[LucyB]

After some advice...

I designed my website using sitebuilder, it's hosted by fasthost and I'm pretty happy with the whole set-up. I just want to make a few tweaks here and there, and also need to design a new website which will link in to my original one, just because I have added a whole load of new stuff that I am offering.

I like being completely in control of it, as I am constantly updating details of courses, etc. I just want a bit of professional advice as although I know pretty much what I want to do, I'm not sure I have the technical skills to do it!

So, I'm after some sort of idea of what this might cost, as I don't have much money at all and don't want to get ripped off! It would be good if anyone could recommend someone in the Sheffield area who might be able to do the work for me, or even better if someone on here could do it and wants to do a skill swap. I can offer general hypnotherapy, NLP and coaching including sports performance, or hypnobirthing, BabyCalm and ToddlerCalm. More details on said website:
www.hypnobirthingsheffield.com

Cheers,
Lucy.

[Paul B]

Have you ever considered using something like Wordpress? You'd be able to keep control over your content quite easily and it'd give the website a more 'modern' feel in general.

There are tonnes of templates available (that people use for business) and you could have a crack at doing the work yourself on a home PC (again, plenty of tutorials to get you started) and if you can't quite manage it you haven't lost anything other than time.

[Bubba]

I agree with Paul - Wordpress is first and foremost a blogging platform but it can be extended via plugins to be much more (or less) than that.

[mr__j5]

Wordpress is fine, provided that you can find a template that you like and you just want to type in some content.

However, I have seen many people then turn this experience into a hell as they get more of an opinion about what they want the site to look like. Then before you know it you are having to learn PHP and fighting with the way that the template works.

But, saying that, most CMS's will be like that (content management system)

[LucyB]

What advantages would wordpress give me over my current website? Just a more modern look?

I'm fairly comfortable with sitebuilder, it's just the one that I got through fasthosts. I can update the look on it pretty easily - it is quite user-friendly. I'm only looking for a bit of professional input to give me some ideas and maybe make some improvements that I haven't thought of.

[tomtom]

Fwiw, as long as a website doesn't look 'ancient' the most important thing is that it has all the info you want to get accross easily and logically accessible AND update it regularly - people will keep coming back to check it out. I also use statcounter.com and google analytics to see who visits and what they look at..
Sounds to me like you've got most of it covered fine.
T

[Paul B]

What advantages would wordpress give me over my current website? Just a  significantly more modern look?

Take a look:
http://wordpress.org/showcase/

After some advice...
although I know pretty much what I want to do, I'm not sure I have the technical skills to do it!

Some more details on this might help us to advise better?

[Falling Down]

Hi Lucy,

Love it or loathe it, but Facebook is also really important these days for anyone running a business with an online presence.

One advantage of using Wordpress as the core content management system means that you can insert plugins that automatically update Facebook and Twitter with anything new you add to your site.

[Yossarian]

Wordpress is fine, provided that you can find a template that you like and you just want to type in some content.

However, I have seen many people then turn this experience into a hell as they get more of an opinion about what they want the site to look like. Then before you know it you are having to learn PHP and fighting with the way that the template works.

But, saying that, most CMS's will be like that (content management system)

I disagree.  I'm using Wordpress as a CMS to build a (relatively) massive multi-channel magazine, and though it's not exactly easy, it's certainly a lot less stressful than using something like Drupal, especially from scratch.  You do need to code a complete template from scratch to do that though.  (I'm not a full-time web developer by the way, entirely and not very efficiently self-taught.)

It's very very easy to use Wordpress to build a site using pages rather than posts for static stuff.  Basically what I did here - http://www.michael-tyler.co.uk. 

Wordpress has some great plugins which make things like contact forms, SEO, etc very easy to sort out.

There are some things that take a bit more effort to sort out, but you can always ask someone for help - the Wordpress forums and Codex are great.

[dave]

The problem I found with wordpress is that most of the functionality is based around plugins you're reliant on these working with whatever the latest version of wordpress is, and I found installing new versions a ballache which rarely seemed to work the further you take your site from the stock setup. Also plenty of the free plugins just dont work.

I also found that for things where you're bothered about how the site looks I wasted tons of time tweaking and reverse engineering code in templates to make stuff look right. In the end I binned it. Plus its not really designed for what I wanted it to do (photopgraphy) so it was always like trying to force a square peg into a round hole, i.e. you can do it if you have the time and tools.

Having said all this, if there's a template you're happy with (and importantly one that every man and his dog aren't already using) and you're not asking it to do stuff its not meant for then its a very quick and easy way of getting a reasonably proffesional site running in fuck-all time.

[Barratt]

You seems to be doing quite well with what you're using.

The justification to swap to wordpress seems limited, it's just another thing for you to learn when you could be doing better things with your time.if you do go for it, ensure you its going to do the job before you jump in.

I'd advise speaking to a friendly web company (not neseccarily a developer) for opinion. You won't be ripped off, just avoid the obvious pitfalls.

Good luck!

[Johnny Brown]

I think it looks fine too. The code isn't how I'd do it, but that's irrelevant. You haven't really explained the problem you want to solve though, other than add another site?

Wordpress is handy for regular updates (good for search engines), but it sounds like you've got that covered already, and as Bubba says facebook may be more powerful for the local demographic you're after.

[neil h]

I just built the new maisonbleau site with wordpress, it gives you so much freedom check it out, really easy to edit, the good thing is I can edit it anywere in the world which is good if I need to change some bookings when I am on holiday

[Bubba]

Interesting that so many are recommending WP - there's thousands of other CMS out there but Wordpress is one of the easiest to get on with and has an enormous community surrounding it.  Dave makes a good point regarding out of date plugins and I would recommend sticking to popular plugins with an active developer behind them.

What advantages would wordpress give me over my current website? Just a more modern look?

I'm fairly comfortable with sitebuilder, it's just the one that I got through fasthosts. I can update the look on it pretty easily - it is quite user-friendly. I'm only looking for a bit of professional input to give me some ideas and maybe make some improvements that I haven't thought of.

TBH I recommended WP without really looking at your original sitebuilder stuff, which sounds like it's doing the job perfectly adequately. I guess this topic has brought out the geeks in us    If it ain't broke...

I know there's quite a few web design/development pros on ukb and I hope some of them will be able to give you some ideas as a favour or as a barter for your stuff.

PS That's a really nice WP site Neil.

[LucyB]

I really wanted advice about whether it was worth adding stuff in like videos, and how to do this. Also, as I have a limited number of pages but loads of info, I want to be able to have a list at the top so you can click on it and it takes you to the relevant part of that page - I know I probably sound like a complete imbecile to those in the know....

I think that I was getting cold feet about designing a whole other site, but I suppose that I have done it once for this one, so I should be able to do it again! Glad to get feedback that it's okay, cheers for that. I do get plenty of business through the site, as well, so it's obviously working.

My only other possible addition is adding a facility to make a payment through paypal or some such, but I'm not really sure about whether I want to do this, or how feasible it would be.

[tomtom]

Payment stuff can be a little tricky,
But embedding videos is really easy - if you first put them up on Youtube or Vimeo, you then can get an embedding link from Youtune or Vimeo, and you just drop that code in the area of the page you want it to be displayed... Same with putting in a twitter 'widget' showing your latest updates etc.. I've never used the designer program you use, but I'd be really surprised if you couldnt do this - its as easy as adding a picture..

Falling Down was also right - have you set up a FaceAche page for your business yet? this can be a really powerful marketing tool in a word of mouth manner.. everytime someone likes you, it shows up in their time-line and is thus advertised to all of their followers etc... I dont like facebook - but it works really well for groups/small businesses...

[neil h]

adding a facilties like paypal is really easy, if you have a merchant account on your paypal, you can simply edit all that in paypal, you can put the cost in design the buttons and it generates the code for you, I used this facility on an old hold company I use to have it was great without going down the lines of a whole web shop road, as for videos you would be best just to link direct to vimeo, facebook youtube, save yourself disk space on your host and bandwith

Ps thanks Bubba, it looks alright hey

[tomtom]

+1 - nice site Neil...

[mr__j5]

If you want links that jump to a specific part of the page lower down then you need an anchor link.

Basically you use hyperlinks like this:
<a href="#sectionFoo">Foo</a>

then lower down in the page you indicate where this is by adding
<a name="sectionFoo"></a>.

[neil h]

Up until a few weeks ago I didn't know you could really build full sites in wordpress but thanks to some magical people (tom) out there, it works, I can easily edit it and add things.....

I would def recommend it to people who don't have much time or knowledge to messing around with full site designs

[LucyB]

Thanks all! Yes, I have done the facebook thing. I've been told I should be blogging and twittering as well, but it's all just a step too far for me...

[Bubba]

Lucy, if you want to try the Wordpress thing out, I've got spare space/bandwidth on my virtual server so could sort you out with a freebie vanilla WP install that you could play with and customize to see if you get on with it.

[LucyB]

Many thanks for the offer, Bubba, although I have no idea what those words actually meant 

I'll stick to what I've been doing, I am pretty confident with how it works and don't have much time to learn anything new.

[Jaspersharpe]

I'd give Jeffrey Whitacre a call:

http://www.wix.com/jonamarieprice/jonamarieprice-bkup3

http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,16029.msg348333.html#msg348333

[SteG]

feel free to drop me a pm with any questions,
I can see where you're going with the sitebuilder thing and it might be better to move to something different if you have a lot more content to put in.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Nobody seems to have mentioned Google Sites, which is very easy (and free) to use, and integrates well with other Google products.

Here's one my bro made for his missus's business

http://www.beautybygeorgina.com

[Davo]

Bump!

Rather than starting another thread I thought I might post in this one instead.

Am looking into setting up a website (business) and did a quick search of the site. Having read through this one there is a lot of advice, which is really helpful.

Was just wondering if anyone might have any opinions about which webhosting service would be the best?

Basically I want to set up a nice, simple website with tabs across top for navigating. I would prefer to use a template (as I have no design skills and can't program) that is easily editable (eg I can alter text and photos etc). I don't need a payment method at the moment but do need some way of being contacted via email that is not going to get spammed to death. I was thinking that a human recognition thing (type in some hard to read numbers/letters) might help with this?

Have had a quick look at google sites and it seems good but was wondering what the pros and cons are for it in comparison with other options?

I would also like to be able to have a blog page linked to it and for it to work in conjunction with facebook and possibly twitter.

Finally I want to pay as little as possible but get a good service!

Any help or comments would be much appreciated

Cheers Dave

[slackline]

This popped up yesterday and is relevant.

[Davo]

Thanks just spotted that thread and will have a look.

[LucyB]

Resurrecting this thread!

I stayed with fast hosts/ sitebuilder and designed my second website fine. I am now having lots of problems with sitebuilder - although it is easy to use, it has lots of glitches on safari/ firefox. It just won't upload new images. Their support people just say it works better on Internet Explorer but I really don't want to install it on my mac as it is totally rubbish.

I am happy to change my hosting company as I am getting a bit fed up of fasthosts and could probably find something a lot cheaper. I have two websites and a few domain names that all feed into them, and would like something that comes with easy to use web design software. A quick search threw up HostPapa, anyone heard of these or could recommend someone else?

Alternatively, could I use different web design software with my fasthosts package? Any idea how I would do this? And people are still recommending wordpress whenever I ask, but I have lots of reservations about it. I just want a website that gives basic info, I get new people looking all the time because people keep getting pregnant! I don't need to update the content regularly. Any others that would be suitable?

[Oldmanmatt]

We used the Serif Web+.
Our site is a bit clunky, but that's down to us not being too swept up on the topic.
Hosting was reasonable and the software easy to use.
www.theboulderbunker.com

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Have you tried Chrome on your Mac?
http://www.google.com/mac/

I still think you should consider using Google Sites, very easy to use and update, no software required.

[LucyB]

Thanks both. Many tears have been shed today as I went round and round in circles 

I tried to transfer my domain names to another hosting company thinking I would start again and received this reply:

Dear Ms Atkinson,
You have ordered a change of provider for the domain
hypnobirthingsheffield.com
In order for this to be carried out, we require the express agreement of
the domain owner or the domain's administrative contact (Admin-C).
For the Admin-C or domain owner to provide agreement using the
corresponding online form we have by email to the following email
address:
hypnobirthingsheffield.com@contactprivacy.com.
Please could you also get in contact with this person and provide
information about this procedure.
As soon as we receive the consent to change provider, we will start the
process.
We will provide you with details by email on the progress of this action
and the next steps.
Please contact us if you require any further information.


It doesn't even appear to be written in English, and the domain name owner is me. So yes, I give my express agreement. Except they appear to want something else. I don't know what that is.

I just wanted to share that as I was rather baffled....

I looked at the google stuff but just don't like google. No good reason, just general dislike (isn't that why women weren't allowed the vote for so long?)

My lovely husband had the bright idea of digging out my old laptop, chunky clunky thing that it is but still perfectly useable so I shall use this for all my website updates. Isn't Windows utter shite?

Another long evening in store for me now.... 

[krymson]

Hi Lucy,

it sounds like they want your permission, but don't realize that email address is you. Just reply to them that that email is yours and you should be fine.

If they still want confirmation I think you could use that email address to confirm as well.

From what i'm reading i agree with Obi that something similar to Google Sites would be ideal for you. If you really dont like google, you can check out other easy to use website builders here.  Weebly looks pretty promising but its best if you or your husband take a few minutes to read through them yourself.

You should probably move away from Sitebuilder if it's aimed for Internet explorer, as less and less people are using that these days.

[LucyB]

Thanks for that krymson.

I am sticking with what I know for now as using the old laptop is fine for the updating work I need to do.

When I want to change in future though, I am going to have a problem. I can only receive messages to that address, for some reason I have never been able to set up outgoing messages so all return messages come from another email address.

Any idea how I can get round this?

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Any idea how I can get round this?

Can you change your admin email in the Fasthost control panel? I'm not familiar with that one in particularly but with 123-reg etc they have a online control panel you can change contact details etc.

[Duncan Disorderly]

Hi Lucy,

Just spotted this and have a couple of suggestion: -

I think the email regarding your domain move relates to your domain being locked by your existing provider - ostensibly you don't actually own a domain rather you pay to rent it from a registrar (bit more complicated than that but that's pretty much the size of it). In order to transfer your domain you will need to get the IPS tag from your existing registrar, you should then be able to move the domain to whatever new registrar you wish...

Regarding your email, it sounds like you've just got a simple email forwarding account rather than a true mailbox setup - I'd drop fasthost a message (their online live support has always been ok) if you've paid for this service. Their system is archaic and I'd consider moving to a different provider but that's by the by - just don't move to 1 and 1 as their is worse!

I would seriously consider wordpress (.org not .com) - not sure what your reservations are but it's easy to setup and there are thousands of free themes and plug-ins.

If you want any advice or anything like that then feel free to drop me a message as I do this sort of stuff everyday for my clients....

:D

[krymson]

I would seriously consider wordpress (.org not .com) - not sure what your reservations are but it's easy to setup and there are thousands of free themes and plug-ins.

If you want any advice or anything like that then feel free to drop me a message as I do this sort of stuff everyday for my clients....

:D

See that's the thing - I work with computers everyday, you work with computers everyday, so this is all cake to us, and wordpress is easy. but to someone who doesn't, it really isn't that "easy"

Believe it or not there is some technical knowledge and patience involved in managing even the simplest wordpress installation, it's just that, as folks in the tech sector, we deal with issues on such a higher order of magnitude everyday that it doesn't seem significant to us.