My Website Struggles.

I have been sitting here, reflecting on my week, which has been challenging because I am not tech-savvy, and creating a website this week has been challenging. I chose to use Shopify as my host for my website because my nephew recommended the sight for ease as a one-stop-shop for everything I needed. When I looked at the site previously, I was taken by the videos that you can use to help you get your site up and running; I mean, they say they provide all the help that you would need. Yeah, no! I think they meant that you have to read through everything and stop, start, replay, stop, try it again, and still have no clue!

I have learned so much this week; I have great friends willing to help me understand how to put this website together and then let me try my best and still get lost because I still couldn’t figure it out. Once I understood and put it together, my nephew was there to tell me how I did and proudly encouraged me because he knew how challenged I have been in trying to do this myself.

I learned that there is so much more to go into business than what I knew beforehand. Some permits and licenses need to be acquired; I need to get a food service certificate, outline my home kitchen, etc. I feel a little overwhelmed, but I have accomplished a website that still needs work but looks great. My nephew told me so, and that speaks volumes to me. I have been blessed, and I know that this struggle has been given to me because I can accomplish everything with the Lord’s help. He has carried me this week, and for that, I feel honored and truly blessed.

Thank you for a great week, and I look forward to the more good stuff in this class.

Whats NEW this time?

 It feels like everything is new this week, with learning about two other websites similar to what you are looking to start your business in and then trying to find those similarities that could be a perfect compliment in your website. Dried fruit is only part of a larger grouping of products that are being sold together, and so that gives me ideas, but for now, I need to stick with what I currently have.

Its been a busy week with a funeral, family gatherings, and the preparations needed to get everything done. It started okay, and I enjoyed the chance to research into these two different businesses that sell the same items and to see how they structured their website and sell their products. I still feel like I am lacking, but I need to push forward either way. I have a product to sell; I need to put together a website that can do that for me.

PayPal, I use that to pay for things but never thought that I would use it for a business. Does it make it easier to put all your products up or just what you have in stock? Do you need to have an account before you can fully use all its functions? Previously I had been contemplating using Venmo, but it seems like there is still lots to learn, and PayPal is globally recognized, which will be beneficial if I plan to expand in the future.

CHOOSING A SITE BUILDER & HOSTING

I feel so out of place trying to build my website and deciding on which tools to use. First, we needed to choose a site builder; this discovery landed me on Shopify, which seems easy enough, but I get a little worried while walking through a tutorial. Somehow, I signed up for HostGator, which seemed like a great choice until I was told that Shopify has a hosting site, so a quick call and that was the end of HostGator. As I researched a hosting site, I found that I liked Bluehost because of its offerings and the affordable price tag over a minimum of thirty-six months.

Shopify has a great site, and I have been trying to listen to the tutorials offered and work on the things they have asked me to do. My biggest dilemma is getting quality pictures for my site. I have taken many of my products, but my nephew suggested I hire someone to do this because my pictures don't have the right look. Another nephew has been working on a logo for me, and I do have a friend who owes me a favor that can help with the pictures. I feel blessed by the support of those around me, which gives me hope to keep pushing forward.

It's been a hectic week, and I feel a little lost, but I am enjoying the process and the steps that push me forward in my learning. Project one and its many revisions have helped me better understand the analytics process; the spreadsheet came together in a way that you could see what the top five of your twenty choices would be the best to choose. There seems to be so much more that I need to learn, and being in business is a challenge, but so is life, and I must keep pushing forward to achieve my task.

Drop Shipping and Affiliate Marketing.

Many might laugh at me, but the first time I heard about affiliate marketing is on Tik Tok. There's always a couple of things that would come up on my 'for you' page that tried to teach me how to do it in sixty seconds but were of no interest to me at all. After reading about it and learning what these two concepts were, I have a better understanding of the idea. Dropshipping takes a little more work, but you don't have to deal directly with your customers; they buy the product, and the supplier packages and ships the product to your customer; other than returns, you probably wouldn't have to deal with the customer at all. Affiliate marketing gives you a link that takes customers to the other person's page, and you get a commission for sending people in that direction. These ideas are entirely new to me and excellent for various types of businesses. I don't think I could drop shipping work for my business concept, but if I got famous and people like my chocolate dipped treats, maybe affiliate marketing would work?

I have been working on the web business matrix this week and thought I had it down. Still, I need to change some of the ideas that I had listed on my brainstorming list as they yielded no results on the google ads information area and changed my results depending on where I wanted to focus my efforts. I watched my instructor's video with tips that would help to complete the project and came away thinking I needed to get some better business ideas down, so I started over. The practice can change things, and I enjoyed using the information given through google ads to find the best product for your web business. My results showed that I should choose the sugar scrubs idea, but I decided to keep going with the idea of the dried fruit that I like to dip in chocolate. The product is excellent, and I have tested it by selling it to friends and family. I am researching the ideas and products that will help me send my product through the mail to different parts of the country without melting the chocolate. I'm still waiting on one product that you can wrap the dipped fruit in, and it will keep it cool with an ice pack in there as well.

I look forward to learning the many different business ideas this class will share with me moving forward and developing a profitable web business online.

My Web Creations Class

This week I learned about Google Ads. I had heard about it, and our website team talked a lot about it at work. Still, I had no clue what they meant and the information that can benefit your business if you understood the information given and the opportunities available for more significant sales. Using the right keywords can send interested consumers to your website and, in turn, could help you increase your sales. Learning how to use Google ads was the task we were given this week, and the step-by-step tutorial is excellent until the screens are different, and you are just clicking on boxes and hoping for the best.  I felt a little overwhelmed by this task. Opening a Google Ad account was a new challenge, but I moved forward with the help, completed the assignment, and learned what the information gleaned meant. 

I like how we are part of a fictional group working together to start our own online business. This case study takes you through the questions from a different perspective and asks you to share your thoughts with others in the class. I always think I understand the question posed, and then when I read the posts of my classmates; I feel like I was going in the wrong direction. I enjoy the chance to discuss my thoughts and value the feedback that others give me. There’s a lot to learn, and I want to try my best to understand the challenges of starting an online business, so I look forward to the discussions and ideas that each week will bring.