# A great website developer



## atoms (Sep 23, 2007)

I intend to do 90% of my sale over the internet.
Could you guys recommend a great wedsite developer?

[email protected]
Thanks.


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## kriscad (Dec 18, 2006)

http://designoutpost.com/

and for your cart: Big Cartel » Bringing the Art to the Cart


goodluck


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## SeasonEnds (Sep 9, 2007)

Go Media - Rebuild the Aesthetic - Portfolio 2007 / www.studioakt.com

You can also try websites like elance.com


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## atoms (Sep 23, 2007)

Thanks for the info, guys.
I've discovered 2 developers to fully implement my website with ecommerce feature. The first developer is asking for 4k, while the other one if asking for 5k.
I think 4k or 5k is pretty too much for an online t-shirt website.

What do you think?
and any recommendation for a reasonable developer will be greatly appreciated.

Please help!

Thanks.


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## kriscad (Dec 18, 2006)

*Way too much....*


I used to outsource all of our web work when we did websites...

For $500.00 you can get a great set of templates:

Design Outpost - Templates

You get some of the best designers working up mockups to get that $500

Once you get the look and feel you want, you can pay someone 300-400 max to code it all for you.


The cart I would use something like Big Cartel » Bringing the Art to the Cart and link to it from your site.


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## SeasonEnds (Sep 9, 2007)

Yeah, you are probably asking them for features that you might not need right away also. Some of these guys will want to code complete custom shopping carts. This gets expensive!! Use pre-made shopping carts and things like that to cut down cost.


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## peteVA (Nov 11, 2007)

There are any number of FREE shopping carts available. CubeCart seems to be the one most mentioned here.

With a $ 5 a month hosting fee, a free cart and a couple of hindred bucks for a customized "skin" / "template" for the cart you can use your startup money for other things.

When you get right down to it, a shopping cart is a shopping cart. Everyone has a favorite. Just like most people who buy a new car will recommend the same brand to others, so it is with online carts, etc. 

Only when someone has truly horrible problems will they warn you off.

Berfore spending thousands, look at what you can get for little or nothing.
.


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## The T Shirt Man (Aug 29, 2006)

thats way too much. As others have said, you can get free carts such as osCommerce/Zen cart, and then pay for either a custom design or a pre-made professional design to make it look great, which would cost $150 maybe? obviously depends on the design used/cart used.


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## SeasonEnds (Sep 9, 2007)

Well it depends on what level that you want to take your website too. A template can rarely live up to a good custom website by a professional. Be careful, there are a few hacks out there though.


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## The T Shirt Man (Aug 29, 2006)

It cant, a custom website is created specifically for your needs, a generic cart is exactly that. However if i were just starting out i couldnt spend $4k on a website, i couldnt even justify spending money like that now after a few years.


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## peteVA (Nov 11, 2007)

SeasonEnds said:


> Well it depends on what level that you want to take your website too. A template can rarely live up to a good custom website by a professional. Be careful, there are a few hacks out there though.


That depends on your point of view. I realize there are a number of artistic folks here and I don't want to step on any toes.

But, look at many of the major online retailers sites. It's amazing how little "design" there is and how much simple functionality. Wal*Mart, Lowes, Amazon, etc. 

Further, when is the last time you left a site that had what you were looking for simply because it had the basic "header, right and left navagation columns and a footer" without a lot of fancy design.

And is the average tee shirt buyer going to really care? 

The main people that pay attention to site design are site designers, not real world customers. People buying online are used to the "OSCommerce" look used by almost all of the carts, both free and paid for.

You've got a store, you want it look like a store, not a museum.
.


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## The T Shirt Man (Aug 29, 2006)

Personally i have never been a fan of image intensive websites (stores or normal sites) i want a site to look nice, which i can read easily and has at least some professionalism to it (i hate sites that use fancy text in multi colours and tacky images as backgrounds). Navigation is also very important.

But having a custom cart is not just about the way it looks its about the backend and what it does. That is really what you are paying for.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

SeasonEnds said:


> Well it depends on what level that you want to take your website too. A template can rarely live up to a good custom website by a professional. Be careful, there are a few hacks out there though.


It depends on the template and the template designer.

Template designers are professionals (for the most part), they are just allowing you to do most of the work yourself (filling in the content part).

A lot of what you're paying professional designers for is their *time*, so the less time you use them for, the less time you have to pay for.

So if you can figure out ways to cut down on the time, but still get the same end result, then you can really help your budget.

For example, if you go to a designer/developer and tell them you want a custom fully functional ecommerce site, they may want to design everything from scratch. They may want to make a custom shopping cart for you. All stuff that isn't really needed.

But, if you take some of your own time and figure out your *real* needs, you can cut down on what you have to ask of a web designer.

Like Pete said, you can install some very popular, very powerful, FREE shopping carts with a couple of CLICKS (depending on the hosting control panel your webhost uses). That's clicks, not anything technical.

Those few clicks just saved you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of *time* that the web designer/developer doesn't have to spend researching, installing, testing your shopping cart. Thousands if they don't have to recreate the wheel and build you a custom shopping cart (that probably has all the features of the free one).

Then, you go to a place like designoutpost.com and pay a designer a few hundred dollars for a "template" to give your new shopping cart the EXACT look and feel you want.

You can either install the template yourself (your free time), or pay someone a few hundred dollars to install it for you (pay for their time).


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## SeasonEnds (Sep 9, 2007)

Well, there is a difference between gaudy webpages and a pro webpage.



peteVA said:


> You've got a store, you want it look like a store, not a museum.


It all depends on your target market. I think you would be suprised at how much thought goes into these websites. Plus, you point out major companies that have teams of pro web designers.

Anyways, I agree that is too much money. That is why I learned everything myself. I realize that not everyone is willing to do this, though. A template is a good way to go, but don't completely forget the possibility of having a web designer go over that template and make it look better than you can. This is a much cheaper option!

Edit:
Of Course your post wasnt there when I started to post, Rodney. I agree to some degree. Which is why I said



SeasonEnds said:


> Yeah, you are probably asking them for features that you might not need right away also. Some of these guys will want to code complete custom shopping carts. This gets expensive!! Use pre-made shopping carts and things like that to cut down cost.


But it seems to me that everyone seems to think that web developers are out to steal your money. While, some are, there are others that can take your business to new levels!


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## peteVA (Nov 11, 2007)

One of the largest drawbacks to custom websites has not been discussed.

You are tied to someone who may die, retire or just move on.

Not to mention hold you hostage for any further improvements you may want.

I read a post just recently about a lady who had spent thousands and still didn't have her site because it was always "one more thing" from the designer, of course with another $$$ payment.

The free and low cost "out of the box" carts will do virtually everything a custom cart can and you've got plenty of free or low cost support. With a custom site you are a puppet on the strings of the designer.
.


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## SeasonEnds (Sep 9, 2007)

Pete, you have a good point. The thing is, people jump into web designers not knowing what it is they need. The same thing happens with accountants, lawyers, etc. Would you buy a car without knowing anything about it?

As far as the code goes, you should have an agreement that your web developer will program everything up to standard. There are plenty of ways to verify this. Through World Wide Web Consortium or even from some of the members on this forum. Would you but a car that didn't perform to standards? (I am one to talk, I don't even have air bags)

This is also why you should get references, or contact people that have had a website made through that developer. You can usually find that through their online portfolios or by asking them. 

If you know absolutely nothing about code, then a content management system is a good bet. 

Chances are there will always somebody that will be there to pick up the pieces of your site if your support ever goes downhill. 

There are plenty of things that alot of free templates cant do. What about implementing the free templates and the free commerce stores. Web developers can incorporate these into your site and show you hot to make changes yourself. I am not saying that you should go either way. Don't just send the idea of having a web developer work for you for no reason.

There are plenty of web developers who have really contributed to the tshirt community. It would be a shame to turn our bakcs on people like them.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> There are plenty of things that alot of free templates cant do


I don't think anybody mentioned "free" templates. I think the idea is you can cut down on costs without getting a full blown "custom website designed from scratch"



> There are plenty of web developers who have really contributed to the tshirt community. It would be a shame to turn our bakcs on people like them.


I don't think anybody was advocating turning backs on web developers or designers


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## Girlzndollz (Oct 3, 2007)

SeasonEnds said:


> Would you buy a car without knowing anything about it?


 


seasonends said:


> Would you but a car that didn't perform to standards? (I am one to talk, I don't even have air bags)


I think you answered your own question.

The reality is, yes, alot, tons of folks buy without researching. We all know this. That is what helps make this thread so valuable to other newbs like me wanting to learn all that can be learned regarding this information. But sadly, what you are referring to with just signing up without finding out what one is buying first is why there are all sorts of folks (car dealerships, accounts, lawyers, web designers, builders, heating contractors, etc etc) who stand ready to exploit this flaw in consumers. Not exploiting so is what seperates the good from the bad. Researching is what makes the difference between the informed and uninformed consumer.

I'll continue reading eagerly any new posts coming into this thread. Thanks everyone!


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## SeasonEnds (Sep 9, 2007)

Splitting hairs at this point. Get CubeCart and have fun.


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## neato (Mar 21, 2006)

I just had a guy build a custom cubecart skin for a new site of mine for $160. He did a fantastic job, was fast, easy to work with and was very fair. And he REALLY knows cubecart well too. He's a good resource to have.

If anyone wants his info, PM me.


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## kriscad (Dec 18, 2006)

peteVA said:


> One of the largest drawbacks to custom websites has not been discussed.
> 
> You are tied to someone who may die, retire or just move on.
> 
> ...



*That's why you change FTP pw when they are done lol!*


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