Business website building software advice needed, please, anyone?

Lizbetty

I'm in the very early stages (ie we've just decided..) of setting up our own website for my husband's new business. It's all slowly becoming clearer, but it is very slowly, and the problem I am having is probably too much info, lol!

I have had various advice on building websites from our lovely local Freecycle cafe, and also from madasafish, my broadband provider.

I'm wondering which software to use though to get the best results for as cheaply as possible.

Firstly, are there any drawbacks in using a broadband provider for webspace? Or is there any other better way to go about it?

FTP software is my next query...I understand I'll need this to upload files, and have done a quick search on CNET to see which comes up tops.

http://reviews.cnet.com/e-mail/ipswitch-ws-ftp-professional/4852-3536_7-31418002.html?tag=sub this is the one rated highest, but it doesn't mention the free version they offer on download. We're on a tight budget so if anyone can recommend any free ftp software that would be fab!

Lastly (for now, I think!?) is the 'creating it' bit. I have Frontpage which I have never used. I have downloaded Serif Webplus 6.0 but have yet to look at it. And someone has mentioned Dreamweaver is good, but I understand this isn't free. If anyone can suggest reliable foolproof free software for this, it would be excellent, as I'm getting a bit befuddled.

I think that's all for now - there seems quite a lot to take in as a newby to all of this, and so if anyone has any other advice on best places to go for help setting this thing up ourselves, it would be gratefully received.

My husband is a Fork Lift Truck instructor and so the site only needs to be basic with information and an enquiry form, nothing flashy at all, as long as it does what it's supposed to and looks professional.

Thank you for ANY help you can offer, however little it's all appreciated!

Lucy

Farway

Lucyeff wrote: »

I'm in the very early stages (ie we've just decided..) of setting up our own website for my husband's new business. It's all slowly becoming clearer, but it is very slowly, and the problem I am having is probably too much info, lol!

I have had various advice on building websites from our lovely local Freecycle cafe, and also from madasafish, my broadband provider.

I'm wondering which software to use though to get the best results for as cheaply as possible.

Firstly, are there any drawbacks in using a broadband provider for webspace? Or is there any other better way to go about it?

FTP software is my next query...I understand I'll need this to upload files, and have done a quick search on CNET to see which comes up tops.

http://reviews.cnet.com/e-mail/ipswitch-ws-ftp-professional/4852-3536_7-31418002.html?tag=sub this is the one rated highest, but it doesn't mention the free version they offer on download. We're on a tight budget so if anyone can recommend any free ftp software that would be fab!

Lastly (for now, I think!?) is the 'creating it' bit. I have Frontpage which I have never used. I have downloaded Serif Webplus 6.0 but have yet to look at it. And someone has mentioned Dreamweaver is good, but I understand this isn't free. If anyone can suggest reliable foolproof free software for this, it would be excellent, as I'm getting a bit befuddled.

I think that's all for now - there seems quite a lot to take in as a newby to all of this, and so if anyone has any other advice on best places to go for help setting this thing up ourselves, it would be gratefully received.

My husband is a Fork Lift Truck instructor and so the site only needs to be basic with information and an enquiry form, nothing flashy at all, as long as it does what it's supposed to and looks professional.

Thank you for ANY help you can offer, however little it's all appreciated!

Lucy

There is nothing intrinscally wrong with using the web space of your ISP, however it probably better to have your own [bought] space, in the same way as you will have your own name [eg forklift.co.uk]

The advantage is you will get completely independent mail & access, and maybe other goodies like hit counters etc included, plus should you change BB provider then moving web site is one less worry & problem

Search engines may also find you easier in your own space

FTP upload, here's a free one http://www.coreftp.com/

Dreamweaver is good, but for a beginer and for what you you intend doing, it may be OTT and too expensive & complicated to be worth your time, money & effort at this stage

Purist will no doubt appear here & tell you to learn HTML, design it in text etc, but I repeat for your needs just use a quick fix, like Webplus, it is not perfect but it does the job


Here is site my SIL did with Webplus, he started with 6 but has moved up to 8 now http://www.greenpractice.co.uk/

You may find some computer mags still on sale with free Net Objects Fusion 9 on the cover disc, this is another good WYSIWG programme, a bit more advanced than Webplus, but it is no more complicated and has more template selections, this is what I use, example of result here
http://www.rneba.org.uk/

wonka

What sort of stuff do you want on your website?

Is it going to be like a brochure to present your products / services, provide contact details etc etc. Basically static information.

Or does it need to enable users to interact with it? For example, allow users to purchase goods online, or provide a forum, or just generally change the website contents easily on a regular basis?

Lizbetty

wonka wrote: »

What sort of stuff do you want on your website?

Is it going to be like a brochure to present your products / services, provide contact details etc etc. Basically static information.

Or does it need to enable users to interact with it? For example, allow users to purchase goods online, or provide a forum, or just generally change the website contents easily on a regular basis?

It is just static information, with an enquiry form to be directed to an fsmail.net address, hopefully. We won't be needing sounds or animations. Having said that, I did see one FLT website with a truck chugging across the top, which I was strangely taken by. I must get out more...!

Thanks for the info so far, btw, I'm working my way through it now :beer:

Lucy

Epiphone

CoreFTP or SmartFTP are good and free. As Faraway says get a real domain. Looks much more professional to have www.YourCo.com as aopposed to www.ispname.thisisme.blahblah.com. I use http://www.4uhosting.co.uk who are cheap and good enough but I haven't looked around for years so there's probably better out there.

If you've got FrontPage stick with it, have a play with the themes and wizards and if you want to progress you can look at other software later. If you ge tyour own domain and are using FP make sure the domain provider supports FrontPage extensions.

nickmack

Lucyeff wrote: »

I'm wondering which software to use though to get the best results for as cheaply as possible.

NVU is a good free What You See Is What You Get editor.

Firstly, are there any drawbacks in using a broadband provider for webspace? Or is there any other better way to go about it?

If it's a business, you're better off buying a domain name. 123Reg are one such provider, many more are mentioned on this forum. This is very cheap (a few pounds) and will make the site more professional than mybusiness.myisp.co.uk.

FTP software is my next query

I use LeechFTP which is a few years old, but free and does the job.

My husband is a Fork Lift Truck instructor and so the site only needs to be basic with information and an enquiry form, nothing flashy at all, as long as it does what it's supposed to and looks professional.

Whether it looks professional or not is down to your design skills. If you have no experience creating websites or similar media, you may find you can create the site, but it looks like an amateur effort. Depending on the business and the likely audience, this may or may not be a problem.

Lizbetty

Thanks everyone. I'm printing all of that off right now.

http://www.seymourforklifttraining.co.uk/index.html is what I'm aspiring to, not exactly (or else we'd get into bother...!) but that sort of professional image. In fact, this is the best looking FLT site I've found! When I googled FLT Training Yorkshire this site came up, and as this would be our competition, I think we'd need to make sure the site was more this and less Auntie Fanny's holiday pics online stylie, iyswim?!

I'm just about to get Frontpage back up and have another look. I have quite a bit of experience of Publisher, I'm hoping that it's the same sort of programme. I do know that with such as Publisher you can either make stuff look very homemade using the templates as they are, or you can fiddle about and simplify it to make it look more professional (as we did the leaflets, hopefully they seem professional..!). I just hope that I can learn quickly enough to do that with Frontpage.

Thanks again for your help. MSE is FAB, I really don't know how I managed before I found you lot!!! :T

jasmin10

Type in Microsoft Live on Google. I used this for my website as I didn't have a clue on how to build one and it's pretty much all set up for you. You just put in the text. It's completely free and you get your own company email address.