Website building - Weebly, WIX or 123 Reg?

[jen86]

Hi Everyone

I have had my mobile nail business since November and its slowly growing, so i have decided i need a website.
My day has so far consisted of researching building a website & buying a domain name and i would like to ask peoples opinions please?

After much research i have whittled it down to "Weebly" "WIX" or "123 Reg" to build my website & purchase a domain. Im happy to pay a small monthly fee for the no ads, domain name etc but im really struggling to choose which one to use!

I like the idea of using 123reg as its UK based and seems easy to transfer the domain name i buy elsewhere (in future maybe) but Weebly & Wix seem easier to actually build the website on. I want to do the website & buy the domain on the same site as to not complicate things.

I only want a small site. no shopping carts or online booking (maybe in a few years!) and happy to put in the hours building my site.

My brain is completely scrambled so any help, opinions or experience would be greatly appreciated

Thank you

Jenny x

 

[Grace_Hair]

My web designer uses go daddy as a server and I believe the domain was purchased through them.

It's really easy to use and edit myself. It's a Wordpress site, no adverts or anything.

 

[PamieD]

What I would recommend is making a short list of what you want on your website, then looking at the instructions for each one to see if they match. So for example if you want to integrate your Instagram or other social media account, upload aftercare leaflets, add offers frequently etc. Because at the end of the day they all use templates and all do the same thing.

 

[hazelb]

My web sites are hosted with 123reg and I bought the domain names through them as well, but building a web site...that is totally a different matter!

In the early 2000's you could get away with building your own web site and sticking it up on a server and people would see it - now that's not the case, especially if you have a lot of competition in your area.

One of my sites I bought an html template, edited the html myself and it sort of works.

The other is a word press site ( bought a template ) and got a freelancer to mod it ( people by the hour ) the mods were rubbish so I still had to fix some of it myself, but at least that's easier to maintain / mod than the other one.

I'm quite techy and I do have a basic understanding of html - but even for me it's a bit of a nightmare.

SO if you've got a family member who works with websites / can code / does seo, go for it, if not you may well be better paying for some of those services.

 

[Grace_Hair]

My web sites are hosted with 123reg and I bought the domain names through them as well, but building a web site...that is totally a different matter!

In the early 2000's you could get away with building your own web site and sticking it up on a server and people would see it - now that's not the case, especially if you have a lot of competition in your area.

One of my sites I bought an html template, edited the html myself and it sort of works.

The other is a word press site ( bought a template ) and got a freelancer to mod it ( people by the hour ) the mods were rubbish so I still had to fix some of it myself, but at least that's easier to maintain / mod than the other one.

I'm quite techy and I do have a basic understanding of html - but even for me it's a bit of a nightmare.

SO if you've got a family member who works with websites / can code / does seo, go for it, if not you may well be better paying for some of those services.

I wouldn't, under any circumstance, have a friend or family member do my website again.

My first website was done by a friend who does that sort of thing for a job. He was busy. But not mega busy.

He helped me get a domain. But didn't talk it through with me like the person who I paid. There was no way to expand to more premises with the previous domain. And it wasn't useful with SEO. My new one has my location involved.

Then, when I started getting busy with the business. I couldn't see him so often. And would text/email to edit things on the website. It wasn't easily editable for me.

It then got to the point it would take him several days/weeks to fix things that were pretty important. (Like pages not showing up). Eventually because he wasn't quick enough and I wasn't getting ANY interest through my website, I decided to pay someone. So now, when I say can you do XYZ. It's usually done by the end of the day. Or next day.

 

[daydreams01]

I did mine with moonfruit and paid for a .com domain name. It works fine and I get a lot of enquirers from it.

 

[jen86]

Thank you for the replies everyone!
I decided on 123reg and weebly in the end, this is the end result
Www.midnightnails.co.uk