Looking for some hosting / design advice for a small business website

Dangelus · May 20, 2011, 03:09:33 AM

Hey guys,

I know a lot of you here run your own websites so I'm looking for a little advice.

I'm looking to design a site for small business (a family project) and I'm looking into perhaps using wordpress to design it due to the multitude of templates and plugins that are available. It won't be very complex, mainly and information and contact site and won't be a "web business" per se at least not yet so I think wordpress tools should do the trick.

Any opinions on this? I am quite comfortable using visual design tools to create websites if anybody has any other options. I can't afford expensive commercial products though.

In terms of hosting I am looking for a good value host that will be compatible with wordpress if I go with it or any other major system.

Thanks guys! :)

billybob476 · May 20, 2011, 05:58:36 AM

I have a couple of friends using Squarespace (http://www.squarespace.com/). They have a ton of cool templates, tools and widgets and offer a free trial period. It's generally what I recommend to people who ask me what to do to start their won website.

Dangelus · May 20, 2011, 06:37:40 AM

Thanks Joe,

Looks good, I'll give it a try since there is a free trial. :)

jedijeff · May 20, 2011, 06:46:16 AM

I have found that a quite a few hosting companies usually have install scripts for a few different open source packages, which usually cover just about every sort of site you would consider. So to set something up is pretty easy.

I have worked with Wordpress a lot over the past few years, and find I like it for a lot of what you mentioned, lots of templates and widgets. For my sites, I am with Hostpapa and also Powweb, and I have not had any complaints with either over the past few years.

Dangelus · May 20, 2011, 06:49:27 AM

Yeah I think that's the direction I need to go. Just looked at SquareSpace.com and it is very impressive but I think it does too much for me. What I mean is because it controls everything for you the monthly fee is a lot more than I want to pay.

Dangelus · May 20, 2011, 07:00:28 AM

Quote from: jedijeff on May 20, 2011, 06:46:16 AM
For my sites, I am with Hostpapa and also Powweb, and I have not had any complaints with either over the past few years.

Hostpapa are doing a £1.95 a month deal (for 3 year plan) with a free domain name. Interesting...

Dangelus · May 20, 2011, 07:12:13 AM

Ok my brain is aching now. There is too much choice out there. :(

Rico · May 20, 2011, 08:41:32 AM

I can get you a VERY good hosting deal at www.dreamhost.com (which is where I host my sites).

Dangelus · May 20, 2011, 08:49:00 AM

Quote from: Rico on May 20, 2011, 08:41:32 AM
I can get you a VERY good hosting deal at www.dreamhost.com (which is where I host my sites).

Hmmm...

Plenty of features and supports wordpress. Could be an option. Let me know what you can do Rico :)

Hostpapa is looking good too, I like the look of the soholauncher design software they have.

Rico · May 20, 2011, 08:55:10 AM

Quote from: Dangelus on May 20, 2011, 08:49:00 AM
Quote from: Rico on May 20, 2011, 08:41:32 AM
I can get you a VERY good hosting deal at www.dreamhost.com (which is where I host my sites).

Hmmm...

Plenty of features and supports wordpress. Could be an option. Let me know what you can do Rico :)

Hostpapa is looking good too, I like the look of the soholauncher design software they have.

I'll create a discount coupon code and send it to you via email this weekend when I'm home. I doubt you will be able to find cheaper, good hosting anywhere else. ;)

Dangelus · May 20, 2011, 08:58:11 AM

Thanks! :)

Dangelus · May 20, 2011, 12:21:26 PM

If anybody has any opinions on design tools I'm all ears.

Been playing with Wordpress offline but I'm still undecided.

billybob476 · May 20, 2011, 12:24:10 PM

The hard part with design is it really depends on what your doing...is it a blog? Is it an ecommerce site?

Dangelus · May 20, 2011, 12:31:18 PM

Neither. It will be for a local business providing a service and the site will be mostly information, an "about us" and a contact page so customers can get in touch with their needs. In the future if things go well it may incorporate some ecommerce but for now it just needs to look polished and stylised.

I'm trying to get Wordpress to look less "bloggy" but it does seem to have it's limitations. This is what is tempted my to look at Hostpapa as they provide Soholaunch Pro and that looks very nice.