Hi folks!
You can't get any "new"er to Drupal than me! For what it's worth, I am also a Finance guy with zero programming experience but enjoy playing around with technology. And for my latest project I'm looking to do a business subscription website - from all the research I've done, Drupal looks to be the way to go.
So I could use some advice on the setup. Here's the preliminary skinny with some questions throughout:
1. A paid subscription/membership site, so would like the user permission process automated as much as possible so I can do other things. Is this possible with Drupal out of the box or would I need another Drupal module or a 3rd party program that can work with Drupal?
2. There could be different access levels (e.g., silver membership allows access to these pages while gold allows access to them plus these). These pages to be viewed would be created by me, added to regularly and presumably housed in the MySQL database (I guess, again not a programmer but is this the way to do it?).
3. So if the data is housed in MySQL, do I have to create the original content in MySQL or can I use MS Excel or Word to upload it into MySQL?
4. Gotta collect the cash-ola. Use Ubercart or another Drupal module or do you recommend a 3rd party program that can work with Drupal? May offer monthly & annual payment options.
5. Would definitely benefit from the polling function & may include it on every subsidiary data page in the site if possible.
6. Oh, can you confirm that Drupal has the necessary templates to do this whole website and that I don't need someone to program something in some other software?
7. Newsletters would probably go out to the membership base, so does Drupal have an out of the box autoresponder or is there an add-on module or do I need to use a 3rd party software program? If the latter, who do you use & recommend?
8. Should I get a URL and then post to the site itself to do all the work or would it be better to post it to a test site and then transfer it over to the main URL?
9. There would be a form/submission page for customers to send data.
10. For those with business sites, do you do much invoicing or only process payments through Ubercart/whatever the payment module might be?
11. Could I potentially lose business because VISA/MC/AMEX may not be accepted thru whatever payment module I use that you recommended? And PayPal accepts credit cards (if it's part of the payment module), don't they?
12. Suggestions for SEO? Who to consider using, who to stay away from or any other suggestions.
13. Anyone use Dreamhost for site hosting? If so, are there any issues I may encounter or things I need to be aware of?
14. Will need to have the Terms of Use module.
15. If anyone has Drupal sites that would be similar in functionality to what I describe, can you steer me to them?
I really, really appreciate ALL feedback and look forward to contributing to the Drupal "cause." Plus, if you can dumb down your responses to idiot speak for me it would be great!
Thank you!
Comments
The module lm_paypal should
The module lm_paypal should take care of number 1.
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Drupal's got a steep learning curve
Drupal's got a steep learning curve. I'd recommend getting a book like Using Drupal
Drupal can handle all this
Drupal can handle all this no problem. But you should take some time to think about what you are getting yourself into. This is a pretty extensive business model to want to get going without having to write any code at all (i'm referring to bullet #6). To put it in perspective, you've essentially just walked into an auto parts store and asked if it's possible to assemble a toyota camry without having to know anything about auto mechanics.
I'm not trying to dissuade you-- it's definitely doable-- but there is a learning curve and it's unlikely you'll be able to get away without any coding at all for this level of complexity.
That said, the first thing you should do is select the ecommerce module you will use as that will affect what other modules you may need and/or want. Basically you have 3 choices: ubercart, ecommerce, and lm_paypal (which is paypal only).
Some other random comments:
#3 - you enter original content right through the browser interface and it is saved to the mysql db when you save the page.
#8 - ALWAYS have a test/back up site. ALWAYS. did I say ALWAYS?
#12 - there's a lot of info on seo on the net-- you can google for it easily enough. For drupal specific things the 2 main items would be to use the path and/or pathauto modules for friendly urls and the nodewords or int_meta modules for proper meta tags.
There's a great deal of info here on d.o but sometimes the more fruitful way to search is to use google with site:drupal.org and some keywords rather than the d.o. search box.
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"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." - Lao Tzu
"God helps those who help themselves." - Ben Franklin
"Search is your best friend." - Worldfallz
Drupal can handle all this
Firstly, thanks to everyone for your feedback!!
Yeah, I know there's a learning curve and I am willing to learn how to straighten it out myself. My thought is that if this is gonna be my baby, I want to understand how to do it rather than be dependent on someone else. However, in order to get it up & running it may make sense to get someone to help with the initial setup and then I can look back & learn from what they did. I see the learning as being fun.
Thanks again to ALL!