Open Source Content Management

www.olivezcandlez.wozaonline.co.za

I'm VERY new at all of this, so half the time I don't know what I'm doing lol.

Any hints, tips, advice, criticism is welcome. I'm here to learn

Thanks,
Olive

Hi Olivia,

If you're serious about moving your business online, having a "extended domain" from a third party won't do.

A domain name costs R120 through webafrica per year. You can find "okayish" hosting in SA for about R30. Look overseas (think Hostgator, Bluehost, etc) and you can find amazing hosting for R150.

Why is this important?

You're essentially entrusting that all of your business website content will be on a third-party provider. What happens if they have a down time? How about if their server crashes from a hack? What will you do then?

Secondly, when you come online, it extends to how you do business offline. You need to grow YOUR brand. The only way to do this is to have a domain name that you can refer people to... olivezcandles.co.za or www.olivezcandlez.wozaonline.co.za/ . How will that address look on a business card?

If you do promote that address, what happens when you start to work on SEO or Social media?

Your current design doesn't do your products justice. The design is weak. The formatting of the page is difficult to get through. You're not really promoting your products the way they should be done.

Hope this helps.

Keep on working on your online marketing. I've seen clients profits grow up to 150% just by investing their time and resources into online marketing. More and more people are buying online - so this becomes critical.

Also - I'm not sure if this is allowed - but I'd love to help.

I do have an offer where I set up a free website (from one of our premium template suppliers) for our client, help you set up basic SEO, teach you about the basics of marketing for only R150 per month. This is the amount I charge clients for hosting.



Alternatively, I'm being interviewed on radio in America on the 16th of February. I'm preparing a "crash course into online marketing for businesses" which we will be offering to their listeners for free. I'd be only too happy to send you it once it's finished.

It'll be a guide on how to set up a website for relatively cheap. I also cover social media marketing, mobile marketing, content marketing, online reputation marketing, email marketing and SEO.

Hi Jovana

Thanks for all the insight I really do appreciate it. And yes, I understand where you're going. But the problem is, for the time being, "free" is all that suits my budget. I was retrenched from my full-time job a few months ago, and right now I have NO stable income. So there's no way I can commit to any added expenditure even if it cheap. For now, I have to work with the limited resources I have :)I'm struggling to get by as it is lol. I have a wonky computer that crashes at anytime! But somehow I make it get things done. So, as I said, I have to work with what I have (for now).

In future, WHEN (not if) I have some financial stability, I'll definitely look into having my own domain name etc. When that happens, I'll definitely get back to you!

Thanks again,
Olive

www.batterymarkpta.wozaonline.co.za/

Please review my site and please give some tips?

Hi Thomas. Checked out your site. I like it! Quite impressed. Find it very informative too. Sorry I don't have any tips (I'm quite new at all this, and I think your site looks great). Could you help me/ tell me how you got those
links on your home page please? Especially the facebook like link? Thanks

oooooo never mind I think I figured it out

Hi Olivia

Hope your business has started to pick up in the time since you posted your website link on here.

I have to agree with Jovana on this one, you really need to consider an alternative as it does not do your products justice. She also makes a lot of real good points about it not looking professional at all from a marketing perspective.

What I would like to add though is that a lot of small businesses owners get so caught up in the fact that they don't 'have money to grow' that they never end up getting anywhere.

You've got the skills/product to barter with, you just need to find someone willing to trade their time for your product. For example, you could offer a web development company x amount of candles with their logo and 2013 in it delivered at the end of the year so they can send it out as a 'thank you' to their clients.

This gives you the time to see the benefit of a professional website at a cost that's a lot easier for you to achieve.

Don't be afraid to go out there and ask for a trade!

Lastly, if you plan to stick with your current website, I've included a file with a background for you. If you add it to your site and select to tile it horizontally it should end up looking like the one in the example (in my opinion just a bit more professional)

Best Regards
Francois

PS: If you've got good quality images of your products a site like pinterest might be a good place for you to try and market your products.

I don't think you guys are listening to the advice. It takes a lot more than just taking a template, adding information and there you got your website. Template driven websites are a waste of your energy and time. Firstly they tend to look alike because many others are using the same template, your branding goes out the door! If you looking for an alternative, you can use my service. At this moment it's at a stand still due to funds but I'm still paying to keep it running so when a got funds for marketing I'll redo everything. But you can make use of the services, it's free.

My service is offering the same free micro website but it's not template driven. I design and develop your micro website for free. You are limited to 5MB. You also don't get your own domain name so you are hosted under my service name. In the past we use to just develop the micro websites but all the new micro website we design and developed applying the minimal needed phrases of website design and development. So the newer micro website look better and work better. I personally feels that template driven sites don't give value to clients and don't serve the website design and develop community very well, even if it's free.

if you need more info contact me on

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

or just visit

www.shopping-community-co.za .

Remember you'll have to do your own marketing for your website because the project is kind of at a stand still but I'll offered you guys the free micro website design and development and hosting for free so you guys can have a better web presents. The last micro website we did on there was MCT Security Solutions, we also did their logo ( www.shopping-community.co.za/site/mctsecuritysolutions/ )

Anyone who needs this service can contact me.

oops link wrong

it's

www.shopping-community.co.za or just search on south africa google for shopping community.