BLSoaps Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 I'm gonna apologize now that this will probably be long winded! I've been digging through the forum, reading everything I can about the different DIY web-building companies, and I'm admittedly frustrated and confused.We are trying to redesign our websites. Our Soapers Workshop site is currently functioning without a shopping cart, which we'd like to remedy. Our retail site, well, our old host's shopping cart kept screwing up, and nobody could ever seem to figure out what was wrong (items kept mysteriously dropping out, reappearing, multiplying). So we're leaving that web-builder company. We signed up with a new host, who claimed to include a free shopping cart, but we can't find one that's actually free. They list a variety of partners, all of which are paid shopping carts to add onto our plan. So we're planning on canceling our hosting with them, but we can't decide who to switch to.Unfortunately for myself, I'm obnoxiously picky. :DI have a number of features that I NEED. And I insist on a very professional looking website. It's the perfectionist in me. I've looked at a number of companies tonight, and I'm going to share what I did and didn't like about each one. (this is where I get long winded! LOL!)WAHM Shoppes - The Home Pages looked nice. The prices were wonderful, but the actual product shopping pages just looked sloppy to me. I prefer product pages that allow a picture of the product with the product name, maybe a mini-description, then you click on that, and it pulls you to another page (or a pop-up page) with full details about the product. My product descriptions aren't short. So if they can't click to a separate page for the FULL product description, then my pages will be INCREDIBLY long, and will look very cluttered and sloppy. I like the look of product pictures in 3 columns, with those pictures pulling to the actual individual product pages. The columns aren't required, but the individual product pages is. Hope that makes sense.DIY-Estores - I'm not a country girl. And the country look, it's definitely not me in the slightest. I scrolled through their gallery, and clicked on the few that were less countryish, but they usually had custom template design work done by someone...something we can't afford to do right now. Also, from their "supplied" template pages, everything had kraft colored backgrounds. Yikes! I hope there are options to change that, but I'm probably not going to risk it. Also, I read quite a few negative things about them in these forums. Enough for me to be very cautious.Create-A-Shoppe - Again, there's a heavier country feel to the designs, but not as much as DIY. My biggest concerns here are needing to use the MALS cart. I've heard some awful horror stories about MALS. I know I e-mailed the owner with questions a while ago, and I never heard back, which I hear is pretty typical. Can these templates be used with a different shopping cart?HandCraftMarket - So far I've only heard good things about them. I like that you can purchase exclusive templates for actually very good prices, but well, she's only got 1 non-prim(country) available, and wow, that's totally not my style either! LOL! I really like the sites that I've discovered others of you have gotten through her. And the reviews on her are very good. Again, my concern is using MALS with it. Knowing there are surely many others out there, this is what I'd like to find.1. Good selection of flexible templates, but definitely without the country feel. I'm looking for a clean-cut, elegant type of feel...professional, doesn't scream home-business. I know we are, but I've had a number of people not realize that until after they personally spoke with me. I like that, personally. I want the flexibility to work with the colors. The background, fonts, buttons, etc. I don't know tons of HTML, but I know a decent amount.2. I'd like it to have a built in shopping cart. Basically, all I want to have to include price wise above this is our merchant account for processing the payments. I don't want three different payments going out a month that I have to worry about (hosting, shopping cart, and merchant).3. I'd really like to be able to have a password protected section for wholesale accounts to order through. 4. Real-Time Shipping Calculators. I'd like to find one with FedEx, as I don't like UPS, but I'm finding I apparently can't get too picky about that. Oh well.5. Discount Codes, Coupons, I'd like to be able to accept things like this.6. Inventory Capabilities would be ideal.7. Internal Stats would also be preferred (keeping track of unique visitors, and then being able to pull conversion rates. Tracking best selling products, things like that).I'm pretty much open to all suggestions right now. We're just so frustrated, and feel like we keep running in circles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugtussle Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 You might want to check out Becky's designs, she is a member of this board and she does beautiful, sophisticated web sets. She works with DIY and IS NOT country.http://www.studiobeckdesign.com/Carole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candlegrl Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 DIY-Estores - I'm not a country girl. And the country look, it's definitely not me in the slightest. I scrolled through their gallery, and clicked on the few that were less countryish, but they usually had custom template design work done by someone...something we can't afford to do right now. Also, from their "supplied" template pages, everything had kraft colored backgrounds. Yikes! I hope there are options to change that, but I'm probably not going to risk it. Also, I read quite a few negative things about them in these forums. Enough for me to be very cautious.This is my Husbands and Sons site they just signed up at DIY-Estores and very happy http://www.motoheadracing.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candlegrl Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 DIY-Estores - I'm not a country girl. And the country look, it's definitely not me in the slightest. I scrolled through their gallery, and clicked on the few that were less countryish, but they usually had custom template design work done by someone...something we can't afford to do right now. Also, from their "supplied" template pages, everything had kraft colored backgrounds. Yikes! I hope there are options to change that, but I'm probably not going to risk it. Also, I read quite a few negative things about them in these forums. Enough for me to be very cautious.This is my Husbands and Sons site they just signed up at DIY-Estores and very happy http://www.motoheadracing.comBeckie did do the graphics and webset for motohead the topper to the left she added our son she is amazing :)http://www.studiobeckdesign.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJay_23 Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 SoapersWorkshop, I had to chuckle over the sense of deja vu I felt when I read your post - when considering a website, I was looking for pretty much everything you just stated.My personal recommendation is VodaHost. (I know, everyone is going to have a host and/or builder that they're madly in love with, which is great, but you'll probably be ready to pull out your hair when the responses stop trickling in. lol)Seriously though, VodaHost offers outstanding hosting services, as well as the best website builders I've ever seen. (Granted, I haven't seen ALL of the builders out there, so this is just from my experience. :smiley2: )VodaHost offers an online builder (SohoLaunch) and an offline builder (BlueVoda). Both are excellent and can be used with numerous templates, or you can custom build your site. Personally, I use BlueVoda, and love how easy it is to use (virtually drag and drop) and you simply can't beat what you can accomplish with it. Should you decide to build a site using HTML coding, VH offers an easy to use FTP setup to upload your site.VH also offers shopping carts to use with your site (which is included with the builder(s) so you won't be charged extra fees for using them), or if you don't like any of the ones they offer, you can easily use anything else you can find. They also offer tools for tracking how many people visit your site, where they came from, what search engines visit your site and when, what keywords people used to find you, how many people have bookmarked your site, any errors that may have been found when accessing your site, auto-responders for your email accounts, etc.They have excellent customer support that will help you every step of the way, as well as tutorials showing you how the builder(s) work, and a support forum filled with people who can (and will) answer any question you can possibly think of. There is even a section where you can find people who will build a site for you using VH and their builder(s).I probably sound like a cheesey advertisement here (lol) but I really am thrilled with VodaHost, and am convinced that anyone who gives them a try will be just as happy with them as I am. If there is anything I can do to help, or any questions I can answer, please feel free to ask, and good luck on your search!KellieP.S. BlueVoda is a free download, and you can play with it for as long as you want to - you won't have to pay a dime unless/until you're ready to publish your site. You can check them out here: AFFILIATE LINK REMOVED . HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SliverOfWax Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 I had a hideious experience with HandCraftMarket where I was treated extraordinarily unprofessionally. Every bit of my data was willfully destroyed before my promised 6 month trial was finished. Rather than repeat details here, I have pm'd you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 Reminder: Straight up self-promotion and/or affiliate links will be deleted. We've been getting way too much of this lately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSoaps Posted March 20, 2007 Author Share Posted March 20, 2007 I'd like to thank everyone who has responded here as well as PMd me. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be going with HandCraft Market. I've been communicating with them privately since this thread went up, and I've been very impressed with them. Thanks again! You guys are awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raggedy Dani Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 I'd like to thank everyone who has responded here as well as PMd me. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be going with HandCraft Market. I've been communicating with them privately since this thread went up, and I've been very impressed with them. Thanks again! You guys are awesome!oh you'll love it there!! I'm extremely happy there!Dani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traceyy Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 I host mine through wahmshoppes.com If someone you know knows a bit about html they can create exactly what you want. I just got my website redone by www.sheandidesigns.com I bought a web template for $50 (the pastel delights) they were super super fast and I feel so much better not having to deal with any of it. I just want to add products and that is it. As far as web design you could also look at www.wahmpro.com I hear they are good too! Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShellyT Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 DIY-Estores - I'm not a country girl. And the country look, it's definitely not me in the slightest. I scrolled through their gallery, and clicked on the few that were less countryish, but they usually had custom template design work done by someone...something we can't afford to do right now. Also, from their "supplied" template pages, everything had kraft colored backgrounds. Yikes! I hope there are options to change that, but I'm probably not going to risk it. Also, I read quite a few negative things about them in these forums. Enough for me to be very cautious.You don't have to be country at all to setup a website with DIYeStores.com. We have several clients that are non country. And the free layouts are just a layout, the way the web graphics are displayed. The kraft backrgounds are not there. Whichever color background you use will be what is displayed. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!Thanks and good luck to you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy Shoofitz Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 WAHM Shoppes - The Home Pages looked nice. The prices were wonderful, but the actual product shopping pages just looked sloppy to me. I prefer product pages that allow a picture of the product with the product name, maybe a mini-description, then you click on that, and it pulls you to another page (or a pop-up page) with full details about the product. My product descriptions aren't short. So if they can't click to a separate page for the FULL product description, then my pages will be INCREDIBLY long, and will look very cluttered and sloppy. You obviously didn't look closely. All these things are available with Wahm shops and more. As far as HCM, I wouldn't advise it, very risky. DIY is another where you wouldn't have to worry about service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel2006 Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I'm with Handcraftmarket and i love my website setup and they are very professional and will work with you anyway they can. Soapersworkshop Handcraftmarket is a very good choice i'm with Dani i love it their and will be with her forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalmcvea Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Some of you dont have a link to your website on here...I would love to see your sites. i too am trying to get a site going...and have been completly engulfed...very overwhelming for someone who knows nothings about computers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ring of Fire Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I'd like to thank everyone who has responded here as well as PMd me. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be going with HandCraft Market. I've been communicating with them privately since this thread went up, and I've been very impressed with them. Thanks again! You guys are awesome!Oh, I can definately see now why you need a new website.I don't think you should include your to do list on this new site, JMO.http://soapersworkshop.com/dream_big.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSoaps Posted March 23, 2007 Author Share Posted March 23, 2007 Oh, I can definately see now why you need a new website.I don't think you should include your to do list on this new site, JMO.This page was created because of a newsletter mailing I did several months ago. It was not, as you put it, a "to do list", but part of a business resources section that I didn't have time to finish. We're planning on offering more than the typical supplies, but also tips and help sections on building your business. This was an example on the importance of writing out your business goals in specific terms and with deadlines. Without specific goals, any business will flounder and fail. However, I realized that to someone who hadn't received that newsletter edition, it might look a little odd. I haven't had nearly as much time as I had hoped to work on developing this section of our site. But then again, my businesses are keeping me very very busy, so I guess all that goal setting did some good! LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindym Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 I thought it was great. It is good to know what a supplier is going to be doing and offering in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.