I quite fancy building a website...

Losttheplot

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as title really.

I'm currently out of work, and looking at putting up a website as an aid to advertising.

I've no plans for anything exotic, just a simple program that is easy to get my head around regards adding links and photo's etc. Enough to create a good impression and hopefully get some work coming in.

Also, i understand i need to register a web address and would require server space to store the site on.

I'm sure some of the tossers on here must be very clued up on this- do you have any pointers on web page programs/ web registering, and site storage and access?

thanks for the advice,

nathan
 
Try YOLA.

Not too fancy but quite a few 'widgets' to insert video etc.
I used it for my website - and I'm a computer numpty :(
 
i can recommend register365.com about 25£ for the year including a free dot com. then they have one click installs of many different types of cms/forum bla bla...

try cmsms as that seems to be fairly simple
 
I recommend 1&1 .

You can check and register your chosen domain name and most of their hosting packages come with lots of useful applications, including web building software, email mailboxes, anti-virus, statistical analysis, webdesk (remote file storage) ... All controlled from a very user-friendly graphical control panel.
 
E107, drupal, wordpress, and others look for open source cms in google,

If you get your head around drupal there are roles for programmers (its not that hard) etc.
 
I had been meaning to ask on the forum about this so hopefully my questions are in line with the OP and will tie in with this thread.

I did have a great Domain name when I was with freenetname as my internet provider but lost it when I didn't dial in within their time limit.

I have found a couple of domain names I like and they are available quite cheaply and the price quoted is for two years. Not so easy to find what it will cost after two years. Most likely looking at .org.uk or .me.uk So any ideas of what a domain would cost per year once you have registered it?

I have Apple's MobileMe and recently discovered that it includes the ability to host a site. Basically once you have your domain name you provide them with the details and it links to your site which you upload onto MobileMe. Now that would have been ideal for hosting but unfortunately Apple's MobileMe closes next year as everything is in transition to iCloud.

So what would be the CHEAPEST way of hosting a site with few bells and whistles? Basically you design your site on your local computer then upload it to the host site. I just want to play around with stuff and not end up having to fork out loads of money for years to come. I do have old Windows computers which I never use so I suppose I could maybe even host the site myself?

Thanks for any feedback/ideas Iain
 
Buy yourself a domain name (renewal should be the same as the first purchase) and go get a free google apps account. Along with somewhere to build a web site you will get all the other google docs features plus google mail all with your chosen domain name. So you would have losttheplot.co.uk and [email protected] just for an example. http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html is for the free version. I run some free accounts and I also run a paid account but for personal/family (you get 10 accounts for free) the free version is good. You will still have to pick someone to buy the domain from and you need to make sure they give you DNS tools. I use fasthosts who supply everything you need domain name wise. All instructions are supplied by google and they are fairly simple to follow. there are also loads of instructions out there for getting the best out of their google sites.
 
I recommend 1&1 .

You can check and register your chosen domain name and most of their hosting packages come with lots of useful applications, including web building software, email mailboxes, anti-virus, statistical analysis, webdesk (remote file storage) ... All controlled from a very user-friendly graphical control panel.

+2 I've just got one of those, have been working on it today.. easy peasy:thumb2
 
highly recommend hostpapa.com as a hosting company, tried a few but they've been great, with instant online support. I have my own domain but you can buy through them.
 
Thanks for the feedback so far!

Looks like i know what i'm going to be doing tomorrow :)

How do you maximise a site's "appearance" so that it will be in the top of the search engine results?

Nathan
 
How do you maximise a site's "appearance" so that it will be in the top of the search engine results?

Lots of companies will offer to get you to the top of the search engine rankings, but it all depends on what "key words" you hope to come up tops with. If I put run a search on my own name in any of the search engines, half a dozen sites that I had a hand in building will come up top. Whoopee! But if you ran a search on something more generic like "Route 66" or "world trip" or "charity ride", I wouldn't get a look in before page three thousand and frozen to death (if then). ETA I did just run a search on "moscow charity motorcycle ride" on Google and our site did come up right at the bottom of the page. Amazing. But, since the ride finished in July it will slowly slip away ...

You can submit your URL to the major search engines, but the only real hope of rising up the rankings is to build a site that is a really good source of credible and relevant information with plenty of repetition of key phrases. A site that people will actually want to visit. If you are writing it in a web building application (rather than say an off-the-shelf blog), you can embed key words into the page code. Links are important too, but only if you can get other, more established and popular sites to include a link to yours.
 
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction :thumb

+1 for Google Apps. You can host a website and associated email account with them for free. I was paying a fortune to host several sites and email accounts until I discovered the free google apps accounts. And if you've used gmail/google docs then you'll already be familiar with the interface.

-A-
 
Well I have bought 2 domain names and in the process of setting one up with Apple's MobileMe (I have until June 2012 before that service stops) and the other one with Google apps.

The MobileMe one seemed easy to set up and I take it I can't yet see my new domain name site because the Domain Name DNS info I changed needs to propagate which apparently will take around 24 hours.

As part of the Google Apps setup I am at the verification stage where I have added verification TXT to my Domain name DNS settings. The verification is not working yet and again I am assuming that is because the info is also propagating.

Hoping it all starts to fall into place in 24 hours :rolleyes:
 
Hoping it all starts to fall into place in 24 hours :rolleyes:

Well that's nearly 48 hours and no joy yet.

Adjusted the DNS settings in the Domain Host control panel and made the changes in MobileMe but as yet nothing working. WIll contact the Domain Host support and see if I can get any joy out of them.

Similar story on the other Domain which I am trying to link to Google apps. I have entered the Google Verification text in Domain Host control panel but its still not verifying yet.Hopefully I'll get it sorted out soon.
 
Depends who you have running your DNS as to how long it takes but it shouldn't take any longer than 24 hours. Fasthosts for all my domain names are pretty much instant when I change them.
 


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