building a site.. few questions

[brianm4289]

ok so I am going to opening an e-commerce biz within the next few months and just have some questions regarding what host to use, what to use to build the site, security, etc.... ok first, does anybody recommend yahoo store? I have used it in the past and found it was very easy to build a site but it just doesnt seem to look very professional to me. I know yahoo store is a secure site right away, but how do you make a site secure when you build it from scratch? if I were to build a site from scratch with other software, would I just need to purchase the domain name from godaddy or something? yahoo is about $90 to start and $40 per month but i noticed other sites offer domains for much cheaper but i am assuming you need to use a different software to build the site... any recommendations? thanks every1

 

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[sparechange?]

ok so I am going to opening an e-commerce biz within the next few months and just have some questions regarding what host to use, what to use to build the site, security, etc.... ok first, does anybody recommend yahoo store? I have used it in the past and found it was very easy to build a site but it just doesnt seem to look very professional to me. I know yahoo store is a secure site right away, but how do you make a site secure when you build it from scratch? if I were to build a site from scratch with other software, would I just need to purchase the domain name from godaddy or something? yahoo is about $90 to start and $40 per month but i noticed other sites offer domains for much cheaper but i am assuming you need to use a different software to build the site... any recommendations? thanks every1

I would not recommend the yahoo store. Anytime I see the yahoo logo on a website I immediately click out of it. I have to agree with you about it's amateur and generic looks.

It is my understanding that you need 3 things to start a website:

1. Domain name (AKA google.com, makingmadmoney.com etc.)

2. Host

You need a host to provide a server for your website. They are kind of like the "middleman" between your website and your viewers.

3. Site construction, shopping cart, and other apps for the website

I'm going to use WordPress, and they have free shopping cart apps and manyyyy more apps all for free!

As far as GoDaddy, I think I'm going to use them for my domain purchase. They are a reputable website that boast freebies with some purchases.

I don't know how to make a safe-and-secure website from scratch. I'm sure someone on here will go into detail for you. I've been wondering it myself. I think GoDaddy has some security product of some sort.

Here is a thread about GoDaddy promo codes: http://www.thefastlanetomillions.com/business-building-e-biz-internet/25445-30-off-com-godaddy.html


I by no means am an expert, as I'm going to build my first website within the week. But I think this is the information you're looking for.


Why are you going to wait a few months before you start on your website? It would be understandable if you didn't have the capital right now, but if there's one thing I've learned from this site it is that million dollar ideas are worthless unless acted upon.

Also, if you don't mind me asking, what are you going to specifically sell?

 

[mottdog]

Do a search the user Biophase, he has a ton of posts on the ecommmerce subject. So you just may find your answer among his posts.

 

[brianm4289]

well I am going to start working on it immediately but I am saying a few months just because I think it will take that much time to build the site the way I want it and get all the accounts set up it might not take nearly that much time but if I dont use yahoo store I am going to have to learn a whole new software to build the site which im guessing will take some time

 

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[maximus20895]

Yahoo store is fine. I don't know why someone would leave a store just because it's a yahoo store.

This store: We Are Car Care -- Car Wax, Car Polish, Auto Detailing Supplies, Car Buffers & Car Accessories Store, is all done using yahoo stores. It's below the top 100k most popular websites and is number one in auto detailing. This is just proof that just because you have a yahoo store doesn't mean you won't become successful, people won't like it or that it doesn't look processional. So as far as

yahoo stores are concerned I wouldn't hesitate to use it. They do alot of the work for you and they accept credit cards which you would normally have to go to another company and pay bigger fees in order to accept them. This means that they are encrypted from the get go so you don't even need to worry about security. Yahoo does it for you. It's really simple and from what I have heard it has gotten much better over the years.

Okay, as far as domain names are concerned I always buy from namecheap.com. They give you the domain, SSL certificate ( to use credit cards), and a free whois guard so people can't look up your domain and attach your address, name, phone number etc to that site. The whole package is $9.69. It's a really good deal. Check it out if you like.

Next is hosting. I am not sure, but I think yahoo store might host your site, but check out and see. If not then I would recommend hostgator. I have been using them for 3+ years and they are terrific. They have the latest cPanel and everything is always up and running. It is 100% reliable and you also have 24/7 live chat customer support if needed.

Shopping carts here we come. Well, like previously mentioned, yahoo store is a shopping cart and other things all in one, but if you don't choose them there are plenty of others to choose from. You have free ones like Magneto, cubecart, zencart, and OS commerce. Of course, you can upgrade to some of these if you like as well. Most hosting companies have a program called Fantastico that will install the shopping carts with one click so it's pretty simple do to.

As far as using wordpress for store purposes i'm not sure how you do that. The shopping carts has their own CMS (Content Management System) which is exactly what wordpress is so you can't install the shopping carts over wordpress. The only other thing I can see while using a shopping cart with wordpress would be if there is some kind of plugin that can be used within the wordpress CMS. There might be, but I don't think a store with wordpress being it's foundation is common at all.

I think that I covered most of what you needed to know. If you want some more help or more in depth information let me know.

 

[LightHouse]

If you are not very tech savvy, which is sounds like you may not be. You might want to try using a complete modern hosted solution from Volusion or Shopify. Both will cost you monthly but having a support team in place for when things go wrong may be benificial for you.

My question is, what have you checked out and learned so far? These are all pretty basic questions that can be looked up, so i am wondering how far a long in the process you are.

Okay, as far as domain names are concerned I always buy from namecheap.com. They give you the domain, SSL certificate ( to use credit cards), and a free whois guard so people can't look up your domain and attach your address, name, phone number etc to that site. The whole package is $9.69. It's a really good deal. Check it out if you like.

Namecheap gives you an SSL with the purchase of a domain, that's crazy i wonder how it knows what server to encrypt data transfer from....!

I don't think we ever saw any of your stores either, how many do you have now? You seem to know a lot about them.

 

[biophase]

Namecheap gives you an SSL with the purchase of a domain, that's crazy i wonder how it knows what server to encrypt data transfer from....!

This feature alone would make me switch to namecheap. I have to check it out! Something doesn't seem right though on the surface.

Do they have one cert for the whole server or one generated for your domain?

---- update

Just went over to take a look. They are giving you the cheap SSL. RapidSSL Certificates AS LOW AS $9.95 Single Root Certificate The Lowest Cost 24/7/365 SSL Issuance.

I don't know alot about SSL, but I'm pretty sure that using this will show the server name in the URL as your customer is checking out and scare the crap out of them. This is not what you want for an ecommerce store.

 

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[LightHouse]

This feature alone would make me switch to namecheap. I have to check it out! Something doesn't seem right though on the surface.

Do they have one cert for the whole server or one generated for your domain?

---- update

Just went over to take a look. They are giving you the cheap SSL. RapidSSL Certificates AS LOW AS $9.95 Single Root Certificate The Lowest Cost 24/7/365 SSL Issuance.

I don't know alot about SSL, but I'm pretty sure that using this will show the server name in the URL as your customer is checking out and scare the crap out of them. This is not what you want for an ecommerce store.

Yeah i checked it out, it doesn't come with an SSL. Just another case of wrong information. That rapid SSL is an additional cost that i too would not use.

They do sell fairly in expensive certs, although most places are getting cheaper now as well.

 

[wildambitions]

ok so I am going to opening an e-commerce biz within the next few months and just have some questions regarding what host to use, what to use to build the site, security, etc.... ok first, does anybody recommend yahoo store? I have used it in the past and found it was very easy to build a site but it just doesnt seem to look very professional to me. I know yahoo store is a secure site right away, but how do you make a site secure when you build it from scratch? if I were to build a site from scratch with other software, would I just need to purchase the domain name from godaddy or something? yahoo is about $90 to start and $40 per month but i noticed other sites offer domains for much cheaper but i am assuming you need to use a different software to build the site... any recommendations? thanks every1

My site (found in my signature line) has most of your questions answered regarding website basics. Many people here on the FL have mentioned they found it great beginner information. And I help you learn where to go to more information beyond my site.

You basically have six steps. I posted them in some thread here on the FL but I cannot find it right now. Sorry.

 

[EastWind]

ok so I am going to opening an e-commerce biz within the next few months and just have some questions regarding what host to use, what to use to build the site, security, etc.... ok first, does anybody recommend yahoo store? I have used it in the past and found it was very easy to build a site but it just doesnt seem to look very professional to me. I know yahoo store is a secure site right away, but how do you make a site secure when you build it from scratch? if I were to build a site from scratch with other software, would I just need to purchase the domain name from godaddy or something? yahoo is about $90 to start and $40 per month but i noticed other sites offer domains for much cheaper but i am assuming you need to use a different software to build the site... any recommendations? thanks every1

If you are building a plain static page site with very little programming, you may be able to pull off the security. But since you don't know this, and are asking. You will never be able to pull it off. If you hire just any regular programmer, they will mess up too.

Now, your security model is going to depend on how you deploy your site. if you using a hosting company and get access to php/database and that's it. Then that means the company will be managing the machine and you wouldn't have to worry about the hardware security. This will be the best way for you. but you do have to worry about php security. You have to filter user inputs, trust none of em, watch for SQL injection, watch for cross site scripting. If your site has users, their accounts have to be compromised. You have to watch out for that. Secure your database and keep up to date. So, if you want to do it from scratch and gotta ask. I'm sorry but you are not going to pull it off. You will be hacked. Hire a smart programmer that is security aware.

I'm developing my own ecommerce site too, need my own full server. Got a test server that I'm using for testing. Well, the only service that I'm running on it outside of apache/mysql and voip app is SSH. i decided to look at the security logs yesterday and had thousands of attempts trying to brute force into the system. A lot of these worms, botnets are out and constantly trying to break into your system. If you are not up to the date with security events, once an exploit gets out in the wild, you will be owned soooo fast. So for anyone that is thinking of doing it, don't. Stay on a higher level, let someone else worry about the security. Even yahoo can be hacked and has been hacked. Just maintain your own backup constantly.

 

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[sparechange?]

Yahoo store is fine. I don't know why someone would leave a store just because it's a yahoo store.

This store: We Are Car Care -- Car Wax, Car Polish, Auto Detailing Supplies, Car Buffers & Car Accessories Store, is all done using yahoo stores.

WOW. I had no idea autogeek used yahoo stores. Interesting...

I stand corrected! lol

 

[brianm4289]

If I do go with Yahoo Store does anybody know if yahoo takes responsibility if the site were to get hacked into? I am a little confused on how website security works and how I would know when something is going wrong

 

[EastWind]

If I do go with Yahoo Store does anybody know if yahoo takes responsibility if the site were to get hacked into? I am a little confused on how website security works and how I would know when something is going wrong

Anyone can get hacked. So if you go with Yahoo Store, they can be hacked. Now, you talk about taking responsibility. Well, they didn't hack you, the crackers did. However, yahoo will assume a level of responsibility. They will patch their system fast, they will find out how the crackers got in, fix it, and try to prevent it. They will have their security professionals try to find the crackers, and if massive damage happened, will get law enforcements to prosecute them. This is more than you can afford to deal with, since you are new to the game. Go with yahoo store. If anything happens, you will have people with decades of experience on your side. Just make sure you DO YOUR OWN BACKUPS. I can't emphasize this enough. Yes, let them make backups. but always make a backup of your system too.

 

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[Smooth]

Whatever you do, do not skimp on your web design -- that includes the checkout system. For ecommerce sites, great image = credibility. People do not want to buy from a site they feel is not credible.