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.
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
Great thoughts, Auntie Kate. I totally agree. It’s valuable to have a professional website, but a busy shop owner needs to know how to update it quickly. The approach I highly recommend is having a professional designer set-up the site with graphics and page templates that you can work with, even helping you with the launch content. Then they should train you in how to make the regular posts and updates. WordPress is an ideal platform for this since it’s intuitive, free and can be low cost to manage. If anyone needs a resource for a WordPress web designer and coach who works with me on austinresaledirectory.com, please write me.
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Thank you for the list of helpful sites. Your information came at the right time. My website is not working well and I am tired of contacting IT.
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