Professional looking amateur website - possible?

[N Dentressangle]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 07 March 2010 at 12:00

[rednotdead]

try one of the free content management systems like Joomla. Lots of free/affordable templates available that means you can have a great looking site in a few minutes leaving you to concentrate on the content.

[deckster]

No help on the web stuff I'm afraid, but did you really want to call your website 'doctor straining'?

[supertouring]

Try some of the business networking forums on the web as some IT bods on there are happy to build small websites in return for other business services.

Not sure what your business is or if this is applicable, but worth an ask.

[JohnnyPanic]

If you're technically competent then the 'doing it' is the easy part. Making it look right is then the hard part.

As mentioned above, the easiest route in is probably to use an online CMS with a free/cheap template. As and when your business takes off then you can get someone to do a full professional job and raise the bar.

Check with your hosting provider to see what CMS's they offer (assuming you don't host it yourself) and start from there.

[Ian_H]

Wordpress is another cms to have a look at, very easy to set up and lots of templates available

http://wordpress.org/

[siscar]

Pay someone, it's not the techie stuff it's the design, amateur sites look amateur which then makes your company look amateur.

[lestag]

Ian_H said:

Wordpress is another cms to have a look at, very easy to set up and lots of templates available

http://wordpress.org/

+1

[chris.mapey]

Another vote for Wordpress

I set up my pub site with them - really easy, and damned cheap

I use their hosting (as it's not really critical to the operations of the pub!) and assigned my domain to it.

Job done

[Ordinary_Chap]

lestag said:

Ian_H said:

Wordpress is another cms to have a look at, very easy to set up and lots of templates available

http://wordpress.org/

+1

+2

It allows anyone to make great looking websites.

[Slinky]

Www.redvictor1racing.co.uk is built in joomla.. I'm happy with it..

[AB]

If amateurs could make professional websites, would it not make the professionals redundant

[GTIR]

I think there's more to just creating a nice professional web page. It's also about getting your site found in search engines and there are any number of SEO (Search engne optimisation) companies out there all saying they are the best blah blah blah.

A lot of these free websites templates do have meta tag facilities and some keywords will be organically found through googling from what you have on your pages. (meaning if you have "doctor training London" it will, eventually, be found.

As a stop gap and if it's just so people have somewhere to look once they have your address then alls good. You culd always get a pro job down the road at some point. (and be £600+ lighter)