Chicken bald back

[clucker1]

This is a new area for me and I haven't a clue! I'd like to get a basic website for my at present tiny baking hobby/business that I do. Does anyone have any recommendations? I'd like it to be as cheap as possible. They seem to be companies that do templates, but I'm not sure how I get a website address and website done. I've had a look at wix.com, only because I'd heard of them, but really after a recommendation/suggestion would be great.

[Charlottechicken]

The OH uses Weebly, the basic site is free and pretty easy to use, so he tells me!

[Olly]

I used 123.reg, it's really easy to use but there is an annual charge so it might not be for you.

[lizinsa]

Lots of podcasts I listen to are sponsored by Square Space and people I know who have used them have created beautiful websites https://www.squarespace.com/

 

There are lots of discounts codes out there for them too, just ask if you need them!

[clucker1]

Back onto building a website project, which I find scary as I haven't a clue ! Just need something simple for selling a few cakes locally really. Just had a look at square space and it seems American as prices are in dollars. Anyone any ideas of a simple website provider I can use. Thanks.

[Lewis]

I have a free wix website and pay for a domain name and associated email address. I find it works well for my hobby, if it was a more profitable business I would pay to remove the adverts and spend more time on the design.

 

Don't underestimate the power of Facebook and having a Facebook Page. I know lots of local companies who operate entirely through their page

[Charlottechicken]

Don't underestimate the power of Facebook and having a Facebook Page. I know lots of local companies who operate entirely through their page

 

This is very true! My blog is now Facebook only at present (and gets a lot of traffic) while I get myself organised with a little business. I have already found a few Facebook pages that will be useful to me and will certainly be setting up my own business page.

[AndyRoo]

It depends on how much you're prepared to pay, but my recommendation is don't use a free hosting company as what you can do tends to be quite limited.

 

I use a hosting company called Spiral Webhosting based in Ireland - they're very good in terms of sever support etc., and the servers are rarely down. They offer several different hosting packages to suit your needs.

 

One way to get a site up and running very quickly is to use a service called Wordpress. It was designed as a blogging system, but is very easily customisable by the user. You can set-up multiple users so that more than one person can update the site etc. etc.

 

Most web hosting sites now offer a one-click install directly from your user control panel so that you don't have to upload any files via FTP etc.

 

You can find hundreds of plugins and widgets for just about anything you want: so if you want to post pictures from your Instagram to a gallery on your site you can, if you want to add links to your other social media profiles (Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook etc,) you can.

You can set the system up to automatically post new blog entries to Twitter/Facebook etc.

 

You can create customisable contact forms and image galleries, change the fonts, define the CSS styles. It's all pretty simple.

 

There are literally thousands of free 'themes' (a theme is just another name for how it looks) which you can install by the press of a button which will completely change the look of the site. If you get bored of one theme, you can just deactivate it and install another. You can even preview the new themes before you activate them. If you do change the theme, the content stays the same.

 

If you want something that looks slightly more professional than one of the free themes (although the free ones are perfectly acceptable!) you can either learn to program your own - or you can pay someone to design one. The higher end themes can even be purchased for between £40 - 100, usually.

 

You can find themes that you can use to take orders and accept payments through too.

 

If you want to see an example of a site programmed with a free theme (which is deliberately quite a basic one), you can check out my blog: http://www.andyroo.me - although it is just about to be completely wiped when I start from scratch when I start selling my eBooks.

 

Any Q's, just ask - I may or may not be able to help, though.

[rachel84]

Hi,

 

I use www.create.net for my website showing some of my art etc. They have the function to have an online shop and also link through to facebook etc. There are templates to choose from and you just put your pictures and text on there so very easy but still with a nice level of being able to customise if you get a bit more adventurous.

 

It isn't free but not very much - i think mine is £2.99 per month. There is a free 30 day trial as well so you can always have a play and see how you get on. You can also buy your domain name through them so all sorted and they email you to remind you when it's going to expire.

 

Hope this helps, if you need any more info just let me know