I need Advice

[Millbyff]

I am creating a business selling products online. The only catch is I have never done this and technical skills are about 3 out of 10. I have read a little HTML and I know enough to know I would like somebody else to create the site unless there was some kind of "build your own website" cut and paste sort of option. I feel once I had the bones of the site, I could make adjustments as needed in HTML. Is there someplace I can find this service at a low pricepoint? I really have very little to get things started.

[Iksander]

I highly recommend staying away from cut and paste 'build your own' solutions; pay someone with a good credible background and they will create a site with a good design that will work and look good.

You can have a developer build the site from scratch, or, have them adapt a current CMS to suite your needs (the cheaper option).

[tobyhede]

There are a number of commercial and open-source packages that will help you get started. But definitely stay away from the cheaper options - these are often very restrictive and hard to move away from once you realise the limitations.

For ecommerce, something like ZenCart or Joomla would be the way to go in the open-source arena. Both of these are as good as any commercial alternative. They will let you build and maintain your site without actually needing to know any code.

You may assistance to set this stuff up, but it's not particularly difficult and there are often good tutorials on the web. Lots of host provide these programs as easy-install options. If you have the resources, invest in a professional design (even from a commercial template site), and invest in some professional advice on deployment, setup and installation. The rest (the hard part) is then up to you.

[GuerillaInternetMarketing]

If you are serious about selling products and want a shot at being successful, you have to hire people to set it up properly. There are many variable that can make or break a site including usability, aesthetics, search engine friendliness of the cart, proper analytics implementation, etc.

Can you learn the basics to set things up on your own? If you have some technical expertise, are resourceful, and a quick learner, then sure. Otherwise, you may end up making some big mistakes along the way and proper implementation may take a very long time.

Are you selling other people's products or your own? If your own, and you have no budget or no way of obtaining funds then you may want to look at getting your products listed on other people's sites and having them do the selling for you.

Best of luck!