Let's talk Websites!

I have a friend who was solicited by Google to get a website. He is in the furniture refinishing business. This would probably be a good idea for him as current conditions have reduced his business and Yellow Page ads have become prohibitive (so many overlapping books, which ones do you choose?)

Neither he nor I have any experience to judge what Google says. They will develop a web page for him for $99.00 but they want $160.00ish a month to host the website and to guarantee, at least, first page exposure. This seems to be a lot of moolah. What say all you experts?

Are there any options for development and decent exposure?

Re: Let's talk Websites!

There are a number of young persons out there that can develop a good website for your friend. The design and upload is not that difficult given the software today. I suggest checking with a local high school, college, or art school for a person needing some additional income. Paying $160.00 a month is outlandish in my book. I can create a blog for free and maybe that is something to look into. It could be used to give advice, advertise, etc. It's how I sell some of my novels.

Click the "novels" to see.

Anyhow, the web is a wide open territory and your friend should use it...just not at $160.00 a month. Here are some suggestions:

http://top5hosts.ipage.com/?LinkName=No_Name

http://www.hosting-review.com/?gclid=CKLMwrXelq8CFcZe7AodqRvAxA

or just google, web hosting. You have choices but it will take some knowledge to understand what you want done. The best resources I found, when I had my business, was business cards, chamber of commerce, hosting events, work shops I created, and, of course, word of mouth through reputation.

good luck!!

Re: Let's talk Websites!

I've had my site up for more than 8 years now. Here's my thoughts:

1) You should seek someone who can both design your site and host it - less finger pointing
2) Get a link with the Chamber - until I could build links this was my best source of leads
3) I joined every "free to join" data sites I could find
4) Change/add to your site often - put up pics of before/after. The more you change, the more activity for the spiders
5) $160/mo sounds large; I paid $600 for the build and $100/yr for hosting

Good luck!

Re: Let's talk Websites!

"Get a link with the Chamber "

Good advice.

BTW... the more you post on a website the higher the rating. You should add your URL to search engines as well...it's free.

Re: Let's talk Websites!

I paid $800 for the build and $150 a year, which includes 6 e-mail accounts and 5000 gigs of data storage.

Re: Let's talk Websites!

there are a bunch of $5 per month hosting sites. Of course if you get into commerce/shopping carts, they can do that for a fee too. A lot of times, the hosting sites will help you with your site design and give you the tools to help you do it yourself.

Re: Let's talk Websites!

Check out sittingduckmedia (.com) Great options ,reasonable setup and hosting costs. I use them

Re: Let's talk Websites!

For this type of site, my wife normally charges around $500 for the build and between $10-20 per month for hosting, which include all the help you need, unlimited storage, unlimited email accounts, unlimited bandwidth and data transfer. Of course secure shopping sites are bit more due to the cost of the secure certificate and the dedicated IP address. She has been doing this for over 15 years now, and her average customer has been with her over 10 years. She is also a graphics designer, so she can develop logos and custom graphics for a small fee. Google at $160 a month for a simple website that gets your message out there is being crazy. Her goal is your success, and she works very hard to ensure you are getting seen, google can offer front page placement in their search engine because they own it. This is actually what your paying for, $160 a month for showing up on the first search engine page, they could care less about your website. All of my wife's sites are custom designed to fit your needs, no cookie cutter templates sites.

http://www.fvww.com

Good luck, I do hope you find a service that works for your needs, but I would not touch googles offer at that price.

Re: Let's talk Websites!

As a developer I can tell you that there's a few issues with what they're trying to do - first of all, $99 is a good deal, but they're making the money off the monthly (especially after you become established and rely on the site). That's an insane price - if you pay someone a one-time fee as other posters have mentioned, you can get the developer to transfer the site to godaddy for CHEAP. I pay $7/mo and host like 5 domains on the thing!!

The second issue is the placement guarantee.

Simply put, there ARE no placement guarantees!! You need to look at the fine print very closely. It should say something like "blah blah guarantee for APPROVED KEYWORDS" or something like that. Keep in mind that they won't accept the bid on competitive keywords that they can't guarantee you results for! Some markets are well established and incredibly competitive. They might also say something like a "guaranteed first PAGE in search results" or other tricky terms.

Re: Let's talk Websites!

One thing to look at when talking to website companies, is how much are they going to charge you after the fact once they design the website for you, I know many that charge a minimum of $50 just to change a word or picture for you. When my wife quotes a hosting plan at say $20 a month that includes free help as well as updates as needed to your website, there are no extra charges to maintain the website for you. We have worked with Godaddy for many years now, but if you have tech questions you might end up with charges for them to help you out on your website. Godaddy is a great service if you know what your doing, bu be sure you know how to do your own website and fix problems that may come up in the future. Another thing to look at when deciding on a hosting provider, do they allow you to install your own programs, scripts and such that you might need for you to operate your website efficiently, many don't.

Websites are actually pretty easy now a days, but there are still somethings that it pays to have a pro working with you.

Placement guarantees are always funny to deal with, that was the big fad many years ago, you pay me this much, I will get you put in a certain page on the search engine. Now Google is a different bird, they own the search engine and will actually guarantee you placement for a certain amount of time, that is what the $160 a month charge is for, however that does not mean you will be successful.

Re: Let's talk Websites!

I have heard vistaprint does websites now fairly reasonable too......... wow that google quote is high.

Re: Let's talk Websites!

MTboatguy said:

For this type of site, my wife normally charges around $500 for the build and between $10-20 per month for hosting, which include all the help you need, unlimited storage, unlimited email accounts, unlimited bandwidth and data transfer. Of course secure shopping sites are bit more due to the cost of the secure certificate and the dedicated IP address.

Click to expand...

I'm a web developer and would say pretty much the exact same thing.

Re: Let's talk Websites!

Bubba,

That used to be quite common in the web business, not so much now a days, most honest web companies put the domain name in your name and provide all access information so you can move to where ever you want to, my wife signs a contract with every single client she works with stating this in clear and easy to read information, most other companies now a days that she has dealings with, do as well. We used to call this being held hostage. When I write code for her, I also quote a price, there is a contract and when it is done it is transferred to the clients ownership.. If you have registered your domain name with a reputable company, then you will have no legal problems at all now a days, all you have to do is contact the registration company, let them know what is going on, show that it is your business and they normally will turn it over to you, if you have a web company trying to hold you hostage. My wife's company has many hundreds of clients, and the average time they have been with her is due to her honesty(over 10 years), she won't do anything she don't want done to her.

Anybody looking to set up a site, I would suggest get a list of references from the company you are considering and contact those references and heed the information that reference gives you, that way you are making an informed choice.

As I said, hostage situations used to be common, not so much now a days.

Re: Let's talk Websites!

I had 2 sites developed and maintained over the years with a web designer/ firm, then finally realized that since I was providing all the material - page introduction, information, summary, pictures, etc. why not find a hosting service that's easy enough for the do-it-yourselfer. I chose Go Daddy with their Website Tonite service. Very inexpensive and super easy to set up & maintain yourself. You can get as little or as much bandwidth as you need, email, photo albums, etc. This makes it so easy to update and make changes - I can do most just a few minutes as opposed to emails, phone calls, waiting... I now have 14 different web sites I manage myself. I highly recommend them.

Re: Let's talk Websites!

Your IP provider may already have alotted you bandwith for a site mine does....then use some free site designsoftwares have fun.....160 bones a month nice try doh

Re: Let's talk Websites!

Thanks, everyone, for all of your ideas. A lot of good food for thought.

Re: Let's talk Websites!

Hey Boom your provider have anything alloted already in your cost......don.t know ask them......like i said lots of FREE site design softwares plus programming free from micro -[visual studio]is one lots more if you have time and free space

Re: Let's talk Websites!

i have been called by 1 of their sales reps 2 times on the emergency line we have for residents,left message that they had a great oppurtunity,first ad in the search,i think scam as both calls came in after normal buisness hrs & they are working nite & day trying to drum up customers jmo