Back when the internet was a new wild untamed frontier small businesses flocked to sites like the now defunct Geocities to mark out their territory on the web.

They were often instantly recognizable amateur hodge-podges of clipart, blinking text and inexplicable music clips and while some evolved over time to their own domains and added pointless Flash intro page animations many watched the new Web 2.0 wave coming and decided it was too hard and have become detritus, abandoned to entropy.

That hasn’t changed the fact that small businesses looking to get started on the web need a platform. Often they can’t afford to go to bespoke developers, and they don’t need a complex CMS or integrated back office (when they do need those things, then they can probably justify the cost)

A couple of years ago there were a few second generation platforms appearing that allowed people to host sites that were more than just a Blogspot or Live Spaces blog – they provided layout tools and themes and pre-defined blocks of functionality and you could even make them appear on your domain not on someone else’s sub-domain (a friend of mine once described that as “Trailer Park Hosting” and I’ve never quite shaken that image).

Office Live from Microsoft is one such platform offering a one-stop shop will integration into back end facilities such as email and document management. It has free and premium offerings with varying levels of functionality and support.

Weebly is a simpler alternative that doesn’t try to offer as much but does provide a lot of flexibility and is really easy to get started with.

Both platforms provide themes to set up basic layout for your site, though at Weebly you have a lot of control over the underlying HTML and CSS – with premium accounts you can make quite significant changes to the layout and look of your site. Weebly offers an affiliate scheme so satisfied users can get a small reward for recommending them – that helps offset the (reasonable) premium costs.

While Office Live tried to provide everything you need in one place (though some functionality – for instance adding a blog – requires using a couple of different Microsoft services) Weebly instead allows you to include either pre-defined components from other services (a Flickr slideshow, or a Google Maps for directions, Nabble forums, or pre-defined Miniclip games as well as Google Calendar and Paypal integration) as well as some of their own services (they have an integrated blog for instance – which doesn’t support Windows Live Writer yet so the downside is you have to edit it online)

Both provide a “one stop shop” if you want to use your own domain name to host your site and both are adding new features and functionality – though it pains me to say Weebly is probably the more agile of the two.

I was surprised how functional and easy to use Weebly was. It’s had great reviews in Time, TechCrunch and others – and my wife can use it which can’t be a bad thing!

I buy a lot of stuff over the web. Mostly from places I know and trust and have formed a relationship with over the years. The obvious suspects like Amazon as well as less well known properties like Brando. One thing that keeps me coming back to them is the reliable and secure purchasing process.

Recently I’ve had a couple of experiences as I’ve branched out into a different market segment (thanks to my recent Mustang purchase) that reminded me just how important that process is.

I’m not going to name and shame the losers – they have lost on both the transaction as well as future business. But it does make me wonder if they’re making so much money they don’t need the business – in what case good luck to them.

So, I wanted to buy an upgrade component for the Mustang. It could just have easily been a part for a PC or a power tool – the process should be the same! I shopped around and found what I wanted on a couple of sites with similar prices. As I’m new to the whole auto DIY world I emailed both for some information. One replied promptly with some information. The other didn’t respond. Foolishly as it turns out I tried to purchase from the one who hadn’t responded as they were cheaper. All went well until I hit the “checkout” button where it processed my credit card details and then threw a meaningless error back at me.

The order hadn’t been processed, there was no confirmation email but… they’re put an authorization for the amount on my account. So I emailed them and asked them to confirm the order hadn’t gone through and waited. Nothing from them, but the authorization came off my account a couple of days later so the money wasn’t tied up. I really should have learned my lesson at this point but I tried again. Different – but still meaningless – error, authorization flagged on my account and no chance of getting the part for the weekend (sure, I could have spent the money elsewhere but I wanted the authorization backed out to be sure before I did that). So I emailed them again.

Still no response, but the other vendor I’d contacted sent a follow-up email. Nicely worded, hoped I’d found what I was looking for. They assumed as I’d not ordered from them I’d found it cheaper, but wanted to point out they do offer to match any advertised price (incl shipping). If I had got it from elsewhere did I have any questions about installation or usage they could help with.

I got the hint this time. When I followed their process through to the checkout it turned out they were cheaper. And shipping was free. And they offered my a bunch of choices for payment. Process worked a treat and 20 minutes later I had both the confirmation email from them and a correctly processes transaction showing at the bank.

It’s good to have a little reminder every now and then that great customer service counts for a lot. By making sure that folks had a reliable experience on the site, when making contact, and when making a purchase they have gained loyalty, trust and recommendations. The other supplier…. I went through my wishlist and replaced every link to them with links to American Muscle or Performance Center.

Never thought I’d write a blog post talking about anything but the technology that powers their business but hats off to these guys – they’ve both done a great job reminding me that it doesn’t matter what you’re selling over the web… customer service is that same as if the buyer walked into your store, and it should be just as smooth.

Update: The original supplier. The one who’s checkout process failed and didn’t respond to emails… well, the first (of what may end up as four if all the orders process) package has just arrived. I’ve contacted them to see if they’d like me to return it, pay for it or pass it on to another Mustang owner :)