Would a simple blog work for your web site? Read the article below first, then click this pic for Kate’s thoughts

So you want a good-looking site for your consignment, resale, or thrift shop, but more than that, you want it to be easy to change. You have minimal to no interest in learning how to code, you just want to be able to make changes yourself, at 11 at night, right now, in your jammies, when you are doing your internet marketing.

As well you might!

How many shop web sites have you seen that say “Now accepting Spring” on August 1st, or which still have a photo of their old shop from 9 months ago, or who have typos bad enough to need changing, and you know they would if it were a simple 5-minute job to do so?

Yeh, that many shops need control over their sites.

Now, there are web designers out the wazoo who’ll “do” a site for you… for multi-bucks and they never CAN seem to get the details right (I had one designer once who absolutely would NOT remove a tinted photo of a YARD SALE from my TGtbT.com site. After both of us investing WEEKS in this. I paid him $4000 just to GO AWAY. True story.)

But will you feel confident going in and making a change

or will you have to remember to call him/her, figure out how to explain what you need changed, leave a dozen messages or emails or IMs or smoke signals, wait for her/him to do so, and then have to ask for a change because they misspelled, misunderstood, or just plain MISSED you? It’s enough to keep “fix web site” at the bottom of your to-do list forever.

Why put yourself through this?

It’s really not as scary as it seems. If you can run a successful retail shop, you can design and keep up a web site… with some help. I have found a roundup of well-thought-of options for you. It’s here. It’s understandable. Some choices may be better for what you want to do, but they’re all worth considering and they are all affordable. Note: Even if you decide to have someone do your site, read the last section and clarify just what you’re GETTING from your webmaster (that was my $4000 mistake.)  If they’re not giving you CMS that you can manage yourself on an hour or two’s free instruction and plenty of on-line help , move on.

You don’t want your site to look great today and be outdated in a few months’ time, do you?