Website questions

[emiebeth]

So down the road, when I start breeding, I'd love to be able to sell some of the offspring. I've read up on the permits and filing stuff, but my question here is about a website. What sort of host do you guys use? Is there any good website host that would work for this sort of website and is free? IE - those websites that you sign up for and they let you choose from different templates, etc. Is paypal the preferred payment medium to go through when selling your snakes? In order to ship snakes, I've heard you need to be "fedex or UPS certified"...what does that mean and how does that work?

I know I have a lot of questions, lol, but I want to have everything organized and planned out so when I decide to start doing this, it goes smoothly. I hate leaving things to last minute! I need to start budgeting and keeping track of everything now, so I have records and what not for later. Please keep in mind that I know nothing about building a website, lol, though I plan to take a basic HTML class at the local college over the summer.

If there are any other pearls of wisdom or advice you guys would be willing to impart on me, I'm all ears! This site has taught me so much in the few weeks I've been here, and I think I would be floundering without it

Thanks in advance for your help, guys!

[Adam Chandler]

I've heard you need to be "fedex or UPS certified"...what does that mean and how does that work?

UPS will not let you ship your snakes through them, there was a place called reptilesexpress or something that could let you ship through them but I believe they've been shut down. You can ship through FedEx but you have to be certified by FedEx to ship through them. Check out this thread for info on how to get certified: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...p-reptiles....

I use GoDaddy for my website hosting/domain register and have no complaints. I used iWeb to make my site (lol still in progress) which is a basic HTML program. Here is a link that has some website hosting info discussed in it:http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...g-your-website

And for Paypal I believe that yes, for transactions where you need to ship Paypal is the best/safest way to exchange money.

[jarradw]

I dont sell myself but I do like to build sites. I can off advice on the hosting and some of the things you may need to think about with the web site itself if you want. Just shoot me a message and we can chat.

[emiebeth]

Agent: those links really helped. Thank you!
Jarradw: thanks very much for that offer, I'll probably hit you up sometime down the road for help =)

[Stewart_Reptiles]

What sort of host do you guys use?

I have my own domain, designed my own site and have it host through Go Daddy (excellent customer service and less than $5 a month for 10 GB Space and Unlimited Bandwidth

Is paypal the preferred payment medium to go through when selling your snakes?

I accept any type of payments, Paypal is secure an fast which is why I prefer to use it over other methods, however I also accept checks, cashier checks and money orders, the only difference is that with checks and money order it can take another week before the animal ships as the checks or money order need to clear first.

In order to ship snakes, I've heard you need to be "fedex or UPS certified"...what does that mean and how does that work?

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-ship-reptiles....

[emiebeth]

Deborah: I've heard from a few people that Go Daddy seems to be quite reliable =) and I'm hoping to be able to make my own site (like yours, which I just checked out!), but I definitely need to learn more about HTML coding and what not. Thanks for the response!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Deborah: I've heard from a few people that Go Daddy seems to be quite reliable =) and I'm hoping to be able to make my own site (like yours, which I just checked out!), but I definitely need to learn more about HTML coding and what not. Thanks for the response!

Really depends while I know coding, I also know that when turning a site over to their owner it might not be the case for them, therefore what I usually encourage is for people to have their site powered by wordpress, which make it easy for anyone to update and create new pages without any knowledge.

All you need is an initial template, and there are tons of them free, or you can buy one or get one designed for you.

[emiebeth]

I was actually referred to wordpress yesterday by a good friend of mine =) unfortunately, I don't seem to have the hang of it yet, lol. Though seeing as this is down the road, I have plenty of time to figure out all their features and what not. I just read up on it some more, and I like that you can host through it. Getting my own domain is what I'll need in the future, so being able to pay to upgrade to that without having to create a whole new site will be great =)

This way I can work on actually building my site without having to pay until I'm ready to actually use it ^__^ Lol goodness, I'm way too excited about this. Ever since I fell in love with BPs (which was all of five months ago, lol) I've spent hours each day researching them and good breeders and learning about genetics and prices and now, I'm turning to the business side of things. I'll have to step up my game to get permits and what not, though, which is what I'm absolutely DREADING.