Any suggestions for hosting an e-commerce site effectively?
109431
Make sure you website is a secure as you can make it. The damage done by stolen information can never really be fixed. Also, make sure it is easily searchable. Design the site for usability and functionality. Ensure that everything is as categorized as possible, imagine you were searching for your own products, what would you want to see?
825413
You're best bet is to try a free web hosting service first.  Something like Tripod.com or Funtigo.com that allows you to use a site builder and use HTML.  When I first created a website I practiced with easy to use builders then moved onto adding simple HTML codes to my site.  Lissa Explains it All is a great place to learn no matter how old you are because the instructions are easy to understand.  Eventually, you can move on to making your own HTML files as it explains how to do on that site.  When you feel as though you want to pay for hosting be very careful who you pick!  I HIGHLY recommend reading reviews before purchasing webspace or a domain!  If you need an easy to use Site Builder even by this point, I recommend that you use Netscape Composer.  It comes free with Netscape and this way you will not be limited to finding a host with that provides you with those tools.  There are tons of hosts that offer site builders which limit you to 10 pages or less but charge you over $4 every month!  For that same amount of money, you could create more pages using Composer or HTML!  Again, research your host.  If it offers unlimited pages and the price seems good, check out reviews on the host and read as many as you can.\n\nA good place to look for reviews when you need paid hosting is Web Hosting Jury!  There are tons of places that sound good but suck.  So take a look at what people have to say about their host.\n\nI wish you luck in creating a website and do your best to watch out for scams and rip offs!
470875
Check out GoDaddy.com\n\nYou can also check out some options for hosting w/ domain name included. They'll cost a bit more, but you might find a bargain.
1059488
Check with your local ISP.  They frequently have someone on staff who can develop a basic site for you. If you are looking for something more substantial, it may cost you, but check the yellow pages ...\n\nIf I knew where you lived, I might be able to recommend someone more specific ...\n\nIn the end, decide what exactly you want to accomplish with your website, and shop around.  Be obvious, tell everyone who quotes you that you are loking for the best deal !!
305127
The best advice I can give you about a retail site is second-hand, and I can't remember where I heard it, but it was like this:\n\n"Amazon.com spends millions of dollars researching how people buy online. If they don't do it, you shouldn't, either."\n\nIn your case, a look at eBay would also be a good idea.\n\nSpecifically, to your site:\n\nIt's fairly boxy, so look to incorporate more curved lines and white space between elements.\n\nIt's difficult to figure out what to do. Provide instructions.\n\nThe movement and pulsing logo are distracting.\n\nA lot of space up top is wasted by your banner, a search box that doesn't tell me how to use it, a welcome message that's fairly pointless, etc.\n\nThe color scheme and typography don't seem to have a common theme.\n\nI also believe in "less is more." You're overwhelming me with things to look at, click on, etc., and again, there's no instructions anywhere, and the site itself is not intuitive.
857031
Web Hosting Video Tutorial =  http://blackfoot.co.uk/hosting/tut.html\nhttp://www.elated.com/ = Free web-building help! \nhttp://webinfo1.shorturl.com/ = Make your own web page.\nhttp://www.ezy-build.net.nz/\nhttp://www.nvu.com\nhttp://www.2createawebsite.com/index.html\nhttp://www.pablosoftwaresolutions.com/html/wysiwyg_web_builder.html\nhttp://drupal.org\nhttp://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver\nhttp://www.evrsoft.com/download.shtml = 1st Page 2000 is 100% FREE and requires no payment or registration. \nhttp://www.netfirms.com = See "free web hosting" at the bottom plus sign up for a subdomain and everything is free.\nhttp://www.pagetutor.com\nhttp://www.pcworkathome.in/freewebhosting.html\nhttp://www.echoecho.com\nhttp://members.freewebs.com/\nhttp://www.w3.org\nWEB DESIGN HELP = http://www.computerhope.com/learnhtm.htm\n  Webmaster tools =FreewareWorld = http://www.all4you.dk/FreewareWorld/links.php?cat=002
82726
Consider http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ - it is excellent; or if you have no budget then consider www.blogspot.com - you cansetup your own template and can do reasonable amount of hosting.\n\nNot recomended to setup your own service.
56442
I would better suggest the following hosting companies, in the priority\n\n1. Yahoo.com (http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com)\n2. NamesBeyond.Com (http://www.namesbeyond.com)\n3. 1and1.com (http://www.1and1.com)
941927
I recommend hosting on a Linux Apache server. Use HTML, and PHP for the actual programming of the website. Use a mysql database for any database requirements.\n\nThese are the most commonly used and widely support options for a website. Unless your website grows to an enormous size, any good host should be fine. Try hostgator. They're reasonable priced and offer good reliability and support.\n\nContent would totally be up to you. You can make everything from scratch, or you can use pre-made CMS or Blogging platforms. If you choose the blogging route, I recommend wordpress.
1133816
If you have a local host provider that is mainstream such as CBeyond (local to me) that is the best business solution, because you can get some face to face talks which are normally more productive.\nOtherwise for business it is better to stick with the large web host on the Internet like www.tripod.com, here is what some list as the top ten:\nhttp://www.hosting-review.com/?gclid=CLvJxI2y7YUCFR49SAodkBxIfA\n\nHope this helps.
770257
Ci Host is too expensive.\n\nhttp://www.getawebpage.net\n\nThat page lists the best web hosts in the business.
21870
Check out http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting/
309785
Very good start.\nI think you should have a standard template for your site and then follow the same template standard for the rest of your site.  That will make it look more professional. \nBy the way, are you hosting your website on a stand-alone dedicated server or is it on a regular hosting company?  I hope you know when the forum grows, you'll need to give lots of tech support to your member else you'll lose them.
1059547
Can I answer this even though I don't consider myself to be an expert?\n\nIf you are looking for alternative ways to host or serve, look into the Microsoft exchange component. I high encourage you to do your research and shop and compare.\n\nI'm just supplying you with just another resource here and I'm not selling anything nor am I promoting it. If you would care to investigate the possibility of serving from home, take a look and make up your own mind.\n\nHow to build your own web server and NEVER pay hosting fees again.\nhttp://www.diywebhosting.com/
225295
You can do it two ways:\n\n1. Do it yourself - get a domain name, you create a webpage, choose a webhost, get an online merchant account, get an online processing gateway to accept credit cards payment, find and install a shopping cart, take pictures of your products and write sales copy, get an SSL certificate from Verisign or Thawte for secure processing, integrate shipping tracking information from UPS or DHL. \n\nIf you do it by yourself, you'll have the flexibility to choose the best element for you with the features you need. The disadvantage is that you have to do it yourself and if you do not have the skills to setup the applications such as shopping cart, then it can be quite a challenge.\n\n2. Get a complete package - example is Yahoo store where they basically provide you with everything an online store needs (from web hosting to online processing to order management systems to shopping carts). All you need to provide are your web pages (sales copy and products), merchant account and the monthly fees.\n\nThe disadvantage is you are limited to whatever features they offer and customization options are almost nil.
1037493
Get a hosting package with DMS or CPanel X control panel.  All you'll have to do then is go to the control panel and hit a link to automatically install your shopping cart. You will likely also need to have one MySQL database available for your shopping cart.  \n\nThe carts will be in PHP or Perl most likely, so you''ll be able to edit the CSS to alter the appearance of the cart, or you can keep the look as is.  \n\nContact your current Hosting provider to see if they offer free cart software with your current hosting package.  \n\nAGORA shopping cart is an example of a free shareware shopping cart coded in Perl/MySQL.  OSCommerce is a very common solution that is PHP/MySQL.\n\nYou can also try "CoolCart.com" for an inexpensive cart.  You code on your end, and with cookies they maintain the secure check out process on their server.  That costs about 120/year. http://www.morganranchinc.com/ is a sample of that shopping cart (they sell kobe beef)\n\nJust remember, that if you don't use a third party service for pages that accept credit card information, you will need to have secure encryption for your payment page.  Your web hosting company may include that in your package, or it may cost extra.  And, if you don't use PayPal as your only credit card payment method, you will need to get some other payment gateway to be able to process credit cards.  If you have a physical store, you might already have credit card processing abilities.  If you don't, this is a serious cost you will have to consider.\n\nGood luck
66285
You have no idea how long the answer to that question could be. Try searching Yahoo! for "setting up an ecommerce website" and read some of the articles.