Which website builder? Host? Domain?

amother

Fri, May 16 2014, 12:46 am

I want to completely re-do my website and at the same time switch to my own domain name (I've been using a free one). I want to do it myself. Cost is a factor as I run a very small business and do not anticipate a whole lot of web traffic (I get most of my referrals by phone but want to have a website for people who are looking for one)

I've looked into a couple of sites but am not sure which is best to use, both for the features and cost. Also, if I use a website that doesn't offer your own domain, I have no idea where is good to get one and how much I should be paying for it.

Here's what I found so far:
1. Weebly - not so impressed so far, but haven't used it enough to really know
2. Wix - easy to figure out what to do but seems possibly a bit sluggish (when I open my site to edit it, it first shows up as my previous version and then changes? etc) But it seems a plus that they have this app market of things to plug into your site.
3. Square Space - I like the looks of some of their templates, but their editor doesn't seem quite as intuitive as wix, or maybe I just didn't spend enough time with it before my trial ran out. Their basic price is the best and I doubt I need more, and it includes a domain name, which is an extra most don't offer. But I am not aware of plug-ins or apps like Wix has - anyone know? Will this make it harder to add functionality to my site, that is worth paying much more per month for (because I'd have to pay for the domain separately?
4. Wordpress - I am somewhat familiar with how to use it, and it seems to work. I don't know all the ins and outs of customizing it, but I hear it has a reputation for needing a bit more doing than the really easy WYSIWYG editors? I did not yet look into how much the paid version costs and what it includes.

And a real dummy question: When you pay for a domain name, is it yours for keeps or do you need to keep paying by the month or year or whatever? If you get a domain name through a full service like squarespace, can you keep the domain if you switch platforms? Do you need to pay extra for that?

Thanks for your help.

smilingmom

Fri, May 16 2014, 6:34 am

I have been happy with 'godaddy' I use it for everything.
Easy to use.
Inexpensive.
Great customer support, by Americans, 24/7.

You help your domain name for as long as you pay for it. I paid for mine for ten years, the cost was minimal.
Check out my website to see an example.

Last edited by smilingmom on Fri, May 16 2014, 8:08 am; edited 1 time in total

tigerwife

Fri, May 16 2014, 7:02 am

Second vote for Godaddy. You can select packages based on your own skills- starting with website builder (madly simple click and drag) to uploading your personally coded site.

dimyona

Fri, May 16 2014, 9:19 am

Godaddy's template would work well with a service business, but is not flexible enough for productive e-commerce. Are you using your website simply as a contact form, or are you selling goods?

If you're selling, I would recommend Magento or Yahoo stores.

amother

Fri, May 16 2014, 9:57 am

Sorry, I meant to mention but forgot, this will not be for e-commerce. I would not mind having room to grow but as of now I mainly want to provide information about my services and gain contacts to follow up by email or phone, and then bill for services directly through paypal. It would be nice to have easy apps or plug-ins that would let people, say, sign up for my mailchimp list, request an appointment, download my e-book... things like that. Would I be able to do that fairly easily through GoDaddy?

How much would I expect to pay? By way of comparison, square space's basic package is $8/month including the domain name.

dimyona

Fri, May 16 2014, 10:22 am

GoDaddy should be able to offer some but not all of the features you mentioned. I actually build websites, and you can pm me if you'd like my help with some of those.

smilingmom

Fri, May 16 2014, 12:50 pm

amother wrote:

Call godaddy and speak to them. They are very helpful and will research products for you. As for payments, I take credit cards through intuit.com.

TwinsMommy

Fri, May 16 2014, 1:11 pm

My main website is go daddy and WordPress. Love it. Easy to use.

amother

Fri, May 16 2014, 1:43 pm

TwinsMommy wrote:

My main website is go daddy and WordPress. Love it. Easy to use.

Which is better? What do you like about them?

myself

Sat, May 17 2014, 7:38 pm

Another vote for Go Daddy!