Professional Web Site HELP!

Started by Lain, February 09, 2012, 04:14:25 PM

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Lain

I was asked by my employer today to work on building a web site for the local small business. I haven't done this since Geociteis (in High School)! How do I go about finding a builder and a host? I was thinking about buying 'Web Easy Professional' and start there, I am just not sure!
Can anyone help me out some? I have been doing researching a bit this afternoon... but truth be told I am kinda... lost  :-[ sad thing is I am the most Tech savvy one in this small mom & pop shop! So any help will be greatly appreciated!!  O:)
My Heritage Is Rebellion.

Caeli

Well, does the business have a domain name yet and a web host?

If not, those are probably the first things you'll want to do.

As far as building a website - well, it's hard to say. How much experience do you have with coding HTML and CSS? Depending on how much exp. you have, you may not need a "builder" (I'm not sure what that is, honestly) at all, and can simply code the entire thing from scratch. I've done as much in Notepad++.
ʙᴜᴛᴛᴇʀғʟɪᴇs ᴀʀᴇ ɢᴏᴅ's ᴘʀᴏᴏғ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴇ ᴄᴀɴ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ᴄʜᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴀᴛ ʟɪғᴇ
ᴠᴇʀʏ sᴇʟᴇᴄᴛɪᴠᴇʟʏ ᴀᴠᴀɪʟᴀʙʟᴇ ғᴏʀ ɴᴇᴡ ʀᴏʟᴇᴘʟᴀʏs

ᴄʜᴇᴄᴋ ❋ ғᴏʀ ɪᴅᴇᴀs; 'ø' ғᴏʀ ᴏɴs&ᴏғғs, ᴏʀ ᴘᴍ ᴍᴇ.
{ø 𝕨 
  𝕒 }
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»  ひらひらと舞い散る桜に 手を伸ばすよ
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Lain

We do not have a domain name or host yet? I don't have much experience with HTML but I still have notes and such I could build something up I'm sure.
My Heritage Is Rebellion.

Caeli

Well, if you don't have a domain or host, you should probably see about getting one. They're usually not too expensive, especially if it's just a website to maintain web presence and not, say, sell products.

Some hosts will also have "website builders" with templates that you can probably use, as well, if you're not familiar with current web trends. Also, if you look around on the web, some designers create templates that you can use and modify with attribution.
ʙᴜᴛᴛᴇʀғʟɪᴇs ᴀʀᴇ ɢᴏᴅ's ᴘʀᴏᴏғ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴇ ᴄᴀɴ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ᴄʜᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴀᴛ ʟɪғᴇ
ᴠᴇʀʏ sᴇʟᴇᴄᴛɪᴠᴇʟʏ ᴀᴠᴀɪʟᴀʙʟᴇ ғᴏʀ ɴᴇᴡ ʀᴏʟᴇᴘʟᴀʏs

ᴄʜᴇᴄᴋ ❋ ғᴏʀ ɪᴅᴇᴀs; 'ø' ғᴏʀ ᴏɴs&ᴏғғs, ᴏʀ ᴘᴍ ᴍᴇ.
{ø 𝕨 
  𝕒 }
»  ᴇʟʟɪᴡʀɪᴍᴏ
»  ᴄʜᴏᴏsᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ ᴀᴅᴠᴇɴᴛᴜʀᴇ: ᴛʜᴇ ғɪғᴛʜ sᴄʜᴏʟᴀʀʟʏ ᴀʀᴛ
»  ひらひらと舞い散る桜に 手を伸ばすよ
»  ᴘʟᴏᴛ ʙᴜɴɴɪᴇs × sᴛᴏʀʏ sᴇᴇᴅs × ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ ɪɴsᴘɪʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴs

Vekseid

I recommend Namecheap for domain names:
http://www.namecheap.com/?aff=8907 <- my affiliate link, as linked above. They're cheaper than GoDaddy, especially for their privacy service, and take a better stance on free speech issues from the start (like say, SOPA).

My recommendations for a host lately are a bit : /
- Dreamhost has had a rather embarrassing security breach
- My own host, well, you see the notice up top. The host I plan on moving to no longer offers shared hosting.
- Many smaller hosts are plagued with their own issues.

As for actually building the website, I highly recommend using an established CMS, such as Drupal or WordPress. It greatly simplifies the process of building and maintaining a website. I recommend Drupal, personally, and host a number of Drupal sites for users here, both adult and non-adult, but it has a significantly steeper learning curve than WordPress. Drupal is faster, has better multi-user support, and a vastly superior security record.

Wordpress is built for blogging, so people using it for business purposes sometimes get bogged down in trying to make Wordpress handle situations it wasn't really designed for - whether this is a serious concern is up to you. For most ma and pop shops, I can't see it being a concern. Drupal is a much more flexible platform, but the learning curve reflects that.

Another major open source CMS is Joomla. I recommend Joomla to someone if I hate them and want them to suffer.

Lain

#5
Awesome! Trying to think of a Domain name, it's a bit rough since it will be the address for good, and the pointblank name.com is taken of course! I am going to talk to my boss and see what she thinks, and go from there but these places Vekseid are awesome! I thank you so much!

May I ask for ideas for a name of the domain?
My Heritage Is Rebellion.

Vekseid

#6
Quote from: Lain on February 09, 2012, 08:14:07 PM
Awesome! Trying to think of a Domain name, it's a bit rough since it will be the address for good, and the pointblank name.com is taken of course! I am going to talk to my boss and see what she thinks, and go from there but these places Vekseid are awesome! I thank you so much!

May I ask for ideas for a name of the domain?

Don't discuss potential domain names in public and I would -seriously- recommend you snip them out of your post. Please hit me up on Instant Messenger if you want to talk domain name ideas : )

Edit: This is because of domain name sniping. Through various means, rather sucky people will check to see if someone is interested in a domain and snatch it up from under them.