Help me make a website!!!

[snugglebug14]

I'm starting up an herbal medicine practice and want to make a website. How do I get a .com name? How do I set up a website? What's the cheapest way to do this while still looking professional? Anyone who can walk me through would be greatly apprecaited. Thanks so much

[winnie]

There are many many places you can register a .com name for cheap. I think a lot of people like godaddy.com for that.

There are some WAHM businesses out there that can host your site. I went with watersweb, and have been super happy with Michelle and her team there.

Do some searches and you will come up with everyone's favourites!

Oh - and assuming that you need someone to design the site for you, again there are many WAHMs who do web design so I would just do a search for that as well.

winn

[Kristine233]

I use GoDaddy For web domain. For hosting you probably want to look at what you are wanting in your site first. Do you want a cart? If so what kind? Some carts include hosting, and some carts require specific needs for databases etc. Also, do you know coding? That will determine what kind of setup, software etc you may want to look into or if you'd be better working with a designer. There are many options, I think first would be to define exactly what you want so you can check into what you need.

[snugglebug14]

I know nothing about coding.
I want a fairly simple website. I want something that will look nice and professional. I also want a .com name for the sake of appearing professional. I need the website to provide information on my services and rates. I would like to be able to put pictures and links to sub-pages (i dont think that's the right word) that include various information.
I don't think I need a cart...I think people can pay for services through paypal if they want to pay online.
Hmm...I think pretty simple is key, just a way of putting the information out there. I also can't invest much money into creating or mantaining it.

[Kristine233]

I'd look at some websites that help you learn basic HTML coding. (assuming you want to learn, or you could hire a WAHM designer, lol) And perhaps get a free program like http://www.evrsoft.com/ which I've heard is pretty easy to use and produces cleaner code than frontpage. Dreamweaver is my favorite but thats more expensive. Stay away from sitebuilders like freewebs or yahoo. You'll also have to learn how to upload and download your pages through FTP.

Here are HTML tutorials: http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp
I have a few tutorials on my blog as well, I can PM you the direct perma links if you want. (just pm me if you want them)

The moms here are great for helping answer any questions so feel free to post.

To start you'll need to go to a place like GoDaddy and purchase both a domain and hosting.

[Nodtveidt]

GoDaddy is definately the best place for purchasing domains. As far as web development goes, I was pro for close to a decade (retired now) so I could probably answer any questions you have, some others here sound like they have experience as well and could answer questions too. Don't be afraid to ask.

[staceyshoe]

I used Godaddy to register my domain and then dh and I used www.dotnetnuke.com to create the website. The software at dotnetnuke is free and relatively easy to use. I especially love that it's easy to edit the content (the editor looks like MS Word--no coding at all) because I change products frequently.

[underthebluerug]

PinkPowerSuit.com offers an online website-building feature geared toward WAHMs. The site is run by a like-minded Canadian WAHM (I've talked to her a few times, and she's super cool---one smart and funny woman!) I've used the web-building software and was impressed. It's a good deal.

HTH!

[art4babies]

There is also In Motion Hosting, which we went with because the customer service is so great.

http://www.inmotionhosting.com/indexb.html

[mpeel]

Contact Jo and Danjo Creations (danjocreations.com) and she can get you set up. I have been with them for 9 yaers now I think. I know at least 7. Customer service with them is wonderful. You may pay a little more but they are there when you need them. Skip the cheap places with no customer service, especially if you are a newbie.

[groovynaturemama]

hi, i just registered a domain name at godaddy.com. so now...i find a website builder and then a host for the site? are there places/sites that will host, sell carts and websites all in one? i would like to create a website that has a cart, as it will be an online store. i am VERY new to this, as in last night i decided that i could probably sell my products online. i would like to accept paypal and have a secure site as well, so if any of you mamas or papas know of a one-stop place where i can get it all done (domain name aside) feel free to pass it along. thanks oh, and i just saw the pink power suit link, and checked it out...do i have to transfer my domain name from godaddy to them if i use them? they seem like a good "all in one" stop to get my business website started.

[underthebluerug]

Originally Posted by liss_420

oh, and i just saw the pink power suit link, and checked it out...do i have to transfer my domain name from godaddy to them if i use them? they seem like a good "all in one" stop to get my business website started.

Yup, that pretty much describes them. Natasha, the owner, offers free mentoring advice to WAHMs, including how to buy a domain name and then set up your nameservers, how to pick a good business/domain name, how to market it from there, etc. You can email her with any question and she gets back to you right away. (When the type of advice I was looking for was too long to write out and discuss via e-mail in the midst of my crazy schedule, she actually telephoned me long distance! )

[cchrissyy]

"so now...i find a website builder and then a host for the site? are there places/sites that will host, sell carts and websites all in one? i would like to create a website that has a cart, as it will be an online store. i am VERY new to this, as in last night i decided that i could probably sell my products online."

I suggest you slow down just a bit. Until you really know what your goals are, you can't make wise decisions about what services and actions will get you there. there are hundreds of hosts, carts, and ways to design a site. you'll waste time and $ if you pick the wrong one.

I'm not trying to get you down. I know how it is to get excited, and I know how to move too fast and make deciosns that just have to get un-done later. that's all Research, pondering, and information are your friends

[groovynaturemama]

Originally Posted by cchrissyy

I suggest you slow down just a bit. Until you really know what your goals are, you can't make wise decisions about what services and actions will get you there. there are hundreds of hosts, carts, and ways to design a site. you'll waste time and $ if you pick the wrong one.

I'm not trying to get you down. I know how it is to get excited, and I know how to move too fast and make deciosns that just have to get un-done later. that's all Research, pondering, and information are your friends

i hear ya, and don't worry...i have a domain name and products to sell, that's all. i have a very good idea about what my goals are, but am still doing research and will be for some time ...i'm quite the planner, actually. hence the reason i came here i have no real desire to run right out and buy a website builder, cart, etc., but i plan on doing it as soon as i feel i've done enough looking around. i'm just into having a step by step plan for when i'm ready to use it. i like to take a looong time to look around for things, but as for purchasing my domain name, i felt i should get that out of the way first thing. it was cheap, and i got the name i wanted before someone else snatched it up. besides, i'm waaay too close to giving birth to worry about all of the stuff that comes with building a website and biz right now. this is something that will have to wait for at least a few months, if not up to a year. i'm still in the idea gathering/brainstorming/hypothetical stage.

[ilex]

:

I too am trying to set up a website right now. I was thinking about the yaho site builder, but have heard to stay away from it, why is that? I am in Canada too, so I will check out the PinkPowerSuit link. I'm sure I will need all the help I can get.

[art4babies]

Originally Posted by ilex

:

I too am trying to set up a website right now. I was thinking about the yaho site builder, but have heard to stay away from it, why is that? I am in Canada too, so I will check out the PinkPowerSuit link. I'm sure I will need all the help I can get.

I started out with it. You can indeed build your own site with it, but it does cause some code problems.

I am sure you will get plenty of technical information here about why you should hire a web designer instead of doing it on your own, but it really depends on what your needs are and what you are willing to spend. I used SiteBuilder and had a fairly good site for about a year, as I built my clientèle.

The basic issues I had were having to do with not being able to put a good shopping cart on the site, and having some images overlap. While these were small, it soon got on my nerves and I needed to have something more professional. It worked, though, because i couldn't afford to start off with a more "professional-looking" site. There are so many degrees or stages of what a site can be, and you can always just have the site grow as your business does.

With that said, if I had the money, I would have paid someone to do it from the start. Yeah, it depends a lot on you business plan, and whether or not you even have hone.

[Kristine233]

Originally Posted by ilex

:

I too am trying to set up a website right now. I was thinking about the yaho site builder, but have heard to stay away from it, why is that? I am in Canada too, so I will check out the PinkPowerSuit link. I'm sure I will need all the help I can get.

I try to steer people away from Yahoo for a lot of reasons. First, the coding that their site builder puts out is pretty yucky. Second, their hosting doesn't have a cpannel that is easy to use, its set up kinda strange. Third, if you want to add a cart later you will need a database. Yahoo does have databases but they are very hard to work with.

Finally, I started with them when I first started 4 1/ years ago. They *accidentally* deleted my site once. Everything, gone. It was incredibly frustrating. I'd go with GoDaddy before them, and would go with a WAHM host even faster, lol.

[art4babies]

Yeah - I guess I wasn't clear about *not* suing Yahoo - I would never use it again. But, I think there are other programs you can use to do it yourself that are much better.
I don't know about WAHM hosts, but we went with a major host because of the customer service, and my DH was nervous about putting all that trust in a home-based co. He brings home the majority of the bacon (and insists on insuring everything) so he won out on that one.

[WannabeaFarmer]

Yea I have felt the same way about yahoo. Their coding that puts out is not to nice. I have used tripod for years. They have some nice hosting packages that start out at $4.95 a month. I started out with their added pages(free package-since my business is a nonprofit) and am now upgrading to their $8.95 a month add free package.
I have found for me personally their software was pretty easy to use. I do know a fair amout of html so that sometimes makes it easier for me but their sofware is an easy step by step and they are very simple and have a large variety of nice pre-built templates that you can just edit to your liking.