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Is this possible?

by TyBrown
3 replies
Hello,
For years I've used a lot of different autoresponders, shopping carts, etc. I've used oneshoppingcart, aweber, constantcontact, membergate, and others.

I know zero about programming but I run a business that is both on and off line.

I'd love to have an autoresponder with shopping cart that was customized for my business. It would have CRM functionality, marketing tasks, and other things.

I know about infusionsoft but I don't want to go that route.

What I'm wondering is; if I was able to track down a good overseas programmer how possible would it be to get someone to design a system for me? Are we talking huge dollars here? Are there any big hangups like getting a system that would work with authorize.net or other regulations in emailing that would be hard to work with?

If I could get something like this designed then I think I could eventually sell it to others in my industry (dog trainers) but for starters I'm wondering how to go about getting this done, if its cost prohibitive, or what else I need to know.

So what do you think? Can this be done in the $1000-$3000 range (perhaps there are off the shelf products that are ready to go that can be customized into how I want them), am I looking at $3-5,000? $5,000-$10,000? Or even bigger bucks?

How would I even go about finding out how to start a project like this?

Thanks!
  • Profile picture of the author WebRank1
    Hi,

    I have to say that everything you could imagine is possible.
    From what you describe I would guess that you'd be on the money with 3k-5k.
    I would suggest hiring a programmer and take shelf products and customize them to your needs.

    The shopping cart thing is easy, there are a gazillion packages out there and the majority of them are customizable so that should not be too hard for a programmer to play with.

    My biggest tip would be to not try and spend as less money as you possibly can. You will get burned because you get what you pay for in this programming business.
    When you hire someone make sure that:
    1) He will continue to provide support. And establish his rates for modifying something at a later time. If you want a functionality added for instance.
    2) He writes clean and organized code with comments through out it. If you ever have to change programmers, it should be as easy as possible for the new guy to jump into your already existing code.
    3) He is specialized in this sort of thing. The customization, autoresponders and shopping cart thing. This way he will spend less time figuring things out and cost you less money.
    4) When you talk money, either go for a fixed fee or establish a time line with milestones for him to reach. Either way, make sure that it is very clear to the both of you what happens when a milestone is not reached in time. And when he needs more time that what the fixed fee is based on, make sure you both know that he is not getting paid more than agreed upon.
    5) But above all, find someone you feel comfortable with and can build a working relationship with. Because, trust me, even when he delivers his work, you will talk to him regularly about it.

    Hope this helps, this came from the top of my head.

    Regards,
    Mark
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  • Profile picture of the author jaybenoit
    WebRank1 hit the nail right on the head!

    I also suggest finding a off-the-shelf product and modifying it instead of starting from scratch.

    Although do your homework on any programmer you hire. I am a programmer myself, but now I outsource, and can tell you that programmers usually work at slow speed and on their time.

    Make sure you get some references and follow up before you pay a programmer any kind of money. I also like to use terms were I do not pay a penny until they show me a demo of the product.

    Elance.com is a good place to go as bahamut1990 has mentioned to find some programmers.
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