Setting up your small business online? Don’t get caught by the cowboys

Getting your business online can be a daunting task so have a read below.

I received a PR recently regarding the Local Enterprise Offices offering €2500 to small businesses to help them get started selling their products/services online, which is great of course. Every little bit helps, and more-so at the minute.

With about 30 years experience in this business, I think it’s only fair to point out one or two things to those may be thinking of embarking on that particular venture. Don’t get me wrong, this is great and I’d suggest anyone that qualifies should apply for it. What can go wrong shur……Free money and a brand spanking new eCommerce website. All good ya.

If I’m correct in interpreting what I’ve read, you will have €2500 to play around with to get the job done. I’ve seen quite a few adverts and the like whereby the ‘Cowboys’ (nothing more than chancers) have offers that look very attractive and at a fraction of the €2500. I’ve also seen offers in excess of the €2500.

These ‘Cowboys’ will no doubt have it all planned out for you………….and themselves. Many of these people will offer you a WordPress eCommerce website, whereby you link to a PayPal account and accept your payment. Fair enough if that floats you boat. It’ll obviously cost you for that, but what then? What about after sales tech support, like upgrades, database errors, website integration errors? There’s an endless list of things that can go wrong and if they do, can the guys you employed to do the job fix these issues? Are maintenance fees included and what do you get for same? I personally know one business who was quoted €800 and another who paid the bones of €3,000. Absolutely outrageous. Nothing more than a swindle.

What you should know is that WordPress is Open Source software. Quite frankly it’s absolutely FREE. No charge. Gratis. That’s that. If you didn’t know that, you do now. The chancers probably won’t tell you that either. Nor will they tell you that the key elements to run WP like SQL (Structured Query Language) and PHP (Scripting Language) are also free. You’ll be baffled with all the technical waffle bombarding your eardrums, that your so overwhelmed and just want to get going. The likelihood is that they don’t know the difference between a DB and a spreadsheet.

WordPress takes no more than 10 minutes to install (if you know what you’re doing). It’s also template based and a good eCommerce template should cost no more that €30 to €40. Obviously you can spend more but some templates are so cumbersome that you’ll probably end up buying another one with less features for ease of use. You can even get free eCommerce templates as well. So after all that, would you still be willing to pay a large sum of money for a ten minute install and a cheap or free template? I thought not. Don’t get caught by the cowboys.

Getting started you have a few options:

Firstly you’ll need to decide on a name for your business/shop. There are plenty of ‘Business Name Generators’ online so just google them. Then you’ll need a Domain Name for your venture so you’ll need to decide on a TLD (Top Level Domain). Have a look at Whois.com and see what’s available. Try to keep the name as short as possible. Domain name prices vary so check around for the best value. When buying your Web Hosing package, the hosting company will assist you with this once you know the exact www.mydomain.com you want that’s available at that particular time. If you have a registered Irish business name then you can avail of the .ie domain. The Irish TLD is usually more expensive than your .com or .net etcetera.

If you’re going down the WordPress route you’ll need a hosting company that permits WordPress to run on it’s servers. Most do anyway, but some actually don’t. Make sure that your host offers SQL and PHP, they are critical, and make sure they are the latest up to date versions as well if possible. Using lesser or outdated versions will cause you problems going forward whereby you will not be able to use many oof the readily available plugins or update your version of WordPress. You will also suffer security issues. To the best of my knowledge, as I type, the latest version of PHP is V7.4 is and Sql is V8 and support for that will end in 2026. Also FTP ( File Transfer Protocol) is a requirement if you intend to manually upload files to the server.

If not using something like PayPal for payments then you’ll also need SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a security technology that is commonly used to secure server to browser transactions. This generally includes the securing of any information passed by a browser (such as a customer’s credit card number or password) to a webserver (such as an online store or online banking application). You’ll also need to integrate your bank account into the bargain. A good developer can assist you with this or talk directly to your bank about how to get it done.

Some hosting companies also have WordPress bundled with their packages whereby you get a one-click installation of the software from your control panel, thus eliminating the need for an installer. There are cons to doing it this way though and most developers will opt for a manual installation whereby you have much more control.

Keep in mind that Web Hosting and Domain Names have recurring costs associated with them so your needs will dictate your outlay and once you have all the above sorted you’re on your way to getting yourself online.

Another total eCommerce solution which eliminates most, if not nearly all of the work is Shopify. A total platform that has all you need at about €30 per month, everything included to get you selling. There are others out there but my own personal preference would be Shopify for those just starting out. You can sign up and get a 30 Day free trial to see how it works. They will provide you with a shop facility and the ability to accept credit card payments securely with fees as low as 1.9% and 25cent depending on your plan. They also provide you with free templates for your shop, or you can buy and integrate your own if you wish. Shopify.com is seriously worth a look. You’ll thank me later.

One word of advice is that you absolutely research who you employ to do the job and what is offered in terms of tech support after you’re up and running. Are they competent enough to problem-solve associated issues? Do they know PHP and SQL? What’s their knowledge of WP? How long are they actually in business and can they provide referenced working database driven websites they have completed. I could go on.

If you’re getting a basic out of the box manual install of WordPress done by someone without modification and having it setup and ready to go as is, the price of a pint should cover it I reckon.

There are many questions you can ask to help you make the right decision and there are plenty of good reliable companies out there so do your research first and don’t grab a deal because it looks cheap in comparison to others, but whatever you do……..‘Don’t get caught by the Cowboys’