Creating your own website....

willing2learn_3

Hi everyone!

I've just started thinking about creating a website for my own little business....i'm at the real early stages right now. In other words I know nothing at the moment! lol!

I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts or experience as to what way to go about it? I won't be doing it yet, but soon.

The way i see it, people either go get someone else to do it for them....but how do you choose?

Or they build their own.

Obviously money saving is important.....but equally i don't want it to be a big hassle/ordeal....which tech DIY often is for me.. :rotfl:

Would love to hear your thoughts, experience, expertise...

thanks!!!!:)

Jo_F

I used Mr Site, the website in a box, started with the Standard (the middle of the 3 packages) have now upgraded to Pro.

Very easy to use, and come with the e-shopping cart, you just need a paypal account.

Oh and don't buy it from Mr Site, I picked it up a lot cheaper from Staples.

dispossessed

Building a website (imho) can be great fun.

If you want to do it the easy (but more bloated) way then use a tool like Kompozer . Among other things it can be installed and run from a usb pen drive.

If you want to code it by hand then this place has all the (free) tutorials you will need in the art of HTML.

Kompozer allows you to hand code if you so wish.

Trevor

goldndelicious

are you looking just for a website to promote your business (ie if you were a hair dress or a plumber etc?) or are you actually looking to sell via your website (e-commerce?)

if you want the e-commerce route then there are a few packages which are free (magento, zencart, opencart) all worth a dabble

I use opencart for my business and i love it

lexa34

Check out Drupal Gardens easy to use, choice of focus for site when setting up, can host it for you for free and great for content management. Plus looks pretty/ professional...

http://www.drupalgardens.com/

nzseries1

Jo_F wrote: »

I used Mr Site, the website in a box, started with the Standard (the middle of the 3 packages) have now upgraded to Pro.

I haven't used Mr Site personally. But, after seeing this thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2333771

I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

richard734

I did my site using the microsft 'office live' package. Its basic, but free and well supported by the user community. Serice is pretty stable as well

asc99c

I'd like to second lexa34's suggestion of Drupal - it's a very neat piece of kit, extensible and probably does everything you want. And being free you can just get it and mess around seeing you far you can get without help.

One question with it being a business is what is the purpose? If you're wanting to be able to sell directly online, it may well be worth getting someone in to help. If it's just to post information about your business, you can probably do it yourself, maybe looking up a graphic designer if you're not quite happy with some parts of the result.

Russel245

If you're planning to sell things on your site you will require some kind of cart plug-in.

Static HTML sites can work, but they tend to look fairly grim.

If you want to go whole hog and use a database driven website, here is another vote for Drupal.

Joomla is also quite popular and Wordpress can also be used to great effect when used well.

steve1980

I've sent you a message. Let me know if I can help

willing2learn_3

Thanks everyone....i'd love to hear your experiences of getting a website off the ground. I will check out all sources offered here, thanks.

I saw Intuit advertised...thoughts on that one?

It seems to me people either get someone to do it for them or they build themselves....i would love a site that helps me build but also develop over time, as i develop.

It would also be good to hear anyone's knowledge on common pitfalls of getting a website set up and also if anyone can direct me to any sources of learning...like books or any online articles/sites. thanks!!! hard to know where to begin! :-)