Web Development/Design/Hosting Recommendation

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Reibusu

24 posts

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#106436 24-Jul-2012 11:54

Hope I posted this in the right place. I'm in the process of moving my grand father's business online as he's slowly running it into the ground and really needs help if it is to survive.

Therefore I'll obviously need an online store; so I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for web designers and/or hosts (preferably all-in-one) based in New Zealand who are capable of creating a great looking online store that looks like it's in the 21st Century, but who are also reasonable web hosts too?

I've so far sent off quite a few requests for quotes but only Zeald and Avatar have gotten back to me. Zeald wanted $10,000 (!) for their services, and Avatar are drawing up a cost break-down. But does anyone have any recommendations, or are YOU a web designer who would like me to throw money at you (but not $10,000).

For those who need it, this is what I'm looking for with the site.

- Interactive Slideshow of Latest/Popular/Sale Items
- Product Category Search Menu
- (Ideally) Wordpress-Integrated Blog
- Secure Shopping Cart Capable of Member and Guest Transactions
- Newsletter Script
- Help With Online Marketing
- Page View and Click-Through Database
- Currency Converter

I think that's everything for the moment.

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Phil Gale
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Red Jungle

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#660925 24-Jul-2012 11:56

Reibusu: Zeald wanted $10,000 (!) for their services

To be honest I think this is a reasonable budget for your wishlist.

reven

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#660930 24-Jul-2012 12:01

theres this plugin for wordpress

https://shopplugin.net/

i was going to use it for a store i was going to design, but in the end the project fell through.

so you should be able to get a wordpress site, which provides all that functionality via plugins or built in plus that shop plugin for a lot less than that.

also just buy a cheap template you like, and that will save a lot of costs.

you could set this up and get it running and in the future redesign the look if required, but the store should be solid.

Reibusu

24 posts

Geek

#660935 24-Jul-2012 12:05

Ok cool cheers for that. I'm relatively new to doing much more than fiddling around with personal website coding, and haven't used WordPress before, but am told that if it's a business-centric blog you're going for then WP is the way to go

I'm guessing those plugins would be pretty amateur-friendly? If so I'd like to try and do as much as possible myself in order to keep the costs down as much as possible. Thanks for the info!

Ramsu

45 posts

Geek

#660936 24-Jul-2012 12:07

As reven mentions above, there are smaller/cheaper alternatives by using Wordpress.

Comes down to the scale of website the business requires, and how much you want to spend.

At the simple end of possible solutions is to use Wordpress with various plugins:
- Shopping cart:
http://getshopped.org/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-e-commerce/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-simple-paypal-shopping-cart/

- Newsletter: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/newsletter/

At the more advanced/complex end is to use the Magento e-commerce platform.

http://www.magentocommerce.com/download

Zeon

3916 posts

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#660937 24-Jul-2012 12:08

I've built a number of sites using Hikashop with Joomla 2.5. Easily the best cart system I've worked with, with the greatest flexibility. I think 10k is quite excessive but really depends on what you want. With the likes of Zeald you are getting a big company behind it which reduces risk but you are paying a massive overhead for that.

Maybe 2.5-3k for the dev work and an hourly rate for consulting on online marketing? Also note that generally you should talk to different people about dev and online marketing.

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Reibusu

24 posts

Geek

#660945 24-Jul-2012 12:20

Also note that generally you should talk to different people about dev and online marketing.

Cheers for all the information folks. The more I'm learning the more I think it might actually be doable to try and do this myself.

I just want to clarify what you mean; do you mean talk to a variety of people about both dev and marketing - or avoid having the dev also do the marketing. I'm trying to contact quite a few people, and waiting on a lot of replies, but any particular reason for the latter if that's what you meant?

minigopher17

281 posts

Ultimate Geek

#660967 24-Jul-2012 12:45

I work for a web development company in Parnell and an e-commerce site built in Magento will cater all your requirements but would cost around $10,000.

However, I do freelance work on the side. And since my hourly rate is significantly lower than a company's hourly rate, you could get a professionally built website for much less money. However you'd have to put up with only evening and weekend support and a slightly longer timeframe in getting in built because of the restriction of available hours in a day.

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mattwnz

20163 posts

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#661016 24-Jul-2012 14:05

Reibusu:
Also note that generally you should talk to different people about dev and online marketing.

Cheers for all the information folks. The more I'm learning the more I think it might actually be doable to try and do this myself. ?

I just want to clarify what you mean; do you mean talk to a variety of people about both dev and marketing - or avoid having the dev also do the marketing. I'm trying to contact quite a few people, and waiting on a lot of replies, but any particular reason for the latter if that's what you meant?

I have PM'd you system I use which is a cloud based system and does most of what you want. Things like marketing you are best to use a company that specialises in that.

Getsited

32 posts

Geek

#661030 24-Jul-2012 14:19

MYOB are offering free websites. I've only had a very quick play but I'm pretty sure I saw a shopping cart add-on..
http://myob.co.nz/products/small-business/web-hosting/myob-atlas-1257829725634

Another place that is really user friendly and cheap is
http://www.wix.com/

Not sure that they tick all the boxes. If you don't want an original design / logo done I don't see why you can't build this yourself for cheap cheap cheap.... but if you want something original and customised then you should be prepared to spend at least 3K.

mattwnz

20163 posts

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#661053 24-Jul-2012 14:57

Getsited: MYOB are offering free websites. I've only had a very quick play but I'm pretty sure I saw a shopping cart add-on..?
http://myob.co.nz/products/small-business/web-hosting/myob-atlas-1257829725634

Another place that is really user friendly and cheap is?
http://www.wix.com/

Not sure that they tick all the boxes. If you don't want an original design / logo done I don't see why you can't build this yourself for cheap cheap cheap.... but if you want something original and customised then you should be prepared to spend at least 3K.

From what I have seen they are very basic. There are some very good SaaS systems around now where you just pay a monthly hosting fee, and you don't have to worry at all about code and the backend. They can also be almost as customisable as a custom developed cart based on open source software. Also some of these so called free websites are just free for 12 month, then you pay as it is basically just rented, and from what I have seen it is only the most basic package that is free.

Zeon

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#661058 24-Jul-2012 15:05

Shopify for DIY?

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mattwnz

20163 posts

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#661075 24-Jul-2012 15:25

Zeon: Shopify for DIY?

From what I have seen they charge you a percentage of your sales unless you go for their most expensive plan, and I don't think the design is that customisable either. I think it is better to be charged a set fee.

Ragnor

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#661178 24-Jul-2012 18:38

RedJungle:
Reibusu: Zeald wanted $10,000 (!) for their services

To be honest I think this is a reasonable budget for your wishlist.

Indeed

http://lancewiggs.com/2012/05/10/buyers-and-sellers-guide-to-web-design-and-development-firms/

mattwnz

20163 posts

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#661196 24-Jul-2012 19:01

The other thing to note is that some companies will charge you a lot to host it, which may subsidise the design cost for them, and they may prevent you moving it to another host without some form of release fee. So always read the contract.

myfullflavour

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Full Flavour

#661216 24-Jul-2012 19:27

Reibusu:
I'm guessing those plugins would be pretty amateur-friendly? If so I'd like to try and do as much as possible myself in order to keep the costs down as much as possible. Thanks for the info!

At least get the professionals to design & develop your site to a state where you can work on content.

The other comments on here about specialized search marketing are quite correct.

I'll flick you a PM - my day job is managing a small team of designers, developers & sys admins.

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