Guest gracewriter Posted April 9, 2008 Does anyone know of some economical websites? I don't have that much to spend monthly and need to get something up quick so it has to be something with templates. I found one that's $4.95 a month, which is aobut my price range at the moment because I need two seperate sites, but they only give me three pages. I plan on uploading a lot of images of my work and use paypal as a means of collecting money. I need something really uncomplicated at the moment, as I need to be spending my time making my signs so I can make some money! Any ideas? Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firemalt 10 Posted April 9, 2008 I went with godaddy.com and got a domain name and 1 year hosting service for something like $45.00. I think you can add another domain name for $1.99 per name, per year. Then I just added a simple template I found online, edited it a little, and finished... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest gracewriter Posted April 9, 2008 I just found this site: http://www.freewebsitetemplates.com/ So next I would go to godaddy and bring the template with me? This is so confusing! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slopchops 1 Posted April 9, 2008 Google and Yahoo both offer free web sites. Not much to them but it's better than a phone ad. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SmallSigns 23 Posted April 9, 2008 Microsoft office live -- free domain name and website www.officelive.com Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BannerJohn 1,324 Posted April 9, 2008 Microsoft office live -- free domain name and website www.officelive.com That is what I use...you get your own domain name...not something followed by 'yahoo.com' or something.. NO ads (unlike the cheaper godaddy plan). EASY to design (drag and drop,really). I can't think of a single solution that is better for your needs.And it is FREE. That includes the domain name. So,in a few words...you have nothing to lose. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest gracewriter Posted April 9, 2008 I'm in live office right now. It only gives me a few choices for the font style, none of which work. Is it possible to drag another font into the header of the home page? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest gracewriter Posted April 9, 2008 looks like they have a forum with people actually on it like this one. Thanks for the advice. You're right looks like for free microsoft live is the way to go. Just hope i can change the graphics on the header, would like to put in my own. No doubt someone over there will help me with it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SmallSigns 23 Posted April 9, 2008 With office live you can actually use front page to design your site and upload it to live office. The drag and drop is for those that don't know design Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Print Star 0 Posted April 10, 2008 why do they want credit card info if it is free? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BannerJohn 1,324 Posted April 10, 2008 why do they want credit card info if it is free? to prove you are who you say you are and not some spammer setting up a link farm. I've had mine for almost a year and yet to see a penny come out of my credit card., Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
routesmith 0 Posted April 10, 2008 Its says it costs $$$ $29 after the first free month, no?? Wayne Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rebjr 0 Posted April 10, 2008 No matter wot you wanna buy, you only get wot you pay for. If you get a cheap site today, it will follow you in to tommorrow. Folks will 'member the banner ads and stuff that kept popping up and interfering with their browsing and may likely black list your site if you are using one of them free-bee-dealies .. ;-) Consider .. initially doing an inexpensive site, a page or two, and marketing in your local area. This would allow you to start professionally and as you grow and expand beyond your immediate area you can spend to add on, building a bigger site. Go with somebody who can set you up a business card site, which is single page generally. Prices should range from $90 to a hunnert bucks a year and should include initial building/set-up. Shopping carts and all of that can come about later. Important thing is exposure .. not bling-bling. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BannerJohn 1,324 Posted April 10, 2008 Its says it costs $$$ $29 after the first free month, no?? Wayne Never cost me a penny. Not after the first month,not after 11 months. There might be other levels besides the basic that cost. This is true with most hosting sites. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BannerJohn 1,324 Posted April 10, 2008 No matter wot you wanna buy, you only get wot you pay for. If you get a cheap site today, it will follow you in to tommorrow. Folks will 'member the banner ads and stuff that kept popping up and interfering with their browsing and may likely black list your site if you are using one of them free-bee-dealies .. ;-) Consider .. initially doing an inexpensive site, a page or two, and marketing in your local area. This would allow you to start professionally and as you grow and expand beyond your immediate area you can spend to add on, building a bigger site. Go with somebody who can set you up a business card site, which is single page generally. Prices should range from $90 to a hunnert bucks a year and should include initial building/set-up. Shopping carts and all of that can come about later. Important thing is exposure .. not bling-bling. cheap doesn't always mean in quality. The MS live site does everything that a fully hosted site does (including MORE than one page) There ar NO BANNER ADS on the Mocosoft Live hosted site. No pop-ups (at least not in my browser) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rebjr 0 Posted April 10, 2008 cheap doesn't always mean in quality. The MS live site does everything that a fully hosted site does (including MORE than one page) There ar NO BANNER ADS on the Mocosoft Live hosted site. No pop-ups (at least not in my browser) U b abso-lutely k-rect Banner J ... But, a ton of foks get trapped into the Go-Daddy stuff where banner ads overwhelm them. As well, there is more to know about doing a website than how to drag-n-drop, write html, etc., even being good at design may cause folks to skip passed you to the next fella .. People won't wait but so many seconds for activity to begin on a page b4 they skin it to another one. Meta tags, search engine listings, and how to have a hunnert pics on your page but have them load and be recognized as one. The list goes on. These are things that make big differences in page hits, stats, storage and bandwidth issues. These are all things that a professional design studio should do for you as well. I've always held to the idea that I do what I do to the best of what I can. The rest I put in the capable hands of folks who do the other stuff, leaving me free to market my skills and earn more than had I tried to take short cutz and try to do the other guyz job myself. I've spent much of my short-lived-got-bored-outta-my-skull-retirement studying web design, built a bunch of sites for folks, and thought I had it alllllllllllll down until I hung around a professional for a bit. ;-0 Doesn't stop me from tinkering .. as it don't you .. saw some of your old posts and you are a tinkerer of the 1st degree ... ;-) A good program for building web stuff is WebEasy, BTW. It costs about $50, and is very user friendly to anybody who has ever used any type of graphics program. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cuttter 1 Posted April 12, 2008 I use google apps. But the backgounds are limited. I have made 11 pages and stopped, not because I can't post anymore but because I ran out of pages to make. They cost 9.99 for the year, hosting and designing. It also lets you put a shopping cart (from your cart host) I use paypals carts, and buttons. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haumana 1,221 Posted April 12, 2008 I don't think anyone here really addressed whether or not the OP requires software to assist with designing a site, or if they already have some software that they use or are planning to use (i.e. Microsoft FrontPage, etc.). If assistance it needed with software to help design, then I would suggest finding a host that will have that service available. Different website hosting companies offer different software. It won't matter how cheap it is if you don't like using the software. Try not to be in too much of a rush to get it done. Take the time to look for something that suits your needs. If you plan on eventually make it e commerce, then take that into consideration what shopping cart you're going to want to use, and what platform it needs to be supported on (Windows or Linux). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CyberSultan 6 Posted April 12, 2008 I really like 1and1.com. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
routesmith 0 Posted April 12, 2008 good points all! Wayne Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alillowr 0 Posted April 12, 2008 It was mentioned that when you sign up for office live that the domain that you register with them is yours once your all signed up, so Ive got a couple of questions. How would you go about using the domain name for the email for example myname@mybusiness.com or is that something completely seperately paid for. One thought is to maybee register the domain name with office live but then turn around and use a different hosting system ( I am thinking about building one of my computers into a webserver). Any opinions? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BannerJohn 1,324 Posted April 12, 2008 no idea but on the Office Live site they have a gfood FAQ section AND they are good about responding to email questions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rebjr 0 Posted April 12, 2008 There's always a catch to everything, tho. With office the 1st year is free domain registration, AFTER that it is $14.95 a year. Now, you can buy domain names a blue zillion places without any catches whatsoever, point them wherever you want to point them for $8.95 a year. Now, I wonder who owns the domain name if after the first year you want to take it someplace else? If you pay them $14.95 you probably do, if not I'll lay odds that they do. And some folks charge mega bucks to sell you back your own domain. Do they charge you for hosting after the 1st year promo period is up? If they don't and you own your name point it someplace else and keep doing that and you can effectively run a large site for little or no money. Read the fine print. Use 'em, abuse 'em, don't let 'em abuse you ..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BannerJohn 1,324 Posted April 13, 2008 I was lucky enough to get mine last year which means I pay NOTHING from now on. According to whois..I own my domain name. Basic service will never cost for hosting. Microsoft might be a lot of things but they aren't fly-by-night and they aren't crooks. I trust them to do what they say. My go-daddy renewal just came through...DOUBLE what it was for the first year. Not even on their website does it say anything about that. AS far as hosting,my MS LIve website is as good as any other..and even if I had to pay $14.95 a year that's a BARGAIN considering there are NO BANNER ADS. Hosting is hosting...your website is whatever YOU make of it and they just put it on a server. One is the same as the other. I can't imagine anyone having more reliable servers and more reliable bandwidth than Microsoft. Can you? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites