Setting up a Website

[The Weegie]

I am thinking about setting up a website over the next coming months.

I have looked at loads of companies that can provide you with help in setting up.

I am confused as to everything.

Are free websites worth the hassle. Someone said to me that Weebly is one of the best free websites to assist you in this.
Or am I better paying for one.

What do other people use for there business.

Cheers

[kellys_eye]

Do you have a domain name? Do you have a 'host' and if so, do you have webspace assigned to it?

It's best if you register a domain name (£2.99/year or thereabouts) and use that as the basis of your website.

I've put up my own website using 'Coffeecup' web builder software (http://www.westoeelectronics.co.uk) . Very easy to use, very easy to upload to a host. OK, mine is a simple website but I did it in a few hours - the 'shop' side of it is still work-in-progress though.

If you DON'T have a host/domain then using a free service will do the job - not entirely sure who is better than who though.... but a domain name/host is the best way to go.

[The Weegie]

Cheers Kellys_Eye.

Domain name. Host LOL

I haven't got a clue

To register a domain name, How do i go about doing that.

Cheers


John

[kellys_eye]

I can only speak from experience of 1&1 (hosting company).

Go to their website (https://order.1and1.co.uk/xml/order/Hom ... TCpfix155a) and the top box allows you to chose from a .info .co.uk .com or .org domain. It's usual practise to chose a .co.uk (uk company) domain. Enter a suitable domain name after the "www." box and check if that name is available. Try to chose a name that is unique to you and your business as this will ensure it is available. All the 'common' and 'best' domain names are already taken

Cough up the £2.49 and that is YOUR domain name for as long as you keep paying the annual fees.

Next you chose an account to suit your intention - the most basic account will work and there are associated fees to pay for that too. At £10/month you can even get a site-builder function. IIRC I have a 'basic' account that I use to upload my own website to which is cheaper than £10/month (can't remember to be honest!).

Given your limited experience I'd plumb for the £10 account and use their own services to get a basic site up.

[Colour Republic]

Not a fan of 1&1 myself as I had a bad experiance with them. That said you will find most webhosts get very mixed reviews.

I've tried 1&1, 123Reg and Fasthosts. Fasthosts is my favorite of the bunch although not without its faults

Not tried the 'Coffeecup' webbuilder but have used some of their other web development software (like their form builder and such) and found them to be very easy to use with good results.

Depends on what you want your website for but the freebie ones aren't great for businesses

[The Weegie]

Thanks for the info guys.

Having spoke to a few people and looked at various internet sites it seems that the free websites arent good for business. Just as you say Colour Republic.

I will look at the info provided. cheers.

[ultimatehandyman]

Jesus, don't go with 1&1

They are probably the worst web hosts ever.

We used to be on a 1&1 server and had problems on an almost daily basis- server-downtime-t9447.html

They often take money from peoples accounts long after you have cancelled your agreement with them!

What type of website are you looking for?

[tooltraderdirect]

You need advice from a professional company otherwise you will end up wastings months or years of your time.
My advice is, look at other websites, eg competitors (not necessarily locally, as perhaps you want to get one up on the local guys so you could get a better one than theirs)
Write a specification. What do you need it to do? Brochure, ecommerce, etc. Who owns copyright?
Do you have images or do you need the designers to source these? Who will maintain the website?
If it needs frequent updates, will you want a "user friendly" way of maintaining it i.e a "content managed system."
If you only update rarely, say less than 3-4 times per year, it probably makes sense to just pass updates to the developer.

Take the spec to 3-4 local web design firms to get quotes. Look at similar work they produce. Assess their knowledge of your particular market, eg if you are a hotelier, you might be best looking at companies that specialise in this field as they will know how to bring business to your site. After all, it doesn't matter how pretty or functional the site is if you have no visitors.

Work out a marketing budget following site launch.

To do a successful site yourself requires a lot of different skills and you'd be pushed to find these in a one man band type of outfit. Eg graphic design, coding, marketing.

[_craig_]

Try Moonfruit.com, you can make a site for free to see what you think using their excellent site builder. If you like it and want to have a fully fledged website and domain name you can pay for it. Costs about £60/year but the sites produced look excellent and you need minimal IT skills!

[Beav]

Pay for one mate. Im going into web design and the problem with free websites is you get advertising all over it and it doesn't look very professional. The domain names are also limited and you may get an extension advertising the company who is making your website.

All the best