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Making a basic, informational website for my work?

D

DeadStang

Member
I'm being pressured that I need a website for my work to be current in the 21st century. My business is easily located in the yellow pages web stuff, but we don't have our own site. I went so far as to purchase the web domain name, but I kind of got stuck there. There is the domain name/place, then some web host, and then the site needs designed...? I just don't really understand of the intricacies and I don't know anything about using any of the design programs as I'm kind of old and this computer stuff isn't second nature to me--at all. I guess there needs to be a home, informational page with hours, directions, and contact info. Then maybe another page talking about personnel, and another with the facility? Any place I can be directed that explains all of this stuff in terms that someone in their mid-40s can understand and that might help direct me on how to set it up?
 
I guess there needs to be a home, informational page with hours, directions, and contact info. Then maybe another page talking about personnel, and another with the facility?
Click to expand...

That's pretty much it. Here's a few examples of the website I've done lately, and you can look at websites for the same type of business to help you get idea's of what information to put.

I did this website and keep it updated myself.
http://www.brazosvalleystreetbeasts.com/

and the local drag strip website I made using with Wordpress, which is usually for blogs but works for pretty much anything and pretty easy to edit - don't need to know html. I used that one so the owners of the track can do the updating, changes to text, etc. themselves.
http://www.navasotaraceway2.com/

and another website for a powder coating business that isn't up yet. I'm still waiting for the person to give me the information I need, but here's a screenshot of what it looks like.
 

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My daughter is currently making a website for the veterinary hospital she works for using weebly.com. I just might have her make one for me.
 
I'll do a search tonight or tomorrow for you with a VERY useful website. IIRC it was a U of NC site. It contained some SUPER lessons on basic HTML. It was so simple I used to be able to type out a very basic web page as a word document (yes, all in HTML code!), save it as an HTML file and then load it on my browser. If you're curious as to why I suggest learning basic HTML, there's a good reason!

When I first wanted to get a web page up I didn't know a thing about it. I downloaded a TON of programs which were allegedly drop and drag or click and build. NONE functioned properly. If you just wanted a simple picture, background and cheesy text, they worked ok. Wherever problems appeared after creation, I couldn't find out why, let alone hope to fix them! I then broke down and learned just some basic HTML. It not only made it easy to use any of these programs, but it allowed me to see a really cool feature on another site, pull up the source page, find the HTML for it, modify to my needs and then add it to my page! Even with better HTML editors like Frontpage, there can be problems. If you don't know any HTML, fixing them can be a nightmare! I actually used a totally free program, AOLPress, to create my site. A then combined forces with a friend, joining our websites together. He used Frontpage to make updates. Whenever he did so it caused a minor alignment glitch in one of the button graphics, not matter which browser you used. I'd have to go in with my freebie program and fix it. We haven't done updates to the site for many years, but he did the last one. If you visit it you can see a button misaligned!

Our site has now been up for about 17 years. There's no CGI or Java, just straight HTML. We did this to allow proper function with ANY browser. The link is included below if anyone would like to see it. It was/is another topic/hobby I've been interested in since I was in my teens. We've actually provided technical assistance to Disney, been totally plagarized by a large manufacturer/importer for the historical information they provided with their products and in advertising, provided assistance to a film maker for a history DVD and approached by the Associated Press for help with a story. As far as the Disney help goes, if anyone has seen or been to California Land in Disney Land, we provided tech assistance to them for creating accurate representations of the locomotive and cars used as stores.

http://calzephyr.railfan.net/

Like I said earlier, the information on HTML is REALLY helpful. I may even have a copy still on my 'puter somewhere. I'll put it up as soon as I can find it. Good luck with your site. It can actually be fun!
 
I also used AOLPress with great success for over a decade. It was a freebie, and had a very good error checking routine. Unfortunately, it is no longer available and is difficult to load on Windows XP machines. When I upgraded computers last Xmas, I could not get it to load at all. I miss it. Sometimes the simpler the program, the better it is.
 
"Ponyman66" said:
I'll do a search tonight or tomorrow for you with a VERY useful website. IIRC it was a U of NC site. It contained some SUPER lessons on basic HTML. It was so simple I used to be able to type out a very basic web page as a word document (yes, all in HTML code!), save it as an HTML file and then load it on my browser. If you're curious as to why I suggest learning basic HTML, there's a good reason!

When I first wanted to get a web page up I didn't know a thing about it. I downloaded a TON of programs which were allegedly drop and drag or click and build. NONE functioned properly. If you just wanted a simple picture, background and cheesy text, they worked ok. Wherever problems appeared after creation, I couldn't find out why, let alone hope to fix them! I then broke down and learned just some basic HTML. It not only made it easy to use any of these programs, but it allowed me to see a really cool feature on another site, pull up the source page, find the HTML for it, modify to my needs and then add it to my page! Even with better HTML editors like Frontpage, there can be problems. If you don't know any HTML, fixing them can be a nightmare! I actually used a totally free program, AOLPress, to create my site. A then combined forces with a friend, joining our websites together. He used Frontpage to make updates. Whenever he did so it caused a minor alignment glitch in one of the button graphics, not matter which browser you used. I'd have to go in with my freebie program and fix it. We haven't done updates to the site for many years, but he did the last one. If you visit it you can see a button misaligned!

Our site has now been up for about 17 years. There's no CGI or Java, just straight HTML. We did this to allow proper function with ANY browser. The link is included below if anyone would like to see it. It was/is another topic/hobby I've been interested in since I was in my teens. We've actually provided technical assistance to Disney, been totally plagarized by a large manufacturer/importer for the historical information they provided with their products and in advertising, provided assistance to a film maker for a history DVD and approached by the Associated Press for help with a story. As far as the Disney help goes, if anyone has seen or been to California Land in Disney Land, we provided tech assistance to them for creating accurate representations of the locomotive and cars used as stores.

http://calzephyr.railfan.net/

Like I said earlier, the information on HTML is REALLY helpful. I may even have a copy still on my 'puter somewhere. I'll put it up as soon as I can find it. Good luck with your site. It can actually be fun!
Click to expand...
FWIW, I agree. I think it's easier to learn some simple HTML as to try and figure out most programs that supposedly eliminate the need for it.
I really like this tutorial:
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/tut/lessons.html
 
Dennis that's pretty close to what I had used. I checked Google and found a listing for the website I had originally used. It was actually an NCSA, University Of Illinois website. The bad news the info is no longer available! :rant

They do offer links to several other similar sites. I checked a couple and they appear similar, though not as simple as the original stuff!
 
I learned the basics of html by using Dreamweaver. It has a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor so if I changed any html, I could see what changed. I could get a premade html template (found all over the web) and just go in and mess around with different codes and eventually I was able to learn what different codes did, etc.
 
I'm of the opinion that a website for a very localized operation is a waste of money. There are plenty of people that will tell you differently however. Mostly those in a position to sell you their services.

The only advantage I can see is that you would have e-mail accounts with you domain name which would mimic you business name if that what the domain name is.
 
"Sluggo" said:
I'm of the opinion that a website for a very localized operation is a waste of money. There are plenty of people that will tell you differently however. Mostly those in a position to sell you their services.

The only advantage I can see is that you would have e-mail accounts with you domain name which would mimic you business name if that what the domain name is.
Click to expand...

I am also of this opinion. I have an internet presence, in that if you search the business name, the Dex info comes up. Then you can call...or not. No one in my field posts prices for services, so having the Dex info with hours, mini-directions, and our phone number seems adequate to me. I am not wanting any email associated with the clinic, tho.

Does looking at a website influence you on which dentist, hairdresser, or veterinarian that you might choose? What about the on-line reviews? Business is down, but I seriously doubt that that's from not having a website--our local economy is in the toilet and doesn't seem slated to experience this alleged "recovery" we're having any time soon, so my client's funds are short. I do have a little yellow pages ad, but I am told that no one (but me!) still uses a phone book if they want to find a number. I can usually find a phone number in my phone book, tho, faster than a person can boot up the computer or drag out some cell phone app, whatever that is.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and very good information. I didn't think this was going to be so hard! I'm going to look into this further, but I am not wanting to hire Red5 quite yet, LOL.
 
"Sluggo" said:
I'm of the opinion that a website for a very localized operation is a waste of money. There are plenty of people that will tell you differently however. Mostly those in a position to sell you their services.

The only advantage I can see is that you would have e-mail accounts with you domain name which would mimic you business name if that what the domain name is.
Click to expand...
I think that there are two criteria that make the difference in this case. The type of business (and to whom you are selling/servicing) and your geographic location.

When in need of something or service I turn to the web exclusively (if I have no personal knowledge or recommendation). I will almost always seek out a business with it's own site. I use the site itself and the information found there (and yes, it's look) to narrow down the company(s) I then call. Just a Dex or similar and I personally am VERY unlikely to consider it. Being in a very large metropolitan area I usually have a lot of options and this works for me. I would think being in a small geographic area would make the need for a professional, informative and easy to use site that much more important.
 
Web sites are also useful if your business involves shipping or you have to answer a lot of questions. For my harness work, I use the website to inform people of how to ship, costs, payment options, etc. Except for AZPete, all of my business is beyond the local area. If you're only doing local stuff, having a website would be only good for distinguishing yourself from your competition and providing basic info.

JMHO.
 
"DeadStang" said:
I'm being pressured that I need a website for my work to be current in the 21st century. ....as I'm kind of old and this computer stuff isn't second nature to me--at all. Any place I can be directed that explains all of this stuff in terms that someone in their mid-40s can understand
Click to expand...

This was funny and painful at the same time :nut

Thanks for posting though, same age bracket and about to learn how to design my own site....again. Links and tips are very useful, last time I made one was for a college class back in '99, yes the 1900's.
Jon
 
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