How easy is it to start up a web page?

[etvoila]

No this is not a joke!
As I flick through all the threads on this forum I see that everyone seems to have their own web page/site! Is that because that is their full time business do you think? I organise fairs in the south east on a part time basis but would love at least a web page up and running? Can it be done myself do you think or is it Far too involved!! or perhaps its so hassly you would strongly suggest I don't even go there.
Your thoughts ??
Thanks
Reb

[sweet]

No this is not a joke!
As I flick through all the threads on this forum I see that everyone seems to have their own web page/site! Is that because that is their full time business do you think? I organise fairs in the south east on a part time basis but would love at least a web page up and running? Can it be done myself do you think or is it Far too involved!! or perhaps its so hassly you would strongly suggest I don't even go there.
Your thoughts ??
Thanks
Reb

Hi etvoila

Its easy enough I suppose! Alot of people on here, myself included have used mr.site. Its simple to use and easy enough to set up a site using that. Mines not up and running yet as I want to have all my stuff available before I publish my site.

Mr site claims its so easy you can set up a site in a few hours, which I dont doubt at all its that simple, but i'm sure if it took longer your site would look quite lush!

s.x

[Roseberry Crafts]

I think if you are computer literate enough to get yourself onto a forum them you should be able to manage some form of webpage! It really isn't as daunting as it sounds. It rather depends on what sort of sit/page you want and the purpose you want it to serve. Blogs are really easy to set up. There's a link to mine below, but lots of other forum members have got them and everyone seems to have a slightly different way of using them with regards to content etc, so I would recommend having a look at as many as possible. If you actually want your own website then as long as you only want something simple you can achieve this yourself by buying a package like "Mr.Site" (there are others) which takes you through from start to finish. I haven't done this myself yet but I've heard quite a lot of positive comments about it.

I have a blog which acts as a kind of advertising and contacts page for all my on-line outlets, but I am also in the process of building my own website because I want a place on the net to sell my stuff that I can call my own!

And no I don't think that the people with webpages, blogs etc all have full time businesses (although many have)! Crafting is certainly not my full time job, I have four kids and a husband to run around after! A lot of people use blogs etc simply as a way to log and show off their hobby.

Hope that helps a bit. I know it can seem daunting, but 3.5 years ago I couldn't even switch the computer on without my husbands help now I'm building a website myself (with a little help from hubby)!

Good luck!

[Chris W]

If you can get Microsoft Front Page onto your computer it is very easy to build a website in that. I found by using the right click function of the mouse you can work out quite a lot. There are also plenty of online sites that you can build a website on and have it hosted free. However if you want to sell online and need a shopping cart I recommend you look into it carefully as some options are not as search engine friendly as others and the whole process will be quite expensive so you need to chose the right one.

[knitnstitchsue]

Bonsoir etvoila

If you want to 'have a go' at building your own website, go to webeden.co.uk and click on the 14 day free trial. You can have a mess about with templates etc., just to get the feel of things. It's not a bad start for a first website and you'll learn a lot about what you DON'T want.

[etvoila]

Wow - I am getting quite excited now -do oyu really think I could do it. It'll be another obsession that I'll be on! My poor husband! doesn't seem to get much of a look in since i've discovered this forum. I thought it would be really expensive and would need an IT guy over to set it up etc! Wow, I'm gonna look into it! Thank goodness its the easter hols and I don't have to ferry the girls back and forth from school. More time to play on this!
Thanks for your feedback!
Reb

[Fair Do]

Hope you are progressing well with your idea ...it's a lot easier these days.

Another one to check out is Freewebs. It is based in the US and can be free so long as you don't mind the ads.

Good luck.
Fair Do

[ilovecrafts]

i don't know anything about Mr site, but have noticed a few people with moans and groans about it!

there are quite a few totally free possibilities out there, so it might be worth an explore of the freebies first, so you can get a feel for what you like /want etc.
the only thing is that if you choose a name, and want to continue with it , you may later find the actual domain name is not avilable, so it could be worth buying the domain name now, and using free hosting with that name or just "parking " the name til you're ready.

again as someody mentioned, have a play with microsoft frontpage as well.
www.bravenet.com (http://www.bravenet.com) is worth a look, lots of useful info, and newletters and freeby tools etc

www.personalweb.about.com (http://www.personalweb.about.com) also has loads of great info, and again you can get tutorials as regular emails,in small manageable chunks.

Mind you I don't have a website, or even a blog yet! but have been reading up a lot about it all. trouble is there's perhaps TOO MUCH info available:D

[colourart]

Mine is not a full time business, although it is starting to feel that way (thats not a complaint) I did mine on frontpage which I found fairly easy once I got into it, it does take a while to get it to how your happy with although it always seems to need some tinkering. Domain name and hosting is reasonably priced but I have found it takes a fair amount of work to get onto the search engines especially not being any sort of a expert, at least though it gives you a good showcase for what you do. Linking it to a blog will give your web business a 'personality'

[Swarovski Chick]

Hi Etvoila

Id recommend getting a free site to start off with and see how you get on. You may find you loose interest within a few weeks like many people do or alternatively you may get the bug straight away. If you loose interest you haven't wasted money and if you find your interested you can look into it further. If you are looking for just a simple website with information and pictures its easy to build a site yourself. There are lots of good books on Amazon that are easy to follow or you can purchase a template website quite cheap (template monster) and change the text and images yourself (stay away from flash sites though they look great but are not much use).

If you are looking to sell online you need to move away from free hosting for a number of reasons. There are plenty of inexpensive hosting companies out there that are good like dataflame. There is also open source (free) website software you can use that's simple to set up allows you to take online payments and used by many people with no web experience. They have online tutorials to explain everything).

[sewtobed]

I was going to suggest Freewebs or Mr Site too. If I ever get round to getting a website I'll probably go with the latter.

A blog is an ideal way of "showing off" your wares and I know alot of people sell on Etsy too

Good luck with your venture

[brad]

Hi Etvoila

You can actually build a website on ms publisher - it is great for creating pages just as you see them - and very easy to use. I now use dreamweaver for web sites buy origionally started with publisher. There are still a few of my publisher sites still going strong.

I would recomend ( if you have office 2003) getting their addon tool that compresses images.

What ever choise you make - the first step is always the hardest

kind regards
Brad

[craftyjan]

just created a blog dont know how to link it to my posts yet i will work on that

[ethel&edna]

I haven't got a website yet as I'm not in a position to start selling stuff, but I love blogging and if I can do it then it must be easy. Oh and it's free too - result!!

Craftyjan - add a link in your signature. Go to User CP at top left of page and edit it in there. Then a link will appear at the bottom of every post like mine. :0)

[craftyjan]

i havent worked out how to get my blog address up to put it on i think i might need my daughters assistance so when she comes round i will get help

[ethel&edna]

Okie dokie.
Open your blog, right click on address at very top of page, click on address to copy it to clipboard.
Open user CP in forum, click on edit signature, click on little button 'add weblink', right click on box which shows http:// and past your blog address in. You'll need to delete the http:// bit or it will appear twice.
If you save this it should appear at the bottom of all your posts.
Fingers crossed.

[craftyjan]

thanks i will try that now fingers crossed

[craftyjan]

thanks for your help i have actually done it my blog is now linked and working perhaps now i can get on with some real crafting and stop pestering people

[wendy]

Some great advice on here about setting up a website, not sure I can add anything except my recent experience.

I have just set up a website with http://www.theartistsweb.co.uk . It was a free two-week trial, after which it's a paid account.

A few things really impressed me:

it was incredibly easy to set up: type, upload pics, click. I am by no means experienced with IT.
the free trial asked for no details except email address
my site was on google within a week of starting the free trial (I was number 1 for my name plus the word art, and number three for just my name) - I know this is an unlikely search, but it impressed me that I was listed at all!
human help at the end of an emailI am not sure the format would work for a craft fair organiser, but you could look at the free trial, and even try it out for 2 weeks.

If you go for the paid account, make sure you sign up for the newsletter first as you get a 20% discount. There are a couple of options for paid accounts, the dearest one is 95.00 per year (76.00 with 20% discount). Can't remeber what the cheaper option is.

By the way, this isn't my main business, and probably won't ever be. If I was running a craft fair business, even organising just one fair, I think I'd have a website: it gives people somewhere to access info, and gives you somewhere to post answers to questions, etc. It also makes you look more professional.:)

Good luck! :pc:

Wendy

[sillyoldbear]

I used Mr Site for mine and found it very easy. It is easy to update aswell. I bought mine on Amazon which at that time seemed to be chearper than from Mr Site themselves.

Good luck

[Christine 1]

Hi, I haven't used Mr Site but i have heard of it. I have used however Serif Web page for starters. When i wanted to upgrade i went to Homestead - they are good for beginners as you don't have to pay for the first month and you can have a play around and if you dont like it then you can cancel at anytime during that month.

I can't post a link as i am still new but if you put in www homestead com that should work (but with the . in between!!)

Have a go & try it out, i know loads of people who use this site, or if not 123 reg does a basic package as well.

Hope that helps

Christine

[allsewnupfabrics]

Hi,

I see a lot of people saying use Mr Site and or paid for web hosting.

How about...get a google account if you don't already have one...start a blog..lots of templates and free bits and bobs and really easy to set up.....buy a domain name (you can pick them up quite cheaply from godaddy).
Point your domain name at your blog site there are instructions for this within the google blog help.
There you have it a web site with your own personal domain name, for only the cost of the domain name.

Another alternative (this is what I have done)...
Buy a domain name....find an old computer....and run your own server from home.
But that's another story...I'd be happy to explain the workings if anyone is interested.

Regards,

Caroline/Stuart.

[ilovecrafts]

Hi,


....find an old computer....and run your own server from home.
.


How do you do that then?

[Pagan]

I use moonfruit for my website. It's very easy to use (if I can do it, anyone can lol). You can either have a free site (but you get adverts on it) or you can pay a small fee a year and be ad free.

[allsewnupfabrics]

Hi Ilovecrafts...

The way I set up a free home server in brief.....

I have an old computer running Debian Linux..(you can do the same with windows but I am not a big microsoft fan)!...attached it to my router....opened port 80 (and a few other ports for mail etc) on the router.
(note you have to have an ISP that doesn't block theses ports).

Used Apache web server program (comes as standard with most linux distros) to host my web pages on the old machine and used oscommerce (open source free shop program) for my shop.

Bought a domain name allsewnupfabrics dot com ....used everydns dot net (again free) to point all web requests for allsewnupfabrics dot com at my IP address and that was about it really....unless you count the five days of hair pulling to get a mail server running...but that's another story...

Hope that helps,

Regards,

Caroline/Stuart.

[brad]

I see removed is offering free shopfronts to all crafters , I think you can only sell what you have actually made - but they do all the techinical stuff for you. Try google REMOVED for their site.

I have actually used microsoft publisher to create a basic site - it is good for a web presence if you do not need to update regually

Hope this helps

Brad

[0103media]

Brad.. I assume your name is Brad MacConnell ?

And you actually own the site your suggesting ,... PLEASE reads the rules !