Business catalyst or Webpress? How much will I pay?

[Keau]

Hi,

I have no experience with website development and am looking for the best product to suit my business. I don't want to have to create the site myself but I'm happy to manage content.
I want an e-commerce site with a shopping cart. I have written a lot of the content but am not yet finished, however I want to get a website up soon. I will build on it over time. I want a clean layout, no flash, no moving images etc.
I know people are raving about Business catalyst and it looks great. I know it has a DIY version but I don't like the templates or have the time or the knowledge to change them.
I know less about wordpress and I am worried that it won't do what I want as far as the behind-the-scenes management of the business. (I might be wrong here and I'd appreciate it if you could tell me!!)
I was quoted $7000 for a BC site and I just don't have that sort money at this stage, but I also am not expecting a superb site straight up. Just something to get me going.
Could anyone advise me on whether to use BC or Wordpress and how much I could reasonably expect to pay?

Your help would be really appreciated!!

Katie

[JohnSheppard]

I haven't used Business Catalyst, and I haven't used Wordpress all that much...so I cannot comment on the specifics of those;

I will however say that there are all ranges of services on the market and it depends on what you are trying to do.

You can go to DIY type low end services and get it done in wordpress for as little as $750-$1000 if that was your desire.

Bear in mind your marketing costs will probably exceed the cost of your website and as such it is false economy to buy a cheap website, personally, I wouldn't do it, but that's just my opinion...

Also bare in mind your time is money. It takes longer to learn everything yourself than to pay a professional and as such paying the right person $150 an hour will actually be considerably cheaper.

[Chris Bates]

Your website is your foundation.

You don't build a house on top of a swamp. That's akin to throwing your money away.

You don't market your business on top of a crap website. That's akin to throwing your money away.

BC is a good system, but limited in it's own way. I prefer WP, because it's open source. But BCs reporting features are pretty cool.

[Keau]

Thanks for the comments.

As I mentioned in my first email, I don't want to have to learn anything to do with building the site- I agree time is money. What I do want to be able to do is tweak the content here and there while I'm testing it.

Yes, I do get that the website is really important. Unfortunately, as the business doesn't yet exist and is making no money, I am working off my savings. So, I have a couple thousand to put towards it, but that's it, no more. So, I could wait the extra few months until I can save the extra $$$ but I then I'm missing out on earnings time.

So, as I mentioned earlier, I want something to just get me going.
I've been reading more reviews on BC and I'm not as keen now. So, maybe wordpress is the go. Will shop around for someone to help me with it.

Thanks for your help though,
Katie

[John Debrincat]

Originally Posted by KTP

Hi,

Could anyone advise me on whether to use BC or Wordpress and how much I could reasonably expect to pay?

Your help would be really appreciated!!

Katie

Hi Katie,

There are lots of other options out there apart from BC or Wordpress. BC is a fully hosted solution and you can look at others like:

Netregistry - StoreXpress
Commonwealth Bank iShop
eCorner Cloud Shops
gate13
aShop
Shopify - USA Based
Volusion - USA based
BigCommerce - USA based

Costs for a hosted store per month will vary based on what features you require and store size (number of SKUs) but will range from $50 / mth - $200 / mth. Average I would say is around the $100 - $120 / mth (ex GST).

Not all template based systems are bad and you can modify the look and feel to get a unique looking website. If you do it yourself its free and you need some skills but it depends on the product you select, a web designer will cost $600 - $1200 to do a nice job for you.

Building the shop requires you to setup the categorisation, create the product types (attributes) and the products, add in all the content descriptions, images etc. Effort depends again on the product you select. The store structure would normally be a days work but content depends on how much you have. Some of the better hosted products will have auto-image resizing and bulk uploads to help you.

You need a domain name, business email and SSL (recommended but not mandatory) total cost maximum of $500.

I run eCorner and we provide the eCorner Cloud Shops, I'm a little bias but I think our service is fantastic:-). But shop around and look at alternatives. I wrote a blog about this topic which you can find at blog.ecornerstoresplus.com.au/how-to-select-ecommerce-solution.html.

Its not hard to spend $7,000 on a webstore but it may not be necessary. So look at your options before making a decision.

All the best

John

[LukeMoulton]

I'll second Shopify.com.

If you're looking for a low cost start, then go with Shopify. As you've found out BC is very pricey. It's a great system (which is why it was recently acquired by Adobe), but I'm sure at this stage, you've plenty of other places to spend the money.

If you don't want to be locked in to a hosted solution such as Shopify then you'll probably need to have a web developer help you. I'd recommend:

- Wordpress with Instinct's E-commerce Cart plugin
- Magento

Hope this helps.

[ickle Kids]

My best advice would be to test the market out with a template type site. That way, you can figure out what you need and it's quite fast to get your site up and running.

Best of luck with it all!

[Chris Bates]

I'll say this, despite the fact a lot of people are probably going to disagree with me.

Buy cheap, buy twice.

Katie if you have a "couple of thousand", that's good. Now don't waste it. I understand your mentality at the moment of "it's not making money, so I don't want to spend too much".

Unfortunately the reality is that online businesses aren't cheap to setup; despite many peoples conception that they are.

If you want to do it properly, make an appointment with your bank and revisit your business plan.

If you want to do it cheaply, prepare to blow your budget on very mediocre results.

Now $7000 is 'up there' for an online shop quote, but not at all overly unreasonable. Please don't forget that once you have GOT a website you need to market it.

If you want some more advice on what I would consider an appropriate budget to startup your business, you can email me in confidence on chris@frontbox.com.au

Either way, the best of luck to you.

[TheTrish]

Hi Katie,

I work with some of my solo businesses to get their website up and running using Business Catalyst. I actually use this system with all new clients now.

With the solo clients, I do the tricky stuff like the templates and fix what they break but they do all the rest.

This will still cost about $2000 to $3000 paying by the hour as there is a lot involved in building a website especially an eCommerce website.

I have worked with many businesses that think they know what they want out of a website but when the website is built, they either don't use the features, it is total overkill for what they want or they just don't update it all all, they would have been better off with a static site not a CMS, even the e-commerce clients!!

So it is a good idea to not spend heaps on your first site as it probably will change in a year or so when you get into your business. It is like a phone, when you first upgrade to a smart phone you don't know if you should get the iphone or Blackberry or Nokia but once you get it and use it you start to realise the limitations and what is missing, so your next phone is more in tune with what you want.

Another option is Magic Dust, they will build the e-commerce site and you populate it and when you have a working website then you will be in a much better position to morph it into what you want.
http://www.magicdust.com.au/shopping...rt-prices.html

I haven't used them but it is defiantly worth a look and they are Australian to boot.

Let us know how you go.

Trish

[Chris Bates]

Originally Posted by TheTrish

I have worked with many businesses that think they know what they want out of a website but when the website is built, they either don't use the features, it is total overkill for what they want or they just don't update it all all, they would have been better off with a static site not a CMS, even the e-commerce clients!!

If this is a recurring pattern, shouldn't you implement measures to help your clients avoid this?

I know some clients can be difficult and persist that their way is right, but if you approach it as a professional most people will listen to your advice. It IS what they pay you for after all.

So it is a good idea to not spend heaps on your first site as it probably will change in a year or so when you get into your business.

I disagree. Even more reason to have a modular website built that is going to grow with your business.

Better yet, if you pay for quality advice and service from the outset you'll probably find that you'll avoid many pitfalls.