|
This month I decided to step out from the safety of journalistic objectivity and practice what I preached in my last article about developing a Web page for small antique businesses. (See http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y200/m04/abu0012/s02.)
I wasn't exactly frightened by the challenge. After all, my interviewees claimed it would take no more than a couple of hours to develop a basic Web page. Didn't I have two hours to spare? Let me be frank from the start. My HTML skills are rudimentary at best and I face every new computer task with trepidation, knowing in my heart that somewhere in the middle of the project, things will get bollixed.
But I was not hopeless. I already owned two domain names, taxter.com and usiana.com. I had registered the names with Valueweb for $70 each. So I set about the task, developing two Web sites for myself, one using the Web-hosting service Valueweb.com, the other parked in an e-commerce venue called Bigstep.com.
***
Valueweb.com: $49.99/month
Taxter.com was my first attempt. I opened a commercial account with Valueweb.com for $49.99 a month, giving me 200 MB of space and 50 mailboxes. This site would be dedicated to selling a myriad of items from our rare bookstore similar to what I currently peddle on eBay under the id Taxter, named for our pet Scottie.
This influenced my look. When you visit the site, you'll see I chose a color scheme of red and black on white, featuring rows of Scotties with bobbing heads. A dash of spinning credit cards added spice to the mix.
Since the goal was to see what I could accomplish in two hours using Netscape Composer, I had little time to fool around searching for fancy backgrounds or fiddling with fonts. I was in luck because Scotties are relatively easy to find, and the Internet offers a wonderful array of free clip art and bars that I lifted with ease. I saved the Scotties, red bars, and credit cards and loaded them into taxter.com via Cuteftp, a service I purchased through Globalscape.com.
Netscape Composer Software
Netscape Composer allowed me to work quickly and with a minimum of trouble. Choosing fonts, colors, and adding images was done with the click of a button. I liked another program called Front Page, but, alas, Netscape Composer was easier to load into Valueweb, and I wanted to give myself every opportunity to succeed.
Everything went swell; my typing was nearly flawless, my transfer of images went without a hitch. And then I tried to publish my page. I thought I followed the directions correctly. I was sure I followed them to the T. So I let my husband Dan give it a go. He got about as far as I did before he hit upon an idea. The preliminary message on my Valueweb site had to come from somewhere didn't it? A quick look through the HTML files visible in Taxter.com via Cuteftp revealed the index.htm was where I needed to place my work. I first had to erase the Valueweb message before transplanting my page from Netscape into my now-empty file.
Voila! I was up and running. A quick run through the links showed me that they worked. Dog heads were bobbing in unison. (It may not have been as exciting as a row of Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall but it dazzled me for about two seconds.)
"Side by Side" - Easier Sung than Done
Then, at the bottom of the page--gasp--a mistake. Not just any mistake like a misspelled word, but whole sections run together. My attempt to put two blocks of text side by side failed miserably. I knew I could fix it quick by simply redoing the page with one block located atop the other, but I wanted to leave it for you to see. (No sense making you think that this was TOO easy.)
So, there you have it. Taxter.com was created in two hours time. It's not grand, not by any means, but now that the article is done, I'll have time to go back in and glitz the place up...you know, add a fancy background here, a few images there, maybe something plaid. You'll have to stop by occasionally and sneak a peek at my progress.
***
Bigstep.com: Free!
My second attempt, USiana.com, went more smoothly but took longer to accomplish. This site was constructed using one of the e-commerce sites that offer Web page hosting for free. I chose Bigstep.com despite the banner that appears at the top of USiana.com (it says, "Powered by Bigstep.com"). What the heck, it looks like an ad, it acts like an ad, and we're all used to seeing things like that. Since Bigstep and I aren't competing for the same market or selling the same things, I didn't see any harm in giving them a bit of free advertising since they gave me a free site.
Yep, that's right. It really was FREE!
Bigstep dispels the adage that you get what you pay for. They offer 12 MB of space, a template-driven vehicle to create a snazzy site and the ability to put a catalog of merchandise online. Other features include: a way to get yourself listed with search engines; the opportunity to create a newsletter you can send to your customers to let them know about upcoming sales or merchandise offerings; and a way to track information about who visits your site and from whence they came. Bigstep, like Valueweb, also offers a way to take credit cards online (for a fee) and a shopping basket.
Despite all the plusses, the drawback with Bigstep is that because it is template-driven, there is no HTML to copy and take with you should you want to set up shop elsewhere. If I want to move USiana.com to another service in the future, I'll have to create the site again from scratch.
If you don't have a .com site of your own, you have two options with Bigstep. You could register a domain name for the same $70 fee I paid with Valueweb, or you can name your site and run it through Bigstep. Your domain name would appear this way: .bigstep.com. My own opinion is that it's worth having your own domain name. If you're successful, you don't have to worry about someone capitalizing on that success by taking the name out from under you. If you acquired your own domain name sometime earlier through another service, like I did with USiana, you will have to transfer the domain to Bigstep.
Designing the Site: Americana as Apple Pie
Since this was a site dedicated to rare and collectible Americana, I chose a different appearance--no bobbing Scotties here. Instead I wanted a sleek geometric design that was quick to load. By entering the site-building stage (after the free registration), I got to select a beginner's or advanced method of development. Since I already completed one Web page, and this seemed so much easier, I went the advanced route.
In the appearance stage, after choosing how the pages would be laid out and the type font and size I wanted, I got to pick my colors from a large palette. If I was going for red, white, and blue, I supposed this stage would be cut and dried, but it proved trickier than I imagined. I discovered red and blue can sometimes have a dazzling effect especially when you put blue letters on a red background. I tinkered with the various hues and shades. Meanwhile the little letters were dancing about like jitterbugs. Finally I hit upon what seemed to be the solution: pairing Chinese-red letters with a navy-blue background. That's when I found the clear contrast showing on my Netscape looked black with my mother-in-law's AOL and my daughter's Microsoft browsers. A bit more fiddling and futzing brought success.
The nice thing about the method used to construct sites with Bigstep is that you can make tons of changes and see the results instantaneously. Okay, I admit this feature sidetracked me for most of the week--it was so much fun seeing the different color combinations and layout changes.
Bigstep is easy to follow. They use clear step by step instructions. My result was a clean set of pages that included more than I expected. Dan's book-show schedule is posted, I have a customer survey, my ordering page seems like it will work. Heck, I even had an image library.
Now that the site was built, it was time to market it. I got to apply to the various search engines and directories. Once it's published, I'll be able to email my customers to announce USiana's ebirth into e-commerce.
Valueweb versus BigStep
Which .com format did I prefer? I admit I like the ease of using Bigstep and getting a slick usable result, but over the long haul the Taxter.com site will gain a more sophisticated look and incorporate a catalog. Again, despite all the plusses, the drawback with Bigstep is that you can't "take it with you" should you want to set up shop elsewhere.
Here is the advice I gave to my friend Rita, who owns Mystic Sweet Shoppe in Mystic, Connecticut. For a small business starting on the Web, Bigstep and e-companies like them offer a grand opportunity to get your inventory online. And if she were to opt for the credit card services (she currently doesn't have this service in her Main St. store), she can place a laptop computer on her counter and do her credit card sales through her Web page. Not only will she be able to process credit sales, she'll be simultaneously generating a mailing list. This will come in handy during the cold winter months when no one wants to stroll along the river fighting a cold, northeast wind. That's when she can send out a newsletter to let her summer customers know what's on sale and remind them they can order chocolate truffles and delicious fudge over the Internet any time of year.
What's good for the sweet shoppe is good for those of us who own antique or book shops and make auctions our bread and butter. I'll keep working on my Web sites in between my AuctionBytes assignments. Meanwhile, let's see if our readers will share with us stories of their own Web creations.
***
BOTTOM LINE: Valueweb versus Bigstep
Valueweb
http://www.valueweb.com
$49.99/month plus $39 set-up fee
200 MB disk space
50 mailboxes
Harder to do for newbies, but easy to set up a basic site in 2 hours
Bigstep
http://www.bigstep.com
Free; banner at top of your pages advertises Bigstep
12 MB disk space
Easy to set up, lots of features
Disadvantage: Site cannot be moved to another service
FREE CLIPART
http://www.clipartplace.simplenet.com
http://www.gifart.com
http://www.free-clip-art.com
Note about free clipart: don't become a "bandwidth bandit." When you find something you like, take the time to right click on the image, save it, and upload it into your own space. Otherwise, linking your page to someone else's image increases the traffic on their site, using up their allotted bandwidth and possibly causing their monthly fees to rise. Doing this may also result in a nasty surprise for you as well - a disgruntled victim may change the image but use the same name, thereby turning your cute little row of Scotties into a drooling monster.
NETSCAPE COMPOSER
Netscape Composer, which Edith used to create her www.taxter.com site, is included with Netscape Communicator. Visit http://home.netscape.com/communicator/v4.0/components.html for more information.
BROWSER COMPATIBILITY ISSUES
When you create a Web site, you'll be designing the site to look good when you "view it" with your browser. It will look different to other users, depending on what browser they are using. Make sure you check to see what your site looks like viewed from other browsers. Your site should be clear to people using Microsoft Explorer, Netscape Navigator and AOL browsers.
|
