I am using Publisher to build an ecommerce website, I wanted to know if anyone had done this and what their experience may have been. Good...Bad. and if anyone recommends using it for this purpose.

Thanks in advance for any input.

If you are going to design any type of website NEVER EVER use anything microsoft such as publisher or frontpage. The reason is microsoft puts microsoft tags that are not indexed or recognized by search engines which makes your website useless when it comes to being found. If you are going to build a website use Adobe Dreamweaver the industry standard. I hope this helped you.

I do agree with what the person above me said - sort of. I think Publisher or FrontPage may be good depending on your level of knowledge. Dreamweaver is a great tool but really complicated.

Depending on what you're trying to do with the website, you may not need standalone software. You may consider getting a solution that has a site builder with it - that way you can call the company for help and you will have everything in one place. You can check out Yahoo or my signature link for pageBuzz.

If you're going to go with software, then I would recommend getting something as simple as possible especially if you're just getting started. Better yet, you may want to go to Barnes&Noble and see what books they have available - something to walk you through using the software and using FTP or CPanel to upload the site to your Web Hosting service provider.

You also need to find good e-commerce software to integrate into your site. If you use a e-commerce solutions package where you get web hosting, web site, and e-commerce...you will only be able to pick templates and change colors...you will not be able to do custom design. And you site will look VERY similar to all the other sites that use that same e-commerce package. You pay for quailty in this business...the cheaper it is...the less professional it will look and you will not be happy. If you are starting a business..then your marketing budget (that includes a website) should be at least 20% of your start-up budget. You should have enough money to have the site designed properly.

If you are only selling online...why would you not want to invest in a quality custom website?? You wouldn't open a brick and mortar store in a run-down store front would you? So why do a cheap, unprofessional, and hard to navigate (which most site builders are) site?? You only get one time to make a good first impression...and if you are selling quality products...you want your website and all marketing materials to be of the same quality!!

Hope this Helps!

I have to respectfully disagree with Jen. I think as a start up, you generally do not have a lot of money and a lot of webmaster inflate their costs tremendously. Additionally, you will have to any time you want to make ANY updates.

I do agree with Jen in some respects. All it really comes down to is you doing your homework up front. If you hire a webmaster or go with a one stop solution, make sure you do your research before you spend ANY money.

There are web designers out there can charge a very good rate to design an e-commerce site. If you can't afford $2500 for the design of your store front and e-commerce, then you should find ways to gain some more start up capital. There are very reputable companies out there, us being one, that you can get a very nice e-commerce site customed designed for around $2500.

When doing your research, look at the sites they have designed. Try placing an order and see how easy the checkout process is. (Stop before you have to pay if you don't want the item!) Make sure the site design is easy to navigate. If you design a site that makes it difficult or confusing to shoppers to get around...they will leave. There are too many other companies out there they can buy from, so they won't waste their time trying to figure your site out.

Most importantly, the way your site is designed will make a big difference on where it ranks on the search engines. Ask the web designer about where the keywords will be placed in your description. Make sure they will be uploading a sitemap.xtml as well. If the spiders that search engines send out can't read your pages correctly...you won't be turning up anywhere (talking in the 1,000's to 10,000's here) near the top of the list. There are a ton of other factors that determine your search engine rank as well (won't go into them here). Yes, you can do some serious research and learn html code to the T to do this yourself. But you will have to become somewhat of an expert in order to do it right. There are companies out there that specialize in Search engine optimization now...that is how important it is.

We get a ton of people who come to us with a website which they hate. They all said, I should have just done it right in the first place. Either hiring a poor designer because it was cheap(remember...do your research!) or did it themselves, they weren't happy.

So make sure you will be proud of your website and want to give the address to everyone you meet...without having to add a disclaimer which states..."here is my web site address, yah, I don't really like how such and such looks on it, but take a look anywhere." You need to be able to say "Here is my website address, take it a look, the site is awesome!" If you know you will be able to say the last statement after you design your site on your own...then go for. If you are hesitant about the quality of work you will be able to do...then do some shopping around and see what professional can do for you! Good Luck!! :)

I'm new and I'm interested in this topic. Thank you!