My wife has started a new business and she was thinking of making a website so she could sell stuff online. I told her I'd help out with that, but neither of us has ever started a website and I don't really know where to start.

I know a lot of you guys have websites and I thought you might be able to help. Anyone??

 

If you want to do online sales, you need shoping cart software, and the ability to process credit cards. Start with a pre packaged product, you will get online much quicker.

Check out http://www.zoovy.com

In less than an hour you can have products online.

The hardest thing will be getting good photos of your products.

If the products are small try this: http://www.ortery.com/

 

Don't forge to buy a domain name...

 

Her and a friend of hers are making a bunch of hand crafted children and baby stuff. Hand painted children's furniture, photo albums, painted trash cans, painted tissue holders, embroidered burp rags, diaper bags, shopping cart covers.....the kind of stuff that rich grandmothers will pay outragious amounts of money for.

 

I also use Yahoo small business.....very EZ to use for the beginner or as your skills grow Yahoo has features for advanced users.....they can also get a domain name for you

In 3 years of using Yahoo for 4 web sites that I have.....there has never been one time a server has gone down....I believe Yahoo has some of the worlds biggest servers

 

Sounds like words of experience there, Grandmahoss....
I knew it all along..... he IS a she....

 

Not exactly....although....there was that rumor going around that Hoss = Javaluva = Jack.

Think I'll have to check into this Yahoo thing. Several have recommended it. How does one go about getting a domain name? They have a certain one they'd like to get if it's available.

 

Well, you can search here to see if the name is taken. Don't forget there are other extensions besides ".com" if they are really set on the first part of the address.

There are lots of domain registry places out there. You can search on google. Various hosting sites offer deals too.

http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/whois/index.jhtml

 

You ISP may already offer space for a free or reduced fee website.

 

Very cheap to register a domain name at http://www.godaddy.com

One of the nice things about Zoovy as a merchant product, is that you can list your items on ebay within your Zoovy web site. This gives you really cheap advertising.

They also offer a 2 week free trial.

And if you don't want to register a domain name, the will give you a yourname.zoovy.com domain to use.

 

To start a website, you can follow these simple steps:

Choose a domain name – Pick a name for the website that reflects the business.
Select a web hosting provider – Web hosts like Webxloo, Bluehost, or SiteGround offer easy-to-use tools for beginners.
Build the website – You can use website builders like Wix, Squarespace, or Shopify if you’re selling products online. These platforms are user-friendly and don’t require coding knowledge.
Add products and payment options – Upload the products you want to sell and set up payment systems like PayPal or Stripe.
Launch the website – Once everything looks good, publish it online.
These steps should get you started. For more details, look into tutorials from platforms like Shopify or Wix to guide you through the process.