Advice on which website builder!

[Beauty_Geek]

Which website site should I use to build? Preferably one I can purchase a domain with and one where I can have @blahblah.com etc...

Xx

 

[x3stephanie]

I did use Weebly at first but their customer service is horrendous so I deleted my account. I now use Wix and I find them really good, no problems.

Sent from my HTC Desire using SalonGeek

 

[Beauty_Geek]

Can you have @x3stephanie.com with it? So people can email u rather than [email protected] ? Xxx

 

[x3stephanie]

Can you have @x3stephanie.com with it? So people can email u rather than [email protected] ? Xxx

I purchased my domain name elsewhere on 1 2 3 Reg (jadorebeauty.co.UK) and I created an email account via googles gmail. Upto you how you do it though, check out Wix's website and see what they offer

Sent from my HTC Desire using SalonGeek

 

[GWiz Web Design]

Which website site should I use to build? Preferably one I can purchase a domain with and one where I can have @blahblah.com etc...

Xx

I know this may make you roll your eyes but please be careful when thinking of a website builder. They are to web design what DIY acrylic sets from Boots are to Liquid & Powder.

Let me qualify that rather than just come out with a statement.

1) Even at best they offer a very limited way to edit your website for SEO.

2) Very often the servers are slow especially on some of the cheaper website builders. This not only irritates your customers but page load speed also has an effect on SEO

3) When the time comes for your to leave and have a professional website elsewhere you'll find it difficult to get your domain name back especially if you go for a deal that offers a free domain name. X3Stephanie is right about buying your domain elsewhere and 123reg is as good as anyone.

4) They are designed to get people to spend ages designing their websites and then they are psychologically tied in purely on the number of hours they've spent designing the website. Extras are often charged for monthly and when added up it becomes much more expensive over a year than it would have cost to have a designer build you a professional website.

5) If you want to get to number one spot on Google then either learn Wordpress (not the free blog) or find a reasonably priced Wordpress web designer. The most important thing about a website is to get it in the top 3 positions on page one for your chosen search terms. Whilst this is a complex subject you at least want to equip yourself with the best tools for the job. 1 in 3 of all new websites created are now built with Wordpress.

The ability to edit every aspect of your website including meta information, image alt tags, H1, H2 and H3 headers on your pages and other elements is crucial to your website performing well. It's one thing to have a website but quite another to have that website appear in the search results, not for when you search for your business name but for when people search for "Nails (your town)" or "beauty (your town)".

To simply have a pretty website that nobody can find is like having a phone but not giving anyone the number.

I'd like to be able to recommend a website builder to you but I simply can't. In terms of ease of use and actual functionality then Weebly is good but as Stephanie has rightly said their customer service isn't.

If I can be of any help then please don't hesitate to ask.

Good Luck

Steve

 

[Ange1Dust29]

I completely agree with Steve. Also they can use your web content as it is legally theirs as you have put it into there website.

I would either learn Wordpress to create your website or there is a web design software package that Serif have created. They do a demo version of it to download or if you buy the full version and if your not happy with it they do a money back guarantee. I have used it to design my website.

Or if your not technically minded or you don't have a lot of time on your hands I would get a pro to do it for you.


Hope that helps

 

[Ruth Mills]

If you have a domain name with a company like 123-reg then you can set up email forwarding to a gmail address, and you can then configure gmail to send email as if from your domain name, e.g. if you have x3stephanie.com with 123-reg (or whoever), then you can set up your gmail to send messages as [email protected] or [email protected] or whatever.

You can also use a domain name from 123-reg (or whoever) with a Weebly website or other website builder; you need to edit what are known as DNS settings to do that though - those settings tell your web browser which server to go to for your website.

I do think it's always best to have control of your domain name yourself though; that's why having it somewhere "neutral" that you have control of (like a 123-reg account) is a good idea, as *you* have control of your domain name, rather than whoever actually hosts your website (unless you use your domain name company's hosting of course).

But I would agree that transferring a domain name from a "free" web company to another registrar (e.g. 123-reg) can be a complete pain in the bum though, even for a techie!