Help me get my store back up and running?
I make jewelry, so every item is one of a kind. Up till now, I've just been doing all the coding in straight and simple html, with like items grouped together on pages, clicking on the pictures opening new windows, and then within that window having forms for people to contact me to order each item.
Obviously, this is very very tedious and restrictive since the items are grouped and locked to their pages (earrings, necklaces, etc.), so there is no way to cross-reference items. For example, no way to search for different types of items with similar characteristics, such as: stone type, metal type, color, price categories, etc. And although having each item ordered separately from it's own form may be good for me since I can check to make sure it's still in stock before sending an invoice and accepting payment, I'm sure I am missing out on add-on sales. Customers may not want to fill out more than one form, and probably aren't reading my instructions that I don't need anything other than a name or email address when they are adding to their initial order. I know that not having everything gathered together on one page before pressing send can be a big problem for some people.
I'm really wanting to build some type of directory where I can add the items, limit the availability to one each, have them all searchable, and have some type of a shopping cart system that they can be added to, but I still want to keep the basic feel of my own website layout.
So, I'm not quite sure what programs, plugins, or coding I need to get started (does it involve cookies? SSL? I've never done anything other than basic html, and don't know where to start), but I know I want some type of shopping cart/directory system that is extremely customizable, maybe something that provides sections of code that I can just add to my own pages (or the opposite) where I need it... Is that even possible?
On top of this, I really need recommendations of a good hosting service for small businesses. I was with a company called Avid Hosting for years, but several months ago they had some major troubles and were down for a long time and I couldn't contact anyone to find out what was going on (all my calls went unanswered). I just looked over there and they sort of seem to be at least partially back up, but I'm not interested in going with them again. I've done lots of searches, but there are so many companies out there that I'm having trouble even sorting through them. Plus, I'm really worried about getting into another situation like I did with Avid Hosting. It's taken me this long to find the free time to get my site rewritten and running again, so I really need someone reliable enough that once it's up, I can just make my jewelry, fill my orders, and not have to worry about unexplained outages that last for weeks or months.
Hopefully once I know what I need as far as setting up the shopping cart & directory goes the choices will be narrowed down a little, but any suggestions or recommendations would be great!
I make jewelry, so every item is one of a kind. Up till now, I've just been doing all the coding in straight and simple html, with like items grouped together on pages, clicking on the pictures opening new windows, and then within that window having forms for people to contact me to order each item.
Obviously, this is very very tedious and restrictive since the items are grouped and locked to their pages (earrings, necklaces, etc.), so there is no way to cross-reference items. For example, no way to search for different types of items with similar characteristics, such as: stone type, metal type, color, price categories, etc. And although having each item ordered separately from it's own form may be good for me since I can check to make sure it's still in stock before sending an invoice and accepting payment, I'm sure I am missing out on add-on sales. Customers may not want to fill out more than one form, and probably aren't reading my instructions that I don't need anything other than a name or email address when they are adding to their initial order. I know that not having everything gathered together on one page before pressing send can be a big problem for some people.
I'm really wanting to build some type of directory where I can add the items, limit the availability to one each, have them all searchable, and have some type of a shopping cart system that they can be added to, but I still want to keep the basic feel of my own website layout.
So, I'm not quite sure what programs, plugins, or coding I need to get started (does it involve cookies? SSL? I've never done anything other than basic html, and don't know where to start), but I know I want some type of shopping cart/directory system that is extremely customizable, maybe something that provides sections of code that I can just add to my own pages (or the opposite) where I need it... Is that even possible?
On top of this, I really need recommendations of a good hosting service for small businesses. I was with a company called Avid Hosting for years, but several months ago they had some major troubles and were down for a long time and I couldn't contact anyone to find out what was going on (all my calls went unanswered). I just looked over there and they sort of seem to be at least partially back up, but I'm not interested in going with them again. I've done lots of searches, but there are so many companies out there that I'm having trouble even sorting through them. Plus, I'm really worried about getting into another situation like I did with Avid Hosting. It's taken me this long to find the free time to get my site rewritten and running again, so I really need someone reliable enough that once it's up, I can just make my jewelry, fill my orders, and not have to worry about unexplained outages that last for weeks or months.
Hopefully once I know what I need as far as setting up the shopping cart & directory goes the choices will be narrowed down a little, but any suggestions or recommendations would be great!