The Lemon Fool

Hi all,

I'm planning to start expanding a small business activity that I have and it seems to me that a web presence is essential these days, even if only a small one.

I'd like to know the simplest/most cost effective way of setting up a website. I only want to have a couple of pages, just to say who I am and what I do, trouble is, I have no knowledge in this direction.

I already have my own email address (set uo by the local computer shop), so I guess I could use that domain name?

Any help would be most gratefully received.

Jever

Jever wrote:Hi all,

I'm planning to start expanding a small business activity that I have and it seems to me that a web presence is essential these days, even if only a small one.

I'd like to know the simplest/most cost effective way of setting up a website. I only want to have a couple of pages, just to say who I am and what I do, trouble is, I have no knowledge in this direction.

I already have my own email address (set uo by the local computer shop), so I guess I could use that domain name?

Any help would be most gratefully received.

Jever

If you don't already know, you need to find out with whom your domain is registered. Then you can see how much it would cost to add a website to your account from your existing provider. You can of course change domain registrars. For reference here are the sort of deals typically available (1and1 which I use)

https://www.1and1.co.uk/

RC

Jever wrote:Hi all,

I'm planning to start expanding a small business activity that I have and it seems to me that a web presence is essential these days, even if only a small one.

I'd like to know the simplest/most cost effective way of setting up a website. I only want to have a couple of pages, just to say who I am and what I do, trouble is, I have no knowledge in this direction.

I already have my own email address (set uo by the local computer shop), so I guess I could use that domain name?

Any help would be most gratefully received.

Jever

Which operating system?
For Windows, I find Microsoft Expression Web easy to use, which is now free and it works here in Windows 10.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... x?id=36179

For domain hosting a small site, look at TSO Personal
https://www.tsohost.com/cpanel-hosting

Do you:
a. just want a presence so people know what you do and where to contact you
or a. plus:
b. a catalogue of what you sell (if you are that type of business)
or b. plus
c. online selling with shopping cart, link to a merchant account (PayPal, Worldpay, Stripe,...), invoicing, refunds etc etc

Unless your requirement is very simple, use a content management system such as Wordpress or Wix with:
- a 'plug in' for online sales (for Wordpress see e.g. Woocommerce), and
- a theme (page design, colours, fonts etc ) appropriate to your business (if Wordpress see e.g. Avada or X-Theme)

The first and most important thing is to buy your own domain name, and you should be listed on WHOIS as the owner of it.

It's not clear from your first post if you already have that covered.
namecheap.com
are as good as anyone if you still need that part.

For basic hosting I recommend https://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/

I've never used them but have heard a lot of bad stories (hidden charges, difficulty leaving) about 1and1 so I would steer clear of them.

supremetwo wrote:For domain hosting a small site, look at TSO Personal
https://www.tsohost.com/cpanel-hosting

Just moved to TSO after my previous provider locked me out of my mail controls and told me they would fix it asap. ASAP appears to be a period over 3 weeks in length. TSO were a breath of fresh air, and I have a feeling this might be important to the op, the tech support was excellent.

Hi,

Thanks everyone for the advice so far, I'll go back to the people that got me the domain name and ask some questions.

I was only planning a one-page site, just to say who and where I am, what I offer and how to reach me.

Is there anything I can do to push myself up the search engine rankings without paying for it?

Regards

Jever