram.  So when someone sees the post in Instagram they link right to my website store.

 

 

I will never say this is an answer for everyone.  I will say this was perfect for me.  I like to feel I got good value for my money and time.

 

 

For 2.5 years before this I had a "FREE" Wix website that I did domain forwarding.  

 

 

 

[Quentin]

9 hours ago, MilosCandles said:

I ended up using PirateShip.com which integrates with woocommerce and it costs nothing (besides shipping)(BONUS).  This was great cause I also have an ETSY store and PirateShip also integrated with Etsy and their rates were lower than etsy's.  I could do all my shipping from 1 place.

Thanks for that. Let me ask you something. How difficult or how practical would it be if I just dumped GoDaddy completely, shut down the site and took my domain name somewhere else that I might find easier for me to use?  One other question: On this integration thing, will that be done mostly by me or by whichever company I choose. Now that I think of it, I jumped in way faster than I should have. I just grabbed everything I saw and I've created a mess. If I shut down the GoDaddy site, it's not like anyone would miss me. The only hits, emails and inquiries I've gotten have been done by me in the form of "tests".  I think I'm really trying to find a turnkey operation if such a thing exists. I realize I'll probably lose some money but I'm willing to do that if it will get this monkey off my back.

[MilosCandles]

@Quentin As with anything if you just want it to appear in a shiny new box all ready to go you will pay for it.  If you put the time in yourself it will be cheaper.

 

My suggestion to you. 

Start with a Facebook page (Free)

Then Instagram site. (Free)

Maybe Twitter or Pintrest (Free)

 

The you have some options for selling

1 - Use Etsy as a way to sell stuff.  You can direct people to your site.  Listings are $.20 each for 3 months, and then there are some fees for selling.  The biggest problem with etsy, you can give people a link to your site but it is very possible that those people can find someone else page easily.  The advantage of Etsy is they get Millions of people to the site everyday, way more than you can get to your site.

 

I would try Esty 1st as a low cost option. and then once you get into it more maybe the next option.

 

2 - Setup a shopify store front $29 a month (https://www.shopify.com/pricing)

 

 

Pirateship integrates with both etsy and shopify for shipping so that is not a big deal.

[Paintguru]

Square also allows you to setup a single page store for free, which I have thought about.  Milos' option seems pretty good as well.  Shopify just seems super expensive for starting out, but is probably the best long term.  

[Quentin]

12 hours ago, MilosCandles said:

@Quentin As with anything if you just want it to appear in a shiny new box all ready to go you will pay for it.  If you put the time in yourself it will be cheaper.

 

My suggestion to you. 

Start with a Facebook page (Free)

Then Instagram site. (Free)

Maybe Twitter or Pintrest (Free)

 

The you have some options for selling

1 - Use Etsy as a way to sell stuff.  You can direct people to your site.  Listings are $.20 each for 3 months, and then there are some fees for selling.  The biggest problem with etsy, you can give people a link to your site but it is very possible that those people can find someone else page easily.  The advantage of Etsy is they get Millions of people to the site everyday, way more than you can get to your site.

 

I would try Esty 1st as a low cost option. and then once you get into it more maybe the next option.

 

2 - Setup a shopify store front $29 a month (https://www.shopify.com/pricing)

 

 

Pirateship integrates with both etsy and shopify for shipping so that is not a big deal.

I think you've cleared it up enough for me to make a decision. I'm going to go with what you've posted here. I've set up other pages on FB before, so I've got that down.  I'm already set up with Etsy, I think. If not, I'll do it.  I've also lined up an account with Pirate Ship and you say it's easy to integrate the two, so that puts part of the puzzle together. I'll blow up the GoDaddy thing and just take the hit. Thanks much.

3 hours ago, Paintguru said:

Square also allows you to setup a single page store for free, which I have thought about.  Milos' option seems pretty good as well.  Shopify just seems super expensive for starting out, but is probably the best long term.  

I'll do that as well, since I already have a Square reader that I use right now. I'll take the advice from both of you regarding Shopify, stay away from them and not make things more complicated than they already are. 

[Sebleo]

I use Shopify and just checked out Pirate Ship to see if I could save some money there. However, Shopify already gives you the commercial plus pricing with your account. 

 

So, if you go with Shopify you won’t have to add or link another shipping feature to it. 

[Paintguru]

The woo commerce thing does seem interesting.  Maybe over the winter I'll have more time to actually make enough product to sell and do the website.  

[Paintguru]

I may try to set this up over my 2 week Christmas break (WordPress + Woo).  I was thinking of buying a book, but not much exists.  I'll definitely try the Youtube route to see if there are any good videos.  Trying to start simple at first.  

[MilosCandles]

@PaintguruIf you are starting at ground zero I suggest Facebook/Instragram/Twitter with an Etsy Site.  You can refine your pictures and description with just a $.20 listing fee (for 90 days) for each item you put on Etsy.

 

Etsy has has millions of user search everyday there. You can figure out shipping and packaging.

 

I would not just start out with wordpress/woocommerce site first.

[Quentin]

1 hour ago, MilosCandles said:

@PaintguruIf you are starting at ground zero I suggest Facebook/Instragram/Twitter with an Etsy Site.  You can refine your pictures and description with just a $.20 listing fee (for 90 days) for each item you put on Etsy.

 

Etsy has has millions of user search everyday there. You can figure out shipping and packaging.

 

I would not just start out with wordpress/woocommerce site first.

I essentially followed Milos advice that he gave me in this thread on 10/23/18. I didn't do it exactly the same way, but basically did and it has turned out well. While far from being finished, I'm up and running online. Here's what I've got so far.  1) Facebook page.  2) Etsy Shop  3) Ecwid Store 4) Website by B12.  B12 is able to offer me great person to person assistance on the phone and via email and they are able to help me with other questions that they really don't have to but they always help me. That was something I needed. 5) Pirate Ship is there when it's the best option for me. 6) Square for payments at remote locations.  While not all these integrate together, some do. I doubt there is any combination you could put together that will do it all. FB page directs to Etsy and B12. Ecwid integrates with Square and B-12 website. Etsy directs to B-12 and FB. Ecwid and Etsy offer me invoicing options. The B12 website can direct shoppers anywhere I want them to go. My biggest holdup now is getting good photography, but that's a different topic. I'm working on that.

[Paintguru]

Point taken, and you are likely right.  Maybe I should stick to my original plan and do a Square website, which is limited to just one page of products, along with the Facebook/Etsy stuff.  I'll have to check out the B12 thing.  @Quentin, do you use that as a landing spot with links to your Etsy site or just an information page or what?  Thanks for the thoughts, they are greatly appreciated.  

[Laura C]

@MilosCandles this is such an awesome and helpful post. Thanks so much for sharing all this information.

[Laura C]

On 10/23/2018 at 12:04 AM, Quentin said:

How difficult or how practical would it be if I just dumped GoDaddy completely, shut down the site and took my domain name somewhere else that I might find easier for me to use? 

 

Hi @Quentin. I assume you transferred your domain from GoDaddy to another domain seller? I have some domains with GoDaddy that I'm going to transfer to my 1&1 IONOS account because GoDaddy is more expensive. https://www.ionos.com/

 

I have several domains with 1 & 1 as well and I'm really happy with them and they are cheaper than GoDaddy, plus "private" registration is included with 1 &1 domains. I've not been too impressed with either company's website design software but it's ok and gets the job done. And of course there are many other options out there, just wanted to let you know.

[Laura C]

For you or anyone that's interested. Here's some more marketing related stuff for logos, graphics, video stories, web pages and etc.

 

Canva has some free stuff https://www.canva.com/

 

Adobe has some nice stuff, other than the trial offers, not sure if any is free or not w/o an account. I have an Adobe Creative Cloud account with them so I get access to their Spark program for free. Spark is fun and easy to use and you can create all kinds of stuff. https://www.adobe.com/products/spark.html?promoid=85665VZX&mv=other

 

I'm currently looking into 48 Hours Logo and they look promising. I want to make sure they will provide me with what I need and also read online reviews about them. I want to hire a designer and let them do it. I'm not a graphic designer and I don't have the time and patience to mess with it. Their prices seem very reasonable to me and their logo designers do super nice, professional work from the examples they show. https://www.48hourslogo.com/

 

[Quentin]

2 hours ago, Paintguru said:

Point taken, and you are likely right.  Maybe I should stick to my original plan and do a Square website, which is limited to just one page of products, along with the Facebook/Etsy stuff.  I'll have to check out the B12 thing.  @Quentin, do you use that as a landing spot with links to your Etsy site or just an information page or what?  Thanks for the thoughts, they are greatly appreciated.  

Do I use the website as a landing spot? Hmm. I guess that's what I'm doing, since I'm putting my B12 website on all my products, business cards, stationery, etc. Let me say this about B12. I didn't shop price too much on this venture. I really can't tell you if they're expensive or not. The salesman gave me a better price right off the bat. If you get on the phone with him, balk at the price and he'll probably give you a deal. All I can say is that I feel I'm getting my money's worth. You fill out a little interview form on their site. Then they show you a mock up. Then you make an appointment right then for a phone consultation. The first guy that calls is the salesman. If you decide to take their offer, he sets you up with another guy that serves as your permanent consultant. Then you answer a few more questions about your preferences. He takes it from there. They are easy to communicate with and they never fail to respond. If you don't understand how to do something, he will help you with it or even do it for you. 

 

When I shop for anything, I don't shop entirely by price. I shop by what I perceive as VALUE.  Sometimes the lowest price is the best, sometimes the mid price, sometimes the high price. I would never by a pair of size 13 shoes because the were on sale at 75% off. That wouldn't be a good VALUE for me because I wear a size 8 1/2.  That's just how I look at things.  

[Quentin]

3 hours ago, Paintguru said:

Point taken, and you are likely right.  Maybe I should stick to my original plan and do a Square website, which is limited to just one page of products, along with the Facebook/Etsy stuff.  I'll have to check out the B12 thing.  @Quentin, do you use that as a landing spot with links to your Etsy site or just an information page or what?  Thanks for the thoughts, they are greatly appreciated.  

I just saw something in your question that I don't think I answered. If I list the product on my store site, it automatically populates my B12 site. 

[Quentin]

17 minutes ago, Laura C said:

Canva has some free stuff https://www.canva.com/

How much does the free stuff cost?  

[Quentin]

34 minutes ago, Laura C said:

 

Hi @Quentin. I assume you transferred your domain from GoDaddy to another domain seller? I have some domains with GoDaddy that I'm going to transfer to my 1&1 IONOS account because GoDaddy is more expensive. https://www.ionos.com/

 

I have several domains with 1 & 1 as well and I'm really happy with them and they are cheaper than GoDaddy, plus "private" registration is included with 1 &1 domains. I've not been too impressed with either company's website design software but it's ok and gets the job done. And of course there are many other options out there, just wanted to let you know.

Moving the domain from GoDaddy to B12 was simple. B12 did it for me.

[Laura C]

6 minutes ago, Quentin said:

How much does the free stuff cost?  

 

They have free stuff and options and also things you can purchase.

[Paintguru]

35 minutes ago, Quentin said:

Do I use the website as a landing spot? Hmm. I guess that's what I'm doing, since I'm putting my B12 website on all my products, business cards, stationery, etc. Let me say this about B12. I didn't shop price too much on this venture. I really can't tell you if they're expensive or not. The salesman gave me a better price right off the bat. If you get on the phone with him, balk at the price and he'll probably give you a deal. All I can say is that I feel I'm getting my money's worth. You fill out a little interview form on their site. Then they show you a mock up. Then you make an appointment right then for a phone consultation. The first guy that calls is the salesman. If you decide to take their offer, he sets you up with another guy that serves as your permanent consultant. Then you answer a few more questions about your preferences. He takes it from there. They are easy to communicate with and they never fail to respond. If you don't understand how to do something, he will help you with it or even do it for you. 

 

When I shop for anything, I don't shop entirely by price. I shop by what I perceive as VALUE.  Sometimes the lowest price is the best, sometimes the mid price, sometimes the high price. I would never by a pair of size 13 shoes because the were on sale at 75% off. That wouldn't be a good VALUE for me because I wear a size 8 1/2.  That's just how I look at things.  

 

Thanks.  I checked them out, and they are pricey, but as you said, a better deal may be available.  It is monthly rate, correct?  And when you say your B12 site gets updated when you update your store, do you mean your Etsy store or another one?  

 

Also, do you have a link to your B12 site?

Edited December 12, 2018 by Paintguru

[Quentin]

I mean my Edwic store. I haven't tried to integrate Etsy yet.

 

[MilosCandles]

I have 3 online presences right now and have to watch inventory on all of them.  (Etsy, Amazon, and Website)  And then I have to watch for orders in all 3 places.  My head is spinning this year.  1 more week   1 more week  1 more week.  is all I keep telling myself right now.

[Laura C]

6 hours ago, MilosCandles said:

I have 3 online presences right now and have to watch inventory on all of them.  (Etsy, Amazon, and Website)  And then I have to watch for orders in all 3 places.  My head is spinning this year...

 

Well, that's a good problem to have. You need an assistant too. LOL. As do I, LOL. 

[MilosCandles]

12 hours ago, Laura C said:

 

Well, that's a good problem to have. You need an assistant too. LOL. As do I, LOL. 

 

Yes I have some assistants, my daughter, my mom and girlfriend.  LOL  The joys of a small business.   LOL

[TallTayl]

When etsy changed the fee policy recently to include shipping in the fee calculation loads of ticked off people went to Shopify.  It looks easy, is pretty quick to set up a shop and is popular.  For $29 a month it’s a nice platform.

 

i have to say, though, bigcommerce totally won me over this week. It has exactly the catalog pricing tier options I’ve been in need of for years.  It’s an amped up Shopify basically for the Shopify price.  SSL is included along with shipping and credit card discounts, Instagram and other social media and google SEO. Order processing back end is slick. The dashboard, so far, looks sufficient. 

 

I don't love using totally hosted solutions, but I am willing to give this an honest try.  After 10 years of wrestling with zen cart I’m making the switch. I’d rather spend my time marketing versus programming. So long Zen. 

 

shopify and big commerce each offer 14 day free trials. jump over to kick some tires and get a feel for the options out there.  Presta is free too, but it’s intended to install it on your own host (I don’t want to mess with that any more.)

 

I’ve also looked at other open source shopping carts like Presta Shop.  If it had the pricing option I needed that would have won me over. Lose it no cigar.

 

for all,  nothing sells like awesome photographs.