Setting Up One's Own Website...

[chris]

him

[Glutton4...]

him

Hahahahaha!

[Nicos]

( wasn't sure if he was wearing a frock today! )

[Glutton4...]

You still there, CT, or have you slit your wrists...?

[chris]

Well, it's not the weekend yet, and I'm not in the showers with the hockey lads, it's only those two times - honest!

[Creemteez]

him

Sorry, had to check!
A lot of info there...I need a lie down.....

[SarzWix]

Have a look at some other cake-decorators websites amd decide what you like and what you don't like, then have a look at Weebly and Wix and see which one makes most sense to you and have a go at it. If it seems far too complicated then you'll know it's worth paying someone to do it

[Glutton4...]

... If it seems far too complicated then you'll know it's worth paying someone to do it

Or let us know, I'm happy to do it for you, or at least help, if you need. No charge - it'll keep me away from the housework!

[binley100]

If you do Faceache CT start with making a page ......'tis quite easy ...I did it all by myself.
Now looking to move up to a website but OH will be helping with that........so will be noseying in on this thread to gain some knowledge from people who can...

[alldigging]

You could use wordpress - which some hosts have on auto-install. You could then add 'pages'... if you want online ordering then that gets complicated but a plain site with loads of photos and instructions on how to get in touch with you is easy peasy.

If you want to edit it yourself then wordpress is fairly idiot proof.

[julesapple]

CT, I'm in the same boat as you....

I built my site for the (now defunct) craft fairs through Mr Site. It was easy to do. Now though, Ma & me need a store. Mr Site is waaaay tooo 'spensive.

I bought a domain name, hosting package etc through Arvixe to build a free web site using Joomla. Then I got a full refund because I just don't have the tech know how to deal with it.

I used my refund to get a lovely online store with Wix.com. It's really easy to change everything as their templates are all customizable (sp?) but most look lovely to start with and there are loads to choose from including some that are cake shops. You can sign up (it's free) and fiddle to your heart's content before paying a penny. It's literally point & click to change anything or add photos. No HTML foreign stuff, nothing confusing - well, it must be easy cos I'm doing it

My domain name cost about $9 for two years (kept on from Arvixe), and the Wix shop is going to be about £11 per month with full hosting etc.

[Feral007]

I went with vistaprint first up, it was very easy and I learned lots. Mostly not to be afraid of it!

Now have a wordpress blog site on bluehost.

I have the techie boy helping, altho it can get a bit heated at times, epecially when I"m bleating about where has my pretty piccie gone.
It's fun tho, when you stop being scared of it.

[Aberdeenplotter]

I'm messing about on Google with a new site for the local District Association of the National Vegetable Society. Just playing to start with but the edit function and uploading of pics seems quite straight forward so far at any rate

https://accounts.google.com/ServiceL...e=jotspot&ul=1

[taff]

I had a domain name from 1998 and then let it lapse when my site was hacked a couple of years ago. I'd go with Chris and wordpress too, or a site builder, 1&1 seem ok too, although I'm not sure whether they have an online shop [my partners band are with them].
Consider whether you want people to order from your site and sell from there too, rather than just look at what you do and contact you.
Um....site builders are quite easy even if you don't know what you're doing because they are wysiwig [what you see is what you get], so you have complete control over what the site looks like.

What I would also say is google different cake sites, see if the layout of anything catches your eye, decide on a theme [folksy, upmarket, expensive, whatever] and stick to it, make all your business cards and fonts match the site so you present a coherent image.

So basically, decide on your name
Buy the domain name - it's just the same as buying anything online, so no panic there.

Either decide to build it yourself or pay someone else to do it. £350 seems reasonable-ish but it dpeends on how many pages, how many images and how easy will it be to update.
It does take a while to build something professional from scratch unless they do it regularly, in which case, they probably have a shedload of templates ready t go anyway, but if you don't like the look of them, change them.
If you do pay someone else to do it, decide on your general layout, and don't expect too many changes. If they charge you for the building, ask them who updates it, when you have new info etc, or will they teach you how, or will they charge you for it.
Take some very good photos of your stuff, pay a professional to do it, theyll do a better job unless you're a whizz with photoshop.