advice needed on getting a web site

[David Rogers]

Do a search for ‘website’.

you should get lots of results like this one.

https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … ht=website

Dave

http://order.1and1.co.uk/xml/order/Host … _lf=Static

Cheap as chips & the online ‘website builder’ is actually very good for a novice.

[John Gregson]

Hi Brian,
It all depends what you want a website for, if its a basic site then you can do it for no cost at all. If you want to promote your company, or sell on the net, then you’ll need to register a domain and pay for hosting. As David said – do plenty of searches on here and on Google.

Cheers John

[BrianGreen]

quote John Gregson:

Hi Brian,
It all depends what you want a website for, if its a basic site then you can do it for no cost at all. If you want to promote your company, or sell on the net, then you’ll need to register a domain and pay for hosting. As David said – do plenty of searches on here and on Google.

Cheers John

Thanks for that as i only do installations i would need the site just to show what we do

[Kyle Bennett]

Hi Brian

I’d avoid 1&1 they’re a complete joke of a company with naff tech support and all them "freebies" in the hosting lists are nigh on useless

I use Serverchoice but mines a private server for clients websites, their sister company http://www.lcn.biz is ok for hosting (although all shared hosting plans don’t offer a great deal of flexibility)

A lot of the time you’ll find it’s better to find a web designer who already rents out a private server for their clients, they can then offer more flexible packages and server options. For instance mines got more memory available for dealing with images and thumbnail generate on the fly, something that’s difficult with normal hosting packages.

As for the website itself, again I’d stay away from these "website builders" as you end up with poorly coded cheap and tacky looking websites, you do not want this to reflect on your company and your work.

I always recommend using a Content Management System (CMS) when having a website built, these allow you to add / remove / edit pages yourself without having to rely on a web design.

I solely use WordPress blogging software (as the CMS) for my own and my clients websites, mainly because it’s extremely flexibile when adding features and designing for, and it’s mega friendly for the end user too.

Also, WordPress is highly Search Engine Friendly to help you rank well in Google, and allows easy intergration of something called Google Analytics which are free comprehensive website statistics

With WordPress you can find lots of free or premium themes, or have a custom one designed and coded just for you. In my past experience, most businesses tend to either pay for a full custom theme, or have a premium theme adapted to a different design, which provides a good balance of uniqueness vs cost.

Money wise, it’s a bit hit and miss, basically a bigger budget allows more time to be spent on concepts and designs, the coding side of things doesn’t usually deviate by great amounts of times between projects (for basic site & CMS theme design).

I’m not sure if I’m allowed to post my prices here if it’s against forum rules or what not? (Feel free to edit this bit out) But my general prices are between £250 and £500 for most WordPress themes developed for business sites if you want a rough guideline price for getting quotes

[David Rogers]

Kyle – dunno about your personal problems with 1and1. But I host 6 business websites with them and two personal ones and well for the last 4 1/2 years….THIS site is also hosted by them.

We are all allowed our opinions – but as the OP seems to be after not much more than the most elemental site and a couple of email addresses the online builder 1and1 uses is actually very effective for the novice…and it’s results, whilst a little formulaic, are quite professional in appearance.

It’s a matter of choice, cost & owner control.

DIY wins on all three counts…web designers like yourself sometimes rubbish any attempts at buying, designing or indeed marketing your own site as this is the way you make money. The end results will in 99% of cases NOT be as slick as a paid for site design & develop, but there’s no need to dismiss them entirely. This is like us (established signmakers) rubbishing you having a go at doing your own vinyl instead of buying it.

Wordpress is just a design program…that also has the ability to use preset templates, much like every other program out there. It appears quite comprehensive.

There’s nothing to be lost by ‘having a go’. Even if the results are amazing or diabolical – it’s cost nothing. If it’s decided to let a paid designer do it afterwards there’s nothing lost.

I did it all myself, and my (main) site, whilst not the most impressive does rank #1 on Google for my local keywords without me spending a penny more than the hosting fee. I get work from it weekly, including national sub-contracts.

I’d NEVER use a web designers ‘rented’ space…deal direct. There have been several recent cases where members here have lost their websites through their ‘hosts’ incompetence…

Dave

[Peter Mindham]

Agree completely Dave,

I have a number of sites with One and One and the support and products are top notch. I was with them about six years ago and they were rubbish, went back to them about three years ago and they have really turned things around with great 24/7 support etc. Sure the designer is a bit basic and restrictive, but they do a job and for some, who just need an online catalogue they work just fine. I use their shopping cart on one site and it performs very well and is FREE!! Great if you want to trade online and are on a budget. We have our own secure server with them and pay a pittance compared to others.

Using a designer is the way to go if you need bells and whistles, but I would still host on my own server. If the designer goes t1ts up, you will lose your site and possibly your domain name if it is not renewed by them.

Keep admin control over your site and name at all costs.

Hope this helps

Peter

[Kyle Bennett]

quote David Rogers:

Kyle – dunno about your personal problems with 1and1. But I host 6 business websites with them and two personal ones and well for the last 4 1/2 years….THIS site is also hosted by them.

We are all allowed our opinions – but as the OP seems to be after not much more than the most elemental site and a couple of email addresses the online builder 1and1 uses is actually very effective for the novice…and it’s results, whilst a little formulaic, are quite professional in appearance.

It’s a matter of choice, cost & owner control.

DIY wins on all three counts…web designers like yourself sometimes rubbish any attempts at buying, designing or indeed marketing your own site as this is the way you make money. The end results will in 99% of cases NOT be as slick as a paid for site design & develop, but there’s no need to dismiss them entirely. This is like us (established signmakers) rubbishing you having a go at doing your own vinyl instead of buying it.

Wordpress is just a design program…that also has the ability to use preset templates, much like every other program out there. It appears quite comprehensive.

There’s nothing to be lost by ‘having a go’. Even if the results are amazing or diabolical – it’s cost nothing. If it’s decided to let a paid designer do it afterwards there’s nothing lost.

I did it all myself, and my (main) site, whilst not the most impressive does rank #1 on Google for my local keywords without me spending a penny more than the hosting fee. I get work from it weekly, including national sub-contracts.

I’d NEVER use a web designers ‘rented’ space…deal direct. There have been several recent cases where members here have lost their websites through their ‘hosts’ incompetence…

Dave

Oh please don’t get me wrong I’m all for people having a go themselves, I was just trying to put forward my opinion that WordPress is a hell of a better option compared to these site builders. It offers more features, you’re not tied into specific hosting, it’s more search engine friendly, greater variety of professional themes available, a huge online support community etc etc

And your logic of DIY wins on all 3 counts isn’t exactly true, it might be cheaper, but that’s about it if you’re a novice at web designing.

Choice & Control wise, wouldn’t you agree you only have as much control as you do skills in this area? There’s no point getting an amazing flash gallery and then finding out you don’t have the necessary skills to install it and use it

Also, it’s ok you saying you’re number one for your targetted keywords and you’ve done it all yourself, but what if someone elses region has higher competition? Or what if one of your competitors hire a professional and outrank you?

Please don’t take this as me trying to sell my services, I joined this board to learn more about vinyls and signmaking, and I hope I can offer my experience in other fields to the membership in exchange

[Warren Beard]

I used to use 123 Reg and moved away due to really back help and back-up from them.

I now use 3iX to host my sites (I have 3) and they are all hosted on one account where normally you would have to buy 3 hosting packages with them you can host 3 sites on one package.

Their back-up help is also very good, although it’s a live chat it is still very quick and very good.

cheers

Warren

[BrianGreen]

All i need the site for is to attach to emails just to let companies Know the types of work we undertake just something with a general description as many photos as i can get on & contact details

[Paul Humble]

I have a couple of friends who have server reseller accounts and they also do web design. I normally just use them as I get mates rates, but even without the discount they are still very cheap.

[Aaron Powell]

Are you going to be updating yourself from time to time?

If you are then you need a host with a wizard website builder thats the easy way or you can have a website built but make a link with a external web gallery so you can update that as much as you like ie: photobucket or flicker some thing like that

I hope that helped

[Graeme Harrold]

Been using 1 and 1 for 7 years now and cant fault them. Its dead easy to use and have full control for all the bits you need. I HATE FLASHY WEBSITES with a passion, keep it simple, clean and fresh. If it doesn’t load in 15-20 seconds, Im gone, quite alot professional sites don’t (designers trying to show off) and I’m on a reasonable connection speed!!!

[BrianGreen]

quote Graeme Harrold:

Been using 1 and 1 for 7 years now and cant fault them. Its dead easy to use and have full control for all the bits you need. I HATE FLASHY WEBSITES with a passion, keep it simple, clean and fresh. If it doesn’t load in 15-20 seconds, Im gone, quite alot professional sites don’t (designers trying to show off) and I’m on a reasonable connection speed!!!

The more simple the better for me like you i like things to load straight away

[Aaron Powell]

Good pictures (Bigger the better(pixels)) and make your buttons clear not something you just lifted off the internet your showing off your company if it looks the same as someone else’s your not going to look good..

Keep it uniformed not all over the place.
Keep links to one side or top(NEVER IN THE MIDDLE) the eye goes to the side or top
Keep your pictures nice and neat not all different shapes and sizes

OK

[Aaron Powell]

quote Graeme Harrold:

Been using 1 and 1 for 7 years now and cant fault them. Its dead easy to use and have full control for all the bits you need. I HATE FLASHY WEBSITES with a passion, keep it simple, clean and fresh. If it doesn’t load in 15-20 seconds, Im gone, quite alot professional sites don’t (designers trying to show off) and I’m on a reasonable connection speed!!!

Don’t look at mine then LOL

[BrianGreen]

thanks to you all for the help & advice on starting a web site i have now got the site up & running though there are a few tweaks i am having done. With all your help & my own knowledge of what we do i think it is the right site for me once again thanks for all the help :uksbrules:

[Graeme Harrold]

quote Aaron Powell:

quote Graeme Harrold:

Been using 1 and 1 for 7 years now and cant fault them. Its dead easy to use and have full control for all the bits you need. I HATE FLASHY WEBSITES with a passion, keep it simple, clean and fresh. If it doesn’t load in 15-20 seconds, Im gone, quite alot professional sites don’t (designers trying to show off) and I’m on a reasonable connection speed!!!

Don’t look at mine then LOL

:lol1: :lol1: :lol1:

I still use dial-up and slow GPRS…………….from time to time. IE seems to have dropped the option to prevent downloading images etc, so you have to wait. The 10ish rule still applies……….If you have Google Analytics running, have a look at your bounce rate………..

Its just a personal preference that I prefer rapid loading sites