I am in the process of opening a new business and want a web site for it. Having never done this before I thought the terb community might be able to give me some advice.
thanks
skiier
thanks
skiier
Web Sites and hosting
- Thread starter Bill the Pirate
- Start date
That's a pretty broad question. It might help if you could provide a little more insight into what your looking for. For example, do you want/need an e-commerce site? Are you selling products or services? Are you looking for something pretty simple or are you interested in lots of "sizzle"? What kind of customer tracking do you think you'll need (e.g., will you want users to register to use your site)? Who will provide content for your site (i.e., descriptive text, images, etc.)? Will the site remain fairly static or do you see it being updated on a regular basis?
These are just a handful of things that you should give some thought to.
These are just a handful of things that you should give some thought to.
thanks shooter...... the web site will be info only, maybe a section where you could book an appointment online, but mostly it should be something nice but basic. It's a service business.
as for content, I thought that I would supply pictures and hopefully keep my costs in line by building it myself. Hopefully the site would not need lots of maintenance
as for content, I thought that I would supply pictures and hopefully keep my costs in line by building it myself. Hopefully the site would not need lots of maintenance
that should help others help you. I do more high-end web development but, I know that there are lot's of options available for something like you've described. I just don't have any firsthand experience with any of them so I cannot give you any help in that regard. However, the first thing you'll want to do is register a domain name (e.g., xyz.com). I've registered domain names, in the past, through www.networksolutions.com. They also have web hosting and site development options (although I've never used them for that).
How satisfied were you with freelancer.com? I'm looking at tendering some stuff on there myself. How detailed did your specifications have to be?
WOW! The price for the 1 year domain is fine if you are purchasing a hosting plan, etc. but 35$ for a .com is a bit excessive. For a .com anything over 15$ is ridiculous and even that is higher then anything I deal with and I am dealing with 1 - 35 at a time.
I encourage you to shop around for appropriate companies regarding a web solution, and hosting/domain. Though hosting and domain are often something a company can assist you in finding. Unless you specifically are looking to combine it with another business service or specifically avoid one of the larger US based hosting companies you should be able to get your hosting and domain with a rather large package and versatility in expansion capabilities for between 55-150/year. Any more then that is too high.
Private registration is a wonderful tool if you own a home business but at the same time I would caution that it makes some customers nervous and if you have a PO box or office it is a better solution than private registration.
freelancer.com is good as is 99designs.com - my preference is for this one as it is pretty well regulated.
For design there are two rules:
Make it yours
Keep it simple
It sounds complicated to do both but simple and easily navigated sites can be large and have a lot of features. It is just more user friendly. It also needs a uniqueness factor. Something a customer will remember. It is all in the marketing.
And now that you have the basics... Find someone who obviously knows a fair amount about it and who's work you like... test it on multiple machines and browsers... And get quotes.
P.S. Quotes and first consults should not be charged for but be ready to write a cheque for hosting/domain & deposit.
P.P.S. YOUR COMPANY... YOUR DOMAIN! REGISTERED IN YOUR NAME OR COMPANY NAME! (I spend way too much time rescuing domains!)
I encourage you to shop around for appropriate companies regarding a web solution, and hosting/domain. Though hosting and domain are often something a company can assist you in finding. Unless you specifically are looking to combine it with another business service or specifically avoid one of the larger US based hosting companies you should be able to get your hosting and domain with a rather large package and versatility in expansion capabilities for between 55-150/year. Any more then that is too high.
Private registration is a wonderful tool if you own a home business but at the same time I would caution that it makes some customers nervous and if you have a PO box or office it is a better solution than private registration.
freelancer.com is good as is 99designs.com - my preference is for this one as it is pretty well regulated.
For design there are two rules:
Make it yours
Keep it simple
It sounds complicated to do both but simple and easily navigated sites can be large and have a lot of features. It is just more user friendly. It also needs a uniqueness factor. Something a customer will remember. It is all in the marketing.
And now that you have the basics... Find someone who obviously knows a fair amount about it and who's work you like... test it on multiple machines and browsers... And get quotes.
P.S. Quotes and first consults should not be charged for but be ready to write a cheque for hosting/domain & deposit.
P.P.S. YOUR COMPANY... YOUR DOMAIN! REGISTERED IN YOUR NAME OR COMPANY NAME! (I spend way too much time rescuing domains!)
Very satisfied. I have used the site five times now, and all have been successful. The first and second times, I was not as detailed, and it simply took a little longer to complete the work.
These websites are GREAT if you have little money, especially if you are not a designer who thinks he can do it himself. It's not as simple as typing your company name in a neat font then putting it in some sort of ellipse. I myself would never do work for these sites because I charge 3-4 times as much, and get it easily from companies that know that value of professional well thought out solutions.
So if you know the importance and value of good marketing then these websites suck.
i wouldnt pay more than 10$ to register a .com, once you find the company you want to register with, do a quick search for coupons online, I registered some domains last month for 6.50$/yr, and they threw in some server space as well.
if you want to build something yourself you can use an online website builder like wix.com or weebly.com. i have used weebly to build a few sites and its simple as pie to use and there are lots of site templates to choose from, and if you know a little css and photoshop/illustrator, you can really jazz it up and make the site look really slick. with weebly you pay 5$ a month to have their link removed from the website and no one has to know you used an online site builder. so for about 70$ all in, and a couple days building your site, you can have something simple and professional.
if you want to build something yourself you can use an online website builder like wix.com or weebly.com. i have used weebly to build a few sites and its simple as pie to use and there are lots of site templates to choose from, and if you know a little css and photoshop/illustrator, you can really jazz it up and make the site look really slick. with weebly you pay 5$ a month to have their link removed from the website and no one has to know you used an online site builder. so for about 70$ all in, and a couple days building your site, you can have something simple and professional.
http://www.homestead.com/
I have used this for over three years now. I find it easy to manage, affordable and it provides just about anything you might need.
I have used this for over three years now. I find it easy to manage, affordable and it provides just about anything you might need.
It OK for generic. But, if I were a consumer (or potential client) and saw a generic template, I would think twice about looking at the site (I'd probably just past it over)http://www.homestead.com/
I have used this for over three years now. I find it easy to manage, affordable and it provides just about anything you might need.
But for real business, sites have to cater and customize to the strength(s) of the start ups. Along, with back end objectives.
if u want to spend a little time researching, than i would recommend u use a content management system like Joomla or Drupal.
www.joomla.org
majority of the stuff is free. from what it sounds like u are looking for, u can easily do it with joomla. pls u dont need too much technical knowledge for the most part.
www.joomla.org
majority of the stuff is free. from what it sounds like u are looking for, u can easily do it with joomla. pls u dont need too much technical knowledge for the most part.
