AboutLola Brooks Expertise I can answer questions regarding: web hosting, FTP instructions, site trouble shooting, basic
web design questions, search engine optimization etc.
I cannot answer questions regarding: PC repair or networking issues.
Experience I have over ten years of web design experience.
Education/Credentials Years of Experience
Past/Present Clients Visit my online portfolio to view some previous work if you are interested in reviewing some of my past clients http://www.blueringdesign.com/webdesign.php
Question Hi there! Thank you for your time, first of all.
I was trying to sell/start a small business. I was wondering about "Go Daddy" and their features/ease of use. I have been selling on ebay for over 10 years but wanted to start my own website to sell some of my items. I just know several yrs ago you had to be familiar w/ html and all of that to even have your own site. Is that the case w/ godaddy.com? I never really understood their website/faq/info....I read it but still.....Wasn't sure how much you needed to know before signing up. Thanks for your time! OR, If you have any other suggestions to try to sell your merchandise, that would be fantastic! "Fill-in-the-blank" is always easiest~~
Answer To be honest the answer to your question isn't really as straight forward as you would think. Over the years the features offered by hosting companies like Go Daddy, Yahoo etc. have expanded and have become easier to use. Unfortunately, since I am familiar with web design and use alternative hosting, I cannot tell you how easy it would be for you to set up a site and sell your products online using any free "fill-in-the-blank" type software that walks you through the design process or if this is something that is even offered through economy hosts like Go Daddy.
I do know that what you are going to need in order to sell your goods online is an e-commerce site and this somewhat more advanced and more difficult to set up than a regular informational web site. I have in the past (at a client's request) set up a site using Yahoo e-commerce and found it more difficult than installing a regular shopping cart.
The easiest option for you will probably be using a content management system and adding an extension to it for the shopping cart. A couple you might want to check out - Joomla, Drupal, or Wordpress. By far, the easiest the set up, maintain, and get free templates for is Wordpress (a lot of people use it for blogs but it is capable of being used for much more). Some hosts even have a control panel that you can log into and download and install these content management systems right into your website (I know ours does). This streamlines the install process and gets you up and running even faster.
