Network Solutions is a company owned and operated by the hosting company Web.com. They offer a large number of services that are designed to meet the web hosting and design needs of customers who are building a website.
Services:
Domain registration services
Create your own website
Various web hosting solution
Personalized email services
Packages for ecommerce websites
SSL certificates
Online marketing tools and services
Web design and social marketing options
Pricing:
Network solutions pricing strategy varies depending on what you want. They offer three packages for Do it Yourself website design. For $2.95 per month, you will receive the web builder, a free domain name and professional design layouts to choose from. Increase that price to $3.95 monthly and include your business profile in search engines such as Yahoo, Google and Bing and receive SEO consultation with the Network Solutions team.
Want to build a legitimate online commerce store? For $4.95 per month you get everything listed, plus the ability to sell up to 500 products and accept credit cards, selling via a secure shopping cart directly from your website. If you would rather have a dedicated ecommerce website, the options start at $9.95 monthly. Network Solutions also offers the ability to build a mobile website quickly and easily, for as little as $5.99 per month. Uniquely, the mobile option comes with a 1 month free trial.
The Good:
In my opinion, Network Solutions seems to offer many of the features that organizations need to solidly host their websites.
The instant set-up tools are key for users who want to have a hosting account immediately without needing to wait for verifications, validations, and other pre-set-up requirements. I like the easy scalability from basic hosting to advanced or VPS hosting within the same provider.
The Not-So-Good:
However, Network Solutions is hardly a budget hosting provider – that low introductory cost per month for the basic hosting is only for the first month – after that, the annual rate starts at $119.50 ($9.95 per month).
Conclusion:
While Network Solutions may not be the best hosting solution, you may still check it out as it is a one stop solution for all your website setup needs.
Bigcommerceis a solid cart with an impressive following of retailers. Almost 100.000 merchants in a wide assortment of niches have found success with Bigcommerce. Check out our full review to get the whole picture
Bigcommerce features
As discussed above the exact features you get with Bigcommerce depend on the plan you opt for, but basic features include:
the ability to sell a wide range of either physical or digital goods, in categories of your choosing and using shipping rates of your choosing
integration with Paypal and a wide range of payment gateways
full content management (CMS) functionality
good search engine optimisation (SEO) options – it’s very easy to add appropriate keywords to your products and site pages
integration with several e-newsletter services: Constant Contact, iContact, Mailchimp and Interspire
integration with Alibaba.com
automated reminder emails to people who abandoned their carts at checkout
discount coupons and gift vouchers as standard
the ability to tweak CSS and HTML as desired.
Web Design
Bigcommerce has hundreds of templates to choose from including many new additions. They can be used as they are, or can be modified via the WSYWIG editor, or for those that like to customize code-level, a full HTML editor. And Bigcommerce can also connect you with plenty of third-party designers that can make you a custom design for your eCommerce store. Check out the Bigcommerce design and developer network for more info. Needless to say, if you want a truly beautiful and unique site, consider options beyond just free templates.
Payment Processing
Depending on your plan, Bigcommerce offers easy integration with over 40 payment processors. This includes commonly trusted gateways like PayPal Express Checkout, authorize.net, Square, and Stripe. Paypal in particular has seen some advancements within Bigcommerce, including a more seamless payment experience.
Bigcommerce Pricing (updated Jan 2015)
Bigcommerce offers three plans plus enterprise solutions. If you pay for a year at a time you get a 10% discount.
The Silver Plan – $29.95/month
Limits:
1.5% transaction fee depending on the payment gateway you choose
3 Gb Storage
No Abandoned Cart Saver
No Loyalty Programs and customer segmentation
No eBay or Google Merchant integration
The Gold Plan – $79.95/month
This is the plan most people start with – you can always upgrade or downgrade later if you find you do not need everything included. Includes Unlimited storage and bandwidth, abandoned cart saver, customer loyalty groups and integration with eBay, Amazon and Google Merchant center.
The Platinum Plan – $199.95/month
This plan is the best if you are moving from another shopping cart to Bigcommerce because it includes data migration and expert setup & migration (which you would pay more than $600 for on the Gold or Silver plans). The Platinum Plan is also the only plan that allows for Google Trusted Store Datafeed Automation necessary to maintain Google Trusted Store certification.
Bigcommerce support
Bigcommerce support is pretty comprehensive. 24-hour phone support is available, along with live chat and email support (it is not clear what hours the live chat and email support is available however).
There is also a good range of video and text resources available, and a community forum.
Notable Stores Using Bigcommerce in 2015
Collette Dinnigan – International Fashion House – http://shop.collettedinnigan.com.au
Mason Jars – Full site built using Bigcommerce including blog and static pages – http://masonjars.com
Hoka One One – Leading long distance running shoe brand – http://shop.hokaoneone.com.au/
Fugoo – Not the poison fish. Simple marketing site built with Bigcommerce – http://www.fugoo.com/
Conclusion
In short, Bigcommerce is not without its wrinkles, but it has earned its position as a top contender in the crowded Shopping Cart scene. It has done so with its jam-packed feature list, solid SEO, and ease of use. The monthly price point is commensurate with their place in the market; it is very reasonable for the new/small online retailer, yet it is scalable enough to serve any growing business. And the recent plunge in per-swipe transaction fees in the Standard Plan is a particular advantage for startups seeking a powerful shopping cart that won’t undermine them right out of the gate. Bigcommerce absolutely earns every star that we can give it. I would recommend it for most businesses types, with only a few reservations in specific cases.
CodeCanyon is a marketplace for WordPress plugins, jQuery plugins, Bootstrap plugins and more. Created by Envato.
Envato is based in Australia and was founded in 2006, although their huge network of workers come from all over the world. They are a world class open source (PHP code) and a creative company committed to creating high quality products and services for their worldwide clientele.
The company’s CEO is Collis Ta’eed and the company was co-founded by Collis and Cyan Ta’eed. Some of their many websites include a host of Envato marketplaces where you can buy and sell digital goods: Tuts+, which is a wide network of online educational sites where you can learn online fields in graphics and development, audio and motion productions; FreelanceSwitch, an online freelancer community website; AppStorm, a site for the latest in computer technology; Creattica, a site showcasing online galleries, 3D works, advertising, business cards, web design and more; and Rockable Press, which is an online publishing brand for freelance writers.
At the moment CodeCanyon contains more than 8,000 scripts, plugins and widgets which makes it market leader in delivering top notch products.
How do I shop on CodeCanyon?
If you have decided to purchase any plugin or script from CodeCanyon, there are certain things you should do.
After easy to fill form and confirmation you will receive your personal secured account
Next you need to add balance to your account, which is the money you need to purchase items from CodeCanyon
Choose ‘Purchase’ and confirm your order
Download purchased plugin and start using it on your WordPress site immediately
P.S. You can also purchase plugin using your PayPal account without adding balance, but take into consideration that additional $2 fee will be applied by Envato in such case.
