Company Website?

Elmy

Elmy

Well-known member
I've been wondering this for a bit, what do you guys do for you're website? Or atleast those who don't know how to build and host themselves? I'm pretty tech savvy however I never really wanted to put the time into building a website, never needed to. Now that I co-own a production company I'd like to have a professional website (we use a blog spot currently) However there are some problems, 1 we don't really know how to build and host our own, 2 limited funds. Anyone out there have a solid built site for relatively low cost, that you didn't do yourself? I guess I'd like to find something in the middle, I'd like to invest in the site but not go crazy, so if you have something reasonable let me know.
 
I did godaddy.com, used and modified one of their templates.

I designed it myself, spent 3 evenings doing it. The cost is actually low, compared to the quotes I got from web designers (who wanted to do the hosting as well and run the site - that's where they get you).

You can see it at www.indie-arms.com if you want.

How ever you go, I recommend making sure you get a complete copy of the code.
 
I highly recommend using Wordpress. It's free. It's open source. There's a ton of support out there for it. There are a ton of plugins to use. There are lots of templates that are aimed at photo/video content and professional businesses.

If you are tech savvy at all, you can figure it out in 3 easy steps (think I've been watching too much Oso with my daughter lately):
1. secure your domain name (go daddy is good but i'd go with hostgator).
2. Secure your hosting (hostgator is awesome!! been using them for more than 2 yrs without a single service failure) and, if you used another site like go daddy, follow hostgator's instructions to transfer your domain name.
3. Install wordpress using one-click install on your hostgator control panel.
4. Once you get wordpress installed, you'll want to customize the content (eg. your company name, info) and go find and install (both simple to do) a template that works for you.

Yes, I know that's actually 4 steps but if you go with hostgator and buy your domain and site all at once then steps 1 and 2 are combined into one step.

The HUGE advantage of using a platform like wordpress (beyond those I mentioned above) is that the admin is all built in. There's no messing around with uploading/downloading files via ftp (not that this is difficult but it can be intimidating). You want to add a new video? Simply log in and create a new post/page and embed your video. You can even get backups emailed to you once per week.
 
thanks guys, I'm having a hard time concentrating tonight for some reason, but hopefully tomorrow It'll come back and I can actually take all this advice and do something with it
 
Wordpress is very good. It is also optimized for SEO. Many forget how important this step is. If you do not understand invest a few dollars in someone who does.
 
If your good at graphics, build a website in Photoshop, then chop it up for Dreamweaver. It's how I make my websites - and they don't look like a template. And you'll learn a new software, Dreamweaver, which isn't very hard to use.
 
Never "build a website in Photoshop, then chop it up for Dreamweaver". Table-based web-page design is so 1996. A website should be able to react properly on whatever a user can do with his browser: change window size, change font size, turn on/off colors and images, turn on/off Javascript, etc. Best websites degrade gracefully when certain browser features are disabled, and do not depend on fixed page width and font size.

Case it point: go to patssle's website and enlarge font once or twice. The page structure is gone and the text overflows its graphic placeholder. Oops.
 
Cranky said:
Never "build a website in Photoshop, then chop it up for Dreamweaver". Table-based web-page design is so 1996. A website should be able to react properly on whatever a user can do with his browser: change window size, change font size, turn on/off colors and images, turn on/off Javascript, etc. Best websites degrade gracefully when certain browser features are disabled, and do not depend on fixed page width and font size.

Case it point: go to patssle's website and enlarge font once or twice. The page structure is gone and the text overflows its graphic placeholder. Oops.
Click to expand...

What he said.

And I'll add that, if you are good at graphics, you can easily customize a template to make it more personalized...and you can learn a new platform (and php if you so choose).
 
Cranky said:
Never "build a website in Photoshop, then chop it up for Dreamweaver". Table-based web-page design is so 1996. A website should be able to react properly on whatever a user can do with his browser: change window size, change font size, turn on/off colors and images, turn on/off Javascript, etc. Best websites degrade gracefully when certain browser features are disabled, and do not depend on fixed page width and font size.

Case it point: go to patssle's website and enlarge font once or twice. The page structure is gone and the text overflows its graphic placeholder. Oops.
Click to expand...

Except that most people don't do those things. So my website will appear properly to the vast majority of viewers.

Granted - it's not the proper way to do things now - but it's a simple process for those that don't know much about web stuff, and don't want to use a template that looks like every other website out there. Or have the money to pay for a proper web designer.

I'm yet to have an instance of showing my website to a client/potential client in a meeting and having it come up distorted. And I've been using tables since....well 1996 (or so) ;)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top