Is it worth it to get a website?

[Former_Member]

I was offered a trial offer on a website. So I subscribed. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this and some advice. I may not continue the website after the trial period.

www.jenuinememories.com

Its powered by Vista Print? Does anyone else have experience with this? Thank you in advance for your help.

[Former_Member]

Hi, I would try weebly. It is completely free and you can set up free ecommerce that links directly to your Paypal you can even create personalized drop down options in paypal and add them to your site. That is what I have and it is very easy to use here is a link to sign up: http://www.weebly.com/link/OoCAy3 I have one and am still building it so excuse some of the links not working http://www.fbessentials.com

[Former_Member]

Oh and you can also set it up to calculate the shipping!

[Former_Member]

It is definitely valuable to have your own website, especially if you are working at all on marketing yourself. With your own website, you have total control over how you optimize it for search engines. Also, if you are only promoting your Etsy address, what happens if you ever decide to sell somewhere else? Not that I'm planning on it. I LOVE Etsy! But if something ever happens that makes it necessary to move your shop, or even if you are selling in more than one place, it's better to promote your own website. You can have your shop(s), Facebook, blog, or whatever linked from your own website. Otherwise you are really promoting Etsy more than your own product.

[Former_Member]

FBEssentials - thanks for the link! I hadn't heard of that.

Definitely worth it, in the long run, to have a website. I only have a blog right now, but it engages my customers and gives them a reason to linger longer and remember the Little Eye Designs 'brand.'

Of course, if you're doing Etsy as a hobby and your sales seem to be in a place that you're comfortable with having a website isn't essential, but really, really helpful to have as a directory for customers to all the things you do. :)

[Former_Member]

I have used Vistaprints web site before and it cost way too much to do ecommerce. I have also used yahoo and my sister used shoppingcart.com??? All of these were way too much $$$. I don't do very many sales on my own website, mostly people I've met that order from me, but it is great for the search engines. I found weebly and love it because it is free or you can sign up with them for like $5 a month. In my experience and talking to others that have both Etsy and their own website they do much more business through Etsy, so you definately don't want just another expense. I hope that all made sense.

[SpiderwoodHollow]

Thanks for the info. Always good to know about places to get a reasonable website.

[Former_Member]

Thanks so much for the advice..I will have to check that out~!

[GWachtelArtist]

I think it's worth it to have your own website, if nothing else, it helps in terms of SEO. I tried free webhosting in the past and didn't care for the restrictions that came with it. So, I got regular webhosting and I think that works fine.

As for a shopping cart, setting up your own can be quite complicated (not the install itself so much, but the customization thereof). Plus if you have a shopping cart where people check out on your site you probably want to pay for an SSL certificate as well.... there are checkout buttons you can put on your website from PayPal and other payment processors, which does make it easier, but not as customizable as your own site's shopping cart.

There are free shopping carts which are open source and they do of course take a lot more work then someone setting it up for you (which is usually very expensive).

Try the free webhost trials and see which one you like best. I would suggest saving backup copies of any coding work you do though, so not all your coding work if you do any, is lost when trial is up. Keep in mind that some sites do have webhosting as well as a shopping cart, but then often there are limitations to how many items you can list for sale.

Good luck and hope this helps :)

[correenscdesigns]

I say it is definately worth it. I started mine years ago just to have some place to direct people interested in my work for more information/pictures/etc. I really believe it is essential for increasing your SEO visibility.

I use GoDaddy's website tonight product and it is very easy to maintain yourself. I think I pay about $60 a year for the hosting, domain name and the album feature I use for my design gallery. I used their shopping cart product and it was a nightmare but now I just toggle my Etsy shop and site back and forth and it works great (and is tons cheaper too).

[Missevilkitty]

I like having my site its a blog and a e-com site all in one - i got my site to how i wanted design wise and look but am a web/graphic designer so that helped - it really depends on your needs i think .

[Former_Member]

I also use Weebly for my spa and I have a page for my Etsy business, it is worth it since you can have one for free. I have it linked to my facebook and twitter page. The more views the better.

[GoTo]

Even if you just keep the domain name and point it to your Etsy shop for now, it's a good idea to register the name to reserve it.

[Former_Member]

i am getting started with magento go which is easy except that there is no etsy import so thats a pain.

if you can get some e commerce set up on your vista print site i think that would help a lot

[Former_Member]

fbessentials says Edited on May 11, 2011

Hi, I would try weebly. It is completely free and you can set up free ecommerce that links directly to your Paypal you can even create personalized drop down options in paypal and add them to your site. That is what I have and it is very easy to use here is a link to sign up: www.weebly.com/link/OoCAy3 I have one and am still building it so excuse some of the links not working www.fbessentials.com

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i was wondering about this site. how do they make money? are their any hidden fees? is it really free?