In Myself previous article He had defined entrepreneurs as people who seek to make a profit by generating solutions for their clients. I also commented that the cloud-based service offerings that seek to facilitate their tasks are multiplying.
In my opinion, although many of these tools save costs and time, in the long run it is better to opt for open source solutions (both applications installed on our computer and installed on servers managed by us). The time wasted learning how to use them and in configuration, is recovered later
Of course nOr is the case of a founder of a startup whose goal is to become a large company the same as that of someone who only wants additional income in their spare time. In the latter case, the benefits of open source can be diluted.
Useful tools for entrepreneurs. Website design
In March of this year, during a passionate discussion on a hosting provider's social network, someone wondered
What might a neighborhood store need a website for?
15 days later, the Argentine government decreed one of the longest and strictest quarantines in the world that included the closure of non-essential businesses for months and only online sales were enabled. I guess that person already knows the answer.
If something was needed to demolish the myth that social networks and global e-commerce platforms such as Ebay, Amazon or Mercado Libre had retired websites forever, Covid-19 arrived.
Those who started selling online discovered that If they did not invest in advertising like their competitors, they did not have the same visibility. And, let's not talk about whether they competed with products similar to those offered by the same platforms. Also, in many cases the commissions charged by some of these platforms make it almost impossible for small merchants to obtain profitability.
You have to make it clear Social networks and e-commerce platforms are the hook that allows us to get clients and take them to our own website where we must provide them with experiences and services that make them want to return.
That being said, assuming we are not going to hire a professional web designer, we have 3 types of alternatives for creating websites.
- Use of platforms to create e-commerce sites.
- Use of content manager
- Creation from scratch.
Use of platforms to create e-commerce sites.
These platforms allow the creation of professional quality e-commerce sites by simply filling out a few forms and selecting a template. You can also use a custom domain and ignore complex settings and updates.
From my point of view, the best platform you can choose is WooCommerce. And not only because part of what you pay for the service goes to finance the WordPress open source project, at the moment be ready to take care of managing your own WooCommerce store on your own server, the export is done without problems.
Content managers
Content managers allow you to separate the design task from the content. Once the content manager is installed on the server, all you have to do is fill in the requested data and choose a graphic theme. In addition, content managers focused on electronic commerce have optional add-ons that allow them to expand their functionality.
Being more flexible (and in the long run) cheaper than site creation platforms, they have as a trade-off that they make it necessary to pay permanent attention to updates and security
Some recommended content managers are:
WooCommerce: Works about WordPress, the content manager used by around 30% of websites. It is highly configurable and allows the sale of both physical and digital products. It integrates with the main collection platforms in the world.
Being so popular, you are at higher risk of being targeted by cybercriminals
MOpen Source agent: Magento is a very popular e-commerce platform in the corporate world and is now owned by Adobe. In this case we eWe are referring to the version of the project supported by the community and that can be self-hosted on our own server. It adapts to stores of all sizes and allows the implementation of different collection and management solutions for stock and customers.
osCommerce: In this case it is about a content manager to host on our own server although it has agreements with hosting providers that facilitate its installation. There is also a community version with additional features developed by third parties. In addition to including catalog, billing, collection and customer management features, it has multiple add-ons and integrates seamlessly with various third-party services such as international payment systems, design, advertising and social networks.
Creation from scratch
In an ideal world this would be my preferred solution. Content managers have many things that you will never use, and making your site from scratch allows you to adapt it to your needs and improve it in a way that is useful. Now, If you have time to do it (unless your venture is creating e-commerce solutions from scratch) you are surely doing something wrong.