How do I set up a website?

[Lizbiebrowne]

I have some beekeeping related products I want to start selling and my preference is to have a website to promote them.

But, where do I start? Are there packages available that I can use to produce a website? I don’t mind spending a small amount, say around £100 although perhaps I’m being hopelessly optimistic to think I can do it for that amount!

I’m looking to create a handful of pages, around five, and I would like a facility to take payment by card. Does anyone have any experience and recommendations?

 

[Brains]

To be honest, I think you will need to add at least a zero to the quote.

Whilst setting up an 'info only' website is fairly cheap and easy (although not for £100), as soon as payments are involved you enter another ballpark.

It's the difference between selling it on Ebay and selling in your own high street shop

You need proper levels of hosting and security otherwise the card companies will not deal with you.

That said, it can be done, you just need to work out the cost.
It may be easier/cheaper to set up a virtual shop and sell on eBay, Amazon, or Etsy etc.

FYI from the 70's to the early 2000's my Uncle was the biggest publisher and dealer in Bee related books in the UK, mostly sold by mail order.
However in the early 2000's resisted the idea to spend the money to go online to sell them.
He believed that the internet selling of books would never work.
Amazon showed him who was correct.
My Uncle is now retired.

 

[Lenny HB]

Most of the domain registration companies do online e-commerce packages that makes setting up a site very easy and only costs a few pounds a month.
I used to use 123reg.
You can setup PayPal to receive card payments.

https://www.123-reg.co.uk/ecommerce/

 

[Bailey58]

Try Site 123. I set up a website in 2019 and found it reasonably easy. The initial cost was discounted 50% (probably after I'd logged out without proceeding). I've renewed since and downgraded to the basic package which is more than adequate for my needs. It wasn't a sales site so that may make a difference on your needs and the price. You'll also need a domain name at minimal cost.

 

[ceejayt]

Try wix.com. Very simple to create your site and add e-commerce etc. yiu can buy your domain and host for £57 a year. Here is a site I created no coding skills required Bridge club

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[Lizbiebrowne]

Thanks everyone for your very helpful suggestions. I’ve got some good places to start from now. Cheers.

 

[Lenny HB]

The difficult bit with websites is not the setting up but getting them to the top of the search engines, Google analytics is useful for that.

 

[Trevor Wbm]

Another vote for WIX. You'll need to choose the Premium option for on-line sales, but there's all sorts of add-ons you can buy.

The software takes a bit of getting used to but once you've got the hang of it it's very easy to keep it current. (Which has just reminded me that needs doing to my example page).

I use it for this and two other sites

www.narrowboattrust.org.uk

 

[Lizbiebrowne]

I spent Monday setting up a website using WIX. Found it quite straightforward. It cost me £79.20 for WIX to host the site for a year and £23.99 for the domain name (for 2 yrs) so not too far off my £100. The site's not perfect but I've got to move on to other tasks that are demanding my attention principally designing and constructing an irrigation system for our greenhouse and polytunnel and installing a B2B charger in the van for the Li battery. Never a dull moment!

If anyone's interested the website I designed with WIX is at www.yarmbeenucs.co.uk. Thanks everyone for all your help.