PRIME discussion forums » Hints, tips, offers, deals and requests

1. willman
   Member

   Anyone know of any reasonably priced website providers in West Midlands area please? Or any easy to use software to create myself?

   Posted 1 year ago #

2. linda
   Member

   Hi Willman

   Mr Site has been recommended quite a few times to me, and I know they have won at least one award. It cost £99.00 a year.

   I am thinking of using them myself

   Best wishes

   Linda

   Posted 1 year ago #

3. g_parry
   Member

   It's difficult to make a good recommendation on the information available. It all depends on what functionality you require in a website. I found 1and1 (http://www.1and1.co.uk) a great place to start - a basic website costs £24 a year and comes with a website builder that will help you make a simple website quickly.

   I hope this helps

   Posted 1 year ago #

4. alan
   Member

   Hi William,
   I found 123 Instant site to be very good. It allows you to add and update from a number of web site templates. I am currently building my web site using this company. Costs per annum are cheap at around £2.99 or so per month, also includes a domain name.

   They can be found on: 123-reg.co.uk/instantsite/

   Posted 1 year ago #

5. jac
   Member

   You could take a look at www.server-room.co.uk

   Posted 1 year ago #

6. spender
   Member

   Hi folks
   I do realise how old this post is, but I'm reading it so I think that others may do the same.

   If you want to have a go at website building yourself have a look at www.w3schools.com for the best in free tutorials. They have a 'try it yourself' section which enables you to play with code and see the results as you go - code and results side by side.

   I would discourage an 'All in One' solution as this may be fine to start with but can limit or trap you as your business grows.

   Building a website is only part of what you need to get it online.
   You also require a Domain Name and somewhere to Host it.
   The best thing is to avoid becoming tied and to have these two services provided by seperate providers.

   I use www.123-reg.co.uk for Domain Names and I have bought server space with www.eukhost.com
   This means that if I ever become unhappy with EUKHost (not at all likely as they have been great) I can move my website to another host. Otherwise I could be tied or trapped.

   I hope this makes sense to any one picking up on this thread and helps you decide what is right for you.

   Good Luck
   Spender
   www.shed21.co.uk

   Posted 11 months ago #

7. Carole
   Member

   Hello,
   Another way of finding self-employment after 50 is to join up with a family member! That's something I did when I retired from the health service.
   We are now a small family website design company who pride ourselves on customer service and reasonable costs. My son is the whizz-kid who really knows his technical stuff and has a lovely eye for simple elegant design. You can see some real examples on our site. I do the customer-facing bits. Doing your own site is great if you have a leaning that way; but it can be wonderful to have it all done for you, especially if you have a thousand other things to think about in the early stages of running a new business.

   Best wishes,
   Carole
   www.irwelldesign.co.uk

   Posted 10 months ago #

8. bodie007
   Member

   Hi,
   just joined and saw this post.
   A great way to get started with a website is wordpress. The platform is free to download and use.
   Its really easy to install and has a large community of developers.
   There are plugins that will easily help you develop most aspects of your web site.

   Its a complete content management system as well. Its not just for blogs either. Wordpress will run almost any style of website.

   I have set up a couple of wordpress sites and its well worth looking at. You need to host the site yourself on your own web host.
   http://wordpress.org/

   Posted 5 months ago #

9. DAVID URMSTON
   Member

   Yes, I am another happy 123-reg.co.uk user.

   I've been with them for quite a while and have had no problems, so far. I also have a couple of other hosting suppliers, in order to spread the load should misfortune hit one. So another I use is Web Fusion, who are OK, but definitely not as good. While they provide an easy to use control panel to manage uploading files using a web browser, you are also able to choose to use an FTP program to transfer files, if you prefer. You could be disappointed though if you looked in the HELP files for help ! Well, that was the case last time I looked, which was when I first contracted them and was setting up the site. So I was more than a bit disappointed, but had to carry on. So it was lucky that I know stuff about IT.
   Web Fusion provide a free site builder application with all their packages, however, as with many web hosting companies, the web building program only works on Microsoft Operating Systems. So if you use a MAC or Linux - this software will be of no use to you.

   One thing you will notice as you shop around is the hosting solutions which use Microsoft operating systems are often more expensive than ones hosted on Linux based machines. This doesn't mean that Microsoft based solutions are going to be any better. It's simply that Linux operating systems cost nothing other than the cost of management. Whereas a Microsoft O/S costs the web host a licence fee for each user, each year.
   Many would say that Linux based hosting is more secure. But, even though Microsoft server platforms are noted for their numerous vulnerabilities, Linux also requires security updates to stay ahead of malicious entities.

   Security on any platform depends on the knowledge of the staff, their willingness to stay up to date and to implement updates and workarounds as they are made available.

   Also, you will find very cheap hosting providers, but be warned, these free sites often are presented in a frame with advertisements around the outside. If you don't mind this OK, but some times the adverts can attract a visitors attention beter than your own content.

   Do remember that you may not be getting more security just because of a high annual fee, some hosting is stupidly expensive without reason. However, if security is a priority, you have fewer providers to choose from, so the selection job should be easier, but it will cost you for services they provide, guaranteed uptime, data backups, load spreading, a dedicated machine, to name a few. Pipex may be worth looking at in this case.

   Visit www.oxfordpcsolutions.co.uk for more IT in sight and for small business solutions and domestic IT services in Oxford.

   David Urmston

   Posted 5 months ago #

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