[Mr Content]

I am wanting to launch a couple of websites, but I don't know anything about it. What are your recommendations as far as hosters go, and what software will I need to build the site. I will need a few pages do showcase products, and maybe a gallery for photos, also I want to be able to have a links page to other websites. Thanks

Nig aa

[WGH]

If you are building these sites to showcase your products and sell them then you might consider not making them yourself because you will make a lot of beginner mistakes and an un-professional looking site will make your business look bad.

But if you are a quick study and would like learning a new language then start with a few beginner HTML books and a few books on cascading style sheets because Dreamweaver will only get you so far and you will eventually have to hand edit code.

A site that is not too big or complicated can be handled by a cheap hosting company such as HostPC for $13.95/year. A friend uses HostPC for her 1 page bed and breakfast site.

I use Axis Host because almost all my business is from my site. The owner, Tina Peters, is terrific and makes sure everything runs very smoothly and very quickly. Axis Host costs a little more but I believe you get what you pay for. I have been using Tina to host my site since 2001.

I suggest you contact Mike/mcullinan here on AC. He designs web sites and seems like a good guy.

Wayne

[JohnR]

I think the comments by WGH on getting it done professionally make a lot of sense. However you will discover that it can cost quite a lot, so my recommendation would be to get a very clear idea of what you want - down to creating drawings of each page you want to have on the site. Also, there do not seem to be accepted standards in website development, so make sure that you check their other work and find out costs in advance.

One thing that you will want to consider is not just getting the site created but how it will get updated. I run a few sites for some local classical music ensembles, one of them used to have to pay $150 every time they wanted anything on their site updated. I set them up with a database-backed content management system - they had to learn how to use it but they've been maintaining their own site for a couple of years now at no cost to them.

With regard to web hosting, I used to use quadrahosting.com.au and found them to be pretty good and stable. They use servers here in AU. Unfortunately it was too much overhead for me maintaining sites in both AU and the US, I had to consolidate.

BTW - what line of business are you in?

[Mr Content]

JohnR wrote
BTW - what line of business are you in?


We have a joinery business.... shop-fitting and furniture items,........and my wife has a photography business, she has been published 124 times and she wants to expand it.......and the D700 takes some amazing shots

Thanks for the info, I will have to start looking around at hosts and such

Mr C aa

[whubbard]

I personally use HostMonster. They are cheap ($3.95/Mo Promo), and have great service and use cPanel.
Essentially Unlimited Bandwidth and Storage Space. All the services and the Price is right!

-West

[jmc207]

I'll second Wayne's suggestion of AxisHost. Tina has run a top notch business for years. I'll also mention www.sonet7.com, a division of LiquidWeb, if you want to go with a larger company.

[JohnR]

We have a joinery business.... shop-fitting and furniture items

Those would probably require quite different types of site... just a thought, you might want to contact Dallas at http://dallasdahms.net/. He knows something about websites and photography, as he runs nikongear.com.

[richidoo]

Thanks for the tip about Axis, I think I will give them a try. I've been using webhost4life for a long time, but the honeymoon's over.

[WGH]

Thanks for the tip about Axis, I think I will give them a try. I've been using webhost4life for a long time, but the honeymoon's over.

You won't be disappointed. 

AxisHost was running a renewal promotion last week, June 9th - 14th, ask if you can still get in on the deal:

Renew your hosting account for 3 months - we will add on an additional month at no charge. If you renew your hosting account for 6 months - we will add on two free months!

Wayne

[whubbard]

HostMonster is essentially AxisHost but cheaper and with more space...

...just a heads up

-West