Website Hosting Domains Shopping Carts, Do I Need It

Hello everyone, and Welcome to LilacsNDreams! Glad to have you here!


Time to have another topic for ya'll to read, share some opinions, and offer what I have read too. Websites, should I have one, do I need one, so much work, is it necessary, and boy those things cost too. Yes, you are right, they can be costly. Depends what you all want to do with it, what your goals are, and how much you would like to spend with it too. 


No matter how many storefronts a person has it is good to have a website. The website can serve as your home base, links your web presences to one another, and serves as your "hub" that will direct visitors to your stores, your blogs, and serves as kind of an online business card. 


Before jumping into this I recommend searching around a bit. Do searches about them, see what others say, and suggest. Calculate how much you would like to spend for the website. Cost of hosting, your domains, the shopping carts, and do you intend to advertise to get your website out there too? A lot of things to consider. 


What is the best Host, and what should you consider? You need to consider it needs to be affordable for you. I know Hostgator starts about $3.96 a month, and I see that one mentioned often by others using. The host needs to perform well for you, and your visitors. You need to be able to draw traffic. Does it give you the option of setting up a shopping cart, or is it included maybe? Make sure you have support staff that is available 24/7, and that it has the tools to let you edit the site yourself too. And, this one I like myself, it should provide for a blog if you would like to have one too. Another thing is can you do the domain with them, or do you need to go some where else for that? 


Having a website is great for business cards. You use your main domain name on the card with the URL, and it will lead people to the website. From there they can view, and click to where they prefer to shop at. Your traffic can come from your host, and also your business cards too. 


Now, there are some websites that are free to use too. Depends how much work you want to work with it yourself, what you are knowledable with, and where you feel comfortable at. 


I have one. Actually on my 3rd, 4th, or whatever I had signed up with. There are different free ones out there. Some I have liked, and some I do not like as well. Google has one you can set up as many pages as you want, it's free, and takes a little work. But, I am not all computer literate so sometimes anything will take a little work for me. Check google for  sites.google.com/?? Or, just go to google, and search it there. There is  Microsoft Office Live,  FreeWebstore.org, Webstarts.com,  Wix.com, and  Weebly.com. I know you can get one at Vendio, don't let the ebay thing bother you as it can be done without ebay, and I think that one was free? 

There is also Pro Stores that can be used, and I do believe that starts at about $30 a month. I have heard others mention it, and they like it.  I have been noticing some websites being done with vistaprint.com, and do not know the cost for them. Yahoo has business sites/stores that can be used, and not sure of their cost. Just a lot all there, and no way I could mention them all. Search google for many of them, read forums with sites and social medias to learn of some, and just roam the internet to find them too.


As I mentioned I have my website free, and that is with Weebly.com. Through bannerfans.com which is also free, I have made my banners, avatars, and such that are used with the site. I have set a tab that is a blog on my website...free, and I could add it in if I wanted to. I have directed 1 of my domains to this website. I got my domains through GoDaddy.com. I have never had an issue with them, pay a small yearly fee for the domains, and that cost is sooo small compared to paying fully for a website, and all the extras with it. 


I do not have a shopping cart on the site, although I could, or I could use the buy it now buttons as weebly does have that. Instead I use my rapid cart from Artfire, My widget from Ecrater, and for Addoway and the other stores I also have my RSS Feed going to the pages for them. 


I have chosen to use my website, and my blogs as my landing pages showing my links to the stores I sell with, links to all the blogs, link to my website, and so on. Maybe at some point I will add the shopping cart, and sell either with my blog or website. But, for now, for me, I am comfortable using them as landing pages, and making an internet presence that way. Please, visit my LilacsNDreams Website, and have a look around. It is not perfect, I am sure there is much more to do with it, and different ways to do things, but I am comfortable with it, and it works for me. Great support at weebly, and they have been getting used by quite a few too.


I hope this has helped you with the issues of a website. I know I have not covered everything for you, but hope I was able to give you some things to think about, consider, and research with. Thanks again for visiting with LilacsNDreams, and visit with me here anytime. Always welcome with the visits, comments, sharing, and so on.

          

Having Your Own Website, Domain, Host

Good Morning, and Welcome to LilacsNDreams Blog. I wanted to stop in here today, and mention about websites, and having your own domain. Many of us would like to do our own, and it can be a good move. But, there is always the issue of the cost with them too. Yes, they can be quite costly to set up, and sometimes maintain too. I guess it all depends on what you wish to do with the website. But, do know there are some sites that are free, and low cost too.

Some use their websites as their selling venues, some have websites that are maybe 1-2 pages because it is more as advertising for them, and there are some who use their websites as a landing page for all their venues, other websites, blogs, and so on and just redirect from there. 

For me? I am not a computer techie person, and therefore I teach myself as I go. Learn as I go, sometimes ask questions, or read answers to questions answered. I have been working with different places, trying them out, and of course seeing other places mentioned by many too. So, I am here today to mention a few to you, and if you have any to add to this list, please do so:)

First mentioned is going to be Weebly. This place is free. Some have added buttons t here for paypal, and google checkout. I think I seen a shopping cart there too. For me I use my Artfire and Ecrater widgets in place of the shopping carts right now. You can click, and still purchase, but I do not have the extra expense of a cart with it at this time. Has been accessible moving around this place, they have templates offered for you to use, and you set things as you wish to do. I have seen some use this as their blog too. Check it out when you can, and also visit my LilacsNDreams Weebly Site too. 

Ok, on with the list of sites to use. Another place to use is with Google. It is free, use as many pages as you desire, but will note to you that it is a little trying here too. As all things are with google...they make you work at it, and can get complicating sometimes. But, you get unlimited pages here, and it is free. I have one of my domains directed to a site with godaddy for a google site. Please visit if you would like at LilacsNDreams.net. 

Another place I have seen mentioned is PageBuzz. They have the shopping cart there, many templates to choose from that you would like to use, and I believe their cost was $20 a month. Some are using HighWire which I think can cost about $19.95 a month, and up depending what you choose. There is Big Commerce which the cost is about $24.95? a month, and up also. Some have used Yahoo, Prostores, HostMonster was mentioned and is about $6.95 a month. There is WordPress that some have liked, and some didn't because of the html and css coding you worked with. There is Vendio that does have a shopping cart. When choosing them make sure you choose the free store, or you will get tied in with ebay unless that is what you would like. There is GoDaddy that does domain registerations, but also hosting too. Webs is another free place to use. And...don't forget you can use your Blog Blogger as a website too. 

Remember, it all depends what you want from the site, how much work you would like to do with it to get it ranked, seen, and etc. I find along with many others for the time being that redirecting from your website has been easier. You do not have to spend as much time populating it with products. Websites can be great for redirection....to your venues that you use, and to use as a gallery. 

Also, it has been suggested that you should have your domain, and your hosting registrations separately. I agree with this. I use godaddy for my domain registrations, and like it has I can control where it is directed to. I might direct it to a website at one time, and then due to circumstances decide to change it to maybe my blog. Either way, customers and friends keep using the same URL address, and are redirected without any hassle on their part too. 

Hope this has helped some of you with decisions on having your own websites. Remember, they can take some work and time, but how much is up to what you want to put into it, and how you want the site treated too. Good Luck to all of you, and again, if you have any to add to the list, please feel free to suggest them. Happy Hump Day!