Web based Site Builder.

I'm a newbie at all this coding and designing process. I was sucked in to having my site hosted and designed by one of these TV adds (I know,I Know) but here I am. I was wondering if within the vast knowledge of all that are here, if I should stay with it or bale, redesign everything and get some standard hosting where I actually can control the code and design.

It is an e-commere site and we have had sales but The code generated by the Ubuilder does not pass the HTML Tidy test. I'm afraid the SE's are flagging me as a poorly designed and coded site. I use Dreamweaver to install some of my own code and that works fine, but the site design code itself I cannot control.

All comments are welcome!

Thanks

 

Well it really depends on if you & your customers are satisfied and your budget.

I haven't seen your site but I have seen some of those TV ads, they scare the hell out of me quite frankly.

Ultimately I would go and get someone to develop a new layout/design but it just depends if you have the funds. As long as the design isn't affecting the sales too much I would just wait until you have enough money to maybe jump start development on v2 of your site.

cheers

 

I certainly appreciate that you took the time to view my post and respond.

I have to do the design myself so there is no budget.
My ROI is very poor if a assume 1 out of every 100 visitors is a customer! I guess I need an outside opinion as to how to proceed.

I am doing this alone and am reading my brains out about html, css, templates and so on.
Here is the URL for the site, "http://www.collectibleswordsusa.com".

I am thinking of using oscommerce for my shopping cart and that just leaves me with a home page and what ever content pages I wish to include.

I guess I was wondering if anyone here has been able to make a web based builder work!

Thanks again...

 

Well...I hate to say it but the site could use a pretty big overhaul. It is very busy (so is MySpace, I guess) but I would recommend you start down the long journey of learning how scripting languages work and building the site from scratch yourself. Well, there's a tall order, of course, but if you really want to able to have control over your content, you have to know what's going on under the hood, as it were.

On the flipside, as per what Jared said, you may not need to redesign anything if sales are doing okay. But I would venture to say that sales aren't doing okay. Am I right?

 

OSCommerce would be an easy option for you and it has enough support for beginners too- www.oscommerce.org

 

Well...I hate to say it but the site could use a pretty big overhaul. It is very busy (so is MySpace, I guess) but I would recommend you start down the long journey of learning how scripting languages work and building the site from scratch yourself. Well, there's a tall order, of course, but if you really want to able to have control over your content, you have to know what's going on under the hood, as it were.

You are correct! Sales are not where I would like them. I know that the site is not appealing and that is the main reason of my thinking of redoing the site.
If I depended on only well educated hard core buyers that just want a high quality sword, they may overlook the layout and just buy what they need. But that is not the reality of the ecommerc game (as I am finding out) and looks do matter.

Can you or anyone suggest some "good" site and or tutorials that could help jump start my learning curve?

Thanks again!

 

I was hoping that oscommerce would be a good choice. The hosting company that I am considering offers it as part of the package.

Do you know if it is a fairly simple task to link and insert content pages?

I don't mean to get off subject...

Thanks for the feedback!

 

You will have to manually insert your products. I have a. OSC store but I have modified it quite abit to make it easier. You will have to do the same. But once its up, it is a lot better than what you have up now to be honest, and the admin panel is easy to use and secure.

There are templates out there but unfortunately, most have sever bugs within them and need to be fixed.

 

I would definitely dump it and start with a new design and a new host. It is always better to have more control. It will probably cost you less too.

 

WOW IS THAT CODE A MESS!

Yup another ** wonderful ** site builder that is being mass marketed to unsuspecting people .... should be a crime.

I can almost guarantee you your site rankings and traffic would be 100 times better with a clean layout (preferably without all that table crap)

 

Yes, I agree, the time has come. Well, I guess I will make the call and get the ball rolling. I appreciate everyone's comments and recommendations!

I am glad I found this forum. I think it will be a big help as I move forward.

Thanks Again....