Setting Up An Internet Business

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As I mentioned previously, my partner and I are planning on moving to France and working for ourselves. As we are not planning on moving for another 3-4 years I thought it might be worthwhile to start establishing the business now. That way we have a chance to test the waters and see if it takes off, before we commit ourselves and move abroad. To start with we are setting up an internet business selling my handmade items. With that in mind I thought it might be useful to share some of the things I have learnt over the past week or so.


Firstly, think of a company name. I know it sounds obvious but you really need to put some thought into this. Your company name is everything to do with your business, it should sum up what you do, who you are and be able to be used in various different medias.


Next you do not need to invest a lot into creating your brand. To start with keep it simple, especially as you probably won't have the money to waste when first starting up. I bought my business cards from Vistaprint for £2.99 for 250 (plus p&p). For the amount they cost it's not a problem if you change your brand or address, etc as you haven't wasted a lot of money. I also got a few other branded items for free such as a stamp, note pad, pen and some other bits.


Don't under estimate the power of free things. I got a free website from google sites which came with a domain name (your web address) and a simple content managed website. Now for me the domain name wasn't great. The web address was https://sites.google.com/site/aloramadethis which isn't great, as it's not easy to remember or type. However, as a starting point and for free you can't really complain. Once I designed my website, I asked a friend what to do regarding my domain name and he recommended visiting 123-reg. This is where I bought a new domain name (www.aloramadethis.co.uk) for £6.98 for 2 years, which again isn't really breaking the bank. To save redoing all my hard work with my website, I simply used 123-reg control panel and got it to point my new domain name to my google site.


Social media is key but it's not everything. I think social media is great, I grew up with MySpace, Facebook and Twitter but when starting an unknown business it does take a while to pick up. I'm still at the phase where the only people liking my business page on Facebook are my friends and family. However, once I do get a bit of a following it will be a great tool for updating customers and clients.


E-newsletters can seem daunting but they don't have to be. When I worked as a marketing and events assistant at my last job, we used to use Publisher to create our e-newsletters. Only much later did we pay to use a service that customised the newsletter branding, matching it to our website. I've now signed up with MailChimp, which again offer a free service if you are sending newsletters to under 2000 people. To start with I won't have that many people to update so that works perfectly for me.


If you want to sell things online don't get confused when people talk about e-commerce sites. There are a various routes you can take with selling things online but for me PayPal was the simplest. I set up a free business account with PayPal and inserted their "add to cart", "view cart" and "buy now" buttons onto my site. These buttons are easy to set up and have really helpful guides. PayPal is also widely used and accepted so people won't be worried about purchasing through their service, which is another added bonus.


I hope this information is helpful for anyone thinking of setting up an internet business. These are just things that I have done and learnt but I am sure there are many other ways to do this. If anyone has any other hints or suggestions, I would be happy to hear them just drop me a comment.

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Kathleen, 'I Hate PayPal' is a site prepared by an American competitor to the company. That much I found out when we pursued setting up our business from Australia. I can't remember their name now as it was about 5 years ago. Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.

I confess I have not heard of Transferwise, as I have been happy with PayPal for the past 4 years, but as I said earlier I too had a problem with them that took some months to sort out. However, and sorry to say when someone in the Finance industry offers me something 'free', alarm bells go off in my head. In business 'there ain't no such animal' much as we would all like to believe in Santa Claus. At the very least 'free' means getting names for mailing lists for 'spam' - often also accessing your own address book. We all complain about spam, but where do you think your name comes from?

Don't forget even the telephone directory carries basic information about you, but not as yet your email address. Have a Loyalty Card with a store? Here we go again, and if you believe the perennial 'we do not use or share your name with any other Company ' you are right in there with the Tooth Fairy. If you really want to enjoy yourself, just track down just one company and see how many other business registrations they have.

Do you have a Hotmail address? World's leading providers of lists of names!

Anyway I am a bit surprised at the intercountry problem outlined as that has never happened to us, we simply have a PayPal account, not a PayPal UK or PayPal France. This account functions and has functioned at the last count in 7 different currencies we sell in. Maybe because we opened our account with PayPal.com in the USA (Head Office)? Could be, but it wasn't a conscious decision - maybe because we have a Trading Account makes the difference? I don't know. Never had a problem with people paying us through it even when they didn't have an account to start with either.

Still, as ever it's speak as you find isn't it? Works for us anyway so for the moment we are OK with it. But who knows next week I could be in there bitching about them - but that could apply to anything really couldn't it?

One thing I DO know is that we made a conscious decision NOT to accept credit card payments. We trade on the internet, and following other traders experiences with stolen credit cards, phishing, identity theft etc., we did make a conscious decision to avoid any entannglements or even suspicions on that score. What we don't know we cannot be accused of manipulating, stealing or otherwise mis-using. That has possibly cost us sales, but makes me sleep easier.

The Internet today is worse than shark-infested - it's the smaller piranha who do the real damage, they just vanish when a problem arises. The big nes are at least there for the duration. Enter the waters at your own peril, and be very careful.

Finally - guess how long the average website lasts? I read a report from a major US Advertising magazine which indicates that it is between 48-78 DAYS! Even allowing for Event-related sites, that is staggering.

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I'm signed up to 'Transferwise' and it's working great, knocks the spots - and the fees, off Paypal - if anyone wants to give it a go, send me a message and I'll send you info and a link - you get a free money transfer and I build up credits towards one.

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Right!

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Hi Brian just google 'I hate PayPal'!

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I am a fully signed up objector to PayPal. Early on they made a mess of a purchase I was making. I took months to get a rebate. Then when we were freshly settled here in France they did a rerun on the French site. I never got a real apology out of them and the first mishap was never entirely straightened out, so I am a not a fan. There are actually more people who do not like them than they would like us to show.

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You're right Norman but phone calls and emails to PayPal have been singularly unsuccessful. I'd rather use them but not if theyy are trying to force me to use euros instead of my preferred UK sterling card.

I registered originally - years ago - with a UK card but foolishly 'added', as I thought, a French card to pay for one particular thing.

It transpired that I haad in fact changed the card rather than added it and now I can't change back because if I try to change my profile details the country can't be changed when I change the address to the UK one. Whenever I open PayPal UK I'm sent straight to the French site. It's so madddening.

There must be millions of expats around the globe so I'm amazed that they don't allow two cards from two countries. They could always limit the payment to something like £200. No-ones going to think that's money laundering!

Kathy


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Kathleen, can't help feeling you are choosing the most dodgy way of buying on the internet by using your credit card direct to people you don't even know - and with no protection whatsoever.

Usually (and I am NOT Paypal, and have had a problem with PayPal myself in the early days) the only problem is oddly them trying to protect you. Their assumption is that if more money is going in or out of your account than has been set-up they think the worst and 'money-laundering' signals flash. You CAN actually telephone them which is better than the online mechansism which never worked for me, and drove me nuts. Takes a bit of finding on their site, but when you get to talk to a real person usually that can be fixed in seconds.

I was a Direct Marketing practitioner in my working life and believe me, you can easily get stitched up by handing out your credit card details! If you don't like PayPal - then try Google Checkout. Similar service but not as comprehensive in the systems as PayPal, but I know a lotof people who do use them for buying mainly. But I think it has to be offered by the vendor if I am correct. In other words the choice is not yours.

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Hi Bruce. It's actually quite easy to add pictures - which are always called 'images' just so you don't get lost!

Assuming you have got through the Admin address (?) - that usually just means adding /admin.php after your member name -after hostoi. This is accessed through Sitebuilder icon on welcome page. Scroll down and you will see it. There are options but I find Sitebuilder is the easiest.

You should then come to Admin Page - Edit page.

This is where you do all the messing about, and the key is the row of icons at the top of the main panel. If you rest the curser over each of these you will find each is labelled to tell you what they do - don't click as they will open, just rest the cursor over each one. Just an extended version of what you see here on SFN - and exactly the same principle.

The image file is the one that is on the lower row and looks like a little tree. Click on that and you will be asked to uplaod an image either in your own file (which you probably haven't done yet) or straight from your computer. You just click that image wherever it is and it will appear in a box usually so big you can't see all of it! If that is the one you want then click the 'upload' or 'use this image' button and it will automatically upload AND put it in web format so you don't have to worry about that.

You have now opened your own photo file, and you can keep adding to your heart's content (you can also delete files but remember if you delete from the photo file it will also delete the picture on the webpage - so best left alone). Note you use the 'stretch buttons' on the corners to change the picture shape and dimenions. Usual stuff re centering etc. as if you were working (again) here on the SFN site.

No 1 Tip is always save every change -even before you leave to go to another page or leave completely - the blue tabs at the top of the page 'Save' and/or 'Delete'.

No 2 Tip is to add a direct link to your own email address - dead easy when you type in your email address then click on the little 'chains' icon and just enter the address again. That means everytime you type it in it is a 'live' connection to you. People just click that and immediately open up an email box with your address already setup. Clever innit?

I suggest you play around with the site for a while and see what you can do with it.

I am not techie as I say, and to get the best out of these things I think the old 'KISS' principle applies.

Good luck!

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Norman; on your advice, I've just registered with WebHost.com. Being a complete novice in this area, can you advise me how I upload photos? I'm hoping to set up something to sell a house. I've got my titles, descriptions etc. Any other tips happily accepted. Thanks in advance.

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Oh yes, free websites. No problem but remember like all things 'free' - free programmes etc., they are not completely free, and are of course used to provide mailing lists. If you accept this as part of the quid pro quo, as I do, then no problem. Webhost.com is a good free site and ALWAYS ensure they have a Sitebuilder included (most do these days). Bravenet is also a good and long-lived site and also free. Choose and use an existing template as they make life easier and you genuinely can get a site up and running in about 30 minutes. Domain names are not usually a problem provided you use your chosen one in conjunction with theirs - both these sites put YOUR name first and not last, so that's also a help. Sites to avoid from experience are often the so-called 'top-rated' ones such as JustHost.

I'm not a techie in any shape way or form, but these are my experiences, and if they work for me then they will work for anyone.

Oh yes, they also provide online Shopping Carts (also FOC) and invariably have the acceptance of credit cards and PayPal built in.

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One of the other benefits of PayPal is that you have a full (and printable) record of all transactions - date, amount, change of currency if required, in fact a complete book-keeping system. In Australia at least it is also accepted by the Tax Authorities now. We sell books all over the world and in different currencies and this makes the book-keeping easy as all we do is convert the numbers to Australian Dollars and bingo - there it is!

There is only one hassle which is not setting your anticipated sales figures high enough and if you go above the original limit you can find the account blocked and it is a bit of a problem fixing it - the old moneylaundering thing.

I also find it useful when buying things online to just leave money in the PayPal account and then payments are made directly from your credit - and of course recorded accordingly. If you want the cash in your bank 48 hours generally does the trick.

Yes, people DO trust PayPal now more than they did, and it's great as you can use this as a benefit to online sales in that you DON'T want or need anyone's credit card details. In this age of scams for me at least, if they don't accept PayPal I don't buy - simple as that. Only one exception to the rule which is Amazon who only accept credit cards, but at least this minimises the number of people who officially have your credit card details - and as eBay is part of PayPal you have the pruchase insurance protection offered free as well.

Vistaprint are very good, but watch the postage charges sometimes, they can be a bit high. Take advantage of the freebies they always seem to offer.

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I think you have cracked it Kathleen. I did not want to add my other card when I registered as I wanted to see how it worked for me first. Since then I cannot find any way of adding this card. So I think that whatever you signed on with you are stuck with. Perhaps others know otherwise?

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I've been thinking about it and perhaps my problem is that I did at one time register my French card to make a one off purchase from a French site. Big mistake I fear - now I can't change back.

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Hi Norah - All I can say is you are so lucky! I have tried changing cards, addresses, adding cards and I can't succeed with any of them. I have phoned them, emailed and no help anywhere so I gave up.

The latest problem I had was trying to buy something from the USA but I kept being sent to the French site and couldn't use my UK card. Nightmare! Maybe I'll try again.

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How strange Kathleen. I have a UK registered card and PP let me pay with that?? And I am registered with French version of Pay Pal as I never got round to registering when I was in the UK. They also offered me the option of adding an additional card when I first registered with them.

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Excellent advice Antonia.

Personally I have stopped buying anything from a site which only offfers payment by PayPal. I would like the option of paying by card as I have such a hassle with PP.

I have a French bank card and an English one which is the one I want to pay with but PP won't let me pay with a UK card and I can't register two. I have two tiny pensions one of which is paid into France and which I (try to!) live on so only use for basic necessities, the other into UK to be able to buy things more cheaply and without having to pay two lots of exchange commission.

I only buy if I can use a UK card.

Best of luck with your enterprise.

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What a very useful and informative post Antonia. Thank you.

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Thank you for this helpful article