Who made your website? (pay, income, purchase, work)

[xlabel]

I just want a small proffesional looking website, no shopping options, 1 page. Did you do all the HTML yourself or are there easier solutions nowadays(I'm working with some outdated do-it-yourself books). I'd like to get one created, a years hosting service for around $300. Who would you recommend?

[tortoise]

Originally Posted by xlabel

I just want a small proffesional looking website

Google Sites
TalkSpot

[poconoproud]

www.homestead.com

I made my own website with homestead. There is a link to mine on my city-data contact me page, just so you can get the jist of what you can do with it. They help you with everything, too. It's $250.00 per year.

[wheelsup]

Just a word on those online builders. $250/yr is extremely expensive to maintain a web site. I built this one for $700 and it's upkeep cost $60/yr (payback comes quickly):

OAK Log Home Specialists - Mountainside Oak Log Homes - New Hampshire Log Homes

They are an oak log home supplier/builder in New Hampshire. On Google, searching for "oak log homes NH" "oak log homes new hampshire" puts them at spot number ONE (1). I doubt anyone using an online web site can come close to that unless they know what they are doing, and generally they don't .

[poconoproud]

What site building tool did you use that cost you the $700? Or did you not use an online website?
I have no idea how to write my own html & all that jazz...so that is why I chose Homestead.

I don't think the 250 per year is a lot of money. The web designers in my area are looking for many thousands of dollars for the design and then anywhere from $300-to as high as $1,000 per year for hosting. With Homestead, it initially cost me $250 for the design/set up of the site. They have this software that allows them to remotely take control of your mouse, and they use your mouse to show you all the things you can do when designing your website, and they have excellent customer support...you get your own "team" that you can utilize for a month. They also call me once or twice a year to see what they can do for us.

I do agree that when googeling, my company is on page 7, (but when yahooing, I am on page 1).
It is really hard to make sure you are matching the content of your page with the meta-tags. If I knew how to write my own code, I could use homestead's advanced features to make my website more reachable/searchable. However, for an additional amount, Homestead has a search light feature. It costs extra, but it puts you on top with search engines.

[wheelsup]

I have a *small* business doing web design, I was paid to make that site. It's not my primary income but something of a hobby. Hosting isn't anywhere near $300-$1000/year. It is around $60-$70 with domain registration. Check out GoDaddy.com. If you want to go month to month it's $60/year + $10/yr domain registration, for a three year contract it's $51/yr + $10/yr domain registration. I put all my clients there. They are cheap, reliable, and fast.

Meta tags have very little if not nothing to do with your search engine ranking on Google. It has everything to do with content and how it's put on the page. I understand wanting to save a couple hundred bucks but like I pointed out it's not always the cheapest way to go *long term*. In addition what business do you think you are leaving on the table by being on page 7? I redesigned a flight school web site, within the week their referrals from Google increased 3000% from their highest level to date. They went from being essentially unlisted to being on the first page for several big keywords. All of a sudden folks were calling from Europe because they found them. Completely changed their business. The $1000 they paid me to do it was paid back hundreds of times over (it was a big site, 60+ individual pages).

Also to add. I never went to school doing this. I learned like you. Starting small making my own web site. Not happy with the design I continued to press on. Using Frontpage at first, while limiting, allowed me to learn HTML. I use Dreamweaver now. Depends on how much time you have. If you have the time it's a worthwhile skill to learn IMO.

Edited to add: Those do-it-yourself sites do make sense for folks just starting out. If you are unsure of your business income it's better to spend a couple hundred bucks to at least get something up there. I know when I look for something like car repair, I always see if the company has a web site. If not I don't go there. Web presence is important these days.

[SSWM]

I use Host Gator for hosting. This should cost you under $8 dollars a month.

And for a website builder I use Xsite Pro and have for 3 years. I even purchased the updated version that has blogging capabilities. It's very easy to use and has lots of videos to show you everything to get a website up and running in no time. It also has advanced features that use SEO methods to get your site on the search engines faster. This is at no extra charge. And the best part is you do it yourself.

Good luck with your site!

[desertsun41]

Originally Posted by poconoproud

www.homestead.com

I made my own website with homestead. There is a link to mine on my city-data contact me page, just so you can get the jist of what you can do with it. They help you with everything, too. It's $250.00 per year.

Ok Mr Pocono I liked your website and I liked what I saw in the Homestead build a site yourself link. This site says try it free and then $5/m. What is the $250 for that you mention?

Im interested in this as well. I would like a site to be more of an informational site with a catalog of or a portfolio of my work kinda like an idea book to help people with a starter idea they like and build on it. I would also love to have a blog where people can post questions. I really dont need to be simple to find on the first page with some key words because I will be sending my clients directly to my site.

This being said do you still think Homestead is a good choice for me to take my idea to the next step? Or does anyone else have some ideas for me?

By the way, I know the Poconos oh so well. My old stomping grounds.

[poconoproud]

Thanks DesertSun.... you know what..I'm not exactly sure why I pay $250 as opposed to what their site says..but I will call them today to find out, and I will post the answer later.

I'm actually Mrs. Pocono..

Homestead does have blogging capabilities, too. I haven't tried it yet, but I will be soon. Right now I have a link to my google blog on my website. You can also upload YouTube videos, insert a chat room... there is a lot of features that I have not implemented yet.

If you are ever in your old stomping grounds...look us up...Me & Mr. Pocono

[poconoproud]

Update: I pay that amount because of some of the extra features..I have a gold package.. so just for a simple webpage, you'd be paying what they say on their site...the $4.99 per month. The more you add, the more you pay...

and it does not have a true blogging function, I apologize. Right now you can have RSS Feeds to a blog on your page. So like me, you might want to do a free blog on google blogspot, and link to it from your webpage.