Buildinging a website

It sounds like you don't have any equipment of your own right now. So you are probably going to want to just rent server space from a web hosting service. If you want to get online quickly and affordably, find a web hosting provider that specializes in small businesses and their needs. There are a lot of good ones out there who are very affordable. Check out some of the other forum topics here at JumpUp because a lot of good recommendations about who to go with have been made throughout this website during the past year.



A good hosting service will be able to enable you to get your website up and running in just one weekend without having to know a lot about how to program the website. Some will have their staff program them for you (costly) but many have written what's called a wizard - it's a program they've created that helps you to create a website of your own without knowing anything at all about programming it. So you can do it yourself and change it whenever you want to, and still have it look nice.



It's always a good idea to sit down with a pen and paper and map out what your website will look like first. Get really specific. If I click on this part of the page, this is what should happen. I want this picture to appear here, etc. Then you can scan in your plans and email them to the customer service reps / programmers as you shop around for a hosting provider who will work for you.



You want to find out about reliability (time down), what happens when I start getting a lot of traffic to my website, and the ability of the hosting provider to handle many viewers simultaneously when shopping for a website.



Rolaine

I built my own through Homestead, my domain is with Go Daddy. Homestead will build one for you at a charge. I did my own, they offer a free 30 day trail no charge to see what you think I finished mine in less than four days. you can check mine out:

www.fourseasonstravel.org



Gigi Mattos

Four Seasons Travel

I like the flexibilty of the blog software. It's nice b/c it looks 2.0, plus there are so many plug-ins and widgets. You can change from 2-column to 3-column. You aren't "stuck" with anything. Wordpress is free. Pay $15 per month so your domain name is: www.yoursite.com, rather than www.yoursite.com/wordpress.



It's customizable and cheap! A great way to test your product worry free!

How ironic! I was just on homestead website last night trying to figure out the same thing! I agree with fourseasonstravel, homestead is good. By the way fourseasonstravel, I look forward to book a cruise with you next year! :-)

I would not recommend to build the website yourself if you are not a specialist. My opinion is a bit twisted (I run a web design agency), but you really want to leave such a critical part of your business to specialists.



Just make sure that the web design company you hire provides sets up a content management system for you, so that you can update your site, without having to depend on them for that.

How much does hiring someone to build for you usually on average run? How time consuming is running ones own site?

I like the option of having someone build it but having the ability to change and ad things as I want to.

Well, I LOVE THE OPTION OF SOMEONE ELSE BUILDING MY WEBSITE! The truth of the matter is, I don't have the seed money to do it. I have checked around with some designers and well, it sounds nice and all, but if you don't have seed money, grant or just funds period...its not going to happen.



I was laid off from my job due to a RIF, and the retirement money that I have I can't touch for anything! My husband works but his job paids the bills...I have no extra income...any suggestions? Wanna barter? You do my website and I do some administrative work for you? You like, I get more clients and then I can pay for the things that I do need...any takers?

I concur with galide that having a Content Management System (CMS) is essential. With this type of system you get help customizing the "look" and some features up front, and then you write articles and organize the content yourself afterwards.



There are a number of these to choose from, and some of the open-source, free ones are excellent. I have set up the systems for people on GoDaddy and 1and1, using the Joomla CMS (www.Joomla.org), one of several open-source tools. GoDaddy and 1and1 both have an automatic installation program, so you really only have to spend half an hour figuring out where the right button is to push, and a few minutes filling out some basic information. From there you're up and running with a default look and feel, and then you can buy templates to make it look even better. All this for a minimum of about $5 a month (or more if you need more) in hosting, and the software is included. Template clubs can cost ~$75/year, and you can pick one of many templates to improve your site.



We have product information, electronic ordering, interactive features, a blog, and many other features including online tools such as health or dental insurance calculators. You can see my running website as an example, where I pay about $20/month in hosting, plus some significant development time up-front, which could be less for a less complicated site. An out-of-the-box implementation of Joomla costs nothing, and you've got a running website that you can edit yourself if you're moderately handing with the web (which you probably are if you're online here). We're promoting a health insurance buyers guide on our site, and it is very specific to the book and it's content. The URL is www.BestHealthInsuranceBook.co....



The most important question that I ask people who want a website is: "What is your goal?" You must make the website serve a purpose: an online brochure, a gathering place, electronic ordering, and so on. Sometimes things are available that can be put together quickly and easily without spending a lot of money or time. Someone who knows exactly what they need from the website can get it done more quickly and for less money than someone who isn't sure what it can do for them. Sometimes using an existing function on another website can get the job done.

Ok...so here are my preperation for 2008 questions:



1. Who builds your website? Me



2. How do you go about building your website? I set mine up using Microsoft Office Live Basic (free version), I had a little html knowledge from working with my MySpace page. I just viewed other websites and decided what features I did and didn't like about them and then tried to implement the things I did like. I also spend countless hours reading up on SEO and implementing what I've learned.



3. How much does it cost to start up and then run your website yearly? $0 - not counting the value of my time



4. What has been the benefit of your website ? Bringing exposure to my business and well as assisting in explaining what my business is



5. how long have you have your website up? 3 months



6. Post your website links please! www.vbsofok.com



7. How to shop for building a websie...questions to ask from a clueless person here? I can't really help you there, I didn't really shop around I just found the Microsoft package and used that, because I have experience with their other products I felt I would be able to pick up on it easily. Also, it was free.



Thanks ahead for all posts!

I am a web developer and I can tell you we (the guy that I work for) charge $80/hr and can do either fixed quote or time and materials which is basically ~20% of the fixed quote.



A lot of my buddies from college are also web designers/web developers and they charge over $125/hr.



With this said we do all custom work involving XHTML/CSS/PHP/MySQL/Java/AJAX and Ruby. (These are all separate languages in the web development world).



I would say if you are on a tight budget goto one of the builder sites - you won't get exactly what you are looking for but it will get you a web presence. On the other hand, if you want a website with content that you can update from within the website and get exactly what you are looking for then it would be wise to see it as an investment and write it off on your taxes as an asset - see if your web development company offers financing. A lot of times there are ways to get your money back on your website so it is an investment and you know what they say - you have to spend money to make money.



A few of the sites that I am currently working on:

www.linworth.com

www.abidesignbuild.com

Hi Peggyd7,



Great questions!



A website can be an amazing business tool. I would first ask you what are your marketing/business considerations before diving in on a site. This homework will save you hours, days, years, and money!



You can try building a site yourself of have it done for you. I like the oil change analogy. I can do an oil change myself, but it is faster, easier, cheaper and cleaner to have it done at a shop!



There are a number of steps and considerations to get your site up. I would be glad to share my experience and suggestions.



Scott

jump@creativerg.com

www.creativerg.com

Are there any Texas or California based web designers here?

Peggyd7,

To answer your questions,



1. My development staff and I do

2. We start with an ideal and design the layout, then export the layout and begin coding. Since this is our main line of work it is second nature to us.

3. We offer very affordable solutions, we are currently getting ready to revamp our packages and redesign our own website. We have a start-up plan which includes a website design, domain registration, and 1yr of hosting for $99. each year after it renews for $69. If you bring your own domain with you, the 1st yr is $89 and $59 each year after.

4. Our website provides our virtual store front it is where 85% of our business comes from. The other 15% is from local customers.

5. We have maintain an online presence since 1994, in one fashion or another

6. http://www.3StrikesDesign.com

7. Using any internet search engine will allow you to search out how to do it yourself if you so desire to learn the design and coding.



Let me know if I can be of any further assistance to you. If you want to take a shot at it yourself and get stuck, feel free to shoot me a message and we will assist you.



Thanks

Kevin

3StrikesDesign

Link building is also very important aspect for increasing the link popularity,

So here are tips



1) Starting an adwards program.

2) Giving Testimonials

3) Posting to discussion board and message boards

4) Starting the link contest.

5) Writing article & allowing them to re-published

6) Submitting to directories

7) Exchanging links to other webmasters



http://www.giftbasketsdelights.com/