DSF

Paul wrote:my web site is here
it costed me on the end about £240 and I have php site menager where I can paste all info, pics etc. not need to know any thing about html or php.

Whose pp manager was it? Joomla or Drucal?

no. it was made specilay for me from scratch i just said what I need and there it is

Hi,
As many of the people here have said, creating a website is not the easy route to sales. Both OSCommerce and Zencart are basically the same as Zencart was a break off of OSCommerce some years back. A simple to setup ecommerce software is Prestashop, its free and is getting a good following. Has limitations but all of these sorts of products do.

What ever software you use to get a site up and running is the easy bit, getting people to find you is the hard part and this can take months, you need to be near the top of a Google search result when people search for your product whether that is a mug or T-shirt.

Does it give you an https address?

GoldRapt wrote:Does it give you an https address?

Software can't give you an https address, that's down to your web-host.

If you rent your webspace from someone who also hosts the software, then they will more than likely* offer https where appropriate. But they won't do it for free.

I've mentioned before that I use the (free) ZenCart which I host on my own server. I use https because I buy the certificate every year (you have to prove who you are, and all that) and install it to my own server. Any reasonably competent webhost will do this for you, but they will charge for both the certificate and an admin fee to install it*.

Some hosts will offer a "free" https but it'll be a virtual one - something like https://secure.freebiewebhosts.com/~xtfgcr/yourwebsite.com/, which doesn't look as though you're taking your business seriously.

*check the smallprint.

I've used dreamweaver for years but i'm still crap at designing with it. I even bought the idiots guide but its too complex for me

JSR wrote:

GoldRapt wrote:Does it give you an https address?

Software can't give you an https address, that's down to your web-host.

If you rent your webspace from someone who also hosts the software, then they will more than likely* offer https where appropriate. But they won't do it for free.

I've mentioned before that I use the (free) ZenCart which I host on my own server. I use https because I buy the certificate every year (you have to prove who you are, and all that) and install it to my own server. Any reasonably competent webhost will do this for you, but they will charge for both the certificate and an admin fee to install it*.

Some hosts will offer a "free" https but it'll be a virtual one - something like https://secure.freebiewebhosts.com/~xtfgcr/yourwebsite.com/, which doesn't look as though you're taking your business seriously.

*check the smallprint.

Your own server!!!
Does that cost lots?

GoldRapt wrote:Your own server!!!
Does that cost lots?

Depends what you call a "lot"...

Some years back, I did a fair amount of work on people's websites - a couple of clients but mostly family and friends. It didn't make any money (why do you think I'm doing dye-sub these days? ).

Anyway, they were all using different web-space scattered all over the place which made it a real PITB to keep track of everything. I just decided it'd make more sense if everyone was in the same place, so that I could have better control over their sites and offer more services that they'd previously been paying through the nose for.

So I rented my own virtual server and dumped all the sites on that. I still don't make anything from it (the purpose was to make them easier to maintain, not to make any money - I gave up on getting money out of websites ages ago), but what I charge for hosting the sites coupled together with what I would have been charged to have my own sites hosted elsewhere, means that it pretty much pays for itself (just). They get more features for their money, I get better control (and easier backups). Everyone's a winner.

It does give me the advantage of being able to do things like install SSL (https://) without having to pay someone else to install it for me - so I only have to pay the cost of the certificate.

If people are looking for a quick way to get an online store up and running then a good option to look at is Prestashop. It has its probelms but with a little hands on TLC a shop can be created in about an hour. It has its problems and is not perfect but in some ways a lot better than the OSCommerce or Zencart options people including me have mentioned. I have used just about every free/low cost ecommerce solution out there and Prestashop is not bad plus its free, you obviously just need somewhere to host it.

JSR wrote:

GoldRapt wrote:Your own server!!!
Does that cost lots?

Depends what you call a "lot"...

If you can see your way clear to pm me some prices I would like to know if I could afford a space on a Virtual server or a whole one to myself. thanks.