Help for a Complete Novice

[luckywinner]

Can anyone give me a few tips on setting up a website? The name is available, but I have no idea which domain website to use, and then what add-ons I should get. Hopeless Hopeless Hopeless. Does anyone have any advice?

ps My website will be for my upholstery business, and so I won't need any transaction based stuff.

I can help

I'm presuming you are looking at doing it on a DIY basis, minimal budget and do not have a technical background - but correct me if I'm wrong on any of those assumptions.

The domain name (www.luckywinnersbusiness.co.uk) is separate to the actual website which, in turn, is separate from the website host. In practice however, lots of hosts - especially those aimed at smaller businesses - will allow you to purchase your domain name along with one of their hosting plans and will give you the tools to design your website online. Clear as mud, huh?

If you are indeed a complete novice then I would recommend going for the host with the easiest site building tools. Don't spend much. If it's just a 'brochure' type site you want (with no forms or bells and whistles) you will only need a very basic plan. You can always upgrade at a later date. I can't recommend anyone in particular I'm afraid as I don't use online tools, but it might be worth a look at this company as last time I checked they were giving away free domain names and free hosting. Like I said, I can't vouch for them I'm afraid.

I use moonfruit (www.moonfruit.com)you can buy a domain name through them too -

Oh god it is so complicated. I really have no clue. So, I can buy my website address from a domain website, but have to do hosting seperate? I don't understand!

I will go and try moonfruit. I hate this, it makes me feel so stoooopid.

I think I made this seem more complicated than it actually is. Another attempt:

Companies such as moonfruit and the one I mentionned set DIY websites. When you buy your DIY website you can choose to either: (a) use a generic 'www' domain name - e.g. moonfruit.yourbusiness.co.uk (b) transfer a domain name you already own (not relevant to you by the look of it, or (c) buy your own domain name - e.g. www.yourbusiness.co.uk

You need (c) I think!

Most of these providers will also have 'site building tools' which, once you've signed up with them, will enable you to choose how your site will look and input your details.

Failing that, I did notice another poster who is a webdesigner offering to help MNers with sites in order to build up her portfolio. Might be worth trying to hunt her down and PM her.

Argh - sell DIY websites, not set them. Damn phone!!

Ahhh I see. Well today I got as far as getting domain name. Yippee.

Good, well done on the first step.

OK, as far as design and hosting goes there are multiple options.

1. You can go with a site such as "moonfruit" which will give you a limited offering, your SEO will be much harder and depending on what you actually want to achieve with your site it might just not be possible.

1. You can go for a CMS (Content Management System) which is a lot more work to get your head around initially and the three main players are Wordpress, Joomla and Drupal - personally I'd go for Wordpress for user-friendly options.

1. You can get hosting anywhere you fancy really - who did you buy your domain from? Can they host for you? Personally I use 123-reg who are UK based and whose customer support is excellent. They have "one-click" install options for Wordpress so you don't need to go out and configure anything tricky - it's all there for you.

1. Wordpress themes can be free - or you can make a one-off payment for something like one of these themeforest.net/ which will give you multiple options. If you're new to the game I'd go for one of the free ones until you get your head around how it works otherwise you'll end up resenting having paid the money and wonder what the hell you're doing. :)

I was in a similar position to you, its very confusing at first isnt it!
I did end up building my own website using MrSite, but if you come across them, my experience was they were not that good, so I would avoid. Wordpress have been recommended to me, but I have no experience of using it as yet.
Good luck.