Have you started an online business?

[alwaysworriedtoo]

I am really wanting to sell things that I have made using my own selling name. (I don't think just using ebay is a good idea though i would probably still use it) I would like a webpage of my own, I have set up a blog ready but I am so confused about web pages! There are so many options and prices and I am also worried that if I 'buy' one I wont be able to 'do' it, you know actually use it! I think setting up paypal would be a good idea? Then again I have seen places where people sell their wares through another website, like etsy type, but is it just arty crafty people who use these and they can make their own stuff anyway?
So, please can anyone give me any advice?
Has anyone used an Etsy type selling platform(?)?
Has anyone set up their own domain?
How does it work? Does it work? Is it worth doing?
Can you help?
Thank you!

Hi, I have my own website purchased from create.net. It costs me £9.99 a month and was quite easy to do, I have six shop sections, a blog, links etc on there. It also uploads and links to facebook.

I also have two shops on Etsy and one on Folksy (british equivalent to Etsy).

I am also on WowThankYou, you need to submit your website and some picture of what you make then wait to see if you have been accepted (they look at the quality of your items, your wording and presentation).

With your own website you have to get it seen by the search engines and try and make page one on google as people rarely go past page one when they search for things. You need to do your seo, submit to search engines, get links, look at adwords and adsense.

Etsy is US based and is huge, you need quite a lot in your shop and need to make your photos exceptional. Etsy to me is quite a cheap selling platform but make sure you use the correct keywords and that your postage charges are correct (I have sold this month to UK, US, Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Hungary).

Folksy is slightly dearer than Etsy to list but would probably be a good starting point for you then you could see how the market reacts to your products, have a read through www.folksy.com.

I only list on eBay from Oct to Jan as I find the fixed price fees prohibitive and the eBay ethos not conducive to the handmade market.

Have you looked at a payvement store on Facebook?

Join UKhandmade or Creative Connections, these are free forums for people who hand make and sell item for a living.

You might also want to take a look at the self-employed section on Mumsnet Talk, lots of people on there will also have experience.

I'm far from convinced about the effort (or funds) needed for SEO (search engine optimisation) because without any "special effort" clients of mine have sites in the top 10 in their field (perhaps slightly more specialist fields, but nonetheless, they've no need to spend tens of pounds a month/hundreds per year, with any SEO "specialist" ). Let's face it, if there are 30 garages / photographers serving a town or small city like Chester, then no way can all be "in the top 10" and many SEO firms will not act exclusively for one firm, they may ring all 20-30 photographers and if all of them decided to pay, who makes the money and who gets upset it didn't get them top spot - the SEO firm has taken the money but there are no guarantees, just "best effort" and they could leech cash forever unless the different photographers all knew they were using the same SEO firm!

A number of hosting firms (eg Heart Internet, 1and1, etc) offer site building tools at far less than 9.99/month. I won't bother mentioning US firms but their hosting costs are normally lower and still they throw in some website building tools.

With www.GBBO.co.uk (Get British Business Online - set up as a collaboartion by government and businesses) a small firm can get a .co.uk (from BT) and site building tools from Google free for the first year (or for a very low fee). GBBO was launched a couple of years ago, but didn't get TV ads. They have now started doing seminars in the UK (Google launched similar in Canada a year after UK, and now in US, where they seem to have pushed the boat out on seminars and then introduced them back in the UK, plus one-to-one consultations with Google staff in juice bars, so you can be sold AdWords, perhaps [or is that just me being cynical ?] :) ).

With PayPal you could create your own "buy item" buttons that add things to a shopping basket and then with one click the visitor can pay for their basket. PP doesn't even need people to be existing PayPal users (though after a few purchases with the same card/e-mail address I think PP requires they sign up).

Regarding domain registration, you can register .co.uk for under 10 pounds for 2 years. Ownership of a domain is not an option, in effect you are renting use of the name for a period of time, and it can be revoked under some circumstances such as a trademark dispute if you registered a name already well known by an established firm for example (and some disputes seem illogical, but big firms may have deep pockets... a situation one of my clients found themselves in was that because they wanted a shorter domain name, for a new venture XYZ Intel [short for XYZ Intelligence] they had a letter turn up from Intel [makers of the Pentium and other PC CPUs] telling them it could go to court - despite the fact the two businesses had no similarity - firm I know is a consultancy dealing with international and freight transport firms/ Dept of Transport)

For .com .net .info you can register a name for 1 to 10 years and the cheapest firms are based in N America (name.com, mydomain.com, godaddy.com, namecheap.com) while UK firms charge significantly more...

Domain registration and web hosting can be had from different companies (as can DNS services, but don't worry about that). Also, it is possible to use more than one server/hosting firm for website and e-mail - for example if someone was using the commercial e-mail firm Runbox.com then inbound mail would go to Runbox but web pages would come from a different service (though now Runbox offers hosting as well, so it could all be done with them)...

I put together a little drawing to show the relationship between the different pieces. See *> is.gd/R_D_S

Gosh thanks! I shall look at all the sites you have shown me. And networkguy thanks for the drawing, I must admit some of it went over my head a little! but it has given me a lot to think about. I am debating wether to register my 'business' name with the tax office.I know they will probably want me to do a tax self assesment form but to be honest I don't think that I will make that much in a year! I would eventually like it to take over my real job in the future but for now its really building up a stock and trying new ideas and showing friends what I have done!
Thanks again for your advice and if anyone else has experience of this sort please comment!

marking place for useful info

Yes. I'm marking too - very interesting. Good luck btw.

You don't need to register for a tax return until you are making £70k a year.

What kind of business are you setting up? Do you want to sell direct from your website?

You could look at Wordpress and go for a self-hosted blog - it is good way of testing the market without spending too much money.

I use hostgator and wordpress and have bought a theme, which enabled me to make the blog look different to any other blog out there. You can add on applications to make a webshop.

"You don't need to register for a tax return until you are making £70k a year."

MmeLindor I think you should have a look at the information on HMRC and/or Business Link. Prepare yourself for a shock.

MrAnchovy
I phoned and spoke to the tax office - that is what they said.

oh, wait. Sorry, I muddled up income tax and VAT. I phoned both offices.

You are right. Tax return from first year. Sorry for the confusion. Am doing this myself at the moment.

I understand what you mean about whether you would be able to "do it" after you got your website. I would suggest you talk through thoroughly with whoever is putting your website together exactly what is involved in the package and how you will administer the site before you part with any cash. I made a mistake a few years back when I signed up for a deal at an exhibiton without properly going through it. Naively I didn't appreciate the difference between "building" a website and "designing" a website. Also these guys did everything by email when sometimes I really wanted to speak to someone face to face (being an oldie ). The only thing that wasn't by email was a 2 hour telephone tutorial after the site was completed to explain how to administer the site (I had phone in one hand whilst trying to scribble notes with other!). After that my job was signed off and any further contact was chargeable. Also I didn't really like the look of the website as although I explained to them how I wanted it to look they were working from some sort of template so couldn't make it fit to that. Just some things to consider.

Well! Looking into everything I am thinking my best bet would be at first to join some sort of club (Etsy/Folksy style) as an introduction and see how my stuff sells with links to my blog page. (this won't be until I have built up a stock) I have also been looking on the Self employed section (thanks didn't know that was there!) and finding out all sorts of stuff! Christmas craft fair in a 'nice' town or village is another idea I am toying with. All of this depends on me getting my finger out and making some decent stock. I recently went to a craft fair in another town and the standard was amazing and made me feel a bit amature (sp?!) Because I make bags, clothes and some soft toys I am wondering wether to focus on one thing and go with it or vary my creativity (I do enjoy doing different things!) Sigh!
I thank you for your comments, Thank You!
I have tonns to contemplate!