Website research

[lamanoditrento]

Hey all, I am starting to think about expanding my online presence from just an instragram account to a website etc. I would really love some recommendations on websites to look at. So, is there any boutique builder's website you think looks/works well? Or even one's that don't work and why?

What do you think is the essential elements of small time maker's site? And who does it best?

[Steve.Toscano]

HI Trent,
I wrote a long response here, but realised I don't feel entirely comfortable sharing all the info publicly.
That's why this forum needs a seperate closed off section for "Business"

Will PM instead.
Cheers

[Pat.Hawkins]

If you can DIY you can make a completely ad-free site at neocities.org for no cost.
Their conditions do allow commercial sites.

For extra bits you can sign up as a supporter for $5/month
https://neocities.org/supporter

Your username login becomes your URl
eg Username joesguitars ......... URL is joesguitars.neocities.org

You can grab some reasonable templates from:
https://www.w3schools.com/w3css/w3css_templates.asp

They're largely offering a blank slate if you want bells and whistles it's up to the user.
Cheers - PH

[Allen]

My business has had it's own domain / website since 2008. I would consider it pretty much essential to have a decicated name if you are to be taken seriously.

You also have to have an SSL certificate installed for that domain or many if not all the web browsers are going to through up a warning now or in the near future that it isn't secure. Nothing will scare off a client faster than that.

I use a hosting provider with a business account. Means that it's garanteed to be up and running 99% of the time. Unlimited downloads though for the type of traffic we are expected that is never going to be any issue.

The most important things to consider when going with a modern website is that it absolutely has to be responsive. Meaning that it displays correctly on any device from an iPhone up to a big screen monitor.

I do all the design, photos, updates etc. for the website. If you are wanting someone else to take care of this, then be prepared to spend a fair bit more and be at the mercy of their time table.

And navigation has to be clean, clear and concise. With the viewer never more than one click away from the home page. Its surprising how often I get comments about the navigation on my site because I just take that for granted.

[Peto]

Hello Allen,
My day job is 'Web design and development' I am not going to charge you any money for advice, don't worry
Please ask away.

Ric

[lamanoditrento]

Thank you all very much for the replies. Thanks Steve for your PM, it helped clarify some thoughts.

I think for the moment, I intend my site to be basically just a gallery and ordering info. While I got my domain a couple of years ago and put up a simple landing page, the websitetaps traffic from insta is high enough I think that it is probably time for something more. I’ve had a guitarmaker.com presence for a while and was just trying out luthiers.com. I now see that lmii are launching something very similar as luthiers.com. Although the luthiers.com numbers seem a bit suspect they are now free compared to USD $550p/a with lmii. But I think you are right Allen, I need my own site to be taken seriously.

I think I will worry about SEO and the like a bit later down the line.