Calling all website savvy people

[Young Recruit]

Hi everyone,

Someone has just asked me about building a basic website, this is something I know little about so I thought I'd ask you guys.

Can anyone recommend a good website building company that allows a novice web designer (no code!) to get a domain, produce a simple website, provide simple analytics, and any other functions that a basic website would require for their business?

They are fully aware of the benefits of hiring a professional but want to do it themselves.

Thanks in advance,

JA

 

[BusinessDeli]

If they have zero experience, coding ability, ability to create artwork etc then they are going to have a bad site. There is no substitute for someone who knows what they're doing and there is every likelihood of them damaging their reputation rather than improving it.
That said, if they aren't going to listen and want to do it as a DIY disaster then I'd opt for a Wordpress installation and buy a decent theme. Lots of plugins available for any and all tools they will want

Other people I've met have used Moonfruit and while I hate it, they seemed fine with the whole experience.

 

[lazypbx]

If they have zero experience, coding ability, ability to create artwork etc then they are going to have a bad site. There is no substitute for someone who knows what they're doing and there is every likelihood of them damaging their reputation rather than improving it.
That said, if they aren't going to listen and want to do it as a DIY disaster then I'd opt for a Wordpress installation and buy a decent theme. Lots of plugins available for any and all tools they will want

Other people I've met have used Moonfruit and while I hate it, they seemed fine with the whole experience.

Certainly there's never a substitute for a professional web developer, however, I think that it is absolutely possible for you to create a basic site and teach yourself as you go along and not have it turn out to be horrific and ruin your reputation.

I'd vote Wordpress for sure, once you get the hand of it it's very easy to use and there's tonnes of help and support out there on the internet to help with any problems you come across. You won't get a domain and hosting through Wordpress though, you'll want a hosting company that allows easy install of Wordpress - 123.reg and Fasthosts are a couple that you could look at.

 

[ServWise]

I agree with Loofah, but I also understand that we all have to start somewhere and dipping your toe before committing to pay for a bespoke website can be a good thing.

There are plenty of website Builder type services e.g. https://sites.google.com which give you a way to publish a site easily without much knowledge, but remember that your site will be stuck in their service, you wont be able to easily move it to a better host or easily expand past what they offer.

If may be better to find a good web host and use their 1-click install systems to install something like wordpress or joomla and spend some time learning those systems which can be indefinitely expanded and hosted where you like if you decide you don't like your current host.

 

[Baz Watkins]

It's a good idea to go with a pro, otherwise they could make mistakes and the mistakes could lose them business if that is what the website is for.

You can get a Wordpress website built by a pro for as little as £400 and that money buys you the security of the designers knowledge and experience. Even if your clients build it themselves the cost in labour to them is higher than outsourcing, as they could be doing something more valuable with their time.

Self build if they have nothing riding on it, if they have, give it to someone who knows what they are doing.

 

[optik]

Considering how cheap a professional designer can build a site these days there's absolutely no point wasting hours of your own time trying to bodge something together.

 

[trishmullen]

Hi everyone,

Someone has just asked me about building a basic website, this is something I know little about so I thought I'd ask you guys.

Can anyone recommend a good website building company that allows a novice web designer (no code!) to get a domain, produce a simple website, provide simple analytics, and any other functions that a basic website would require for their business?

They are fully aware of the benefits of hiring a professional but want to do it themselves.

Thanks in advance,

JA

With WordPress and the thousands of beautiful themes they have, it is a challenge but exciting for anyone to build their own website these days without having to know any code.

At the home of WordPress there is no end of support/tutorials etc.

Also on YouTube there are hundreds of video tutorials showing how to do almost anything in WordPress.

The added bonus is of course the tens of thousands of plugins that are out there to enhance the functionality of the WordPress site.

Everyone has to dip their toe in the water sometime to learn new skills and I've personally witnessed many sites built by so called experts that leave a lot to be desired.

Good luck with whatever option your friends' choose but WordPress, if the correct type of theme is chosen can be great fun and very rewarding.

My one piece of advice to them would be to avoid FREE WP themes at all cost. There are 2 default ones that come with WP, TwentyTen and TwentyEleven and these are OK. Many others have hidden code and other sinister stuff buried deep within the coding.

Trish

 

[Websitehandyman]

Differentiation of a professional is someone who started out not knowing anything and then went on to do it so much they they know more then most. So the sooner you get on that path the better, the is no magic pill these people take.

Get ya shelf to a hosting company, register a domain, login to cpanel, install wordpress and start adding content. Simple as that. A professional might take 20 mins but I'll give you 2 hours.

 

[gmeyrick]

If you want a relatively inexpensive option which doesn't require web hosting or the services of a web design company then it might be worth looking at SquareSpace (I'm new to this forum so I can't post links but you'll be able to find it using Google).

I've never used the service myself but I've heard good things about it.

 

[optik]

Differentiation of a professional is someone who started out not knowing anything and then went on to do it so much they they know more then most. So the sooner you get on that path the better, the is no magic pill these people take.

Get ya shelf to a hosting company, register a domain, login to cpanel, install wordpress and start adding content. Simple as that. A professional might take 20 mins but I'll give you 2 hours.

That's really not the definition of a professional.

Of course people can get along wp to a point, but you just have to look at any freelance site in the past two years and see the countless posts from people getting in to trouble with wp.

The common issues I keep seeing coming up are:

•Can't easily adjust themes to suit their needs
•Can't find an exact plugin that matches
•The thing has just broken
•It has been hacked

For something simple, it can work, but the more the site grows the more of a problem wp becomes. I've seen it time and time again and now steer well clear. Plenty of work fixing these things, but actually coding for wp is a pretty horrible experience.

 

[PDC]

I can't see why everyone is suggesting wordpress as the answer to this question. Don't get me wrong I've used it in the past but as some people point out here its not without its issues which, given the op wants a simple website puts it far outside the box. If he were asking for good blogging/content management software then yes, maybe wordpress but for a simple website its serious overkill.

He just needs some basic software with a wysiwyg editor, that or if he wants a decent job doing a professional, which is what I'd advise as what you save in the short term you will loose on having a badly coded, poorly optmised and probably poorly designed site which won't attract customers or clients.

 

[jfalgate]

I might of suggested Wordpress but it would be best if you explained a little more about what you are using it for?

 

[trishmullen]

Weebly is a website builder I used when first starting out and thought I was the bees knees with the creations I was building:redface:

It is a great piece of wysiwyg software that allows you to build professional websites in a really short time.

The very basic package is free and you can buy their premium once you get the hang of it and find it really meets your needs. MoonFruit is another one but the feedback I've seen on their sites is it may just stretch into a bit more technicality.

Good luck

Trish

 

[FIZIX Agency]

Personally I'd recommend they hire a freelancer or company to provide a website with a CMS so they can maintain it themselves.

Sure there are builder solutions out there that allow anyone to put a site together but they will get a load of tosh for their efforts, that will have no individuality, probably have crappy code and won't really offer them any tangible value.

As others have said, Wordpress is an option, but they would want to skin it (there are themes available, but then they would have no individuality) and again, may offer little real value.

 

[MrMediaKID]

Does your client have a budget in mind?
Are they wiloing to let a professional web design company build the platform then hand over the design with a user guide whereby your client can then update the website by themeselves?

PM if you wish to discuss this further.

MrMediaKID

 

[PDC]

I should add there is also the 1&1 package you see advertised on the TV.

A colleague of mine signed up to this but found it difficult to use. Between us we got it looking just about like he wanted but for what hes paying and tied into he could have got a bespoke site designed that would look and work a lot better.

Its not a bad set up, though the editing part doesn't work properly in Internet Explorer which was quite confusing until we figured that out, but more suited to a local sports club or a hobby website than a proper business one I would say.

 

[bennallick]

As a web designer who uses WordPress, I would reccommend using it for your own site. It's simple enough for a tech savy mind to play with, but like Optik says, it's a pain to customise if you don't know JavaScript, PHP or CSS. Some themes are good straight out of the box, but to make the most out of your site, it should really be customised, debugged and SEOd properly. Not to mention the visual and design aspect, which I must admit is the big time consumer when producing WordPress sites for my clients.
Good luck with your project, don't hesitate to ask if you need some more advice.

 

[Ziegler]

Another vote for Wordpress. Although it now has a lot more options than it did previously, it's still quite newbie-friendly. There are some good free templates for it, but a huge catalogue of paid templates which can be had for £30 or thereabouts. Then you just need a domain and some hosting, any basic package will normally do. It is worth using a host which has Fantastico in their Cpanel as that auto-installs Wordpress making it simpler.

 

[Alan]

With WordPress and the thousands of beautiful themes they have, it is a challenge but exciting for anyone to build their own website these days without having to know any code.

At the home of WordPress there is no end of support/tutorials etc.

We agree WordPress is great but has too many choices for the novice. That is why we built our solution for exactly the OP's request on WordPress but simplified the whole process and limited the choice so it is not so confusing.

 

[FIZIX Agency]

I should add there is also the 1&1 package you see advertised on the TV.

... respectful snip ...

No, just NO! lol

Appalling company with a terrible reputation. >.<
I have came across lots of bad feedback, never any good.

 

[idearepublic]

As a web designer I think it's best if a business can invest the minimum amount to get a professional to make a robust, functional and future proof site. I noticed most of the small businesses get more then 100 times return on investment on marketing materials.

 

[emma dcosta]

You can look online and find some good website design companies and call and check with them.

 

[DanielScott789]

There are many different companies offer a cheap web design services. It is necessary to check first your requirement, plan your budget and ask for a web hosting. You need to hire a good web hosting company who provide a good quality service and good privacy for your website.

 

[kim_il_sung]

I'm going to throw my two cents in and say "Wordpress" here, because as has been said it is very easy to use and there are lots of themes available to buy.

That said, I would discourage anyone with absolutely no experience from attempting to build a web site - more often than not, the result will not be good and many commercial software packages that claim to make it easy (godaddy web site builder, to name one) tend not to work very well and will leave you with a web site that looks like a preschool crayon drawing.

Some budget designers (myself included) can create a simple template based Wordpress site for as little as £100, so for the most part it's just not worth risking the DIY approach and the resultant loss of time and earnings that can go with it.

 

[janskiproducer]

I absolutely agree - do check out Wordpress, but try to avoid the "free" themes. Instead go for a theme by one of the large studios out there who hav professionally written themes, good support and a great track record.