website designs

natanddan1

Hi
I am starting a new business and would welcome any advise on creating a website. Are they expensive?, how long do they take to get up and running?, where do I start!!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

vansboy

You'll best check around competitors sites & see what you like & DON'T like about them, then try & work out what YOU want on yours, pinching the best of theirs (not copyrited stuff)

Talk to whoever designed sites you like, outside of your business, too - they'll have their name on there somewhere.

Talk to them for ideas & prices - The £$£$£ will vary enormously!!

Look in google for free hosting & design. https://www.freeservers.com lets you do this for nothing, but you'll have www.(yourname).freeservers.com as your address & lots non related adverts on your site!!

You'll have free space, probably on your ISP, of some sort probably - but these can devalue the image of your business, if they look to cheap.

VB

scheming_gypsy

How much of a website do you want? something basic that does the job or all flashing and all dancing with shopping etc etc?
If it's a basic one you could put something together youself easy enough if you're willing to try something new.


Best to buy space and hosting IMO as some free ones had adverts and pop-ups etc which look really tacky.

natanddan1

just want to give customers iknfo on business and a contact page

Pink.

natanddan1,

You may get more help on the Business / charities board, so I hope that you don't mind if I move your thread over there.

Pink

scheming_gypsy

natanddan1 wrote:

just want to give customers iknfo on business and a contact page

it's pretty easy to write yourself. ive just done one myself for 2 girls i work with (i've no experience at it).
You can write it in wordpad with the help of pages like www.htmlgoodies.com to find out what code you need.

There are a few threads in the techie forum on who to register a domain with. I use www.ehosting.co.uk, they're about £20 for the domain name and £5 a month hosting but you can do a lot with the options they give you. You can get cheaper though

Slinky

You can get free hosting at https://www.portland.co.uk which has the advantage of no pop-ups. I did a term of evening classes on web design which I found was enough to get me started with Dreamweaver and I've done a few sites for myself and a couple of friends.

katskorner

I am a freelance web developer / designer and for what you need it would be really simple. To be honest, your cheapest option is to do it yourself but that is up to you if you have the time.

Take a look at https://www.freewebs.com as you can create a site easily through them. A basic site with contact page is very straightforward as it requires no programmatic code.

natanddan1

katskorner wrote:

I am a freelance web developer / designer and for what you need it would be really simple. To be honest, your cheapest option is to do it yourself but that is up to you if you have the time.

Take a look at https://www.freewebs.com as you can create a site easily through them. A basic site with contact page is very straightforward as it requires no programmatic code.

Hi Katskorner
Thanks for the advise, is this something you would take on or is it too small.
I dont have the time to do this from scratch and would need it to look professional, something I might not be able to achieve never doing it before!
If it is let me know (pm me)and we can discuss costs etc.
cheers
natanddan1

lellie

I'm also a freelance webdesigner.. small business websites are generally low cost if they're just informative.. but could be more expensive if you wanted a dynamic database driven site.

natanddan1

Thanks for the advise, I have started to design a website on my own through freewebs.com! First time I have done anything like this so would value any pointers or constructive critisism on how it looks to date. Please bear in mind I have not done this before and I am aware there is still lots more to do on building the site including getting a domain name

** Boardguide note: edited to remove website **