diy website advice and basic how to

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lori042499

lori042499

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May 3, 2006
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Melrose, Massachusetts, United States
www.affairstorememberflorist.com
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MA
I was wondering..for those of you with your own diy websites...

Who do you host through and what software did you use to do it yourself?

I have bought some wedding and party domain names and want to make my own website(or at least give it a whirl)

I have print shop and believe they have website templates..I am going to do just an informational page(no shopping cart) maybe a calculator and an email contact wedding form..For the moment I have the 5 new webdomains pointing to my webpage..

I am very new at this and very, very green, but hopwfully this will teach me what I need to know to build my very own website someday for my regular stuff..

The domains are with godaddy and they do sell webhosting. I have not looked into there templates(not even sure if they have templates..i guess what I am asking is for a bit of how to begin advice...I just don't want to pour a lot of hard work into a page and then find out I did the process all wrong...I have a big habit of doing that...
 
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Lori,
Go to vistaprint.com you can actually build your own website and use the domain names you have purchased and set up your own website. Go ahead and look at my wedding website www.vinegardenweddings.com. There are several packages and templates to choose from and they will be upgrading (according to their tech department to add more choices, fonts music etc.) On top of that, the professional package is only $14.95 per month!
I use this company for everything, the quality of their business cards, postcards is wonderful and when you become a customer you get FREE items regularly you only have to pay the postage.
This is one of the most effective, quality marketing tools I have used to directly market to my customers.
I design my own post cards for holiday open house, specials and they are great.
I even got the magnets for the side of my vehicle for some ridiculous price, I think $17.00 a piece (and they are NICE). Plus, this allows you consistant branding of your store.
I had one customer say to me, "I always know your postcards because the borders are always the same even though the photo is different"
My only suggestion, make sure you have nice photos, not something that looks like it came out of a disposable. Invest in some software to tweak your photo's for lighting and adjusting flaws. Invest in a good digital camera. I have an olympus E500. I use Photo Explosion Deluxe and I am very happy with it, it also isn't as expensive as photoshop for any of you that are thinking of investing in software.
Not only that, once you design the website and publish it, it is up and running automaticly! The tech department is very helpful so if you are unsure of how to link the domains they will tell you how it works. You can call and ask questions first before purchasing and the first month is FREE.
If I wasn't so happy being a florist.......I will be a salesperson for Vista Print. lol
Marcia
 
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Honestly, my advice is similar to what you would tell a DIY bride.

You CAN learn it, and some have a natural aptitude for it.

Where the bride has one of the biggest days of her life on the line, you are trusting the brand and impression (often first impression) of your company to these sites.

If you're confident you want to do this:
- Host with www.asmallorange.com
- Dreamweaver is pro-grade website design / coding, with templates available
- There are other programs that are less powerful but might be more novice-friendly
- Consider having a custom template created (Unless you want to be a graphics designer AND web developer :))
- Beware low-cost templates
- Have a plan - know what you want first, then pick / design a template to fit your needs

Ryan
 
vghstaffer said:
Lori,
Go to vistaprint.com you can actually build your own website and use the domain names you have purchased and set up your own website. Go ahead and look at my wedding website www.vinegardenweddings.com. There are several packages and templates to choose from and they will be upgrading (according to their tech department to add more choices, fonts music etc.) On top of that, the professional package is only $14.95 per month!
I use this company for everything, the quality of their business cards, postcards is wonderful and when you become a customer you get FREE items regularly you only have to pay the postage.
This is one of the most effective, quality marketing tools I have used to directly market to my customers.
I design my own post cards for holiday open house, specials and they are great.
I even got the magnets for the side of my vehicle for some ridiculous price, I think $17.00 a piece (and they are NICE). Plus, this allows you consistant branding of your store.
I had one customer say to me, "I always know your postcards because the borders are always the same even though the photo is different"
My only suggestion, make sure you have nice photos, not something that looks like it came out of a disposable. Invest in some software to tweak your photo's for lighting and adjusting flaws. Invest in a good digital camera. I have an olympus E500. I use Photo Explosion Deluxe and I am very happy with it, it also isn't as expensive as photoshop for any of you that are thinking of investing in software.
Not only that, once you design the website and publish it, it is up and running automaticly! The tech department is very helpful so if you are unsure of how to link the domains they will tell you how it works. You can call and ask questions first before purchasing and the first month is FREE.
If I wasn't so happy being a florist.......I will be a salesperson for Vista Print. lol
Marcia
Click to expand...
I'm curious - when did you launch that site?
 
Anytime you use a template you are really limited on what the look of your site can be. I am using one now w/Prostores to build an ecommerce site ... it's not gonna look as cool as I'd like, but it will do the job.

I have dabbled w/html and now css for years but there is a lot to know.

Here's a good site on the basics of learning web design: http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp
 
I purchased the site on 8/20 and probably had it done in a few days. It was up and running right away.
I agree the templates limit you, however if you find one that you believe creates the image you want then I say go for it. So many florists have the "teleflora" brand of website and they all look the same. Even with a template you can tweak it to make it your own. If you already have a website you can link these special websites for specific services to your main site.
I also agree that not everyone has an eye for it.
I do have a main website that was designed by someone who does that, and we are going to revamp it. My main concern opening the business at the time was getting up on the web and FAST. Since I was booking so many weddings I really needed a site I could refer brides to by email and phone as 80% of my bookings are out of state. So, this was really a MUST for me.
 
I use dreamweaver for my site. There is a really steep learning curve but it's still WYSIWYG. I would never recommend a DIY from scratch site for a business unless you truly want to really read and learn about web design before you jump in head first.

I'm happy with doing my own site because I'm in a small community where I can make mistakes with my SEO and still survive. Lord knows I've come a long, long L O N G way from the debut of my site.

When I look at archives of my site I become a bit ill. ;)
 
I would be remiss if I didn't suggest that you read our Florist SEO blog (www.floristseo.com) - it applies even more so to DIY sites.

We're covering lots of basic info that every site owner needs to understand.

Ryan
 
Lori - there are now a plethora of templates available on many many template sites, varying in price and professionalism from free to around $125 or so, with many great ones about in the $45-65 range. The page designs and layouts are all done for you and you just plug in your content and publish to the web. I will advise this - to start choose a table based template over css layouts - they're just easier to understand at first, and the table ones all use css to control fonts colors and stuff now anyway.

Ecommerce is a 'nuther animal - I see many templates these days made for Zen Cart - an open source (free) cart application that I don't know anything about other than it looks intriguing, is becoming very popular, and the price is certainly right.

My choice also is to stay away from java based menus (the kinds with drop downs or fly outs) because I don't think useability is as good for the end user and you have to design for the lowest common denominator. Remember - useability is quite possibly more important than SEO. (I'm sure opinions will vary on this but this is mine - it does zero good to get them there if they leave immediately)

Then for an editor my recommendation is Microsoft Expression Web. I have Dreamweaver also but prefer EW because I am used to Microsoft mentality - if you can use Word, you're halfway there already. There is a learning curve but about 10 times less the one you'll find with DW. It will do virtually everything DW will do, and certainly everything you need and then some. I bought the whole suite of 4 programs - my employee got it at the college bookstore for me for $99. But I only use EW from the suite. Don't let anyone fool you - it is a totally professional powerful program.

I very much like 1and1.com for hosting - don't let their cheap prices fool you - they have a gaggle of services that come with their plans as low as $5 a month to $10 a month. They're huge and pretty much don't have down time, and their Philippines tech support is phenomenal - by the telephone - I hate email or trouble ticket type support. That's the #1 criteria I use - phone support.

Congrats on taking the plunge and deciding to learn to do it for yourself - it's a total blast to control your own site. And it's totally do-able.

Do this thing - good luck!

Give me a call if you want - I'll talk yer ear off.
 
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I use 1 and 1 also and they are great. Have a look at mine if you want an example and it takes 5 minutes to update.

I am changing mine to ecommerce very very soon but this has proved to be a great starter though and contrary to popular belief, websites without shopping carts do get you orders. However, i do believe i can increase these which is why i am changing. I also want to change the design.

Go for it, its really easy and i consider myself extremely stupid where computers are concerned...

Good luck:mobile:
 
goldfish said:
1. How much $$$ can you afford to spend?
2. How many hours can you afford to spend?

All the above suggestions are good, but practically, your choice will be severely limited by $$$ and time you can afford.
Click to expand...



The money is limited...I don't have brides knocking down my door to pay for any of this...I can for instance spend 2000.00 dollars just on a website for weddings...I would like to throw a couple of thousand into the website and some nice silk samples, and some fitz design samples and make a whole wedding area within my store...and I would like it to all be for under 2000.00. This is my pet project of this year. Last year it was new awning, updating the store colors, getting a whole brand together and finding an identity...This year partys and weddings...

I like to have a big project for business growth every year so I can funnel money into one project rather than a whole bunch of little money in many areas...

As for time, I can make time...Right now I am personally in the shop from 10-4 then I am home...I can extend those hoursespecially if I do something constructive for the business. I am never too busy after 2 pm that I couldn't work on things. I would peobably have to check in alot less here but what can you do...
 
If I were you, I'd hire a pro to do the whole thing. $2,000 should be adequate. I think that your time could be more efficiently spent on real marketing (like content) rather than web developing.

In fact all the wedding florists sites look similar (at least to me) anyway. They usually have pictures of good-looking caucasian girls with attractive smile, for example. Kind of boring... I prefer a site with attitude. But again, I'm not a bride.
 
goldfish said:
If I were you, I'd hire a pro to do the whole thing. $2,000 should be adequate. I think that your time could be more efficiently spent on real marketing (like content) rather than web developing.

In fact all the wedding florists sites look similar (at least to me) anyway. They usually have pictures of good-looking caucasian girls with attractive smile, for example. Kind of boring... I prefer a site with attitude. But again, I'm not a bride.
Click to expand...



That 2000 dollars really needs to include all the silks and props for my wedding area...I believe that having things for the girls to touch and look at will help sell the accessories instead of me just explaining them or them looking at them in a book...I also want to get brochures made up...those are quite price even though I have designed them myself..
 
goldfish said:
If I were you, I'd hire a pro to do the whole thing. $2,000 should be adequate. I think that your time could be more efficiently spent on real marketing (like content) rather than web developing.
Click to expand...

Goldie - respectuflly submitted - I think web developing is about the most important real marketing one can do.
 
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vghstaffer said:
Lori,
Go to vistaprint.com you can actually build your own website and use the domain names you have purchased and set up your own website. Go ahead and look at my wedding website www.vinegardenweddings.com. There are several packages and templates to choose from and they will be upgrading (according to their tech department to add more choices, fonts music etc.) On top of that, the professional package is only $14.95 per month!
I use this company for everything, the quality of their business cards, postcards is wonderful and when you become a customer you get FREE items regularly you only have to pay the postage.
This is one of the most effective, quality marketing tools I have used to directly market to my customers.
I design my own post cards for holiday open house, specials and they are great.
I even got the magnets for the side of my vehicle for some ridiculous price, I think $17.00 a piece (and they are NICE). Plus, this allows you consistant branding of your store.
I had one customer say to me, "I always know your postcards because the borders are always the same even though the photo is different"
My only suggestion, make sure you have nice photos, not something that looks like it came out of a disposable. Invest in some software to tweak your photo's for lighting and adjusting flaws. Invest in a good digital camera. I have an olympus E500. I use Photo Explosion Deluxe and I am very happy with it, it also isn't as expensive as photoshop for any of you that are thinking of investing in software.
Not only that, once you design the website and publish it, it is up and running automaticly! The tech department is very helpful so if you are unsure of how to link the domains they will tell you how it works. You can call and ask questions first before purchasing and the first month is FREE.
If I wasn't so happy being a florist.......I will be a salesperson for Vista Print. lol
Marcia
Click to expand...

I am with you I have been using vista print for years I love their promo stuff.. very good stuff
 
My advice to many people these days is to scrap Dreamweaver, Expression, etc. and find a host which can install a content management system (CMS) like DotNetNuke or Joomla.

With a CMS, you don't need to know any programming whatsoever. I'm partial to DNN, I've used it for several sites, and it has a very rich developer community--you can find low cost skins and themes at http://www.snowcovered.com/. There is also a "Dummies" guide available via Amazon. A great DNN host is http://www.discountasp.net/. They will help you get it installed, and you can start creating pages and adding content immediately. DNN comes with a blog module, and you can easily add on amazing photo gallery and e-commerce modules very cheaply.

If you want a hand getting something like this set up, PM me and I'll help you get your toes wet.
 
RJD said:
My advice to many people these days is to scrap Dreamweaver, Expression, etc. and find a host which can install a content management system (CMS) like DotNetNuke or Joomla.
Click to expand...

I have a non floral site that runs with Joomla. Very easy back end.
 
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