Website creation?

[Montybird]

Help...

I urgently need to set-up a website and get some leaflets sorted for our gite(s).  I'd love to have a go at doing it myself but in the meantime I'd like to find out how much it costs etc for a professional job.  If anyone would like to share their experience please let me know.

 

[peterw]

I suggest if you want to try to create your own that you download Dreamweaver  http://www.download.com/3000-2048-10013427.html

This gives you a 30 day free trial. It is very easy to use if you are sticking to the basics. If you cannot get anywhere with this programme in 30 days then i would suggest that you would be better getting someone else to do it for you.

Once you have created your web site you need to find a host and also register your domain name.

In my case it was more cost effective for me to spend some time learning Dreamweaver than getting someone to create, then keep up to date a web site.

As an alternative, there are many web page template vendors out there eg http://www.crystalgraphics.com/frontpage/templates.main.asp?p=zzgoop&cgss=frontpage+templates but try googling "web page templates free" and you will get many results.

Hope this helps

 

[Punch]

Have a look at this site. They offer a complete service including hosting and have what seems an excellent free programme for website building.

http://www.bluevoda.com/

Paul

[Kent]

I am a complete novice and not very computer literate but I managed to write mine.

Domain name cost me about £20 and hosting about £80 a year. I'm not sure if this is good or not but they helped me through sorting it all out so figured it was a good deal at the time. I used Microsoft Frontpage to create it - after having read up on html and figured it was beyond me!

People have told me that using FrontPage means lots of space taken up by code that doesn't really do anything but as I only wanted a simple site I figured it wouldn't affect performance or anything so I carried on. I found it fairly easy to use (once I gave up with certain features!)

I believe my hosting company now offers free web-writing tools with the hosting package so no need for the FrontPage software. Site may not be perfect but and there is still some more work to do with interior photos etc. The feeling of having achieved something I didn't think I could do was great so my advice would be to go for it. If you want any more info feel free to pm me - but don't expect any technical advice!!

Kate

[SC]

Remember that the quality of your website will reflect the quality of your gite. One or two bookings can pay for a good, uncomplicated website that with just a few annual modifications can serve you for many years. It should cost no more than a year's advertising with, say LF. 

Although we have had requests for brochures in the past, for us that has died out completely now, everyone seems to have internet access themselves or via friends or family. Guests seem to see our press etc adverts and then check out our website right away. Some still phone of course, to assure themselves that we're for real!

Steve

[Montybird]

Thanks for the encouregement folks. 

I'm just going throught the tutorials on BlueVoda and feel confident enough to have a go and perhaps save myself a fortune.  Will let you know how I get on.

Thanks again and especially to Iceni for the pm.

 

[Lyndap]

If you're looking at Blue Voda then may also be worth looking at Moonfruit.com. Similar type, and I can vouch that it is easy and professional looking as I'm building one with them at the moment.

Including a free domain name it's only about £5.99 per month for up to 5 sites equalling 100mb. It's only about £60 per year if you pay up front - I think!

Good Luck

 

Lynda

 

[Smiley]

I found myself a freelance consultant. He was incredibly proffessional and didn't cost the earth. He charged me £295.00 for the set up and domain creation ( he even gave me a choice of domain names based on my description) and he charges £95.00 per annum for maintenance and optimization. I simply E-mailed all the info to him, he sent some ideas back and then set up a trial site which I e-mailed any modifications to him. It has been incredibly easy. You can of course make your own but I found that once you take into account software costs, hassle and time it was just as cheap to get someone else to do it for me. I am pleased with the end result. I'm getting great hit results after just 3 months and have now had my first enquiries.

Trouble with home made sites is the amount of detail and photographs is very limited.They can sometimes look really shabby if you are not careful. This can do more harm than good.

He can be contacted at www.ngconsultingservices.co.uk  or E-mail him at neil@ngconsultingservices.co.uk

If you want to see his handywork feel free to look at my site: www.midipyrenees.co.uk

Regards,

Tony

[mark24]

Have a look at Wanadoo.fr or wanadoo.co.uk

Both the same simple free site builder for simple site  

[Punch]

[quote]I found myself a freelance consultant. He was incredibly proffessional and didn't cost the earth. He charged me £295.00 for the set up and domain creation ( he even gave me a choice of domain names ba...[/quote]

This posting has been voluntarily deleted by Punch.

[Punch]

No problem Tony, I have sent you an email with the info you require,

Regards,

Paul

 

[Coco]

I bult my own website using frontpage with no previous knowledge (it's a littl ebt slow loading but I've had lots of good feedback) and I use www.freeola.com to host it. They charged £29.99 (I think) for the name and offer free hosting.  And that £29.99 is for two years!!

[Mpprh]

Hi

I've used both Front Page 2003 & Dreamweaver MX2004. Front Page is easier, Dreamweaver is harder to start with, but can do more. Neither are 100% WYSIWYG : both need a little code tweaking from time to time.

On balance, I think it is better to create your own site, rather than relying on others.

If you use a web creation company you should check that you will receive :

• The source code
• Domain name registered to you
• Passwords etc. for the hosting account

I've had requests for advice where these have been retained by the web creation company. Of course, quotes for any updates are then very expensive !

Many of the rapid DIY solutions fall down in flexibility. You need to ensure the site can be updated quickly including content, meta tags, titles etc.

Just to add, that possibly more important than the actual web creation,  is effective site marketing.

By this, I mean inclusion in directories, establishing relevant links, and developing content / keywords that will be recognised by search engine robots. A website with no links and appearing on page 100 of google for your chosen keywords will not help much ? And much of this work needs to be planned before starting the web creation.

Peter

 

  

[peterw]

I agree with mpprh,

Better to create the web site yourself (although it can be a steep learning curve) . The template solution is ok for very basic sites but lacks the creative elements that you may wish to add- eg forms etc.

It is important to have a clear objective in mind for your web site. Are you going to rely on potential customers to find it via google etc, if so then the use of key words meta tags etc are crucial. To add to the confusion each search engine has different ways of finding your web site and some eg google change the way they do this all the time.

On the other hand, if all you want to do is use it as a source of further information, for example if a written media add mentions your website in it then the marketing is being done in the written media and you are using the website just to expand on the information with photographs etc

[Owens88]

Dunno why you want brochures / leaflets, though if you want to create  some attractive written/pictorial descriptions of your place(s) that is a good pre-cursor to doing the web site anyway !

Re: Web site

If time is of the essence then buying in help to start up may be a good idea, but retain control for the future including updating etc.

There is a lot of help available on www.webproworld.com though you have to be selective and not get too hung up on people's pet subjects (what's new about that ?) or get too daunted by the jargon.

Good luck

John

 

[Katt]

I worked as a freelance web designer / server side programmer for quite a while so this is my twopence worth.

- first impressions count, so its worth spending a little bit (either time or money) to get it to look good. If you web site looks like it was done on the cheap then potential customers may wonder whether your chambre d'hote, gite etc is the same

- as someone said its no good having a beautiful website if no one sees it - so get it listed, exchange links, include local area info etc etc. What will get it listed (and keep it listed) is up to date, relevant content.

- on that note its always worth having more than just information about your property, include local information, useful facts for visitors to the area - maybe a blogger or journal. As well as helping with search engine listing it makes your site stand out to customers.

- having said that..don't have too much content on a page. If it takes more than 5 seconds to load your visitor has moved on. If it take more than a few minutes to read you've lost the customer. Keep important information 'above the fold' i.e. in the area of the screen that is immediately visible as the page loads.

- make sure your navigation is consisitent and that your visitor always knows where they are - and can 'get back'

- don't go for garish colours and fancy effects. Make sure fonts are clear and easily readable and with a good colour contrast. Dark brown on pale beige rather than yellow on black. Fonts should be verdana, arial etc - not times roman! If you are up to it make fonts scaleable (i.e. use % sizes etc) that way elderly people etc can read them.

- hosting and domain names can be done very cheaply - if you're paying more than £50 a year for the combined package you've been stitched!

- As a guideline, a good basic site should cost no more than £250 including hosting - and your designer (if they're any good) should be able to create you a simple cms (content management system) page so that you can update at least one area of the site without recourse to the designer.

If anyone wants names of hosts etc that are good (and cost effective) - let me know. (...and i don't have a connection to them )

Kathie

[Tony F Dordogne]

If you decide NOT to do it yourself and want a good professional service to do it for you, speak to Di Chapman (aka Iceni) who is building mine.

In France, speaks very good English and just great to work with especially if, like me, you know nothing about building web sites.

[redcap]

Seen all the posts and would like to add one more in the hat www.mrsite.co.uk is very very easy and cheap, £29.99 for domain name and hosting for the first year. It is very simple to set up, I was up and running in 2 days.

[Polycarpe]

We used WIZZWOO.com to host our site. If what you're producing is straightforward, their gold package will probably do. It cost us £35 including the cost of our domain name for the first year.

Good luck with the site,

Rob

[Cassis]

Streamline.net will check and register your domain name and host your site, for £33 for TWO years!

This is a bit like a Dutch auction

[Gerald]

For what it's worth, I use Netobjects Fusion for website creation. It is truly WYSIWYG, and easy to use.

BTW, once you have created your website, make sure it's included in your forum signatures.

[Cassis]

[quote user="Gerald"]BTW, once you have created your website, make sure it's included in your forum signatures.[/quote]

Good point, Gerald! 

I used Serif WebPlus to make our basic website, and the software came with a couple of other extras like an image editing and 3-D image creation packages for about £45 - so it doesn't have to be expensive to do your own thing.  But it will take a few days to get the results you want.  Don't get too frustrated to start with and do follow the tutorials to get a feel, whatever package you may choose.  Start simple and build up gradually. 

The SERIF package is also WYSIWYG but now that it is up and running and I have got the hang of how html and php works, I find I don't use it anymore - it's easier to make changes in the html etc. files directly.

See also my earlier post about cheap hosting - you can also get FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software download from Whisper Technology - it is excellent AND FREE!

[mascamps.com]

Why bother downloading FTP software? It's included in Windows: instead of typing www.anysite.com type ftp.anysite.com and you get a window with all the files in it (you'll need to click File, Login if a username/password is required).

The Windows version is more limited than "proper" FTP software but does all the stuff that most people actually use ie you can cut & paste, create folders, etc. just like using Explorer on your own PC files.

 

Arnold

 

[yorks45]

Hi

Setting up a website need not be expensive although many companies may

tell you otherwise. I work as a web designer and I am also a french

property owner.

The price you pay depends on how easily you require the website to be

updatable and what features you require. Our own website

(http://www.abrittanycottage.co.uk) is  95% HTML  and so

would be relativley inexpensive to create. If a database is required

then you will pay more.

Remember though the website MUST be correctly written or you will be

wasting your time so ensure you select a good web designer. Also do not

employ anyone who charges for updates to the website...its a con. There

is no reason why you cant make website easily updatable but many web

designer either seem to be able to do this or just wish to charge

riduclous amounts for simple text updates.

[yorks45]

Forgot to mention on my last posting but if you wish to register domain

names use freeparking.co.uk. They are inexpensive and there are no

hidden extras unlike many other companies. Aviod UK2.net like the

plague.