Build a website........

save-a-lot

Google have a "sandbox" (wiki description), whereby new sites are placed once they are found (spidered), google holds new sites back from the results until the site has been around for a while. Also, submitting websites to search engines is generally fruitless. You need links to the site that spiders follow from site to site. Get your URL in some key places and the spiders will come. For example, get some early on directory listings then you will start to see some search engine traffic, that is if you have built your pages well. By that I mean that the pages are optimised for your most important keywords, also, it does help if the anchor text of the links at directories and other sites contain those keywords/phrases as this boosts the importance of the pages of your site in the long-term.

The best advice is look up SEO in google and start to learn it and apply it to your website combined with getting loads of links back to your site. Word of warning though, when building links up and reciprocating links with other sites, stay on topic (don't just link to anyone) and do not risk linking with sites in "bad neighbourhoods", i.e. those blacklisted with Google and alike. Do not accept having your link on a page that is an ophan, that is a page that is not linked back to the homepage of the site. When linking try and be on a page only 2 or 3 levels away from the homepage also.

Google SEO, look up linking strategies and start the long road to getting a successful site

geordie_joe

Annie021063 wrote: »

Sorry Geordie Joe more questions -- where might I find these domain/space sites? Do you know of any good/reputable ones?
Thanks

Just just have to google search for "web space" and you will find a lot.

The problem is picking one, for every one some says they use and like someone else will come along and say they are rubbish. One person will have a good experience with a company, but another may not.

There is also the what you want from that company to consider.

For example some companies don't let you set the domain name server address your self. Sorry if this is too technical for you at this stage, but what it means is, if the company you get your domain name or web space from don't allow you to control the domain name server entry then you have to rely (sometimes pay) them to do it for you.

As an example, I have web space from Awardspace that allows me to have 32 domain names for that space. I buy my domain names from 123-reg. When I do this there is no link between my domain name and my web space. The link is created by the domain name server, you simply tell it that every time someone types in, or clicks a link that is your domain name they will go to your web space.

Awardspace tell me the IP address of thier domain name server, 123-reg allow me to go into my account and tell it the ip address for awardspace. Once this is done anyone visiting my domain name will go to my web space on awardspace. At this point there will be nothing there, but at least they will be at the right place and it is up to me to create the web site.

Other company's don't alow you to do this yourself, instead you have to email the details to their tech people who do it for you. Often the charge you for this and it can take days, weeks or even months for them to do it. Which means you sit with a web site, a domain name and no link between them so not even you can see your web site.

I can recommend 123-reg for domain names and awardspace for paid web space. But don't go for awardspace free web space, the have a very unique way of making you upgrade to the paid space.

The free space is very good, but they have a "blacklist" of word they don't allow on your web site. They won't tell you what the words are, but I know if you put the word "ebay" or "amazon" or your free web space you will never seen it again until you remove the word.

However, once you pay the for web space their service becomes fantastic. I have been with the for years and would not go anywhere else. I was forced to go with their paid space after spending moths building a web site then hitting a brick wall that could not be overcome except for paying for their space.

I searched for other space, but after a couple of months found the rest were just as bad and I was going to have to pay no matter what I did. So I bit the bullet and paid awardspace because it was the cheapest option for me. From the instant I paid they changed completely, they could not do enough for me and for a time I thought I was their only customer as things I asked for were done in minutes.

I remember sending them an email saying I'd signed up for space on a windows server and had realised that I should be on an apache server, is it was possible to move my web site onto an apache server and what will I have to do?

Ten minutes later I got a reply saying "I have moved your site onto our apache server, you don't need to do anything at all. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

In my experience awardspace are good, they let you do most things yourself, but help if you can't do it. I still have it in my head that they "scr*wed" me over the free space, promised "everything" then I reached a point where they said "Sorry, if you want that you'll have to pay"

But all companies do that, give you free space but make you pay for the things you need. After all, if they gave you everything you need would you need for free would you upgrade to paid space?

Look around and you'll find that you can get free space, but if you want to use your own domain name they will charge you $20. They know that once your site is built you won't want an address like "geordiejoe.freespace.net" you will want geordiejoe.com and to get that you will have to pay them.

OnceBitten

Have not tried it yet, but am tempted by SiteSell.com. They claim to offer a 'pain free' way of setting up a website. They say that they offer the chance to input several ideas and indicate the sort of traffic numbers you could expect from each (once you have signed up). It costs $300 which is not a fortune but is not 'pocket money'. They offer money for new sign ups but I EMPHASISE I have not signed up with them, but would be interested to hear the outcome of anyone who does.

geordie_joe

I think $300 is far too much to pay when you are just beginning.

They may give you a huge amount of web space and bandwidth, but you probably will never use it.

save-a-lot

save-a-lot wrote: »

https://www.fuzioned.com - small company with great customer service. Hosting with a cPanel (manage it without using FTP - also, they have pre-installed scripts for doing all sorts of things should you choose to use them)

Try these, fuzioned is the new name for macoman, macoman was recommended on MSE years ago. Anyway, I was so impressed that I systematically moved all my sites to them. Very good customer service and they will sort things out for you. More-or-less 100% up time aswell

Annie021063

BAMBOOZLED!!!!
That's my new name.... no sorry just kidding. Thanks for so much information. I am going to digest, look, search and take a deep breath...then breathe out.
Thanks for everyones help I am truly grateful for everyones input, now I must research. I do realise it will be a long haul but if I'm going to have a shot it might as well be a good researched one. I will keep you all informed with my progress.
:beer:

save-a-lot

Don't be bamboozled, if you need help PM me and I can walk you through the ins and outs of owning a website.

Browntoa

Google ADwords are doing £30 free advertising at the moment, just text "Google" to 80247 (standard Network charges apply). They then send you a promotional code and a web address which explains how to set it all up

it's only available for new accounts or ones registered for less than 14 days.

FREE way to promote your new web site

Annie021063

Hi again guys
Now if you think I'm taking the p... please say but I have found this company which appear to give me everything I want - website creation tool, hosting, instant blog (I'm not really understanding the rest so if someone does I would appreciate some clarification) all for £3.99 a month (I'm am considering the Home web hosting) Has anyone had any experience with it? It advertises on the back of nearly all our computeractvie mags so I presume they are OK as I can trust computeractive (Can't I?)
I would appreciate your advice here
Thanks guys:beer:

save-a-lot

Hi

That is almost £50/year and that is still expensive. Try the one I keep referring to as a comparison against what you have found, £25/year for the bronze package which is most adequate for your needs. Also with Fasthosts you are dealing with a host that may have 1000's of sites hosting with them and the risk of having crammed servers and the consequential loss of performance and speed and maybe some downtime. Anyway, see my recommendation... (I do not have an association with this company, only that I host with them)

http://fuzioned.com/awbs/linux_hosting.php

Look down the table and see what you get and please note "Fantastico" this is a script installer that is included in the cPanel (control panel) and there are loads of pre-installed scripts that you can simply load very simply. Listed below are the available scripts that are in my cPanel...

Blogs
b2evolution
Nucleus
WordPress

Content Management
Drupal
Geeklog
Joomla
Mambo Open Source
PHP-Nuke
phpWCMS
phpWebSite
Post-Nuke
Siteframe
TYPO3
Xoops

Customer Relationship
Crafty Syntax Live Help
Help Center Live
osTicket
PerlDesk
PHP Support Tickets
Support Logic Helpdesk
Support Services Manager

Discussion Boards
phpBB2
SMF

E-Commerce
CubeCart
OS Commerce
Zen Cart

F.A.Q.
FAQMasterFlex

Hosting Billing
AccountLab Plus
phpCOIN

Image Galleries
4Images Gallery
Coppermine Photo Gallery
Gallery

Mailing Lists
PHPlist

Polls and Surveys
Advanced Poll
phpESP
PHPSurveyor

Project Management
dotProject
PHProjekt

Site Builders
Pro Edition
Templates Express

Wiki
TikiWiki
PhpWiki

Other Scripts
Dew-NewPHPLinks
Moodle
Noahs Classifieds
Open-Realty
phpAdsNew
PHPauction
phpFormGenerator
WebCalendar

So as you can see there is alot of great things there to make your website really stand out.