I need a website

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  • ClutchyMcClutcherson

    Active Member
    Aug 29, 2016
    703
    Odenton, MD
    I have an LLC that I started. I’ll reserve from posting exactly what the company is because I don’t want to break any rules here. Generally though, the company provides training.

    Does anyone have any advice on getting a website built for a reasonable price? It wouldn’t be anything crazy. Just our logo, an about us, mission statement, and what we offer. I’d like it to be linked to social media, and have a place for testimonials. No e-commerce or anything like that. I was gonna try to do it myself but I have no experience with website building.

    Or maybe, if you know someone they’d be willing to barter. Thanks in advance everyone for the help.
     

    RuralRifleGuy

    Active Member
    Aug 16, 2018
    918
    Queenstown
    Squarespace is my go to suggestion for individuals who want a website but want to keep things inexpensive while having a high quality design. They are pretty easy to use and they are priced at $216/year which is well under what you'd pay someone to build you a similar quality website (baring any bartering).
     

    t84a

    USCG Master
    MDS Supporter
    Jan 15, 2013
    7,733
    West Ocean City, MD
    Weebly ir really easy. I did my own site using NetObjects but I took ipover the website for our HOA at the beach. It's on Weebly and it's cake.
     

    Occam

    Not Even ONE Indictment
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 24, 2018
    20,239
    Montgomery County
    If, after you look over those options and feel like you need something a little more customized or need someone to work over some custom graphics or find the need for a 2A-friendly hosting and content operation, drop a line. Not soliciting here per se, just understand how’s this can feel when you’re staring into the abyss of options.
     

    StantonCree

    Watch your beer
    Jan 23, 2011
    23,932
    My partner needs one for his taxidermy business so I’m subscribing.

    OP i hope I’m not over stepping my bounds here but how easy is godaddy and the like for very dumb computer people?
     

    randomuser

    Ultimate Member
    Nov 12, 2018
    5,778
    Baltimore County
    My partner needs one for his taxidermy business so I’m subscribing.

    OP i hope I’m not over stepping my bounds here but how easy is godaddy and the like for very dumb computer people?



    I used to buy the domain from go daddy and the either host there or somewhere else.
    You then have to (to host somewhere else) get into domain pointing bla bla boa

    Intuit you buy domain and they host and its the easiest I have ever built.

    Experience. Not a pro at internet and I have built 5-10 websites for business through the years
    Back in the day I'd build them in ms publisher. Lol

    Now its drag and drop simple even for web forms.



    I
     

    ClutchyMcClutcherson

    Active Member
    Aug 29, 2016
    703
    Odenton, MD
    I’ll check into square space. I purchased the domain on godaddy but their trial of the website builder doesn’t let you do much. I tried wix. It’s ok but I’m not overly impressed. I’m not a computer genius or computer illiterate. I’m probably right in the middle. The hurdle I think I’ll have is designing is not my strongsuit.

    Thanks for all the responses.
     

    crolfe1984

    Enthusiast
    Oct 21, 2007
    562
    Baltimore City, MD
    If you're a little web/design savvy, you can pull off a truly fantastic website with decent back-end functionality. Use a domain/host package (such as Go Daddy) and a WordPress template. Took me awhile to get accustomed to the WP interface and how it manages forms/plugins, but the end result was worth it. You can pay a few bucks extra for highly customized templates with all the features most small businesses would need.

    Other than your time, total investment could run $10-$20 for your domain, $0-$250 for the WP template, another $0-$250 for various plugins, and $10-$50 per month on a hosting package. Quality WP templates come with tech support, but you can always purchase extra. Personally speaking it cost me $95 to get my site set up, and another $10 per month to keep it going.
     
    Last edited:

    kraftyone

    Active Member
    Mar 9, 2013
    966
    My wife and I just started a dog rescue and I used HostGator to build our site it was very easy using one of there templates. There customer service is really helpful also. I was having trouble making the site secure for donations, and 5 minutes on the phone and they set it up for me. I am not that tech savvy but our site has turned out pretty good and is easy to go back and change.
     

    Occam

    Not Even ONE Indictment
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 24, 2018
    20,239
    Montgomery County
    I agree that - with the longer term in mind - adapting a well-designed WordPress theme/template will provide not only a site that looks good on multiple devices (more people visit using mobile devices, at least initially, than do using their desktop/laptop browsers in many cases), but will allow you to make sure your site is friendly to Google and maximizes your exposure. A platform like WP allows you to easily drop in other features down the road (say, an interactive scheduling tool for your training customers, etc) without having to reboot and start your just-add-water Wix or similar site all over again.

    I'd guess that 85% of my customers, now, are using WP for their web content. From small mom and pop operations to some very large businesses. Where (and at what price, and with what level of support/management) you host WP-based content is a separate matter. Operations that say they'll host your WP content for $10 month aren't lying, but you are left largely to your own devices, or limited in many ways when it comes to leveraging some of what WP offers.

    For some ideas: visit a site like https://www.templatemonster.com

    Then search for themes using a keyword like "training" ... then check some left-hand boxes to limit the results to WordPress and features like Responsive behavior. You might wind up with a couple dozen theme packages. NONE of those are going to be firearm-training specific, but all you have to do is imagine swapping out some photos and some language right over top of the sample content, and you've got a web site oriented around training-centric small business. The challenge is coming up with high quality imagery to swap in, which is where a lot of such projects fall flat. You could use/buy stock images, but those won't be about YOU and your business. And quickie iPhone snapshots rarely fill the long term need for a polished, attractive sales pitch. But you can START with any such imagery and get more polished as you go. That's when an afternoon with a good photographer (and, especially for training, videographer) at one of your sessions (mocked up or otherwise) can make a huge difference.

    Main point: you need some way to maintain your web content. When you go with Wix, etc., you're married to the way they do it. When you use an engine like WordPress, you can move that content to any of thousands of web hosts who support that CMS (content management system) with varying levels of support/capacity. And WP will allow you to adapt, later, to more nuanced uses of your site that you're not contemplating right now, but will later, guaranteed.
     

    randyho

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 21, 2009
    1,544
    Not His Happy Place
    I would steer clear of anything go-daddy. It's easy to join them, nearly impossible to leave. It's like aol from a couple of decades ago.

    If you want to maintain your domains separately from your hosting company (I do this), hover.com has been very easy to deal with.
     

    ClutchyMcClutcherson

    Active Member
    Aug 29, 2016
    703
    Odenton, MD
    I’ve already purchased the domain from go daddy. I checked out a YouTube video of using Wordpress on hostgator. This seems like a good option, especially with the info you guys have provided.

    My intentions are to start simple, and then exactly as mentioned above use a professional videographer to do some sales clips / website videos for us.

    Thanks again for the great advice everyone
     

    TapRackBang

    Cheaper Than Diamonds
    Jan 14, 2012
    1,919
    Bel Air
    Cosmotown.com for domains

    When it comes time to renew the domain, dump GoDaddy and use Cosmotown instead. Cheaper, simpler, less sleazy, and more features like Whois privacy (which you will want) are included at no additional cost. I have about a dozen domains with them.

    After going through GoDaddy, 1&1, RegisterFly, NameCheap and a couple others, Cosmotown is the lowest cost and the least ******** of the bunch. They offer no other services so they aren't constantly shoving ads in your face and using dark patterns to upsell you like *cough* GoDaddy and 1&1.

    There's a comparison of the competing registrars right on the front page: https://www.cosmotown.com/

    For hosting, I have my own reseller hosting account (I'm not selling anything) and host a half dozen sites on JaguarPC.com. I've been with them since 2006 and found them to be pretty reliable and responsive to problems. They have the usual website building tools. Looks like they will host a site like you are describing for $3.96 a month: https://www.jaguarpc.com/web-hosting-service/#compareTab
     

    adit

    ReMember
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 20, 2013
    19,509
    DE
    NameSilo is the best registrar out there, and one of the cheapest. https://www.namesilo.com

    I only use GoDaddy for .DE domains that I have registered. Everything else was moved long ago.

    GoDaddy is easy to move on from now. I just transferred a customer domain from them last week. It was literally transferred to NameSilo within 3 minutes (registrar to registrar). The process used to take up to a week. It's instantaneous now.

    For the OP, GoDaddy is pretty good at hosting WordPress websites. A lot of it is drag and drop, adding preconfigured controls (i.e. contact forms, photo galleries, etc) to your content.
     

    Sealion

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    May 19, 2016
    2,710
    Balto Co
    Squarespace is my go to suggestion for individuals who want a website but want to keep things inexpensive while having a high quality design. They are pretty easy to use and they are priced at $216/year which is well under what you'd pay someone to build you a similar quality website (baring any bartering).

    Squarespace is what I used for my website for my new company. My annual price was $120. It worked fine and was easy to use.

    I have since hired a marketing company that has migrated my page to Wordpress. They indicated Wordpress has a ton more functionality and will enable us to do a lot around SEO. This surprised me because I just thought it was a blogging tool. Wordpress is free for the non-pro edition.
     
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    Magnumst

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 26, 2013
    1,253
    I use Vistaprint, I'm a complete idiot when it comes to the interweb stuff but was able to build my own site with relative ease. Works with mobile devices, 5 email address, cost $18 month
     

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