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Author Topic: How do you set up a website?  (Read 11637 times)

WinslowPorker

  • Joined Mar 2010
How do you set up a website?
« on: October 19, 2010, 08:45:28 pm »
Hi folks,

i have just started up a jam making business, only on a small scale but good fun all the same! anyway i have brought myself a web domain, problem is what do i do next?  ??? i think i can manage to design the pages but again any advice is more than welcome. next thing is how do i get it on the web?? I really am a total loss  ???  ???

All help greatly appreciated

WP  :wave:

bazzais

  • Joined Jan 2010
    • Allt Y Coed Farm and Campsite
Re: How do you set up a website?
« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2010, 09:49:37 pm »
Who have you registered the domain name with?

What you need now is hosting - you can pickup some pretty cheap hosting, whats you budget?  It maybe easier to host with the same company you have registered your domain name with but you dont have to if its too expensive.

Ta

Barry

bazzais

  • Joined Jan 2010
    • Allt Y Coed Farm and Campsite
Re: How do you set up a website?
« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2010, 09:52:13 pm »
You can get free hosting from microsoft here:-

http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/en-GB/

Ta

Barry

Sharondp

  • Joined Jun 2009
Re: How do you set up a website?
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2010, 09:53:08 pm »
My poultry site uses a Joomla template and the shop uses prestashop - both very simple!

Brucklay

  • Joined Apr 2010
  • Perthshire
    • Brucklay Pygmy Goats
    • Facebook
Re: How do you set up a website?
« Reply #4 on: October 19, 2010, 10:02:42 pm »
Hi WinslowPorker - self employed website designer (not a plug - or just a wee one) if you would like some down to earth advice just call me and I'll help - same to anyone here, clare (Brucklay Pygmy Goats)
Pygmy Goats, Shetland Sheep, Zip & Indie the Border Collies, BeeBee the cat and a wreak of a building to renovate!!

HappyHippy

  • Guest
Re: How do you set up a website?
« Reply #5 on: October 20, 2010, 07:47:21 am »
I've got a website through WEBS.
They do free hosting, you can get a free domain name (ending with webs.com) or you can upgrade for a charge to get a custom one. The free package gives you the option of a shop with up to 5 items for sale too. There's loads of templates to choose from and it's easy to use and set up (it's got to be, I managed mine on my own ;))
Have a look at mine
http://www.happyhippydesigns.webs.com/
HTH
Karen x
« Last Edit: October 20, 2010, 07:49:04 am by HappyHippy »

WinslowPorker

  • Joined Mar 2010
Re: How do you set up a website?
« Reply #6 on: October 20, 2010, 11:02:20 am »
Hi all,

Thanks for the advice.
I got the web domain 'jessicasjams.co.uk' ( for all who dont know me Jessica AKA Princess is my daughter) from 123 reg and their hosting ranges from £1.99 - £14.99 a month, but i am totally lost on what the features actually translate to  ??? at the moment we do not plan to sell online, but i suppose in the future we may, so probably need to make an allowance for that. I think it comes with web templates. I suppose i just need some advice as to whether this is any good, is their better etc etc.

I am still lost, bust it is getting clearer  ;D  :wave:

plumseverywhere

  • Joined Apr 2013
  • Worcestershire
    • Its Baaath Time
    • Facebook
Re: How do you set up a website?
« Reply #7 on: October 20, 2010, 11:30:02 am »
hi WP

I used the same people as Karen, Webs. I then transferred my own domain to it for a slight price increase.

www.itsbaaathtime.com

I have a shop on there and everything and they help you build it. Its been fine for me but I can appreicate that more web-savvy people would be able to make a site look better  :)

Lisa
Smallholding in Worcestershire, making goats milk soap for www.itsbaaathtime.com and mum to 4 girls,  goats, sheep, chickens, dog, cat and garden snails...

bazzais

  • Joined Jan 2010
    • Allt Y Coed Farm and Campsite
Re: How do you set up a website?
« Reply #8 on: October 20, 2010, 12:01:44 pm »
I also use 123-reg as my domain name registar - I'd advise sticking with them for hosting too as its a pinch to setup and you dont have to mess with any DNS settings.  Anyway enough techno babble.

If you dont need to sell directly from the website then just a simple hosting package will do.

Use the voucher code 'hosting10' for 10% off too :)

Ta

Baz

smallholder in the city

  • Joined Jul 2010
  • Lincolnshire
    • HootersHall
Re: How do you set up a website?
« Reply #9 on: October 20, 2010, 03:43:53 pm »
Of course it's perfectly possible to do it youself even if you're not particularly expert especially with all the advice and guidance from TASers if you don't feel up to it though you could do what we did and find someone on the people per hour website to do the site, you post a description of the job that you have and people give you quotes, you can check their feedback and pick whoever takes your fancy.

It was the design aspect that we found particularly helpful, we gave them some pictures which they put together to make the header which worked really well and they spent a lot of time finding out what we wanted from the site then giving us plenty of opportunity to play around with it and make sure we were happy. We also got someone from people per hour to design our logo which was much better that my amateur attempts to draw an owl (although the husband was very tactful in his feedback). 

www.HootersHall.co.uk      
« Last Edit: October 20, 2010, 03:46:16 pm by smallholder in the city »

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: How do you set up a website?
« Reply #10 on: October 20, 2010, 06:10:10 pm »
Nice website, sitc

benkt

  • Joined Apr 2010
  • Cambridgeshire
    • Hempsals Community Farm
Re: How do you set up a website?
« Reply #11 on: October 20, 2010, 11:10:32 pm »
There are many ways to get a website set up, its a question of picking the right one for you.

First up is figuring out what you want the site to do for you.

The simplest website is just to treat it more or less like yellow pages - throw up a single page or the usual small selection of pages (home/products/about/contact) that says who you are, what you sell and how to contact you to buy it. With this sort of site, you're probably expecting people to visit it once they already know about you via some other route and be browsing the site to find your contact details. One advantage of this kind of setup is that it requires very little maintainence, you could get away with only thinking about it once a year. In this case, simple 123reg basic hosting might do, if you can find someone who can help with a basic design and few static html pages.

Next step up might be a site that functions more as a store-front or brochure. It would have all the same as the above but in addition a set of pages that you would keep more-or-less up to date with details of all the jams you sell. This kind of richer content might start getting you a bit of traffic from random punters googling for a specific kind of jam, it might also help with getting repeat orders if people can find your new jams, or special offers on old favourites.
In this case, the 123reg plus account with say drupal or joomla to use as a content management system would probably suffice. This kind of site would require a bit more effort on your part though, maybe monthly changes to make sure the product catalogue is up to date.

A slightly fancier option would be the above, but including a blog or other articles about jams, jam making and sundry related topics. This could probably be handled with the same 123 package as above, but would require a lot more commitment form you to provide the content on a regular basis. The upside is that regularly updated quality content is just what you need to get much new traffic from google.

Most basic hosting providers don't seem to provide much in the way of online shopping services and this can be a complicated business to setup yourself. Webs mentioned earlier seems to have a reasonable offering in that regard. The other good news is that there are dedicated providers like shopify that can handle this for you at a later stage if you do choose to go down that route.

I think that's a long enough ramble for this time of night, but my main bit of advice is to spend a bit of time figuring out exactly what you want  to do first - I'm sure we can help you find the right tech solution after that's decided. Building a website is often the easy bit compared to finding the regular time to keep it updated and full of good content!

ballingall

  • Joined Sep 2008
  • Avonbridge, Falkirk
Re: How do you set up a website?
« Reply #12 on: October 20, 2010, 11:45:48 pm »
I've used 123reg for a few years now and always found them to be good. You do need hosting- 123reg charge, but it is simple to use, and they do have free website page builders you can use. Some websites do free hostings alongside easy to use website building programmes. I've just discovered Weebly- http://www.weebly.com who I have found pretty good so far.

Claire- how do you get your business for website designing? It is one of the few things my OH is actually qualified for, and I sometimes wonder if he wouldn't be better doing something like that.



Beth

Brucklay

  • Joined Apr 2010
  • Perthshire
    • Brucklay Pygmy Goats
    • Facebook
Re: How do you set up a website?
« Reply #13 on: October 21, 2010, 07:10:07 am »
Hi Beth - 90% of my clients are through word of mouth over 10 years of hard work - they are mostly small to med. businesses wanting a site that works ie found by google not just on the internet. I don't advertise any more as I found it a waste of money only one call coming from Yell in a year, so I try and keep my costs as low as possible, when updates come in get them done quickly etc. Good luck
Pygmy Goats, Shetland Sheep, Zip & Indie the Border Collies, BeeBee the cat and a wreak of a building to renovate!!

jonkil

  • Guest
Re: How do you set up a website?
« Reply #14 on: October 25, 2010, 11:30:59 am »
123 reg is excellent.
Really simple way and very inexpensive to do.
Set up web forwarding to your free website.
Set up free e-mail forwarding in the control panel.
This website www.weebly.com has a very slick easy interface to set up a website & is completely free.
Will be good enough for an info website and is very easy to do.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2010, 11:58:07 am by jonkil »

 

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