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How Should I set Up My Clients New Site?

by Scitknot9
8 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
    • |
Hay Warriors,

I have been around the forum for a while but never posted in this particular section. I'm hoping that some of you may be so kind as to help me out with an issue I have.

I have won a website re-design from a client of mine. They run a business designing, manufacturing and installing furniture for schools in the UK, kind of providing standard bespoke furniture and design for Schools.

Doing the website is not the problem, I have done a few, including my own, but I wouldn't say I'm an expert or anything but I think I know enough to get by. This is my FIRST REAL website design client, so obviously for the sake of my business I want to do a good job for them.

My issue is that on the site, they have asked for a page where they can sell some surplus furniture that they have left over in stock, and they would like to be able to change this every month or so with new items.

I am thinking of using WP as this is what I am most comfortable with, however should I use an ecommerce site and just build the standard service pages around the 1 page of items they wish to sell OR do you think it would be better to build a standard WP site and use the WP ecommerce plugin for the 1 page?

In terms of the WP ecommerce plugin, will this accept credit cards or is it only paypal? Does anyone have any recommendations of an ecommerce plugin I could use to showcase the products and which has a decent back end payment method?

I apologise if the questions seem a little lame, I just wanted to get some advice before I start work on the project.

Any help or advice you can give me is really appreciated.

Thanks Warriors,

Scott
#clients #set #site
  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    Originally Posted by Scitknot9 View Post

    Hay Warriors,

    I have been around the forum for a while but never posted in this particular section. I'm hoping that some of you may be so kind as to help me out with an issue I have.

    I have won a website re-design from a client of mine. They run a business designing, manufacturing and installing furniture for schools in the UK, kind of providing standard bespoke furniture and design for Schools.

    Doing the website is not the problem, I have done a few, including my own, but I wouldn't say I'm an expert or anything but I think I know enough to get by. This is my FIRST REAL website design client, so obviously for the sake of my business I want to do a good job for them.

    My issue is that on the site, they have asked for a page where they can sell some surplus furniture that they have left over in stock, and they would like to be able to change this every month or so with new items.

    I am thinking of using WP as this is what I am most comfortable with, however should I use an ecommerce site and just build the standard service pages around the 1 page of items they wish to sell OR do you think it would be better to build a standard WP site and use the WP ecommerce plugin for the 1 page?

    In terms of the WP ecommerce plugin, will this accept credit cards or is it only paypal? Does anyone have any recommendations of an ecommerce plugin I could use to showcase the products and which has a decent back end payment method?

    I apologise if the questions seem a little lame, I just wanted to get some advice before I start work on the project.

    Any help or advice you can give me is really appreciated.

    Thanks Warriors,

    Scott
    In almost every example of an ecommerce website, I will recommend magento, even prestashop or drupal... hell even joomla with virtuemart is better all around than wordpress for ecommerce websites. HOWEVER, what good does that do if you don't know how to use them? If you never learned the other CMS's, you are likely not able to get past the small learning curve to complete the website in time.

    From a business stand point though, I am wondering how they plan to sell furniture online? BOA even charges about 15K in merchant insurance to allow that. Paypal could work but it doesn't protect them from being scammed. Anyway, I guess that is not my problem nor yours, but if you have that info, I am curious because I have a friend that had about 400K worth of furniture he wanted to sell online but couldn't with his merchant.

    Bottom line, no, wordpress is not ideal for an ecommerce site... but if that is all you know, then it doesn't make sense to use the others. Perhaps start learning the other CMS's to increase your versatility!
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  • Profile picture of the author Scitknot9
    IAmNameLess,

    Thanks for the comments.

    What they are selling is only left over furniture or bits they have picked up from school re-decoration works, so it will only be 1 page of about 8-10 items.

    The users that are likely to buy these items are school authorities anyway. They have said that if they are schools or authorities that they have worked with before then instead of buying direct online, they can contact them and arrange for delivery without payment upfront. They will then give the authority/school an invoice (this is only the case if they have worked with them before and have a relationship). They will be delivering the items themselves.

    I appreciate that WP is not great for ecommerce sites and I am in the process of learning to use other ecommerce CMS's to broaden my skills, however this site will primarily be showcasing their services with only one page being for the sale of a small amount of items, so I didn't think that an ecommerce CMS would be required. That is why I thought I would create it in WP and use a plugin for the 'shop' page.

    Thanks,

    Scott
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  • Profile picture of the author mdyson
    In PrestaShop, you can set up your client's store in "Catalog Mode," which would prevent users from actually placing orders directly through the site by disabling the cart. Instead, you can edit part of the description to say something along the lines of "To order, please call 867 5309"

    Cheers,
    Matthew
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  • Profile picture of the author Karen Barr
    Since the shop part is only a very small part of the overall site, I would go with WP and use the ecommerce plugin. Clients without a Paypal account can still pay by credit card via Paypal as a processor. Alternatively you could just put the price and a phone number by each item and say "call us for details and to arrange payment" and let the client handle it all offline, since it sounds like their main business model revolves around invoicing anyway.

    I'm assuming the client wants to be able to easily update the items on sale themselves, so WP will definitely be the easiest way to do this. Trying to show a client how to update stock in Zencart is a nightmare, believe me.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeKey
      Originally Posted by Karen Barr View Post

      Since the shop part is only a very small part of the overall site, I would go with WP and use the ecommerce plugin. Clients without a Paypal account can still pay by credit card via Paypal as a processor. Alternatively you could just put the price and a phone number by each item and say "call us for details and to arrange payment" and let the client handle it all offline, since it sounds like their main business model revolves around invoicing anyway.

      I'm assuming the client wants to be able to easily update the items on sale themselves, so WP will definitely be the easiest way to do this. Trying to show a client how to update stock in Zencart is a nightmare, believe me.
      I second this, and I'll recommend a great plugin: Cart66.com

      There is another WordPress plugin called WPEcommerce and while it's touted as amazing, I have working experience with it, and it's a complete joke. And so is the support which is non-existent.

      Cart 66 and WordPress will be the perfect combination for you.

      And the main selling point to getting your client onboard with WP is that you are "EMPOWERING" them. They won't need a programmer every time they want to change words on the page.
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  • Profile picture of the author samclarke
    I would stick with wordpress as it will be the easiest for your customer to update by themselves and in general has a much better support base if you get stuck.

    Yes WP e-Commerce accepts many payment methods for process online as well as money orders or checks for manual delivery. This method may work best since the customers are physically picking up the merchandise.

    I would also recommend after you are finished with the project to make a couple very short instructional videos or PDF's on how to change basic settings and provide this to your client.

    Not only does this provide that special touch and get you rave reviews ( and referrals) but it will also free up your time so they won't be calling you every time they have a question.
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  • Profile picture of the author SiteSmarty
    Hey Scott. Sounds like a eCommerce site is over kill for what your client wants to do. You could use WordPress with categories and hunt for a theme that would suit them.

    If you know Custom Post Types that would work best.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aare
    i'd prepared to use wordpress portfolio site, since the theme will be acomodate the client needs. as u said, the client need "a room" to show their over stock, that's easy to promote via a popup window or featuerd images using animation (slide show).

    wp the best choise i think...
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