Help with the web please....

theonlywayisup

I have two retail shops and for the last 3 years have been selling my wares on Ebay. I currently run at about 800 parcels on Ebay per week, which means my average monthly Ebay bill is £1500.

I want to find out if it is feasible to cut this huge bill and buildup a business online outside of Ebay. The easiest way I can see of doing this for little money is to include a flyer in my Ebay parcel with the new website details. What I want help with, if anyone is kind and knowledgeable enough, is how do I set up a decent website (limited IT here) and more importantly how do I market it? I have been pointed in the direction of web design and marketing companies circa £1100 startup and £250 per month. But how do I know what I will get for my money? Sorry to sound so vague and naive, but I really just need help knowing where to go and preventing myself being ripped off.

Thanks a lot.

windra

It will defenatly be worth going to a reputable web development firm, and the more you pay, the better the quality will be. it sounds like the ones you've looked at include support and maintenance which is good if you are likely to have problems or want to change your website.

However some companies will charge you for web hosting within that and it can be very expensive when you can get it much cheaper elsewhere.

Marketing wise, you need to get your website into the first page of search enginies, having a good name helps, but you will have to ensure you register with all of the top search engines. You can also pay to be a sponsored link on search engines such as google, that should bring in alot of extra business but i've no idea how much it costs.

Recipricle links may help a little bit...by 'swapping' links with other companies, that offer similar but different products or services, so that their customers get directed to you if the other business does not have what they want, but you do.

coupland

>> But how do I know what I will get for my money?

Talk to a few of the companies you've been recommended to you and discuss your requirements. You already have a viable business so you're a good prospect for them, so they will be willing to talk to you at no cost. If they're local to you then even better as you get a chance to meet face to face.

Once you've worked out what you want, put together a brief description (no more than one A4 side) and ask these companies for (ballpark) quotes and examples of previous work.

Once you've chosen a supplier they should go into depth with you on what your requirements are. Then they will produce a specification (worded in non-technical language) describing the functionality of the product, pay a lot of attention to this as it determines what you're paying for.

Expect staged payments, but as ever, be careful of parting with money upfront. One example could be 25% upon start, 25% on testing, 50% on go live.


>> how do I market it?

You'll already know about traditional marketing. So I think it's Organic Search and Pay Per Click you need to get more of an understanding of.

This link should explain more:
http://www.bitwiselogic.com/blog/Joel+Carlson/11/Pay-Per-Click+vs.+Organic+SEO.html
as will googling, there's lot of information out there.

But again the quality (and cost) of what people offer varies greatly, so if you can try to go off recommendations and examples of previous work.

Consider different pricing structures. The one you outlined may suit you, but be careful of vendor tie in, especially before you're sure of your supplier. Paying more up front for something that leaves you less dependent may be better, although if you're non-technical an ongoing support package may suit you.

Hope that helps, ask away if you need to know more.

James