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Original poster

Website set-up - who has a site and how did you do this?

21 replies

hunkermunker · 29/05/2006 23:21

Want to set one up - basic to begin with, but with potential.

Am learning all sorts of words I never knew I'd need, like hosting and domain name (OK, I already knew the words, I just didn't realise I didn't really know what they mean...!).

Help? Please? Smile

OP posts:
Skribble · 29/05/2006 23:49

I use moon fruit, it is very easy to use and set up it doesn't require code. Basicly if you can use a desk top publishing package you shouls manage this no probs.

It is hosted free if you keep their advertising down the side, it isn't to obstrusive.

I registered my web name/ domain with 123-reg for about £1.99 and they give yau a holding page, you can chosse to link straight to another site i.e your moon fruit one.

\link{http://sweetenoughonline.co.uk\ Here is mine to give you an idea} You can start of with one page and create more as you go along. I haven't had any hassle with this at all.

I have registered another domain name but I am going to link this straight to my ebay shop.

Skribble · 29/05/2006 23:50

Oh dear check my spelling out, guess who is tired tonight Blush

IAmAMonkFromHunkerPennsylvania · 30/05/2006 09:38

Thank you, Skribble! Your site's great - like the colours!

Did you have any guidance about wording/legal stuff? I've been looking on the businesslink website and it's all a bit daunting. Am only starting out, but have big ideas Grin

zippitippitoes · 30/05/2006 09:58

I have a website shop. I got a grant for half the web design costs and setting up from a European fund through business link. I used website designers and pay for monthly hostiung as it is fully ecommerce.

The legal side depends on whether it is retail or content based to some extent. Is it advice or service or commerce?

You need to have your contact details on it and a privacy policy, it should also be accessible by disabled users and have terms and conditions.

Any questions? I'll try and answer.

zippitippitoes · 30/05/2006 10:31

this is where you check if the UK domain names you want are available

\link{http://www.nic.uk/\ Nominet}

IAmAMonkFromHunkerPennsylvania · 30/05/2006 10:41

Thank you, ZTT - I'm going out now, but will no doubt be back later with all sorts of pestering questions!

What's your business, if you don't mind me asking?

Kelly1978 · 30/05/2006 11:07

I've done web design for people by word of mouth a few times. They pay for their domain name and hosting, and I created the site for them to upload. If you know someone who can do programing for you it gives you more creative freedom than using a desktop package. It can also be cheaper, as you can go for a really cheap basic host.

Skribble · 30/05/2006 22:32

The type of site you go for really depends on the type of business and what you want to do with it.

If you want an online store you might want your own site and then link in with a shopping facility with a checkout.

I mainly sell through ebay and found despite good key words I don't get a lot of traffic, but ebay does.

If you use a designer make sure you check what ongoing costs there will be for maintaining the site and hosting charges. As I add stock and change it frequently I wanted to be in control of it myself, not having to e.mail pics to a designer and telling them what I want added.

Its true you can get a much more professional look and extra features but again it depends what you need.

Beware if you are DIYing then don't try and add every bell and whistle you find, it is distracting, cheap and annoying. Some sites have music and that doesn't go down well with the masses, same with busy backgrounds and flashing images and text. I did a short course in website design and we did a challange to find then design our own tacky worst site. It was a real eyeopener.

Original poster
hunkermunker · 01/06/2006 10:21

Thanks again, ladies - one question - if I want an email address which is like [email protected] (assuming I purchase hunkermunker.co.uk which I won't be!), how does that work?

OP posts:
zippitippitoes · 01/06/2006 10:27

for me if i want things sent via my website address then it works whatever they put eg

[email protected]

they all actually arrive via your main email address that you have designated

on what skribble says about putting products and stuff on yourself then I can do all that through the back office, very simple. However, changes to the site structure and revisions to the homepage are done by the websters.

I sell similar stuff to skribble but also baby stuff and adult gifts mainly penguin book mugs.

Is your site for content or commerce hunker?

I strongly recommend you try business link too and you may get grant help depending on various factors.

Original poster
hunkermunker · 01/06/2006 10:30

Thank you ZTT. Hopefully my site will be for commerce in the future, but I'm not at that stage yet.

Will definitely get in touch with businesslink - grants sound good!

So just purchasing a domain name gives you email forwarding? Is this usually extra each month?

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zippitippitoes · 01/06/2006 10:36

If you are under 30 then there are also things like Livewire and The Prince's Trust.

I pay 25.00 per month for hosting although they didn't actually charge me at all for the first two years nor did they charge me for updates but they have now started doing that. But as I say I can put all the images and product descriptions, magazine pages, new categories etc on myself in English! The thing I can't do is change the writing on the homepage or put in my own keywords.

I advertise through Google with pay for clicks which is my principle outlay..it's expensive.
I do rate quite well for my main keywords in their regular rankings but there is a lot of competition now in the market as every tom dick and harry has a website!

my site is cityofmarvels.co.uk

Original poster
hunkermunker · 01/06/2006 12:16

Am 31 in 29 days time so don't think I will qualify for those! (as an aside...eek, where is my life going?!)

Love your site - haven't had much time to look, but at first glance it's clean, crisp and user-friendly.

Who hosts it for you?

OP posts:
zippitippitoes · 01/06/2006 12:22

the web designers host it too. It's not the cheapest way of doing thngs but they are very reliable. They are called e2esolutions.co.uk.

Have you looked at actinic package? If i was starting again I might use that, you can download a trial to try out

\link{http://www.actinic.com/\ actinic}

Though I have been very happy with my site..it is actually a bit sugary for my taste now, I need to update the homepage..as I have changed the product mix a lot in the last couple of years. It is really time for an update but it's getting round to it!

Kaloo20 · 01/06/2006 12:47

If you are completely new to web design

  1. look to see if your ISP has some free web design wizard tool
  2. have a go with that first using your own free Mbs of space that will come with your ISP account.

These tools are usually very limited in what you can do. However, if you struggle with the tools in a wizard that doesn't allow you to make huge mistakes, I doubt you will manage to put together your own site easily.

Frankly if you want a website to sell something -opposed to a website to prove you can do it and manage to host the odd picture, I would strongly recommend paying for someone to design one for you.

I used a fab guy (who is also a freelance Sunday Times journalist) to design this \link{http://www.savingtinylives.co.uk\My Web Site} I'd definitely recommend him (and his prices).

Kittypickle · 01/06/2006 13:07

I set one up using a free package called \link{http://bluevoda.com\Bluevoda} which is really, really easy to use and looks pretty professional(annoying American accent talks to you on it though). Hosting is something like £30 a year through Telivo.com, though I pay a bit more now as we needed to upgrade it. Paypal have a shopping cart which is easy to add to a site (and if I can do this, anyone can).

DH is a programmer and has redone the site now (when he saw people actually using it !) using Dreamweaver so it does all sorts of lovely things like generate invoices, stock control etc and we have changed our payments to Worldpay. The site doesn't really bear any resemblance to the old format , but I was really pleased with what I did with Blue Voda and Paypal and had lots of lovely comments about it.

Kittypickle · 01/06/2006 13:10

Forgot to say that my info@ email address was included in the £30 year hosting.

scienceteacher · 01/06/2006 13:16

You can have your hosting company register your domain name for you - this is probably the easiest way. So, the thing to do is pick a host and go from there.

I use www.parcom.net , and am very pleased with them. But there are plenty of competitive packages going around.

Things to look out for are number of email accounts and the access to them (pop-server and web access), the amount of webspace you get, database priviledges etc. If you look at the website of a full-service host, they should be able to explain the different features to you, and you decide whether these are important to you or not.

Skribble · 01/06/2006 23:02

I have an e.mail with with just my web IYKWIM, through moonfruit, wow £25 a moth seems loads for me but I have a pretty low turnover at present.

Skribble · 01/06/2006 23:03

Meant to say that e.mail forwards my e.mail to any e.mail I want.

Original poster
hunkermunker · 02/06/2006 09:09

Thanks more, ladies - am trying BlueVoda and will report back on progress Grin

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