Website help.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Allen Morrison, Nov 22, 2017.

  1. Allen Morrison

    Allen Morrison Member

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    Anyone on here have experience in the art of making websites. I need one lol.
     
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  2. Expat

    Expat Expat™ Knives Staff Member

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    I have only used templates from Go Daddy. Those are the cheapest, but may not be the best for what you want.

    I'm sure there are smart computer people on here.

    And, yes, you DO need one. You have great skills and you need to get your name out there.
     
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  3. Delkancott

    Delkancott Member

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    I use a godaddy website builder. It’s okay. I don’t spend as much time on it as I should. I believe @ArizonaBushman is in the business and very helpful.
     
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  4. Stone

    Stone Member

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    I've built five or six. Working on the new one now.

    First advice: Wordpress.

    Ask specific questions, I'll answer as I can.
     
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  5. Expat

    Expat Expat™ Knives Staff Member

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    I don't think he wants wordpress if he's planning on selling items, right? I have heard some bad things about wordpress lately--like not conducive to certain business types of sites?
     
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  6. chorpie

    chorpie Member

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    Look into squarespace. Not managing your website back end will be worth it in the end.
     
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  7. Stone

    Stone Member

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    You raise good questions. I'm not a professional site builder, and I don't play one on the Internet, but I am fairly experienced at it. I got some training in '98 at a college -- one long-ass class -- then got a LOT of experience the hard way: trying to build my own site because I couldn't afford to pay someone else to do it.

    My first try was with the software that I trained on: Dreamweaver. I think it's still out there, but it's really designed for professionals. For most of us, it's like giving a kid that just got his license an 18-wheeler for his first vehicle: too much power, way overkill.

    I tried hiring an inexpensive site building guys twice: both were disasters, mainly because once they left, I was left with backends I couldn't parse and change. There be dragons.

    After that, and after a LOT of research, guided by more experienced than me, I went with WordPress (WP). At the time, mid-00's -- there were 3 main free site building programs: WP, Joomla, and Drupal. The latter required more code-like stuff -- meaning more expert oriented --, the middle one seemed wonky to me -- couldn't really parse the structure and function. :confused:

    For me, WP was intuitive. Very shallow learning curve. The editing features are set up like a standard word processor; you have visual modes -- WYSIWYG -- and HTML modes for those who can use it, and for the rare case when you have to post some HTML into a page because there's no way to drag and drop what you need. And there is a library's-worth of tutorials for WP, plus active forums with 100K's members. Lots of free tutoring.

    And the best part -- at least at the time, and I suspect now -- most professional developers preferred WP -- meaning if a small business person builds a site to get going, then makes bank enough to pay for a professional site, the developer can take what he's got and simply upgrade it, tweak it, add bells, whistle and shopping carts without having to start from scratch, especially if the owner likes what's there. That's my case: I'm a content guy: writer, now video production; on my site, content is king; I'll hire someone else to slick it up later, but for now, I just want functionality that I can manipulate and change as needed. WP does that. And it generates clean, efficient HTML -- which is why the professionals prefer it.

    As for selling stuff, yeah, no doubt, WP lags behind the market on that. They're mainly blogging software that has now extended far beyond merely blogging. For years, the White House web site was created using WP.

    So the solution: build the site in WP, but for selling stuff on it, team up with other third party services that function well with WP and/or are tailored for it. There are numerous out there. Shopify.com would be my choice if I was going to do it today. (I plan to hire a consultant to help install that, get it running, and do maintenance; I'm a content guy, and don't want to get bogged down in that ****e.)

    For me, a more pressing need is video hosting ON my sites so that I can monitize them: PPV. (I know that Alan is not doing vidoes, so I'm just using this as an example.) Some will be free, but the main content will be behind a paywall, but I want the paywall automated so I don't have to deal with PayPal and checks (I don't do plastic either). That's a complex challenge for me, because video hosting services that also facilitate PPV (do the actual transactions for you) are rare. I found only one, in Europe, with poor customer service, no phone access, and expensive.

    So I'm exploring options with my hosting service -- Hostgator (HIGHLY recommended after almost a decade of superb service) -- to host the videos on my site (on their server) -- then engage a third party company to take care of the merchant side of things. Starter packages for both run somewhere around $20/mo, and sales pays for that. With increased sales, one can up the packages.

    Just some thoughts on a Thanksgiving morning. Hope they're helpful.

    Beautiful day here. Going out before bird feasting begins to shoot my slingshot in the woods out back. Built a new target holder/ammo trap and set it up yesterday in the rain. Looking forward to trying it out with 100 balls.
     
  8. ArizonaBushman

    ArizonaBushman Member

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    Hi @Allen Morrison ,

    My name is John Moran. I own a small Digital Marketing Agency with a partner here in Scottsdale Arizona.

    What is your short term and long term goals for your website? Is running paid traffic (Google Ads, Facebook/Instagram Ads) going to be something you are interested in in the future?

    Thanks!
    John Moran
    Solutions 8
    Sol8.com
     
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  9. ArizonaBushman

    ArizonaBushman Member

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    Also, thank you for inviting me into the conversation @Delkancott
     
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  10. Jeff Randall

    Jeff Randall ESEE Knives / Randall's Adventure & Training Staff Member

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    F*ck Wordpress. We are in the process right now of getting completely away from it. If you do any type of commerce then steer clear of it since everything about Wordpress is a plugin, typically from a third party. We have had serious problems with Wordpress. It's fine for a small site or something quick but pretty much worthless unless you have a full time IT guy that can keep everything working in harmony.
     
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  11. ArizonaBushman

    ArizonaBushman Member

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    I agree with @Jeff Randall

    We normally build WordPress sites for customers looking to rank organically since it is very SEO friendly, but our services come with an SEO and PPC Team that does nothing but create content, create paid ads and perform onsite optimizations, so it’s not something that is a DIY platform for a majority of businesses.

    If you want a site that is easy to use, supports ecommerce, ranks organically fairly well, supports a blog for content, then I would recommend Shopify.

    It will be limited in terms of design since it’s highly templatized, but if you find a template that really works with your vision, it’s fairly turn-key.

    Thanks,
    John Moran
     
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  12. Stone

    Stone Member

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    That's basically what I suggested above; I start my sites using WordPress since I'm familiar with it and it works for my needs -- which are different from Allen's and Jeff's -- AND experts like you can work with it with your teams to make it better.

    Of course, those with any budget -- and I am not among them -- can hire professionals like you. I'd do it in a heartbeat if I could, but ... I'm bootstrapping. I have to build my own site (with WP) so I can earn enough coins to hire you (or someone like you) to make it better. I'd still want it in WP -- or something similar -- since I need daily access to the back end for page editing, images, videos, etc.

    I mentioned Shopify in my long post, also. It's my choice for my needs, yet I can't design my site using it alone -- I need other capabilities. But my sense is that they can integrate. That is, I think I can set up my basic site using WP, but then engage Shopify to handle the merchant stuff.

    I may be wrong, and am sure someone will tell me if I am. ;)
     
  13. Jeff Randall

    Jeff Randall ESEE Knives / Randall's Adventure & Training Staff Member

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    I'll be honest with you, I like simple HTML templates that I can control every aspect of the page better than Wordpress.
     
  14. Stone

    Stone Member

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    I hear you, and can't disagree. It's all about what you're comfortable with. I'll have to search those "HTML templates" and look into them. Technology is evolving so fast.

    For me, I'm kind of stuck up the WP channel for now since that's what I became familiar with a few years ago -- 2006? -- and it just feels like home. Plus I've hired two consultants for minor HTML/CSS** work, and they've liked the code generated by WP.

    Now, having said that, I'm building a new site now -- started yesterday -- and am already having trouble with WP's newest theme TwentySeventeen. Troubles I've not encountered before, but the issue MAY be on the server side, that is not in WP; I'm going to call my host tech support today.

    And they've modified the customizing features again, so I'm having to relearn it. :(
    ___

    Edit: ** Not CCS, but CSS: cascading style sheets. I can find my way around in HTML code, understand (some of) it, and can even do some simple tasks, like adding a link.

    But cascading style sheets are demonic to me. The language is totally different from my perspective. IMO, one of the easiest way for me to break a site is to putz with CSS code. I try to stay out at all cost. There be dragons. :eek:
     
    Last edited: Nov 25, 2017

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