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2K views 14 replies 11 participants last post by  ccpenco 
#1 ·
starting up and looking for a name!

I've thought carefully and done a heck of a lot of research on marketing, and brand building, and all that business related stuff. I've raised enough money to get started. I've built up an inventory.

And now, FINALLY, i'm almost ready to start a business selling turned pens.

It's just going to be a side job. An additional source of money, and a bit of practice in the world of business.
i still need to do some things though.

#1. I NEED A NAME : i'm going to set up a "sole proprieter" business licence so i will be legally allowed to sell things, but before i sign up for it, i need a name for my business! does anybody have any good ideas?

#2. I need to set up a website: I NEED TO SET UP A WEBSITE TO MARKET MY PRODUCTS WITH, BUT I HAVE NO EXPERIENCE WITH WEB PAGE BUILDING! HELP! IF ANYBODY KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT THIS PLEASE, PLEASE MESSAGE ME!

Thanks everyone for reading, and i hope that some of you will share your knowledge with me :)
 
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#2 ·
You can have the greatest produt in the world but if you don't have marketing you have nothing. If you can't code, your looking probably around $2000.00 for a bare minimum site, then you need a host with a secure server for credit card transactions etc. Min $1000.00 to set that up and thennnnnnnnn you've got to get your site indexed with the major search engines. I'm not being negative here but either get real knowledgeable with coding and internet marketing or be ready to shell out some serious dollars to have it done for you. Having a website is useless, if no-one can find it. Keyword indexing etc etc etc. You've got a LOT to learn.
 
#3 ·
WOW -
"I've thought carefully and done a heck of a lot of research on marketing, and brand building, and all that business related stuff. I raised enought money to get started. I built up an inventory."

Gonna think that this ...................^ is spelled Enough…. (Hint -If you see a red line under a post you cant spell, I reread mine over and over and I miss them too.. so not harm no foul)

I imagine your "ISP" Internet Service Provider has web space for a businessman… talk to them…
Or make a FACEBOOK page?

Web design it, is either you or you pay someone for it… Its how the free market works…

Seems like your post is asking for us to do it for you?
 
#4 ·
You can use Pay=pal to handle credit card transactions. You have to have a pretty good volume before you will get approved to accept them. I never have enough small business customers to be approved for CC's directly. I do mostly commercial wholesale work.
 
#5 ·
Starting out I would use a template for building the site most of the places selling domain names have them (GoDaddy for instance has site builder)It's easy and relatively cheap but it ain't free.Expect to pay $50-$60 a month for a hosted e-commerce site plus the credit card processing fees.I too would sugest paypal for that purpose while the fees may be a tad bit higher you aren't limited to CC's you can also accept e-checks and you don't have a monthly bill to pay (for cc processing anyway) even if you don't sell anything.as far as a name goes…nah better not I may want to make and sell pens some day :) jk what about writewaycustompens.com
 
#8 ·
Rich clark: i wasn't asking you guys to do it for me, i was looking for ideas and tips.

David: I learned CSS programing and HTMl, but i read that these are not the safest ways to make your website, as it can be altered and hacked occasionally. I am looking into various programs for designing web pages such as Microsoft publisher, Magento, etc.

everyone: thanks for the ideas and help!
 
#11 ·
We've got a forum right here on Lumberjocks "sweating for bucks" which has a good bit of information. Do not for a minute thing what you are doing will be easy. You can sink thousands of dollars into marketing with no return. Many "experts" out there make a living off artisans. Few artisans actually make a living at this. I don't care how nice the web site looks or how much they have spent.
 
#12 ·
Check out Joomla and Virtuemart. Both are opensource (free!) and written in PHP/MySQL.

Joomla is a flexible CMS (Content Management System) that can create a quick foundation for your website. There are many modules you can add to expand the functionality of your site if you choose to.

Virtuemart is a module you can add to Joomla to add a full featured shopping cart. You also may want to check out Paypal's Website Payments Pro. It's a card processing option that works with Virtuemart.

You will also need a hosting company. I've used Lunarpages, but any hosting company that supports the minimum requirements for Joomla should suffice. Don't forget you'll need a SSL certificate if you want to process cards online…most hosting companies include them in certain hosting packages, or they can be purchased seperately.

There are other CMS, Shopping Cart, card processors and hosting companies out there and in no way am I saying these are the best, or least expensive…just ones that I've had experience with.

These are just the basic building blocks that can hopefully get you up and running with minimal expense…all you have to do is provide the customization and glue to make it your own.
 
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