Creating a small business web page

[WallyGeorge]

Hello all,

My wife's small business (bakery) is doing well and I've been tasked with creating/hosting a simple, info-only website. I dont have programming skills but would still like the site to look nice.

I would greatly appreciate any calgunners feedback/recommendations for domain registry and web hosting.

Thanks...

[glockman19]

GoDaddy for domaine registration, host it where ever you get the best deal.
PM me if you have specific questions

[ramathorn]

The company i work for bought the domain name from GoDaddy and i made the site using SquareSpace. It worked out nicely. I don't do any programming so we would have had to pay someone to create the site, but i did it myself and it looks like i paid someone to make it. They give you around 10 days free to try it out without asking for any CC info, i liked that. Free trials are good, mkay.

SquareSpace has a bunch of templates you can customize to get a look/layout you like. Its easy to add photos, pages and content when you get the hang of it. There were tutorial video's and they walk you through everything. It did take a while to make it perfect, 10+ hours in my case, but i chipped away at it a little each day until it was done. Its not terribly complicated but it will take a bunch of time and probably frustrate you a couple times in the process. If you save enough cash doing it yourself then its probably worth it. I thought so in my case. One of the main reasons i wanted to do it like this was so i can change the site and update it myself without paying someone. I have no idea how to do this with our old HTML site so it became pretty outdated and i don't think it was getting good search results anymore. I'm hoping that changing things and keeping it current will help the site come up better, so the search engines don't think its stagnant or however they do it.

I'm sure there are a bunch of other sites like SquareSpace that gives you templates to use and make it easy. Do a google search and you can get more similar options. Look for reviews so you know if its any good before you buy. Good luck!

[Autarchist]

Based on your situation, a Wordpress setup should get you off to a nice start. If you don't know how to install and set it up on your domain, you should be able to hire a professional to do it for you very cheap. I've done it countless times as have many other web designers/developers, it's second nature to us and only takes a few minutes.

With Wordpress you can select a free template, buy a premium template, or have a designer custom make you one. Many designers specialize in Wordpress. What Wordpress will offer you is a very easy-to-use, but powerful and flexible CMS (content management system). The advantage of such a CMS is that you can manage a dynamic web site easily yourself - no calling up your "web guy" to make inevitable changes down the line, and the ability to add new content and features yourself by adding pages, posts, or using pre-maid plugins.

[Subotai]

A lot of hosting companies such as Host Gator have an "ez" wizard to help you create a website when you sign up. It takes you through all the steps to create a basic website. Check into stuff like that too.

[SnowStorm]

If you're MAC friendly use iWeb. It comes pre-installed on every MAC operating system past 10.4 I believe. It's super easy, drag and drop and edit in the design window. It automatically uploads to your hosting location, all you have to do is enter in the ftp information.

1) buy a domain name (GoDaddy)
2) buy hosting
3) create new site using iWeb on your local machine
4) upload it
done

this set up is also really easy to edit frequently, and integrate with email. After having suffered through various versions of DreamWeaver in the past, I stumbled upon this for small, not high functioning site builds. I wish I had found it earlier.

However this is contingent upon being a MAC person which I'm sure will open up a whole different discussion. Can PM if you're interested for more details, would be happy to help.

Cheers

[zfields]

If you use godaddy, I think its worth it to pay extra for domain security.

If you havent looked at it before, check around for all the ways domains have been hijacked from them.

[SouperMan]

Try wordpress. Easy to use and lots of templates. Try it first-it will be like yourwebsite.wordpress.com. You can then buy a domain (www.yourwebsite.com) if you should choose.

[Deadbolt]

A lot of hosting companies such as Host Gator have an "ez" wizard to help you create a website when you sign up. It takes you through all the steps to create a basic website. Check into stuff like that too.

I can whole heartedly recommend Host Gator as a pro 2a host and they provide the tools (perhaps some @ a cost) that would assist your design and site needs. And wordpress is good if their offered solutions are not a right fit / out of cost range.

Wordpress can be installed fairly painlessly with minimal involvement from the user. It would behoove you to understand a small amount of websites and related security to install correctly.

[SGGear]

You can get one created for you for a good price. I know a guy that may do it for $200-300.