Non-Techy Website Options - Office Live / Mr Site.. what else?

[jklondon]

Hiya,

Need to build a website for my other half who is setting up a nanny agency, the requirements are fairly straightforward so thinking of using an all-in-one package. Apart from Office Live or Mr Site (which looks average at best) are there any other new ones out there I should look at.

BTW is dabble db a good option for creating forms / database and can it be integrated into a site?

Many Thanks

JK

p.s. we need a logo and dont mind spending a bit for this, pls PM me if you can offer this service with portfolio and costs and turnaround times.

 

[ozbon]

I've sent a PM about this, but personally I'd make sure you've got a domain name, and put a small site on that, rather than using one of the all-in-one packages.

Yes, they're serviceable, but I'm yet to see one that actually churns out anything decent. OK, I'm a techie since just about birth, so it's easier for me to do the stuff direct, rather than use a package.

I just find that the all-in-ones end up limiting a site, rather than helping it work.

 

[Real World Hypnotherapy]

We use www.websitetonight.com it is part of Go Daddy.

Our website www.brookfieldnetworking.co.uk was used with the package. The graphics at the top were done by a designer though.

Also moonfruit is good, but it is all flash based.

We pay about £3 a month for our site!

Matt

 

[fairestcape]

These days it's not about what websites ARE, but what they DO. People expect a site to deliver content specific to their queries, and then to receive content specific to their needs.

The time of websites being little more than electronic "brochures" is over.

It would be great for you to have a website that could accept "bookings" - Mrs Smith is looking for some childcare for 3rd to 16 September, and comes to your site. She browses around, inputting her requirements (what type of person she's looking for, age of her kids, special skills - eg: must cook kosher foods, be able to speak french, has skills in looking after autistic children, etc) and the database returns a list of people matching her desired profiles.

Then, via an online reservation system, Mrs Smith can see which of her list of candidates is available during 3rd to 16 September, and "provisionally" book one (or more) of them for that period and perhaps even pay a 10% deposit online....

... the above is possible with Joomla and their JOMBOK/JOMRES module.

 

[fairestcape]

We use www.websitetonight.com it is part of Go Daddy.

GoDaddy!... I've heard a number of horror stories...

 

[OldWelshGuy]

I am not sure what to say really. Why do people nitpick when it comes to a buisiness card labouring for hours and hours, yetare prepared to risk having a poor website?

One of my sites got 3.5 million page impressions in a single month this year! Think long and hard about your website. your 'other half' needs to consider what she is doing1 By that I mean that she is being placed in sole car of what is probably THE most important thing in the lives of the sites viewers, their kids.

I am glad that at the end you say 'give us a price' I won't be as I don't do web design any longer, well not really for proper money, i tend to do it to help people out, for free in the case of good causes or charities I like etc.

 

[jklondon]

some interesting comments but the point of my initial post was to see what the best of breed 'packaged' solutions could offer rather than compare package to custom build.

I spent the last few hours registering domains / emails and now playing around with MS Office Live and I have to say I am impressed! The layouts are more configurable than I thought but what i really liked was the integration between opportunity mangement and the website ...

so for example, you can create contacts, products and opportunities - tie these up (so you have a sales pipeline) and then expose some of this externally to the website i.e. new jobs adverts which btw come up with an RSS feed. You can also have a simple document management function and expose this to users on the website i.e. updated T&Cs etc.

This concept is great and definatley the really does 'help' support the functions of a small business rather than just provide a simple static few pages.

Has anyone played around extensivley with the stylesheets / layouts in MS Office Live or have experience in this? If I can get this to my liking its basically a good solution to start with for sure

 

[jklondon]

... the above is possible with Joomla and their JOMBOK/JOMRES module.

yep was looking at these earlier - def a route to go down once she has some liquidity i.e. supply/demand on the books.

 

[Real World Hypnotherapy]

GoDaddy!... I've heard a number of horror stories...

Could you expand on this please?

We have been customers of Go Daddy for a number of years and we throughly reccomend them to anyone.

Matt

 

[Dwebs-Ltd]

some interesting comments but the point of my initial post was to see what the best of breed 'packaged' solutions could offer rather than compare package to custom build.

I spent the last few hours registering domains / emails and now playing around with MS Office Live and I have to say I am impressed! The layouts are more configurable than I thought but what i really liked was the integration between opportunity mangement and the website ...

so for example, you can create contacts, products and opportunities - tie these up (so you have a sales pipeline) and then expose some of this externally to the website i.e. new jobs adverts which btw come up with an RSS feed. You can also have a simple document management function and expose this to users on the website i.e. updated T&Cs etc.

This concept is great and definatley the really does 'help' support the functions of a small business rather than just provide a simple static few pages.

Has anyone played around extensivley with the stylesheets / layouts in MS Office Live or have experience in this? If I can get this to my liking its basically a good solution to start with for sure

Have a play with http://sitebuilder.gbdns.net/ we have a stack more templates on the way soon!

 

[OldWelshGuy]

I considered sitebuilder and some of the others, but decided against it in the end.

I was sick to death of Lottie (my 9 yr old) wanting money and stuff, so I told her it was about time she got a job and earned her own money. So I gave her a domain name I have owned for about 8 years (I know what a waste), and she now owns a web design and hosting company. I manage it for her, but the profit is hers.

http://www.web-design-wales.com/ it is an in browser ajax editor that incorportes tinymce text editor. nice and simple, throw the site together, and make regions editable.

If you try it, login, wait a couple of seconds and Bobs ur uncle!

I use it for my charity and good causes sites, saves them hassling me for changes.

 

[Barry_M]

Hi

I am Barry Mitchell. I design website for a living and guess what, I love it!!

I have designed a content manager for people like your self who have, or dont want, knowledge of how website really work.

I have called my system Eazy Site and I can say it is so eazy to use, that if you can point your mouse and type you will be in control of your website content.

I don't give you control over everything because I know you dont need it and this would make stuff to complicated.
The website I design for you will be search engine friendly and will get you quickly listed on Google and the others in very respectable positions.

What happens is, I design you a custom template suited to the image of your business, I add the content you give me and then show you how to use the website editor.

You do not need to download any programs as all the editing is done from any pc you have connected to the web. Also you will get free technical support for as long as you have your website and your website will be hosted on my own private ultra fast server.

If needed, you will also get a free domain name and up to 15 email accounts using your domain name which you can give to any one you like.

For more info head over to my website using the link in my signature or why not right click on my business card, save it and print it and contact me at your leisure

BTW (and to show you i am not fly by nighter)

if you would like to see my search engine rankings please feel free to go to Yahoo and enter in the search box

[URLNO="http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search?p=web+designers+scotland&fr=yfp-t-501&ei=UTF-8&rd=r1"] Web Designers Scotland[/URLNO] - 1st usualy

[URLNO="http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0geuovcHHdIpn8AO3pLBQx.?p=web+designers+uk&y=Search&fr=yfp-t-501&ei=UTF-8&rd=r1"] Web Designer UK[/URLNO] - Usualy 1st page

Web Designers Dundee - This is my local area and Im always within the first 3 results


thanks for reading