Thanks for the tag, @Minion! (Also, hello username change! Lol)

Hello, @alaughinglotus!

Oh the new days of deciding the run a business. I remember them fondly!! (Slash...barely remember them because I really wasn't sleeping much so it's a bit of a blur.)

For brevity: I haven't used 99designs and I also use Google Workspace. I used Function Creative for my branding (a trade for a cake when they were just starting out, believe it or not). Whoever you use, get your editable files so that you can change things through the years. I changed all of my colours and without my files I would have to pay someone to change the colours.

You have some good advice above from Dan, but I definitely think you need to take a few steps back that will allow you to move forward with clearer vision.

1. Figure out your why - it'll help you figure out your brand. Why do you want to run this business? What niche are you filling? Who is your customer? If you've done a business plan already - great! All the answers lie within. If you haven't - you should do that. I waited until the 11th hour and 47th minute to do a business plan, but it really clarified the why behind my business (as well as the who, the what, the where, and the how).

2. Using your why and your brand, you can then move on to your logo! Designers are like computers - they only know what to do if you tell them exactly what to do. They won't be able to fill in the blanks for you, so you need to be able to effectively communicate the "feeling" you want your logo to evoke, how you view your brand, colours and fonts that you might like, etc. Having a logo and overall "brand identity" will make website design a million times easier.

3. Build a website!  (Or have one built for you - depends on the resources you have available.) Like Dan, I built my website on Wordpress.org (self-hosted) with a customizable theme I purchased from a theme company. It was basically plug and play - used my colours, my fonts, and away I went! 8 years later, I'm still making changes to my website, but since I built it I know it inside and out. I purchased a book (likely also available at your local library) that walked me through building and optimizing my own website. I think I got the shell done in a weekend and have spent time since building it out. You sound like me in that you're...particular (😉) about what you want and how you want it. There are real benefits to building a website yourself (knowing it well) but the investment of time can be a drawback. If you are having someone else do it for you, they'll still need the copy that you'll want to be on your site, so you can work on that now! (Intro, about us, FAQs, product/service description, photo galleries, etc.)

I also built my Square Online website myself which I only use for product sales. I run a bakery/café and a cake designer. The Square Online is for the items available for pre-order in the shop, but the "meat" of the info about cakes and the business are on my Wordpress site. So know that option is available for you too if you want greater control than a Square Online site can give.

Unfortunately there isn't a one size fits all solution for the order in which you should do things. I think the one Dan gave is a good start, but also just walk through your decision.

• You want to set-up a business email - but who's emailing if they don't know what you can purchase because you don't have a live website detailing what you do?
• You want to build a website - but what is the brand identity for the website you want to build?
• You want a brand identity - what is the who, what, why, where, and how of your business that will dictate who needs to be enticed by your brand?

The journey of entrepreneurship is looooooong. A marathon, not a sprint. Set yourself up as well as you can by being diligent in the "little" things and it will make it a little easier in the long run.

You can send me a message if you want to know any of the resources I mentioned above, but this is not a sales pitch lol

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@Michael80 wrote:

Lots of good info here. Thank you to both @Minion and @lenjobakes for taking the time to give us your experiences. I have a question about integrating Square Online into a non-Square website. I've been playing around with Square Online and have not been impressed. I can't even accurately control the size of my logo at the top of the page and all the online help (both official tutorials and community answers) have not addressed this issue. The Weebly controls that underlie Square Online just seem to arbitrarily decide what size to make the logo and you are stuck with whatever size it chooses for you, even when you dimension your logo image as recommended by Square. So I'm thinking about using another platform for our site but integrating Square Online into it for the eCommerce functionality. Questions...

 

1. Can this be done so only the online shopping elements are incorporated into the main non-Square website so that it appears both seamless and cohesive? Or does clicking on a link for the shopping take you to Square Online (and a totally different looking/functioning set of pages)?

 

2. If using a third-party web builder (like WordPress), and you are able to incorporate Square shopping into your site, then is it correct that you do not need to pay for the other web host's eCommerce subscription package?

 

3. Any tips or tricks for making Square Online work in a non-Square website?

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Hey @Michael80 

Glad we were able to offer some information for you.  I can't answer all of your questions, Since I don't use Square Online, but @lenjobakes  can fill in some information there for you.  I can speak however on wordpress and woocommerce alone though.  

So depending on what you sell, you may be fine with just Wordpress + Woocommerce combo (both free) options.  Square's plugin (free) will capture your sales from the website end.  An abundance of plugins available for wordpress and woocommerce both free and paid , depending on your needs.  My advice is always try out free versions until you feel the need and you can justify the paid version.  I have about 5 out of 11 plugins that i use and pay for, mainly for web speed and web SEO.  Less plugins equals faster website.

So the things you would need to pay for upfront when using wordpress + woocommerce combo  would be the following

Domain- $24/ year+/- ?

Hosting- This can range depending on provider.  I currently use  Cloudways hosting.  Their pricing range from $12-$96 .  This is a bit more advance hosting, but the customer service is very helpful.  As i said prior I was on their $12/month plan with very good speeds, but due to an increase of images, I upped to their $50/month plan. 

 Siteground was my choice of host at the time before Cloudways (I've used godaddy, bluehost, duda as well ) and offered decent speeds, but an ease of use to get up and going.

Theme - There are thousands of different free and paid themes available to get you started with wordpress, and then can be tweaked to your preference. 

LIke Lenore mentioned, building a website does take a loooooot of your time, but it is one of the most satisfying things when customers, other business' state how nice your site is. 

Definitely happy to chat and offer my .02 on any other questions you have. 

Cheers

@Michael80, I'm so sorry for the delay!

So, to be honest, I didn't start out as an eCommerce business. But obviously with the pandemic I had to get a website up quick sticks and that's what I was able to do with Square Online. Like most traumatic experiences (being a new business owner in a global pandemic), I've forgotten much of what I did during the first few months of 2020.

Right now, my completely self-hosted WordPress site only has a link to my Square Online page. So clicking on a link does take my customers away from my self-hosted site and a different set of pages. However, I don't think the transition is so terrible? But that might be because I built both sites so the overall aesthetic and functionality feels very much the same despite the fact that they are in fact two distinct websites.

As far as I know (from very brief research) there doesn't appear to be a way to integrate Square into WordPress without cost. A plug-in I saw was $25 a month or something like that. We're currently using the free version of Square Online so...I wouldn't be the first to pay for a plug-in.

There is a new "Shop All" version of Square Online which functions a bit more like a storefront and less like a menu that might be useful to you depending on the kind of business you run?

Drop your links in a reply and I'll see if I can think up any other suggestions based on what I see. (If you're comfortable doing that of course!)