[teomabanta]

Well I'm not the most internet savvy...

I want to start my own website, selling cell phones, but I don't know where to begin. I found web.com, but not sure if they are good.

Thanks

[lamarsh]

well, whats your budget for building a website?

[teomabanta]

Thanks for the quick response

My budget is $1,000 - $3,000 . . . The more I can save, the better of course.

Thanks

[Gaulkin]

Well for 3k your not going to get a website that sells cell phones for you.

[Yiie]

Get yourself a domain and host and you can learn to build your online store using free open source CMS, Joomla and also Virtuemart. There are professional templates for Joomla and it's relatively easy to update products and content once you get the hang of it.

If you don't have the time to learn about Joomla and Virtuemart, you can find a lot of web designers and people on forums who can whip something up for you within your budget.

Also keep in mind that you will also need to setup your own payment gateway and security.

[jayrobinson15]

3k will get you started with a pretty good domain and web site structure, but you won't have much left over for a marketing budget, so try to save up before you jump into this headfirst. Take your time and learn everything you need to know and spend the most time on the planning and development of the site, while crating a marketing plan at its completion and you should be fine.

[Charles of 5DPI]

Well for 3k your not going to get a website that sells cell phones for you.

I disagree with you there. $3,000 can get you very far.

3k will get you started with a pretty good domain and web site structure, but you won't have much left over for a marketing budget, so try to save up before you jump into this headfirst. Take your time and learn everything you need to know and spend the most time on the planning and development of the site, while crating a marketing plan at its completion and you should be fine.

$3,000 will get you much more then a domain name and structure. But I stand by your statement on doing analysis, researching, and preparing a business plan.



With $300 you should have a domain, hosting, and a shopping cart lined up. (And more then decent looking.) You just have to do it yourself and research about it.

Aesthetics can come later, right now just get something working online. With $2000 well spent, you will have no problem getting traffic going to your site.

If I were you, I would register a domain name (about $8-$10), buy hosting (for the year.. about $120-$150: For premium quality hosting.), and use Magento Cart. (magentocommerce.com).

Just make sure your host is running on PHP 5.0. And you are good!

I could go on and on, but I don't want to develop a wall of text. PM me if you have any more questions.

//EDIT//

Forgot about the merchant account! Most merchants are free set-up (they are hungry due to the market status). Typically, they charge about $30/mo and collect about 3% per transaction.

[crackah]

3k is good.

Rent A Coder: How Software Gets Done -- Home of the worlds' largest number of completed software projects

Get someone to do it and your set. They should do everything and if they dont do a good job, you dont need to pay them.

[cwish001]

You can start a website for less then $200 if you do it yourself. It doesn't have to be the best website just looks proffessional and is simple. You can get free and complete html tutorials at w3schools.com and I use site5.com for webhosting and you can get a domain name through them. Spend some time learning the code which will be a little hard but not impossible. You will also have to sign up with a cell phone company, distributor. Just spend some time and things should work out.

[Mpalmer22]

You said it yourself, "I'm not the most internet saavy..."

My advice: Don't waste your money.
You should spend the money learning how to do the stuff yourself, but on a very limited budget. Try setting up and an Affiliate account with someone like Commission Junction. It is free to join, and you can learn a lot by doing affiliate programs.

I know it is really easy to be lured online by the "riches" other people have found. Guess what, they didn't just set up a website and people magically appeared. It takes a good bit of work and a good bit of budget to really get a site moving. Seriously, you should get yourself familiar with the online game before you start throwing money around.
Think about it this way, you wouldn't open up a bakery if you didn't know how to bake, would you?

The other thing you should think about is that there is a TON of competition for cell phone sales online. ALL of the major cell phone companies have websites, budget, and lots of experience. Plus, everyone else out there Google "Cell Phone" and see how many search results show up, that will give you a good idea of how many people you will be competing against.

I definitely don't want you to think you shouldn't ever start a site, or that you shouldn't start a business, but to stand out online, you have to do something truly different, or better than everyone else to really
win.

Feel free to PM me or respond if you have any questions, I would be glad to help.

[Aletheides]

Very competitive niche with not as good profit potential as other niches. If you really want to go with it I would suggest getting the BANS script and starting from there.

I agree with everything Mpalmer22 says.