What to do?

[Soccer37]

I am a print designer, but have had some requests lately for web design. I have a meeting with someone today who wants an e commerce site and I know I could do a great job designing the look of the site and graphics for it. But I am definately not going to be able to code something like that. I told her that I would like to meet with her and get the specifics on her project. She knows I am not experienced in this area (she is a friend of a friend.) Is it common for designers to contract someone to do the coding for them? Does anyone have any tips on how to find someone to turn my design into a working e-commerce site? What are people's thoughts on something like Shopify or similar sites? Would I be able to design something for a site like shopify and find someone to make my design into a template so that the customer could update it on her own?? I have been researching these things for a few days but haven't come up with much. So any comments or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[vxbda]

Contact Bryan Dalaney at Skookum (http://www.skookum.com). I've used him for similar projects and he does a great job.

[SurfPark]

If I were you, I'd subcontract the coding and programming. Designers rarely set up an online store. You can design what it looks like, but for something that is going to handle credit cards, you'll want a professional.

Here is an article about setting up an online store (http://*************.com/?A-Beginners-Guide-To-Setting-Up-A-Successful-Online-Store&id=921). There are two options here. Customized solutions and out-of-the-box solutions. Both are going to cost money up-front to set-up. Sometimes prepackaged solutions promoise to host your site and take care of your credit transaction fees if the client is willing to give them a percentage per sale.

If you really don't know web design, you might want to hire a web designer and a programmer. I was checking out Shopify (http://www.Shopify.com), and it seems like a good plan. Yahoo Merchant Solutions (http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ecommerce/) offers a similar service too, but seems to have a higher transaction fee because they process the credit cards. You'll want to make sure that your client's items will be selling for a high enough price to justify the fees imposed by both the online store and the credit line.

How big is your client's budget? What is the average sale amount? How much volume do they usually do? Are they ready to ship internationally? These are the kind of questions you need to ask before you even attempt to help your client with a store. If they are pushing for it, I would suggest you read up on it (http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Business-Dummies-Personal-Finance/dp/0764588737/ref=sr_1_2/105-9666218-5173265?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191970332&sr=8-2). Its not an easy task.

[Soccer37]

I spoke with the client and let her know about some of the costs. We are going to start with a logo first and in the mean time I am going to find a web guru to work with if she decides to go further. After speaking to her she really does not know the whole extent of running a site or the costs involved. Thanks for the advice. I am going to have to find out how much it would cost to get someone to transfer my design to a working website and then give her a quote. She may not do it at all.