Website building for 1st timer
Discussion
Vanquish S noise said:
Reading up a bit, it looks like wordpress is the way to go but any informed opinions appreciated..
We have some rental cottages and our current website needs updating badly, we dont need to take payment but it needs to be slick and have some video and lots of images.
Any pointers?
I've designed and run over a dozen websites over the years, and am currently down to two. I've used various software. My feeling is that the best is what you find comfortable to work with.We have some rental cottages and our current website needs updating badly, we dont need to take payment but it needs to be slick and have some video and lots of images.
Any pointers?
If you are new to the fun, unless you are IT literate, it is possible Wordpress might be a leap too far. It might be easier if you went for one of the template driven ones. Or you could go via WP. It's easy enough to use once you're fairly familiar with it. There's stand-alone software such as Xara. I like it and if I hadn't already become familiar with WP, I'd have gone with it.
One good thing about WP is that you can, to a certain degree, try it for yourself, free of charge. Go to wordpress.com and it's all explained. Have a bit of fun, try to get the hang of it (it's block-based, so fairly straighforward). If you have difficulty with it, don't get hung up on it; try something else. I'm not sure if Xara has a freebie trial bit.
You'll need to have your website hosted. With stand-alone software, such as WP and Zara, you get to choose your host. Some PHers run hosting services, or you could ask around. There are lots for WP that are quite cheap and reliable. Mine charges £80 for two. I've been with them since 2002.
Most hosts have their own web-builders. This sort of ties you in to them to an extent, but satisfaction with Wix has been consistently high it would appear. I had problems running a site for a friend on GoDad, but that might have been me. Details on PM.
There are lots of 'themes' for WP, lots of which are free. Lots of help with WP on forums and such, and there are innumerable dedicated websites fanzines. I used WP Beginner when starting. I found it very helpful. I had fe problems with WP but posted what I thought was a difficult question on one site, and the full answer came back in less than 5 minutes.
It's fun, this web design malarky. It can become something of an addiction.
DSLiverpool said:
Picture quality, font and colours - most amateur builders get all 3 wrong so give it a lot of thought.
Look at similar sites and use as a template for quality.
^^^^ this and whatever you go for, make sure the template is responsive and can adapt for phones/tablet. Another pet peeve of mine is the use of hotmail or gmail addresses on websites, you've got a domain and hosting, use its email facility as well - far more professional.Look at similar sites and use as a template for quality.
Wordpress with a good (paid for) template. There are load of free templates out there but you only have to spend £30 or so on a pro one and you'll get decent support.
I run an online shop on Joomla (I believe WP has taken over really) . I paid £20 for a great template (all design layout , colours and fonts are already chosen for me). I then added J2Store plugin , which is a CMS plugin (listing products and managing cart, payments etc). It is a piece of cake to use (and most importantly, update ), I get 24/7 support, and I pay £80 a year.....
The point is, you don't need to pay much for great support. I tried the free route and whilst there is great stuff out there, you are on your own.
I run an online shop on Joomla (I believe WP has taken over really) . I paid £20 for a great template (all design layout , colours and fonts are already chosen for me). I then added J2Store plugin , which is a CMS plugin (listing products and managing cart, payments etc). It is a piece of cake to use (and most importantly, update ), I get 24/7 support, and I pay £80 a year.....
The point is, you don't need to pay much for great support. I tried the free route and whilst there is great stuff out there, you are on your own.
Vanquish S noise said:
Reading up a bit, it looks like wordpress is the way to go but any informed opinions appreciated..
We have some rental cottages and our current website needs updating badly, we dont need to take payment but it needs to be slick and have some video and lots of images.
Any pointers?
I have just used Wordpress, never made a website in my life. It was difficult, and I'm not happy with the results.We have some rental cottages and our current website needs updating badly, we dont need to take payment but it needs to be slick and have some video and lots of images.
Any pointers?
Here it is in all of its horror
www.coastview.net
I naively thought it would be like working with powerpoint, eg drag and drop etc
dmsims said:
@blueg33
The main image is terrible - "you"
have stretched an 800px image full screen - it needs to be at least 1920px wide
I know - only did that yesterday (can't work out how to un do it The main image is terrible - "you"
have stretched an 800px image full screen - it needs to be at least 1920px wide
), can't find the decent res image. If its sunny this weekend I will be taking a new one.Can't work out how to make the text column wider either.
Wordpress looks good on paper, but gives us more issues then any other form of technology on the web - for context, I have run a web business for 18+ years now - have completed over 2,700 projects for clients and at any one time we host around 400 websites.
A lot depends on what you need to do - if you simply want a brochure website which has some details / photos / etc. and is there if someone goes to the url and wants to read more, then probably the best managed system out there for standard websites is squarespace. Wix has all sorts of technical issues, Wordpress started as a blogging platform, has attempted to morph into a we can do anything platform and fails in lots of ways - yes you can do some very good websites with wordpress but it is no longer as intuitive as it used to be, and it relies heavily on plugins which don't always play well together. You will certainly need to build expertise on using it to do much with it.
If you are running the rental cottages commercially, then it also depends where people book - it can be worth considering how much you pay to have them booked through a 3rd party website in commission (e.g. Air BnB / manorcottages / etc.) - they are often good for getting out into the market, but expensive if used as your sole source of bookings. A better commercial route is to look at how you use those booking engines now, look at how you can attract repeat business and transition people off those booking engines to book on your own website and save the fees - by doing this we have saved some of our customers £20k-£30k in annual fees. At that point you are probably into a custom website that will cost you a few grand to have built, your own booking system (which can sync. with the main booking engines) and some time / cost in social marketing - but commercially it often makes sense and ends up being far more profitable...
however a different / better template and photos sorted out and it could be a very different story - as DSLiverpool says - there are some basics to get right - and then it will look very different...
A lot depends on what you need to do - if you simply want a brochure website which has some details / photos / etc. and is there if someone goes to the url and wants to read more, then probably the best managed system out there for standard websites is squarespace. Wix has all sorts of technical issues, Wordpress started as a blogging platform, has attempted to morph into a we can do anything platform and fails in lots of ways - yes you can do some very good websites with wordpress but it is no longer as intuitive as it used to be, and it relies heavily on plugins which don't always play well together. You will certainly need to build expertise on using it to do much with it.
If you are running the rental cottages commercially, then it also depends where people book - it can be worth considering how much you pay to have them booked through a 3rd party website in commission (e.g. Air BnB / manorcottages / etc.) - they are often good for getting out into the market, but expensive if used as your sole source of bookings. A better commercial route is to look at how you use those booking engines now, look at how you can attract repeat business and transition people off those booking engines to book on your own website and save the fees - by doing this we have saved some of our customers £20k-£30k in annual fees. At that point you are probably into a custom website that will cost you a few grand to have built, your own booking system (which can sync. with the main booking engines) and some time / cost in social marketing - but commercially it often makes sense and ends up being far more profitable...
blueg33 said:
I have just used Wordpress, never made a website in my life. It was difficult, and I'm not happy with the results.
Here it is in all of its horror
www.coastview.net
I naively thought it would be like working with powerpoint, eg drag and drop etc
mmm, not sure it would encourage me to come Here it is in all of its horror
www.coastview.net
I naively thought it would be like working with powerpoint, eg drag and drop etc
however a different / better template and photos sorted out and it could be a very different story - as DSLiverpool says - there are some basics to get right - and then it will look very different...blueg33 said:
dmsims said:
@blueg33
The main image is terrible - "you" have stretched an 800px image full screen - it needs to be at least 1920px wide
I know - only did that yesterday (can't work out how to un do it The main image is terrible - "you"
have stretched an 800px image full screen - it needs to be at least 1920px wide ), can't find the decent res image. If its sunny this weekend I will be taking a new one.Can't work out how to make the text column wider either.
43% of 'the web' is built on Wordpress, according to wordpress.com.
Not sure I fully understand what they mean, but it is true that it is extremely popular.
I've used lots of different web-authoring software over the years. I've tried WP, Joomla, FrontPage (terrible) WebPlus and more, those named for a few years each, and returned to WP about 5 or 6 years ago. Probably longer. Once you get used to it, it's simplicity itself. There are lots of people who don't like it though, and you might be one of those, so I'd suggest keeping an open mind. It's all down to the user-interface. If you like it, then that's the biggest test over. Try a free site on WP as a testing session. Keep it simple first of all, and then slowly expand your horizons. There are (were when I tried it, some years ago so might have changed) few themes, but that's a positive when trying it.
Out of all the other software I've tried, the most help available is for Wordpress. I can't remember the last time I sought any. Where WP excels I think (ie for me) is in ideas to try. Lots and lots of suggestions for things you can do to your site, lots of plugins (too many really as, at the beginning, you'll probably pepper you site with them. I bet we all did, and ways to use them. I got the invoice for one of my sites last week, and that's the first contact with them I've had since the last invoice. It's very reliable.
Not sure I fully understand what they mean, but it is true that it is extremely popular.
I've used lots of different web-authoring software over the years. I've tried WP, Joomla, FrontPage (terrible) WebPlus and more, those named for a few years each, and returned to WP about 5 or 6 years ago. Probably longer. Once you get used to it, it's simplicity itself. There are lots of people who don't like it though, and you might be one of those, so I'd suggest keeping an open mind. It's all down to the user-interface. If you like it, then that's the biggest test over. Try a free site on WP as a testing session. Keep it simple first of all, and then slowly expand your horizons. There are (were when I tried it, some years ago so might have changed) few themes, but that's a positive when trying it.
Out of all the other software I've tried, the most help available is for Wordpress. I can't remember the last time I sought any. Where WP excels I think (ie for me) is in ideas to try. Lots and lots of suggestions for things you can do to your site, lots of plugins (too many really as, at the beginning, you'll probably pepper you site with them. I bet we all did, and ways to use them. I got the invoice for one of my sites last week, and that's the first contact with them I've had since the last invoice. It's very reliable.
blueg33 said:
I have just used Wordpress, never made a website in my life. It was difficult, and I'm not happy with the results.
Here it is in all of its horror
www.coastview.net
I naively thought it would be like working with powerpoint, eg drag and drop etc
There are plugins for WP that make it mostly drag and drop - like WPBuilder. It's stil a little funky to use. My other business is built on WP by a pro, with lot sof plugins. I update it myself but I have to retrain myself every time I need to add new content!Here it is in all of its horror
www.coastview.net
I naively thought it would be like working with powerpoint, eg drag and drop etc
akirk said:
the best managed system out there for standard websites is squarespace.
Had a quick look at SSpace. Looks good - just a shame their accepted payment methods are so limited. No Sagepay..., and Paypal - not a chance :-) Removed that from my site years ago. Totaly nightmare.p.s. your advice is very helpful btw - wasn't picking at it - just thought I'd check out SSpace.
Griffith4ever said:
There are plugins for WP that make it mostly drag and drop - like WPBuilder. It's stil a little funky to use. My other business is built on WP by a pro, with lot sof plugins. I update it myself but I have to retrain myself every time I need to add new content!
I used the Elementor plugin, but find the whole thing frustrating and miles from being intuitive!akirk said:
blueg33 said:
dmsims said:
@blueg33
The main image is terrible - "you" have stretched an 800px image full screen - it needs to be at least 1920px wide
I know - only did that yesterday (can't work out how to un do it The main image is terrible - "you"
have stretched an 800px image full screen - it needs to be at least 1920px wide ), can't find the decent res image. If its sunny this weekend I will be taking a new one.Can't work out how to make the text column wider either.
blueg33 said:
akirk said:
blueg33 said:
dmsims said:
@blueg33
The main image is terrible - "you" have stretched an 800px image full screen - it needs to be at least 1920px wide
I know - only did that yesterday (can't work out how to un do it The main image is terrible - "you"
have stretched an 800px image full screen - it needs to be at least 1920px wide ), can't find the decent res image. If its sunny this weekend I will be taking a new one.Can't work out how to make the text column wider either.
Will have a quick initial look and then send you a list of what is needed (which will probably be just high-res photos)
possibly best done by email though not on a public forum
akirk said:
blueg33 said:
akirk said:
blueg33 said:
dmsims said:
@blueg33
The main image is terrible - "you" have stretched an 800px image full screen - it needs to be at least 1920px wide
I know - only did that yesterday (can't work out how to un do it The main image is terrible - "you"
have stretched an 800px image full screen - it needs to be at least 1920px wide ), can't find the decent res image. If its sunny this weekend I will be taking a new one.Can't work out how to make the text column wider either.
Will have a quick initial look and then send you a list of what is needed (which will probably be just high-res photos)
possibly best done by email though not on a public forum
Griffith4ever said:
akirk said:
the best managed system out there for standard websites is squarespace.
Had a quick look at SSpace. Looks good - just a shame their accepted payment methods are so limited. No Sagepay..., and Paypal - not a chance :-) Removed that from my site years ago. Totaly nightmare.p.s. your advice is very helpful btw - wasn't picking at it - just thought I'd check out SSpace.
SquareSpace does offer Stripe which tends to be the default payment gateway we would install now - it used to be WorldPay, but they have increasingly become more difficult to deal with and to use - last year it took 3 months to get them to set up a simple account for a client...
Stripe on the other hand is proving to have a very good business model / simplicity / good functionality / good integration. We use it to send invoices or payment links to clients abroad and it handles currency conversion very cheaply, we also integrate it into booking and eCommerce systems - so for us, at the moment it is probably the market leader in payment gateways, so that being the main offering from SquareSpace would be to us a relief, not a concern...
akirk said:
Griffith4ever said:
akirk said:
the best managed system out there for standard websites is squarespace.
Had a quick look at SSpace. Looks good - just a shame their accepted payment methods are so limited. No Sagepay..., and Paypal - not a chance :-) Removed that from my site years ago. Totaly nightmare.p.s. your advice is very helpful btw - wasn't picking at it - just thought I'd check out SSpace.
SquareSpace does offer Stripe which tends to be the default payment gateway we would install now - it used to be WorldPay, but they have increasingly become more difficult to deal with and to use - last year it took 3 months to get them to set up a simple account for a client...
Stripe on the other hand is proving to have a very good business model / simplicity / good functionality / good integration. We use it to send invoices or payment links to clients abroad and it handles currency conversion very cheaply, we also integrate it into booking and eCommerce systems - so for us, at the moment it is probably the market leader in payment gateways, so that being the main offering from SquareSpace would be to us a relief, not a concern...
I will look into Stripe...
Griffith4ever said:
akirk said:
Griffith4ever said:
akirk said:
the best managed system out there for standard websites is squarespace.
Had a quick look at SSpace. Looks good - just a shame their accepted payment methods are so limited. No Sagepay..., and Paypal - not a chance :-) Removed that from my site years ago. Totaly nightmare.p.s. your advice is very helpful btw - wasn't picking at it - just thought I'd check out SSpace.
SquareSpace does offer Stripe which tends to be the default payment gateway we would install now - it used to be WorldPay, but they have increasingly become more difficult to deal with and to use - last year it took 3 months to get them to set up a simple account for a client...
Stripe on the other hand is proving to have a very good business model / simplicity / good functionality / good integration. We use it to send invoices or payment links to clients abroad and it handles currency conversion very cheaply, we also integrate it into booking and eCommerce systems - so for us, at the moment it is probably the market leader in payment gateways, so that being the main offering from SquareSpace would be to us a relief, not a concern...
I will look into Stripe...
A lot depends on what you want from a website and SquareSpace might not be the right solution for you anyway, it just happens to be one of the more polished offerings around for its type of hosted service
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