I want to make my husband his business website that will be eCommerce. he will be making and selling furniture and wood pieces. but i have a few questions
1. i know i will need a domain and some place to host it. what is the most cost effective way to go about this? i want to write all my own code if possible and really make it something that can benefit his business and my portfolio. what sites let you use your own code and how do i get it from say atom to the web.
2. is git hub necessary for this kind of project? i am not comfortable with git or git hub yet and always feel lost when i try things on there. i don't really want other people messing with my website.
3. how to we incorporate online payments to our site? is it a plug in of some kind? do we need to sign up with some company like square?
i originally started this project on wix a long time ago but put it on the back burners due to set backs starting the business. now that things are moving and i have started my code journey i want to make the site my self but i wonder if it would be better to just use the wix and go nuts in developer mode.
Okay, let me preface this by saying that hosting your own e-commerce website instead of using a pre-existing platform that both hosts your website and has in-built e-commerce plugins (like Wix) is generally considered a bad idea and a lot of extra work. That said, you can use a hosting service like Hostgator which is my personal preference to host your files on your own domain. Why do i like Hostgator? They install Node for you and then it’s a matter of using a FTP service like FileZilla to transfer your files over to the directory. To get my portfolio website up and running i simply followed this guide which took me from having no clue how to host a website to having it available on the web.
Why Node? Node is the simplest way i have found to install Stripe which is a payment platform that you sign up to, pay for and then connect to through an API. There are of course other payment platforms like Snipcart but Stripe has the best documentation on the market and takes a developer-first approach meaning that there are a vast number of resources you can use when you get stuck and my favorite part, security is handled by Stripe.js, your website never actually sees nor stores payment information so if your website gets breached you won’t have a lawsuit on your hands.
So long story short:
Buy a domain name and choose a hosting service.
Install Node.
Integrate Stripe into your website using the Stripe API.
Upload your files to your host provider using a FTP protocol like FileZilla.
As for whether Git is necessary for this kind of project? I would say Git is necessary for 99% of projects since it’s version control and will prevent you “breaking” your website. If you’re getting lost using Git then i would strongly advise against using your own code instead of a pre-existing e-commerce solution.
Hopefully i didn’t scare you too much but just know that while taking a DIY approach puts more of the keys in your pocket (more control over your website as a whole), it does come at the cost of extra work and time invested into getting it up and running. It is definitely possible and there are a vast number of resources out there that can guide you through the process. Good luck!
Any of the “big” (ones that advertise) web hosting companies will have self hosted ecommerce packages to add onto your site. You can use HTML and CSS to customize them or use the built-in editor.
Shopify is the best all in one ecommerce sites and they host it for you but you’ll pay $30/mo. Which isn’t a lot except when your new with no customers. If you know HTML and CSS you can customize it even moe than their built-in editor alone.
Git is software that is installed on your computer. There are plenty of GUIs for it or desktop apps for it that simplify use. Github is an online site to host your git repositories but on the free version anyone can see your code which may not be great for a private business like yours. I don’t think you need github.
You can host static sites on Netlify and can use an ecomerce package that doesn’t use a database. If you use them to host images and form submissions there may be a small monthly charge but I think it’s good for starting out until your business supports more full featured packages like Shopify. In Netlify it’s also beneficial to know some javascript for more advanced stuff but they have workarounds if you don’t know it.
All these platforms have a way to interface with a payment processor built-in.
I recommend Namecheap.com for domain names and stay away from GoDaddy.