help for total newbie without a clue

hi

ive had a website built for me 2 years ago and paid what seemed a fortune upfront for web design and monthly updates for 2 years, the guy has flatly refused to do any updates since mid 2010 leaving myself and my business partner in an embarrassing situation of either having to tell customers totally different info to what they've seen on the site or just refunding them. to cut a long and boring story short we decided to try to do our own. weve got web hosting with falcoda internet for an ecommerce shop and had a play at doing the front page etc. i just tried to download zen cart (no idea of version just the one currently available) but its telling me the public directory isnt empty, if this because ive done a basic front page etc and if so do i need to delete all this to install, this isnt a problem as its only a bit of wording. i know i probably sound like i should just leave it to someone else but really want to get our own site working so we can do our own updates and not be ripped off again

any help or hints would be great :-) :blush:

go to the bottom of the page and click on the banner for the manual, "e-Start your Zen Cart website." This will get you going.

hi, will have to wait till i sell a few things before i can afford the £32 for the book but thanks anyway, will try and figure it out

oldstaffcrafts:

hi, will have to wait till i sell a few things before i can afford the £32 for the book but thanks anyway, will try and figure it out

Is it the initial installation that you are stumped on?
Yes I would start with a total clean sheet if you haven't got much to lose.

You don't mention WHAT type of site you had previously... was it eCommerce? And if so, what SYSTEM (platform) was it operating on?

How were products' data, customers' data and sales data managed?

Did you have to LOGIN to some sort of administration area?

Tell us more about the ORIGINAL site, and then we can give you advice on zencart.

Zencart is excellent... but there is no escaping that in order to build a "professional looking" site, you will need some "webmastering" skills.

The USER MANUAL is excellent for administering the site from a "business" point of view, but will not help you create a look and a design - and as I said... you need a "reasonable" range of skills in general webmastering.

But first... let us know what the ORIGINAL site was based on - and if you don't know, then tell us HOW it worked, and HOW you administered product, customer and sales data.

Not sure about "falcoda" either... looks like a bucketshop - and while they say they can host zencart, their c-panel looks worrisome...

eCommerce is not a "game" (unless you are doing it just as a hobby). The MOST IMPORTANT technical component in your eCommerce site is the SERVER it sits on, and the expertise of your hosting company.

I do not think "falcoda" has the necessary credentials. I would not use them. You'd get safer hosting off your refrigerator.