Has your nanny website helped you find work?

[Supernanny19]

Do you find it useful to have a website.
Ive seen a few of you mumsnutters mumsnetters with them.
Also how much does one cost to make? I know some are free but I would want one like nannynicks with your own URL.

Thanks x

Don't think it would help you get a nanny job.
May help you get some evening babysitting though.
A site like mine costs around £25 per year in terms of hosting plus domain name. Site design and coding are another matter of course - if you can design and code yourself then that part is free.

In terms of finding a nanny job, I would suggest investing time and effort in getting your CV produced well along with supporting material - so a nice portfolio of references, certificates, plus details of places you would likely visit with children.
You could produce some kind of document package that you sent out when initially responding to an advert, which included things like CV, written references.
I feel that as a nanny you will be applying for jobs, not having people stumble upon a website you may have. So focus attention on the initial impression you make when you first contact a family - which these days is often via e-mail.

100% agree with Nick. I'm not sure how helpful my site will be in securing me work atm to be honest but I just quite liked the idea of having one for temp positions etc.
When I apply for a job, I have a cover letter summing up my experience and general 'work ethic' if you will. I also have all my references, CRB+a photo scanned in PDF format that I can as part of my application email along with my CV.
Prospective employers seem to really appreciate it I've found!

Thanks for your help guys

i dont have a website but i advertise on gumtree, NJ and netmums and I get a lot of work from my ads

all are free

I have a website and actively advertise it on gumtree etc to get weekend work/babysitting work/overnight work etc and for that I'd say it's invaluable as parents have somewhere to go and look at who I am and then hopefully will want to contact me right away. Rather than see an ad on gumtree and think, "yes she sounds nice I must send her an email"

IYSWIM? Also I have a portfolio that includes my CV, relevant qualifications and certificates and references. I also made some business cards which are great as parents always talk to me when I'm out and about with my charges, so giving them a card is dead handy. Every person I've given a business card too (only about 28ish) has used me to look after their LOs.

Nicks website is amazing, mine is more basic as I did it myself but it does the job. Nick can I be nosey and ask if you did yours yourself?

My current site layout (the menus, grey box, child photo idea - the graphical bits) was designed by a mumsnetter. I then took that layout design and re-coded it a combination of CSS and image files. It also uses server side scripting which generates each page by gathering up the various elements from various files - so if I want to change something that appears on more than one page, I only need to change it in one file. If that makes sense.
Could have done it purely as graphic, but I prefer things being text based where possible so users can change the font size if you so wish (though doing that can look a bit odd at some zoom levels - try it, press Ctrl and the Plus key at the same time).
Since the original design was done, it has evolved a bit. Added my photo and the flash banner to the index page for example.
As ever it is work in progress!

Out of interest, why do you think my site is amazing? What in particular do you like - will help me to know, so I don't go changing that part!
If you think you have seen the photos somewhere before... that's because you probably have. The photos are stock images from iStockPhoto, so are used by various websites.

I mainly like the graphics and how easy it is to use - to me it's nice and "clean" IYSWIM, it just comes across as really professional. Am so impressed you did it yourself, I reaslly like it.

I think you have changed the colours though of the tabs? They look less vibrant? Still really cool, way better than mine, I'm very