i have a product/service i would like to offer a specific targetgroup of people. i already know what im going to do and what im going to provide, the thing is i dont know how or where to start. i know i want a web page thats easy to navagate through, that can handle credit card/pay-pal transactions and that i can get 5+ domain names out of. how much would a site like that run me monthly? should i get an e-commerce package from a vendor e.g verio? they have a package that runs 29.95 month for small businesses like mine. what should i know before i sign a contract like that?


thanks guys

Hello Georgie,

You need to decide whether you require a packaged solution. If youre only selling a few products/services, you may not need to do so.

Also, depending on the value of your goods/services and the expected volumes, you need to decide on whether to use the Merchant Account or 3rd party processor (like paypal).

What type of products and how many?

What type of service? + recurring or one time?

im gonna be supplying food, cooked,sealed prepared by me. there will be about 8 items to choose from on my menu. if i can feed 5 people a month then ill have supersuceeded my goal.

May i suggest a first step before you purchase anything?

Draw up a business plan, of what you'd like to do / have , and what your long term / short term goals are, also its handy to include solutions to problems , how you'd like to market things etc :)

a lot of e-commercains' don't use business plans, and end up failing in their early stages of business.

Is there a work book i can buy at barnes n noble? or bookstore that you would recomend?

Hi Georgie,

With those requirements, I dont think you would require a packaged solution.

We provide (as most hosts do) a packaged solution (the one we use is osCommerce), but honestly, I think its a little overkill for what youre planning on doing. As your business grows, you may require something like this, but not right now...

Theres plenty of inexpensive ways to get a quality website up
- Buy a template
- Build your own using a site builder
- Hire a web site designer (will be more expensive then the other 2)

It would then be fairly easy to add a buy now button to the site and integrate with a payment processor.

This along with a minimum monthly fee for hosting would probably be the most cost effective method, without sacrificing quality, for getting your company's web presence up and running...

Hope this helps...

would it be wise to sign up with 1and1 to "test" the waters?? im an idiot when it comes to this

Hi Georgie,

I actually dont think thats too bad of an idea. The only problem with 1&1 is that they are renowned for bad service and support, particularly on the free accounts.

Having said this, its a great place to start. Setup an account and see what you can do.

Best of luck....

im screwed.... i knew i should of studied conputer's instead of hustling..damn

Originally posted by georgie24
im screwed.... i knew i should of studied conputer's instead of hustling..damn

LOL, Im sure you will do fine.