AboutChristine Milot Expertise I can answer questions pertaining to web design, graphic design, e-marketing, social
marketing, search engine management and optimization, pay per click, affiliate marketing,
landing pages, content management systems, shopping cart systems, email marketing,
online video marketing, podcasting, list purchasing, link development, web analytics and
almost anything related to building an internet marketing strategy to effectively grow an
e-commerce or web business with success.
Experience Online and offline marketing. Web design, graphic design and e-marketing.
Education/Credentials MA in Design and MFA in Interactive Computer Design
Question Hi Christine, I've spent two weeks trying to decide and I feel like I just can't determine the features Ubercart can handle. I hear so many bad things about Magento, but I don't know who to believe (they're all trying to sell something). I'm an ecommerce startup. I'll have about 8 categories of products with 1 to 15 products in each category to start. Of course I hope to expand, adding several more categories and perhaps hundreds of products as I grow. I want to choose the right platform from the start so I don't have to change. I'd like it to be as low maintenance from the IT side as possible(don't want to pay for constant tweaking and fixing). I want fast page downloads (< 4 seconds per page). But I want crisp, clear graphics. I will also have a lot of content (both static and a blog) to educate my customers. I want to do email marketing. I like all the marketing bells and whistles.
My hesitation with Magento is I hear it is big, requires expensive hosting (bandwidth), can be slow, is often difficult for developers to code correctly, and is not great at managing content. Drupal is great at managing content (but I'll still need a separate software for a newsletter). They're supposedly not as great at the marketing part (the shopping cart is less flexible, supposedly, than Magento).
I don't want to go to a hosted shopping cart while in my startup "testing" phase, because I don't think I'll be able to do the education like I need to (is this correct?).
I need to contain the cost since I'm a start-up. I have many bids from elance.com from Magento developers, but I don't know who to believe. I have one bid from an Ubercart guy that looks okay. What to do? (I'm pulling my hair out!) Thank you!!!!
Answer Hi Jan,
Ubercart and Dupral are development platforms. Are you interested in developing a customized solution? This is the path you are taking. I would not go down this path unless I was developing a large store like Amazon or similar. Have you considered a hosted solution like Volusion? They have a free 14 day trial and their support is excellent. Learning the system will take a little bit of time but it is not difficult at all.
Your concern about not being able to work with a system like Volusion is not correct. The systems are not difficult. There are 2 parts to the systems which include the hosted software solution and then there is the design. You have 2 options; to engage a web designer like myself that that has the ability and willingness to work with a hosted cart or to use the hosted solutions own designers.
You should be able to find a hosted solution that is easy enough to work with, has the features that you want, and has the ability to grow with you. This is the best way to contain your development costs and will jump start your business. If you plan on developing into a very large business make sure that you can either purchase the code or develop on it at a later date. I believe Volusion allows both. Also, make sure that the system that you get into is PCI compliant. https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/
