Advise on setting up a Web Site [Archive]

Minky Magic

16-04-2008, 11:10 AM

Hi there,
I have just designed mine through my hotmail account (microsoft office)which I used a template for. You can customise the style, colours, logo etc and it's all very easy to use - which is lucky as i'm really not very technically minded in that department! You can set up a domain name, (although luckily my hotmail account is already my name), so I didn't have to pay extra. You can set up an online shop as well, but i've not ventured that far as yet!

Hope this is useful, click on my signature to get a preview of my site if you'd like to see an example of what they offer.

Good luck, it's very time consuming!

Marie

aurrida

17-04-2008, 11:29 AM

well the minimum you will need to understand is about search engine optimization, SEO. next, how to submit your site to a search engine correctly.

make your site interesting with unique content, information.

if all goes well you will be listed in a search engine in days otherwise maybe a year. expect it to take a year before you get regular clicks on your site unless you are willing to market and promote your site heavily.

learn to use a web publishing programme, in the long run this will serve you better.

i have recently set up a site. it was a huge amount of work but interesting and rewarding.

oh, and a bottle of paracetamol for the headaches.

Tjobbe - CMWD

01-06-2008, 06:42 PM

You get what you pay for at the end of the day, free sites only get you so far.

Ask yourself what you are trying to achieve from having a Web site? Are you looking to selling your goods online or do you just want a brochure Web site with a few pages to describe what you do, maybe with some photos perhaps?

Next, how are people going to find you? Are you going to be referring people to the Web site? You can do this by adding your Web site address to business cards, labels on products, a banner at your craft fair. Are you hoping for new clients to be able to find you via search engines? If you, you will need to think about Search Engine Optimisation, and having a search engine friendly Web site that is going to explain to search engines what your site is about. SEO is a complicated subject so I'll leave that for now!

Good luck with the site!

Peter

01-06-2008, 07:05 PM

You do realise the owner of the forum you are on is an seo...........? :) This forum is part of UK Crafts Websites.

Tjobbe - CMWD

01-06-2008, 07:12 PM

You do realise the owner of the forum you are on is an seo...........? :) This forum is part of UK Crafts Websites.

yes, I do realise that. I was just giving you my thoughts that was all :)

I'm here for my venture - starting a crafts online shop in the future and need advice myself!

Peter

01-06-2008, 08:19 PM

It's coming over more that you need participants. Try not to sail too close to the wind regarding forum rules, they are stringently enforced. :)

woodtattoos

02-06-2008, 09:17 AM

I've realised that a website is the next step for me. Would most people recommend MrSite? Is there an annual charge or is it a flat rate one-off fee only?

Si.

Wiltshire Wedding Choices

02-06-2008, 10:13 AM

Hi I'm Lynn (Wiltshire wedding Choices and Chocolate by KK)

I think we have met at the Lackham craft fayre run By Debs and her sister.

If you are the person I think you are I took your cards said I would contact you then lost your card.

So I do hope you are the person I am thinking of (if you are not I am so sorry please do not think I am a totally mad woman, I am just a little round the twist maybe).

Could I please ask you to contact me.

Do you have your web site now? Rob built mine if you still want advice I will ask him to contact you via this site.

Thanks in advance

woodtattoos

02-06-2008, 10:30 AM

Hi again Lynn, I've sent you a PM.

Si.

James Andrew

02-06-2008, 01:28 PM

Before setting up website it is must to know about SEO, where you can well optimize your site in order to get more ranking in the search engine results page.

edenworkshops

18-07-2008, 05:31 PM

I built my first websites with front page, and then tried to learn Dreamweaver, which I never managed, and now use it as a basic html editor.

I found xsite pro and what I particularly liked about it was the ability it had to help you get your on page optimisation right, it prompted you to make changes until you got it right.

SEO was and still is my weak link but by starting with xsite pro I started learning all about on page optimisation.

I know this is only half the picture, without good off site optimisation your ship is as good as sunk.

So obviously I am an xsite pro fan, the software isn't cheap in terms of dollars, but for me it was worth every penny.

So build your site, but do remember if you do not optimise your web site properly you will have no visitors to it, and no one to buy the beautiful things you make.

There is a vast army of websites that never get visitors at all, don't be one of them.

Happy marketing.

Richard

CeeGee

29-07-2008, 09:18 AM

Hiya, I use Mr Site Pro, and for the majority of the time am really happy with it. You pay a flat fee for the package upfront which covers you for a year, after which time I believe you pay a monthly charge for your webhosting, shopping cart etc. That was about £7 a month last I heard, but I'm still in my first year so am not entirely sure on that one.

You do need to invest a lot of time into it, and a basic knowledge of HTML is useful, but for the money it's really good value. My main frustration is when there's a bug in the system you're reliant on waiting for the support desk to sort it out - my formatting has been messed up for no aparent reason and Mr Site can't tell me when they'll have fixed it.

Hope this is of some help!

CeeGee

Woodsprite

29-07-2008, 01:59 PM

I built my website using NVu, which is an open source web authoring tool that you can download from the web. I then linked this to an EKMpowershop to give me the full shopping cart facility, although you can use the EKMpowershop as the full site, complete with hosting although that didn't give me the look I was after, hence my custom front end. Prior to this I had no experience in website building so It can't be that difficult!! It does take a lot of homework and time though and it's worth reading all of the Google info on how their little spiders search the web and what they'll be looking for in your website/on your pages to ensure that your site gets in the rankings. As previously said, make sure you submit your website details to the search engines.

LarryM

30-07-2008, 05:44 PM

Just to mention that I used to build 'Bespoke' web sites from scratch ie I don't use templates and can do Flash Authoring from scratch. I provided either HTML or Flash based web sites or a mixture of the two.

I also charged for a complete web site what most professional builders charge for one page.

I had to cut down when my wife became ill, and I am now terminating my own web-building site and services next month.

If anyone wants advice or help in setting up a site I could give some advice.

However it's quite difficult to show you my own website since I am not allowed to post url's!:rolleyes:

I don't know how I am going ever to get 25 posts either without posting nonsense or getting bored! :)

Caroleecrafts

13-08-2008, 09:33 AM

I have used Sandvox for mine as it is compatible with Apple Macs, also the paypal shopping cart feature with a verified business account, again with paypal as its is recognized internationally.

Sandvox has a video demo and any questions they are very helpful, about $79.00 for the pro and $49.00 for the standard.

My web domain is with easily.co.uk again a very helpful company they also do a website builder.

Needlecraft and Beads

16-08-2008, 09:54 AM

Hi

I know Mr site is the most user friendly and easy website builder, but try do your own website - it has more features and its amazingly easy as well. If you pay for the whole year its around £58 .

zak

craftyslb

19-08-2008, 08:09 PM

Hi

Just reading through website, and some really interesting stuff, and great advice.

A quick query though, I was browsing the internet, and came across a website caled craftmarket corner, has anyone heard of them, dealt with them, or can offer any comments?

Thanks everyone

Dizzydiza

20-08-2008, 09:13 AM

The very first website I built I just used microsoft word. I tried front page but when you load the website onto the internet there were folders that I hadn't created and I found this very off putting. Now I use Dreamweaver. It is a wysiwyg programme similar to Nvu I believe. I use it to create both my church website and business website. My business website was originally hosted by 123 reg but they let me down at a vitally important time so now I use a company called CS New Media that are based in England. The service back up you get with them is excellent. Whereas I use my own ISP provider for the church website (you are not allowed to sell via Virgin Media)
As for SEO well that goes Whooshhhhh....My website seems to come within the first few pages of any searches that are done so I must be doing something right...but wait for it cause I have mentioned that I dont know much about SEO I will be inundated with phone calls and emails from companies.....you would be amazed at the different companies that scan the internet for topics like this!
Di ;)

Betty

20-08-2008, 09:29 AM

I used 123reg to do mine. although i'm not selling anything at the moment I have set up a website to showcase some of my baking it's at bettysbakes.co.uk if you want to see how the 123reg templates look. they are quite good, about 300 templates and you can change the colours etc to suit your style. it's certainly good enough fo rme at the moment.

Hope this helps!

grinandcraftit

28-08-2008, 07:14 AM

We had an online shop with Lycos using ePages software. We gave up with them in the end as we were losing customers left, right and centre because the shop was so slow. We ended up jumping in at the deep end and setting up our own web server, learned HTML, how to use Dreamweaver and set up osCommerce which is an open source (free) shopping cart. Highly recommend it.

:pc:

kerching

28-08-2008, 08:23 AM

You need a website that's interesting and not over fussy,perhaps generating the need for your potential customers to contact you for further information.
The website is the bait and you are the hook so to speak.

patchy

30-08-2008, 12:45 PM

I just used a site called 123reg
Seems easy with different packages and wizard help
shop packages from £3.99 per month
Maybe worth a look
Eileen

Floobynooby

21-09-2008, 11:54 AM

Its a good idea and inexpensive to set up these days. Before you spend any money on any package, you need to work out what you would like the software to do for you. Do you want to customize the look of the site and to what extent, what payment facility do you require, what level of control do you need the software to give you, what is your level of experience, do you know any basic html etc. Once you answer these questions it will make your purchasing decision much easier as its easier to work out if a package will meet your needs now, than to find out 6 months down the track its no good.
Good luck

craftbox-cards

26-09-2008, 08:50 PM

My experience:
It's fairly easy to get a simple site up and running by using a template from a package such as MSWord (although it's not a 'real' web site building tool and has lots of practical downsides) and a good 'how do I build a basic web site' type book. Be prepared to get involved in the technicalities - it's almost impossible to avoid this except for the most basic site. Things like image/grahic size quickly become important things to understand. I strongly suggest you diy a site first and publish it on your ISP servers (most offer some free space with instructions how to use it). If you enjoy the experience then you can learn more and do more yourself. If not then pay a pro, but check references first.
Most of all be clear about what you want. Do you want e-commerce (solutions can be expensive) or just an 'advertising' site.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.

thatbusinesswomen

26-09-2008, 11:29 PM

I think that it depends on how serious you are about building a good business, how big you want it to be and if you are serious about making some decent dosh then investing in a decent website from the start is essential.

I rate Mr sites for a starter business - one of my Mr sites which isn't a sales site but does mention one of my products has a google page 1 position, yet the same product is page 4 on my sales site and that product has had the same url for over 2 years opposed to the MR site being up and running for about half the time.

Of course if your business is going to start bringing you in lots of sales you may struggle to keep on top of what i'd consider a very poor admin and customer record data - i couldn't run my business from a Mr site now but I could have done for the first year.

The problem that i would have had is that after a year i'd have had to have started again with google ranking with a new site - the URLs don't shift over, the domain and the text would and unless you owned your own header then you couldn't take a Mr site header with you.

I know someone who has the most fantastic product - lots of people have good products but this one is fabulous yet she has one of those free start websites with a basic paypal cart - on a decent site, and i don't mean one that costs thousands and thousands, she'd sell her wares - it is her site that lets her down.

I had my site refurbed recently and updated - there are some icons in the cart that actually offer full instructions if you scroll over them and its so easy BUT one of my long time customers just couldn't make it work for her when she wanted to change amounts - now, any other customer would have left the site and I'd have lost the sale. The problem with her as that a) she was in a rush to order b) she is a PC novice and lots of people are c) the site was different to the last time she'd ordered. Thankfully she got on the phone, had a bit of a yell - told me that she'd never seen a site work like this before :o most sites work in the same way but don't offer instruction - anyway when i'd told her what to do she'd got it and calmed down - BUT that one little thing could have lost me a customer. I have to have changes made regularly to update the site to meet my needs and to help the customer right the way through the shopping process. If i hd a MR site now for sales I would only have a fraction of the sales that i have now.

So, if you are really serious about making a living then think long and hard - I know business that sell more on ebay, etsy and other stores than they do on their own website and mainly because their sites either look bad or work badly and have no SEO whatsoever.

I think that if you have less than 200 sales in your first year from your website that you either need to look long and hard at either your website, your prices or your marketing and even an excellent website won't work if you don't push it and work hard to get it some PR and sales.

Fuchsia Fairy

28-09-2008, 10:34 PM

I could do with some advice here.
My 16 year old son is heavily into programming so I decided it would be a fantastic opportunity for him to learn how to build a site from scratch and a great way for me to get the site I wanted by asking him to do it.
He has done a fantastic job so far, its coming together lovely but we have some really annoying little problems which are being left alone for now I just wondered if anyone visits could they give me some feedback about what is shouting out at them to be changed? I know what I think about it at the moment...
SOrry if this doesn't make sense we've been working really hard on the site for months and this last week has been nonstop just wondered if I can glean some advice from you guys - you will see it is mostly supplies at the moment this is because I have had a lot of sales from that side on the internet although I do make an awful lot of stuff but needed the site to be able to market it successfully (hopefully)
Jacqui

sharon

03-10-2008, 04:18 PM

Hi

have just had a look at your website & think the colour & look of it is lovely, the only thing I would change though is the position of the flower as it makes it a bit difficult to read the words which it overlaps. Perhaps it could be positioned down the right hand side away from the text?

Congrats to your son - he's doing a great job. My son designs computer programs but is in Canada so not much help there!! :pc:

Good luck

Sharon :)

Fuchsia Fairy

03-10-2008, 11:47 PM

Thanks Sharon - I discovered today after showing a friend it on her compuer how different it looks depending on your browser. In mozilla firefox it looks fine, the wand is transparent and sits nicely in the background but on explorer its all funny looking!
So I think I need to ask Kieran again (nicely) to have a little look at it lol
thanks again xx

skylover

21-12-2008, 02:09 PM

glasgowmike

01-01-2009, 05:36 PM

similar post on this forum already but my two pence is not to try to separate hosting, making the site, etc. by buying software to make it and then host it somewhere else. If you are a novice you need all the help you (me included) can get. Try looking at the e-shop functionality on daily.co.uk - they can do it all for you and are pretty cheap. The issue I have found is that once you make the site, your ISP may not have the ability to help you get someone elses software to be hosted properly. Are you familiar with FTP, SEO, etc.? It can be a mine field of terminology that you don't need to get bogged down in.

ThE_SeeKeR

01-01-2009, 07:15 PM

liking the fushia site, basic but good colours.

A few tips (your son may understand these more than you)

Use URL Rewriting with a Htaccess File. - Will replace "browser.cgi?cat=handmade" with "hand-made-items"

More user + search friendly as it has the keywords there instead.

Also have popup images using a "lightbox" for larger images. Better than standard popup and nice to have that option.

Rather than using ajax to drop the description etc of the item, open a new page so you can promote individual items, will fair better as you get more traffic and can include much more details + additional images.

A Search Function area to search your site (you can get one from google) just for user friendliness.

Hope those short pointers help you out

Sunday Girl Accessories

07-08-2009, 05:37 PM

I have been using bigcartel for a couple of years now and am please with it.

Minky Magic

08-08-2009, 01:41 PM

Your site looks great!
Wow, didn't expect that comment, thank you very much!

Extra Special Touch Gifts

08-08-2009, 03:42 PM

I just used a site called 123reg
Seems easy with different packages and wizard help
shop packages from £3.99 per month
Maybe worth a look
Eileen

I host mt site through 123reg... but I designed my site in Serif weplusx2 (about £60), its really easy and you can create intergrated webshop as we well. Loads of templates to get you started, and a clear manual. I got mine off Ebay for about £30, just incase I couldn't get on with it... but its great!

My website isn't 100% yet... but I do like the results, especially when I've never worked with websites before!

My link is below,

Heidi

craftybeader

09-08-2009, 08:17 PM

Hi I host mine throught 'doyourownsite' I know nothing about websites but it seemed to be a fairly straightforward process.I bought my domain name through them too. Glad I found this post as I just found a new supplier in Glasgow :-) Bonus!!!!!

Nicola-D

13-08-2009, 04:34 PM

Hi,
I'm in the process of setting my site up using 123reg and the ecommerce package on there. i got my domain name through them too, my sites not ready yet, still playing about with it lots so haven't added it to my signature yet. just got to get to grips with SEO next - though I have a family member who works in that area so I should be ok with getting some help (i hope)

Makedoandmend

14-08-2009, 10:33 AM

Hi,
Just had a look at your website Fushia Fairy - love the handmade cards, they look great. I would recommend putting a picture or 2 on the front page rather than just text - to entice people to look at the rest of the site. A couple of your links dont work - wedding portfolio and site map and once I'm on a page I couldnt find a link to get back to the front page - maybe a link could be added?

gotorightway123

13-09-2009, 09:17 PM

You can set up a domain name, (although luckily my hotmail account is already my name), so I didn't have to pay extra. You can set up an online shop as well, but i've not ventured that far as yet!

Handmadebath&bodydelights

23-09-2009, 02:55 PM

You can set up a domain name, (although luckily my hotmail account is already my name), so I didn't have to pay extra. You can set up an online shop as well, but i've not ventured that far as yet!

Strange im sure i just read that before exactly from another member! :spam:

HappySheep

01-10-2009, 09:16 PM

I use 123-reg for purchase and hosting, and clikpic for the actual website bulding. You can try it free for 7 days, and then the basic site costs £35 a year. It is SO easy to upload photos, add text, add sections etc. (I did my own previously using Dreamweaver...tough...) and to add purchasing ability is a doddle (if you have a paypal account). The site deals with shopping baskets etc. for you.

You can choose from a huge variety of styles and colours, they can host for you or you host with someone else and link to them.

have a look at my site to get an idea :)

Judith
happysheepdesigns.com

firestone

09-10-2009, 10:47 AM

If you have any queries with it they get back to you really quick with an aswer (although lots of people on here use it aswell so we can also help!). I think it costs about £35 from MrSite website or you can buy it off Amazon where I think it costs about £20 (thats where I got it from).
Hope this helps. Nicki.

Equus Leather

19-10-2009, 12:27 PM

My OH made our website. Link in my signature.

Mervyn

14-11-2009, 04:08 PM

Hi all, I have been designing my own sites for a while now and have used oscommerce for selling on one site, and a company called prestashop for my other site, prestashop has everything you need and it is not too complicated to setup, where osc can be.

Both are free but prestashop is much better and more modern looking and has an off the shelve template, so no designing is really needed, prestashop is a front-end and back-end shopping software with some really quirky image transition and it is FREE just type prestashop into Google and take a look yourself.

If anyone does go with prestashop there are some very slight modifications to add (SEO) search engine optimization this is not expensive to have done by someone who knows what they’re doing, and it will pay dividends later.
Hope I have helped in some sort of way.

Mervyn

QueenJewels

23-11-2009, 07:03 PM

I bought Mr Site pro and my husband and I put together my first website using it. It seemed great in theory but it was a very frustrating experience for too many reasons to list! So my husband Mark decided to learn how to build websites and built my current one from scratch with everything I need and it looks fab!

He enjoyed doing it so much he's happy to make websites for other people.

Instead of charging a fee he would just like a donation to his London Marathon sponsorship charity which is Parkisons, he has to raise a certain amount so any donations will really help!

If anyone's interested look at my website and if you like the style and functionality (obviously themes/cols etc would be as specified) please pm me for more details :)

sg-cards

18-01-2010, 11:01 PM

hi. i use moonfruit for my website SG cards. Its very good for beginners!

turquoisebay

22-01-2010, 12:23 PM

Hi, I used create.net to build my own site (with no website background at all!) and I found it easy. I wrote the text and then just played with the templates until I found one that was pretty but functional. It costs £5 a month and comes with a checkout cart all ready built in.

The site went live a few days ago and I thought my work was done - but then I started reading about meta-tags and stuff like that. I couldn't find any help that wasn't written in complete techincal garble. Then I discovered that google has help pages to get you listed - they have a thing called Webmaster Tools on the page that you will find this Analytics and if you follow their instructions it's not too complicated. Seek and ye shall find...! I'll just be glad when I am able to get back to actually making jewellery - given that's what I really love doing. You could get terribly caught up in running a website and forget the crafting is much more important.

Next thing to do with the website is take better photos and upload them all over again! My project for the weekend is to source some velvet jewellery stands and make a light box!

Joanna x

Sarah Jackson

23-01-2010, 03:48 PM

I've just set up my website, finding it hard to get many visitors at the minute though

sarahjacksonjewellery.co.uk

AmandaJ

23-01-2010, 03:50 PM

We provide all the necessary marketing tools for artists to promote themselves online. Do what you love and leave the trouble to us.

visit our link below for more info. Hope this will be helpful to you.

eryka91

25-01-2010, 05:40 AM

My website went live today and all I can say is please check the fine print with any hosting pakages. Check how many pages you can have, what image size you can load. Watch out for the hidden extras it is minefield out there. Do not bother with a shopping cart, unless you want it to manage all sales. I can recommend paypal it free and easy to use. You pay %3 on sales. some hosting sites advertise a cheap price but when you look closely its only for the first three months, then doubles in price.

I hope that has helped. If you have any questions I am happy to help.

Eryka

Enfys

27-01-2010, 09:07 AM

I started off with a free site, then used the space provided by my ISP. Later I moved to Mr Site and I really have to recommend it.

I also use FrontPage for the editing and have learned a little html along the way so that I can alter some of the coding.bits

While I agree with all the SEO comments (and I have to confess to not having read the whole thread) my most important suggestion would be to get a domain name. They are not expensive and, if you change your server for any reason, you don't have to spend hours changing your links and business cards. All you do it change the forwarding addy for your domain name.

This is especially important if you want to start off with a free site and later change to a paid one if it is working for you.

I bought Mr Site from eBay for £20 but an going to have to pay the full price to renew when the year is up. Still, I think it is worth it.

Melissa Ysh

28-01-2010, 11:16 PM

I can vouch for mr site all the way, my friend has one and has the online payment option which works really well for her.
Go with a simple template and instead concentrate on your own images - a white background is perfect and will encourage your viewers to stay - no mess and no fuss! just good design. Good luck!

labelhuntjewellery

04-02-2010, 02:32 PM

simple and for free
i guess it would be pretty easy to use a PayPal button for your shop

If you need help drop me a line pls

w

Hebe73

05-02-2010, 01:03 PM

Hi all,

I know i am new, but i just want to give some tips for people with webshops. I have a shop at the moment, but it is not craft related, so i wont give the web address.

Please, please read up on on trading standards for distance selling regs.
It wont let me post the weblink to the regs, but search for office of fair trading or distance selling regs.

Be sure to put a terms and condition on your page. This will give your customer information about general information about returns (for instance no returns on bespoke pieces and such), shipping information etc. Read some terms and condition on big company site similar to yours.

Another legal requirement is to have contact details on the site and this can not be just a contact form. You will need your (trading) address and a contact number on the website if you sell through your website. Like me, alot of you wont have a store, so you just have to mention as well that the address noted is for postal communication only.

Just so you are covered in case of any complaints or anything. It is vital to read up on these.

Cheers,

Giovanna