Designing a Store/Website for Beginners

[Victoria]

Okay, this is my first time starting a thread. I don't know anything about computer programming. I do know how to use basic stuff such as Office and Safari and Photoshop etc., though. The main point is that I'm trying to design my own website to sell my artwork (mainly photography). My questions are:
1. What do I have to do go get my website operating?
2. What online resources should I check out?
3. Are there any helpful books on the subject out there?
5. Would I have to get a lawer or some other knowledgeable person to make a privacy agreement, terms of use document, or other legal documents for my site?
6. How can I make sure my site is hacker-safe?
7. What is the best method of ordering? (a shopping cart system, having someone email me, or some other system?)
Well, there are a lot of questions to answer! I hope I haven't made anyone keel over at the length of my posting!

[Caveman Joe]

Heyla!
1. First, you'll need a domain name and some hosting. Check out the "Web Hosting" sticky post at the top, or the hostingforaquid.co.uk link in my signature.
2. That depends entirely on whether you're thinking of hand-coding everything and making a basic HTML site, or whether you want to use a Content Management System. I'd recommend the latter, as it makes your site easier to manage (hence the name). opensourcecms.com provides a good roundup of systems for you to try out. I'm currently working on a site for a client that combines GeekLog with Gallery2, so she's got a blog and a nice gallery of pictures that she can update herself (without hassling me every other day).
3. Yes and no. Books are very useful and nice, but get outdated VERY fast these days.
4. THERE IS NO NUMBER FOUR. Don't ask why.
5. Personally, I've never bothered. I probably should, but if I had to, I'm sure I could find a free-to-use template out there and just run find-and-replace to change the company name.
6. Use the most up-to-date components, and check the forums for your chosen CMS regularly.
7. Have a look at PayPal's "Merchant Tools" section, or see if your CMS has an inbuilt ordering system (Gallery2 has a basic shopping cart built-in).

Or you could contact someone to build a site for you and talk you through all of the above for a very reasonable price.

[Victoria]

Thanks for the advice!

[fbmfor]

Hi Victoria,

Doing it on your own will create you a lot of problems if you don't know anything about computers.

I suggest you try these two known services:

- Ebay: eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices
- Amazon: Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more

Both have all the tools needed to sell anything. From selling individual products to setting up entire portals with them if that's what you need. Amazon even lets you outsource with them your entire warehouse/shipping infrastructure. Both provide everything to get you started, and you don't have to know anything about computers. Most of the questions you asked are automatically solved with them.

Another very important thing they'll provide you with is TRAFFIC!! You'll need it if you want to sell something on the Net.

Maybe eBay is more adequate for you business, but you'll have to judge it by yourself.

Good luck!

[tobyhede]

I'd also think about starting with eBay ... you can build a simple site for your business, but all the fulfillment can be done through eBay, it's a really good way to get started without having to build a complex online order processing system.