I am in the very early stages of starting my online store, where I plan to sell jeans ,etc.


My main question concerns programming/web design. To give you an idea of my (limited) skills, I have just finished reading web design for teens (I am a teen) by Maneesh Sethi. Is there any place/book/class you recommend I take to improve my programming (mainly) and web design skills?
Here are some of the web hosts, credit card processors, and shopping carts I am taking into consideration:

Web hosts(in order of preference): 1and1.com, dreamhost,skynet-solutions.net , oceanviewhosting, or godaddy

Credit card processors (I’m not really sure on this one): Costco, quickbooks POS, authorize.net, or propay

Shopping carts(in order of preference): oscommerce or zencart, then cubecart, or turnkeywebtools

Do I need an SSL Certificate, from verisign or something like that?


My biggest problem is the PROGRAMMING! Should I just hire a webdesigner? How much would it cost and where can I find a legitimate designer? I would eventually like to be able to do everything myself.
Thank you for all of your suggestions. They are greatly appreciated.

PS: I will be opening a business checking account at Washington Mutual. Also, I plan to ship with USPS Priority Mail or Parcel Post and USPS for international mail as well.

I am in the very early stages of starting my online store, where I plan to sell jeans ,etc.


My main question concerns programming/web design. To give you an idea of my (limited) skills, I have just finished reading web design for teens (I am a teen) by Maneesh Sethi. Is there any place/book/class you recommend I take to improve my programming (mainly) and web design skills?
Here are some of the web hosts, credit card processors, and shopping carts I am taking into consideration:

Web hosts(in order of preference): 1and1.com, dreamhost,skynet-solutions.net , oceanviewhosting, or godaddy

Credit card processors (I’m not really sure on this one): Costco, quickbooks POS, authorize.net, or propay

Shopping carts(in order of preference): oscommerce or zencart, then cubecart, or turnkeywebtools

Do I need an SSL Certificate, from verisign or something like that?


My biggest problem is the PROGRAMMING! Should I just hire a webdesigner? How much would it cost and where can I find a legitimate designer? I would eventually like to be able to do everything myself.
Thank you for all of your suggestions. They are greatly appreciated.

PS: I will be opening a business checking account at Washington Mutual. Also, I plan to ship with USPS Priority Mail or Parcel Post and USPS for international mail as well.

Post this in the advertising forums under "Template Offers and Requests" - you might get a designer/consultant who'll help you out.

I wouldn't go down the whole "I'll do everything myself" route - cheaper in the short term but not in the long term :)

Hi,

You may be able to find a good reasonably priced theme for one of those carts your looking at and save both time and money with a design (for starters anyway).

I would also recommend staying away from godaddy's hosting... as I have heard more problems than praises with their hosting.

If your using another company to handle the payments... they will also handle the security with any transaction. A SSL is not really necessary on your side of the store.

good luck,

I am in the very early stages of starting my online store, where I plan to sell jeans ,etc.

My main question concerns programming/web design. To give you an idea of my (limited) skills, I have just finished reading web design for teens (I am a teen) by Maneesh Sethi. Is there any place/book/class you recommend I take to improve my programming (mainly) and web design skills?
Here are some of the web hosts, credit card processors, and shopping carts I am taking into consideration:

Web hosts(in order of preference): 1and1.com, dreamhost,skynet-solutions.net , oceanviewhosting, or godaddy
Credit card processors (I’m not really sure on this one): Costco, quickbooks POS, authorize.net, or propay
Shopping carts(in order of preference): oscommerce or zencart, then cubecart, or turnkeywebtools

Do I need an SSL Certificate, from verisign or something like that?


My biggest problem is the PROGRAMMING! Should I just hire a webdesigner? How much would it cost and where can I find a legitimate designer? I would eventually like to be able to do everything myself.
Thank you for all of your suggestions. They are greatly appreciated.

PS: I will be opening a business checking account at Washington Mutual. Also, I plan to ship with USPS Priority Mail or Parcel Post and USPS for international mail as well.

Web hosts(in order of preference): 1and1.com, dreamhost,skynet-solutions.net , oceanviewhosting, or godaddy
Search WHT for Reviews on each of these hosts, and then base your decision off that, regardless of price. In the end, the success of your business will DEPEND on a reliable host.. not on whether you saved a few bucks on hosting.


Credit card processors (I’m not really sure on this one): Costco, quickbooks POS, authorize.net, or propay
I have clients who have used these, but I have to say that Authorize.net is the best, in my honest opinion.


Shopping carts(in order of preference): oscommerce or zencart, then cubecart, or turnkeywebtools
OSCommerce is fantastic, but do some research on CRELoaded. It's OSCommerce on steroids, and a great script. (Can't say as much for the community or developers, but still a great script if you use the stable version -version 6.15).


Do I need an SSL Certificate, from verisign or something like that?

If you plan to accept payments through a merchant account - yes.
If you want to show your customers you care about their privacy - yes.

I am in the very early stages of starting my online store, where I plan to sell jeans ,etc.


My main question concerns programming/web design. To give you an idea of my (limited) skills, I have just finished reading web design for teens (I am a teen) by Maneesh Sethi. Is there any place/book/class you recommend I take to improve my programming (mainly) and web design skills?



Outsource your Webdesign. You'll want to spend your time marketing your products, not learning HTML. Use a good commercial cart like X-Cart and use one of their recommended designers (the guys at ryandesignstudio.com have a great portfolio) then focus on your BUSINESS rather than getting bogged down in minutia.