Where can i get a free website for my new buisness?

becky81

Hello
Ive just started a new buisness, selling toys. Parents are contacting me via facebook, stopping me when i do the school run, and friends are passing out my number and im getting calls when im home asking about the sorts of toys, prices, ect

I have already sold the stock i received yesterday, and have orders for parents.

I have also been asked a number of times if i have a website they can look at, reguarding toys and prices. But as i only started this on monday, i havent had the chance to sort it out!

Can anyone please help and advise where i can make a free easy website, until im able to pay for one to be done for me?

Thanks for your advice

pitkin2020

Are you talking free as no costs or just low cost. If your talking completely free then don't waste your time, nothing good is free!! You will still want a site that is reliable and serves the function you are intending. Don't get me wrong a free one maybe better than nothing but its far better to start off right.
Next question is how complex are you wanting to go. Are you basically wanting just a business card type affair with what you do, contact details etc or are you wanting something like an online shop.

Doooford

I've sent a message to you with details but as a low cost store option I would go for TomatoCart on a host like HostGator (It's what I use and I know they have TomatoCart in the quickinstaller but other hosts are available that do the same ). The cost is $5 a month and uses paypal so there is no upfront payment needed.

slkh

Vistaprint offer a very good basic service. The first month is free then there are 3 options as to the on-going price depending on what size website you require but all are very reasonably priced. I used them to begin with and found it great as it is very easy to set-up and change etc

MikeyMacbeth

You could maybe look at starting an ebay store however the ebay/paypal fees will impact your margin so do some research first into what the products you are selling go for on ebay and work out what likely ebay and paypal fees would be for a few sample items. This ebay /paypal fee calculator may help your with that.

Regarding having your own e-commerce site I'll second pitkin2020's comment that anything free is worth what you pay for it - you'll need to research webhosting (will cost you and is always better than going with an all-in-one product as you may want to change host at some point), an e-commerce web package (possibly free/open source depending on what your needs are) and if you are taking card payments directly then you'll need to have a payment gateway (again costs involved). Also if you want a good site you may have costs in terms of getting a web designer to put some polish on it to make it look good.

Personally I'm looking to do something similar as a source of part-time income - at present my plan is to start via an ebay store and if it proves successful/profitable then look at building an e-commerce website (although I have an advantage in that I have some web development skills myself so could fairly easily cut a lot of integration and development costs by doing some myself).

Oh, one other thing - don't forget that you will need to register with the taxman as self-employed if you are doing this - they take a dim few of people doing this and not giving them their cut and have a lot of sophisticated ways of detecting people trading for profit

pitkin2020

Personally i'd avoid the ebay store (thats just my opinion though it may work for you). Ebay doesn't give you any benefit for having the store or even being a business seller. Using it ebay to direct sales to your own website is the far better option.

Paypal payments are by far the easiest and cheapest for a low turnover site.

I'd also avoid vista print, they are card printers (not very good ones at that), you wouldn't go to a tyre fitter to have a new head gasket fitted would you?

thenudeone

Go to http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/options/ then select "sites". Never used them but worth a look.

Whatever you do, I would recommend buying your own domain name so that you are in control; and re-direct it.
If you advertise your address using the provider's web address, then later on they may choose to withdraw the service/close your account / start charging huge fees, or go bust; all your previous marketing and goodwill will have gone to waste.

It should cost a few pounds a year for a basic re-direction.

dnalsrammaj

the government, BT & google operate a free website scheme for businesses that have not got online yet. It's dead straight forward and they even give you a free '.co.uk' domain..

http://www.gbbo.co.uk/

mel12

webnode or weebly are very easy to use to make your own website

steve1980

thenudeone wrote: »

Go to http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/options/ then select "sites". Never used them but worth a look.

Whatever you do, I would recommend buying your own domain name so that you are in control; and re-direct it.
If you advertise your address using the provider's web address, then later on they may choose to withdraw the service/close your account / start charging huge fees, or go bust; all your previous marketing and goodwill will have gone to waste.

It should cost a few pounds a year for a basic re-direction.

The above is the same as:

dnalsrammaj wrote: »

the government, BT & google operate a free website scheme for businesses that have not got online yet. It's dead straight forward and they even give you a free '.co.uk' domain..

http://www.gbbo.co.uk

If you're happy with a using a template that a million other people have used then go for it. There is no flexability with Google Sites.

mel12 wrote: »

webnode or weebly are very easy to use to make your own website

Again, you could be using the same template as a million others.


Alot depends on how serious you are about the business. If it's something that you think will bring you alot of success then pay out for a decent website. Depending on the ecommerce side of things and if you wanted to provide a log in for your users, you would then need a secure server, something that Google, Vistaprint, Weebly don't provide. With Webnode you have to have a subdomain, so www.yourname.webnode.com.

How much money do you have to start the business? If the answer is nothing or not alot then you may be better using a site like Ebay and seeing what happens.

If you haven't already, although I'm sure you have , you need to register with HMRC as self employed which you can do using the link below:

https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/shortforms/form/CWF1ST?dept-name=CWF1&sub-dept-name=&location=40&origin=http://www.hmrc.gov.uk

If you are not working and/or receiving any benefits you will also need to contact the departments concerned know that you have started your own business, you may be eligible for small business funding.

Miss_Scrooge_2

If you think most of your business is gonna be from your website, it would be a wise idea to invest in a professional design.

Template sites are okay for personal sites but as a business you will come across as amateurish.