How to build a site? WordPress + Themeforest

[DoodyCalls Franchises]

Getting a site built is a pretty hot topic, so - as someone who knows a bit about this area - I thought I'd chime in.. First off, maintaining a strong online presence has never been more important to business than it is today. If you do not have a website for your small business, now is the time to get one started. Building a basic website for your small business is no longer a difficult or expensive process. There are now scores of do-it-yourself website building tools available, many of which allow you to use their service for free. A few of the leading platforms out there today for websites/blogs are WordPress, Posterous, Weebly and Tumblr. Of those four, WordPress is, by and far, the most popular. Last month, in fact, it was announced that WordPress now hosts over 50 million websites, from small businesses to prominent high-traffic blogs, such as TechCrunch, TED, CNN & the NFL. We use WordPress for all of our blogs and local franchise websites. For a point of reference - here's what ours looks like: http://franchising.doodycalls.com Not only does WP have a robust Content Management System [CMS] (i.e. how you control what appears online), but it's design framework is very flexible. All four of the platforms mentioned above provide users with standard design templates to use free of charge. For those who want an even more customized look for your site, it's not too hard to find a solution. One option is to have a design template custom built, which is what we did for our local franchise blogs. The best place to find a WP designer these days is a site called Sortfolio. Another option is to buy a pre-made premium theme. ThemeForest is a website that has thousands of beautiful themes/templates available at very reasonable prices (around $10 for many). __ If anyone has any specific questions on this topic, let me know. I'm happy to share any additional info I can **

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[Sprinkler Buddy]

Lawn care business tips

Nice looking site you have. Wish I knew more about website building. I'm always wanting to change a few things and have to call my guy to do it. What's the cost of a shopping cart on those free websites? How safe are they if you have a shopping cart on them?

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[DoodyCalls Franchises]

Originally Posted by Sprinkler Buddy

What's the cost of a shopping cart on those free websites? How safe are they if you have a shopping cart on them?

I'm not too well versed on the e-commerce area, but the most popular tool for building websites with e-commerce capabilities is Shopify. The prices vary depending on your needs.

[Steve]

You could experiment with Google Checkout as well. They have ways to set up a shopping cart that you might want to experiment with.