web builder + hosting recomendations

[Zono]

I'm trying to set up a website and been looking at a few hosting + web builder sites. wix looks quiet good. what other sites are recommended in terms of value, quality ( templates and probational looking) and support?

 

[imagesoft]

I'm trying to set up a website and been looking at a few hosting + web builder sites. wix looks quiet good. what other sites are recommended in terms of value, quality ( templates and probational looking) and support?

wix is very good if you know how to build and compose a e commerce site yourself and now they are doing html which will be better for search engines

1&1: I do not like because the templates, you cannot adjust to specific measurements and also you need to sign up before you can see their templates

Wii hosting: they offer cheaper web services/hosting, c panel and also a application on c panel called rv site builder in which you can choose many templates to build

Site2you: introducing easier ways to make your websites. By three clicks you can make your websites. You have also live demo options, you can get customize your websites and make your full websites with some few clicks by few minutes.

weebly: tested it and it’s really exciting. Create a free website & blog instantly, easy drag and drop interface, no need any technical skills, tons of professional designs in showcase and host your domain for free of cost.
Web247

 

[BobbyBoy]

Hi Zono

I built my own site using Blue Voda - its very simple to use and the support from them and Vodahost has been first class

They have an active support forum and also some very useful video 'how to' guides. Having said that Blue Voda is so easy to use, you should not have too many problems

Hope this helps

Bobby

 

[Zono]

thanks some good sites there. i do like the look of weebly.

what is the difference between a html and a flash site ? referring to wix.

there is also square space and their sites look very good but seem difficult to build for a beginner.

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Hi Zono,

You'll probably find the sitebuilder companies like weebly massively overpriced, restrictive, and not very good for SEO.

Flash is definitely a bad idea from SEO and usability perspectives.

All of these make it very hard to move away to another provider, so you don't have proper ownership of your site.

Any decent host will provide a good site builder such as RVSiteBuilder Pro which lets you easily create proper HTML sites which you then own and can do what you like with.

However, we normally recommend Wordpress. It's very easy to use, is good for SEO out of the box, excellent if you add an SEO plugin, and there are lots of free themes out there and plenty of support, including on this forum.

That'll allow you to make a far more effective and professional site than what you can achieve with the likes of wix and weebly.

And if you want to get a developer involved, then you've got that freedom too, as it's so widely used.

There's lots of support on this forum and across the internet to make a good site in Wordpress.

I hope that helps.

If you've got any questions I'm happy to help.

Good luck!

Dan

 

[Zono]

thanks Dan
I thought wordpress is more suited to bloggers rather than a business website.

You are very right about not owning the website and I would pretty much have to stick to one provider but the reason i want to go for the combo is that both hosting and the website is dealt with one provider.
i will look into wordpress.

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Hi Zono

Wordpress did start of as blogging tool, but it's now a fully fledged CMS.

As an example, a member on here put this together themselves in Wordpress having never used it before, with a bit of help from us and other UKBF members:

www.teamleithtraining.co.uk

Wordpress also makes it obviously very easy to add a blog to your site, which can really help for SEO and to drive traffic.

There are also a number of UKBF members that specialise in building Wordpress sites.

Anyway, just another option to consider (as you can tell I don't like the sitebuilder sites).

Best of luck

Dan

 

[Zono]

ok thanks. just been wordpress site now. i have registered and i have the option to create a blog for free or a pay upgrade for full features. is this how it works?

its around $96.

i guess i have to read more on this.

 

[imagesoft]

thanks some good sites there. i do like the look of weebly.

what is the difference between a html and a flash site ? referring to wix.

there is also square space and their sites look very good but seem difficult to build for a beginner.

Flash ones are written in Flash - you'll need Adobe Flash to edit it, and all your website visitors will need the Flash plugin. HTML ones are written in HTML, which is simpler to understand and doesn't need a visitor to have any plugins.

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

ok thanks. just been wordpress site now. i have registered and i have the option to create a blog for free or a pay upgrade for full features. is this how it works?

its around $96.

i guess i have to read more on this.

That's the Wordpress hosted option.

Normally you'd go for "self hosted", which is where you install Wordpress yourself in your own hosting account.

Any decent web host will provide a one click installer so you can have Wordpress installed for you in seconds.

When you login to your admin area, you can then search for and select themes from within Wordpress, and install them with a click.

Upgrades are done with just a click inside your Wordpress admin area too.

So gone are the days of downloading files, uploading them, running installations and so forth.

It's all taken care of for you now, so it's very easy.

So the wordpress site is a good source for information, but people normally don't actually go there to set it up.

I hope that helps.

 

[Zono]

great thanks. i might give wordpress a go. another few things i want to know is:

1.Dan does your company offer a month by month hosting service? as if i don't find wordpress my cup of tea i can move to another web builder

2. on most hosting providers they indicate number of email accounts included on the plan but there is always extra fees for email account again which is very confusing.
if my domain name is abctrade.co.uk i would need maybe 2 or 3 email accounts for abctrade.com will these email accounts be included in the plans ??

3. on the free wordpress templates, can i remove the theme/template names and can i design my own site structure and add my own logo?

i am very new to all this as on my previous venture everything was done for me

 

[webhostuk]

great thanks. i might give wordpress a go. another few things i want to know is:



2. on most hosting providers they indicate number of email accounts included on the plan but there is always extra fees for email account again which is very confusing.
if my domain name is abctrade.co.uk i would need maybe 2 or 3 email accounts for abctrade.com will these email accounts be included in the plans ??

I don't feel you will have any problem getting unlimited email accounts on shared hosting as most hosting provider now offer unlimited email accounts/ database etc on shared package. You need not pay extra just for email accounts.

3. on the free wordpress templates, can i remove the theme/template names and can i design my own site structure and add my own logo?

i am very new to all this as on my previous venture everything was done for me

Yes wordpress is quit user friendly you can upload your own logo change the design if you are good at it.

 

[enjoylife]

I started use Hihosting.co.uk this year. Reliable and very quick response. Dan also offer discount to UKBF members. Very nice guy to work with.

 

[bdw]

I thought wordpress is more suited to bloggers rather than a business website.

DIY websites of most types are more suited to bloggers and hobbyists rather than a business website. If you need a website for your business get it done professionally.

 

[bdw]

As an example, a member on here put this together themselves in Wordpress having never used it before, with a bit of help from us and other UKBF members:
www.teamleithtraining.co.uk

This is a very bad example. This website belongs to an IT training business who actually offer Wordpress training themselves. I would have been very surprised if they had turned out anything other than an acceptable website.

Building a site with Wordpress is not easy for those who do not have the required skills.

.

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

great thanks. i might give wordpress a go. another few things i want to know is:

1.Dan does your company offer a month by month hosting service? as if i don't find wordpress my cup of tea i can move to another web builder

2. on most hosting providers they indicate number of email accounts included on the plan but there is always extra fees for email account again which is very confusing.
if my domain name is abctrade.co.uk i would need maybe 2 or 3 email accounts for abctrade.com will these email accounts be included in the plans ??

3. on the free wordpress templates, can i remove the theme/template names and can i design my own site structure and add my own logo?

i am very new to all this as on my previous venture everything was done for me

Hi Zono,

1. Certainly. If you don't find Wordpress your cup of tea you can also use the site builder we provide, RVSiteBuilder Pro, which is arguably the best one out there.

2. Some poor hosts will charge heavily for extras that make little difference to them, such as email accounts. We, like any decent host don't put any limits on this, so yes you can have those email accounts included.

3. Yes, it's quite straightforward to add your own logo or header, and removing the theme name is simply a case of editing the header. Some people prefer to remove the Wordpress mention in the footer too, which can help if people are searching for Wordpress footers to spam sites and so forth, and also helps make your site look more like your own. Of course you'd want to respect the license of the theme.

I hope that helps

@bdw

It completely depends on the person. The good thing about Wordpress is it's very hard to have a broken site with bad code, which isn't the case with a lot of the site builder sites (which produce terrible code themselves) or doing it from scratch, where lots of mistakes can be made.

So if it looks good, it's generally good under the hood (provided it's kept up to date and dodgy out of date plugins aren't installed - but this is something as as a responsible host we keep an eye on). In fact, our one click installer can email the user when Wordpress needs updating.

As I stated in one of my earlier posts, the beauty of software like Wordpress is that it if you want to get a professional involved you can.

So we see a lot of people make a decent looking site (especially considering their budget) in Wordpress, and then as their business grows, hiring a professional to work with what they've made and bring it up a level. And all the time, they're empowered to add their own content, and make their own updates.

So for someone on a budget I think it's the best solution out there. It's certainly better than the site builder sites.

Using Wordpress, even building a site yourself, doesn't preclude you from getting professional web design.

In fact I believe the two can be complimentary.
And some people simply don't have the budget to get a professional involved from the start. There's no need take an all or nothing approach, which is where Wordpress comes in.

@enjoylife

Thanks, always a pleasure hosting a UKBF member.

 

[bdw]

@bdw
It completely depends on the person.

Very much so and my point was that using the website of a professional IT company as an example of a DIY job was not really a good illustration.

.

 

[bdw]

The good thing about Wordpress is it's very hard to have a broken site with bad code

How the aforementioned Team Leith website validates.
.

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Those are pretty minimal, and mostly seem to be caused by a Google+ link/plugin. Themes will be variable in quality.

I still stand by Wordpress being one of the best tools out there if you want to do it yourself. There's really no point in comparing professional design with that done by someone by themselves. And as I said, using Wordpress doesn't preclude anyone from doing that.

We've got lots of Wordpress sites hosted with us, made by first time users that are of a similar level. It really isn't difficult to make a decent looking site in Wordpress. If you can use facebook you'll be fine, especially considering the wealth of help available across the Internet and on this forum.

At the end of the day, I don't think Zono is in the market for a professionally designed website, at least not at the moment, so I'm trying to give the best advice considering that.

Anyway, have a great weekend everybody.

 

[bdw]

Those are pretty minimal, and mostly seem to be caused by a Google+ link/plugin.

Did you note the last one?
" Line 160, Column 100: Cannot recover after last error. Any further errors will be ignored."

I still stand by Wordpress being one of the best tools out there if you want to do it yourself.

It may well be but we have to recognise its limitations.

Have a good one!

 

[The Knowledge]

I'm not sure I agree that wordpress is easy to use. I guess from a CMS point of view things are fairly straightforward but you are pretty limited with what you can do. Earlier this year I had an idea for a simple affiliate website that I wanted to explore, and in an attempt to cut costs I went onto one of these freelance sites and emplyed someone from India.

In the end I didn't really save anything because communication was difficult and I had to keep requesting remedial work which they wanted paying for. I did lay down a fairly detailed specification but the work quality was poor. In the end I became frustrated and shelved the project. Maybe I should lurk around here and look for a designer/developer .

I provided a well known paid theme which the developer told me they could work with and edit ("no problem") but I seemed to end up with a product that broke at every opportunity. It seemed I couldn't add pages, posts, whatever without screwing the whole site up.

I have some "basic" HTML knowledge, and a traditional website with an index page and then a page structure seems to make sense to me. Wordpress is kind of bizarre.

Having said that I have seen some good looking wordpress sites.

What I really search for in a desinger is;
*reasonable rates
*ability to provide advice and guidance (how am I supposed to know how to detail a spec - I ain't a web developer guv)
*Ability to produce a site that validates (with no prior knowledge and an instructional video I built a basic but decent looking site that validates, so from a pro I would expect no less).
*Ability to assist in the diagnosis of technical problems such as affiliate links not tracking. Is there something wrong with the code or is the problem on the other end?

 

[bdw]

*ability to provide advice and guidance (how am I supposed to know how to detail a spec - I ain't a web developer guv)

You hit the nail on the head with that one. The problem with DIY'ers is that they do not know what they do not know. They make all sorts of basic errors in design, layout and copy without realising the damage they could be doing to their business.

That is why we always stress that website consultancy is generally included in our prices. You don't benefit from this if you do it yourself or (in most cases) if you employ someone from abroad.

.

 

[bdw]

I'm not sure I agree that wordpress is easy to use.

Wordpress is not easy to use unless you already have lots of IT experience. When I built my first WP website it took me some time to get my head round it and I am a web designer.

I am not saying that people with lesser skills cannot do it but be prepared to spend many, many hours working on it.

.

 

[The Knowledge]

Wordpress is not easy to use unless you already have lots of IT experience. When I built my first WP website it took me some time to get my head round it and I am a web designer.

I am not saying that people with lesser skills cannot do it but be prepared to spend many, many hours working on it.

.

Well yes, this is the thing. I've lost count of the amount of times somebody has told me that wordpress is "easy" to use. Probably it's easy if you are a php programmer and/or a wordpress theme editing guru......

I like your straightforward answers and transparent approach on your site. I might take my little project off the shelf and contact you in the next couple of weeks.

 

[bdw]

Thanks. :redface:


.

 

[Logged_In]

You generally get what you pay for - definitely as far as web hosting is concerned. Free hosting sites will serve up ads and be slow, and can also hold your domain and content hostage.

As far as site development is concerned, you really can't go wrong with Joomla - it's open source and can be expanded infinitely with plug-ins and component add-ons (thousands of them, both free and paid). It's not a huge learning curve and the community is awesome when you need support.

I've been a web designer/developer since the early days, and I pretty much use Joomla exclusively these days. You can PM me if you need help.

 

[Zono]

well since my post I have joined hi Hosting and I highly recommend them as a company with fantastic support. Dan has been a great help especially for a novice like me.

I have also downloaded wordpress and playing around with it. there are some great themes out there for around $20 to $50 which you can customize to your spec. once I have decided on my theme I will post a link here and would love to have some feed back.

I have found wordpress relatively user friendly for the basic stuff but there is so much depth to it and most of the customisation will require lots and lots of codes which is needs many hours of studding in my case.

hopefully I should have a site by mid next week.

 

[bdw]

needs many hours of studding in my case.

Harrumphh!

.

 

[fisicx]

If I can add my 2p.

Do not worry about the code. Start adding you posts and pages and building up the content. Investigate a few useful plugins and experiment with different themes.

The only code you need to go anywhere near at this stage is the stylesheet. If you fiddle with any of the theme files there's a good chance it will all go pear shaped.

However, if you really want to experiment then the wordpress codex and API support pages will keep you occupied for a while. And remember, whatever you want to do somebody will have already done it so use google make use of the existing code.

But. It's your content that matters not how if looks.

 

[stevetamer]

Well yes, this is the thing. I've lost count of the amount of times somebody has told me that wordpress is "easy" to use. Probably it's easy if you are a php programmer and/or a wordpress theme editing guru......

I´m not an programmer , but I think Joomla is easy to use, there are many tutorials in youtube, and a great support community

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Joomla is far more difficult than Wordpress. IMO of course.

 

[bdw]

I´m not an programmer , but I think Joomla is easy to use, there are many tutorials in youtube, and a great support community

You don't have to be a programmer to be able to use platforms like WP and Joomla. They are essentially designed for people who are not programmers.

What you do need to be is well up to speed in PC skills. You need the sort of background and skills that will allow you to understand what is going on without requiring to understand the coding behind it. For every non IT person who can manage this effectively there are dozens who fail.

Contrary to what those who already understand these systems tell you it is NOT easy for the vast majority of people.

.

 

[GeorgeM]

Great thread. I have not used Wordpress myself for a website, but may do so in the future.

It would be great if the OP could post their feedback after they have built their WP site, how easy it was to build, etc.

 

[Carpetman]

I have started messing around with Wordpress Instant. I seem to be getting on ok with it.......just practicing at the moment.

 

[HostXNow]

Any decent host will provide a good site builder such as RVSiteBuilder Pro which lets you easily create proper HTML sites which you then own and can do what you like with.

+1 to this.

 

[Tiger125]

Hi Zono

If you're going the wordpress route there are web hosting companies like Namesco who offer a 1 click installation feature for Wordpress, very useful if you don't want the hassle of trying to work out how to install it yourself.
Very reasonable on domains and hosting too (keep the domain registered in your name to avoid future hassle).

Personally I would recommend finding a good local web design freelancer who's been around for a while and getting an html site built if it's just a business site with no ecommerce or such. It makes the SEO side of things much easier to manage.

 

[bdw]

^ What he says ^.

.

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Why would you agree with that, other than the freelance bit which you obviously would because you've spent the whole thread saying people shouldn't do it themselves and should use a designer like you, however, some people simple don't have the budget for that, or don't need to.

As for namesco, they're overpriced and not very good for service as far as I can tell.

Any decent host will offer a one click installer, and no reputable host or designer will register domains in their as opposed to their clients name.

Wordpress is actually very good for SEO out of the box, and excellent when you add an SEO plugin such as Yoast. SEO is more difficult and expensive if you're making a static html site from scratch.

The vast majority of people will find Wordpress easy. It's simpler than Facebook in many ways. You just need to learn how it works. If you can use Facebook, Word, and so forth, you can use Wordpress.

The people that may struggle are those that aren't computer literate. But nobody is going to recommend they create their own Wordpress site, a bit of common sense needs to be applied.

There's so much help available on the internet, from forums, guides, videos on youtube, and the wordpress site itself that really helps make it easy.

Here's a good resource: http://codex.wordpress.org/Getting_Started_with_WordPress

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

well since my post I have joined hi Hosting and I highly recommend them as a company with fantastic support. Dan has been a great help especially for a novice like me.

I have also downloaded wordpress and playing around with it. there are some great themes out there for around $20 to $50 which you can customize to your spec. once I have decided on my theme I will post a link here and would love to have some feed back.

I have found wordpress relatively user friendly for the basic stuff but there is so much depth to it and most of the customisation will require lots and lots of codes which is needs many hours of studding in my case.

hopefully I should have a site by mid next week.

Thanks Zono,

It's always a pleasure hosting a UKBF member, I'm glad you're getting on well.

Your site's coming along nicely.

I'd like to echo fiscx's comments, don't worry about the code, I'd focus on adding your pages and content instead.

This will help with SEO and getting your pages noticed by Google.

Because Wordpress is so widely used, a quick google search will return a lot of useful advice from people that have wanted to do the same thing before.

The Internet forum here is good too if you have a specific question.

Good luck!

If you need any more help just let us know.

All the best,

Dan

 

[bdw]

... you've spent the whole thread saying people shouldn't do it themselves and should use a designer like you, however, some people simple don't have the budget for that, or don't need to.

I haven't actually suggested that anyone should use me so please don't twist the truth. And I have hardly spent the whole thread on this. You need to pay attention to what I am saying if you want to comment on it.

I don't actually tout for business in this forum. I tell people the truth based on actual experience. I have been doing websites since 2001 and a large proportion of my clients are people who tried doing it themselves at first using Wordpress and other systems.

I have been around here for about four years and I think I have had one person contact me about a website. Some of this is because I try to be straight with people and it does not always work in my favour but then I don't need any business from this or any other forum. Please try to grasp that and don't insult me.

I frequent forums because I like to try to help people and I get a bit bored working alone at times.