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best webhosting site with templates

printer6kmprinter6km subscriber Posts: 1
edited January 2012 in Building A Website That Works
I am looking to build my own website for a small printing company
specializing in personal, business notepads - I am wondering what the
best webhosting service is - I have been looking at Homestead, yahoo
small business, Webstarts (I actually starting building a free site
(page acutally) here but it took like 3 hours and looks very bad - I
hate to see how long it would take to make a nice website - I am a
small business owner/graphic designer - so I know quite a bit about
photoshop, Illustrator etc, - Has anyone found a good template based
site - I would appreciate any kind of direction - I have researching
for several weeks and the more I look the more confused I become -
please email me directly if you can at ipi@insightbb.com - thanks for your help.
edit

Comments

  • vwebworldvwebworld subscriber Posts: 40
    There are many ways to get a website up and running... some free, using sitebuilders, templates, etc. One tool I`ve seen people on SUN use is Microsoft live (I`m not a fan).
     
    I know you may want to get this up fast... but it would be good if you did a little planning (you may already have). What is the purpose of the site? Just a informational / business card site? or will you sell something online or allow users to upload graphics/files?
     
    Do you have a budget or are you committed to a DIY site?
     
    ~Roland
  • printer6kmprinter6km subscriber Posts: 1
    thanks for the comments everyone - the purpose of the site would be to sell the notepads - they can upload their logos, graphics etc - I would like to have an order form in a pdf format - let them print them out and just fax me the actual orders - then I would setup and send them a proof - then by a phone call get their credit card info etc -and finish the order and ship to them - I have owned by printing company for 12 years and I am just wanting to see what if I can get any work off the net - we have always done these notepads for companies and lately we have been doing them for individuals for christmas gifts, shower gifts and wedding notepads - we can put the peoples personal pics etc - reasonably priced unique gift - so i am just wondering if their is a demand for these.
  • nevadasculnevadascul subscriber Posts: 3 Member
    Hi,
    I went with Yahoo Small Business and their Sitebuilder software.  Sitebuilder has many templates, but I went with a very simple template.  It has very little graphics.  I use my site to refer potential clients to so they can review my writing and training samples.  I like Sitebuilder because I can go in and edit or update my site without having to pay someone else to do the work.  You can also import photos from other sources besides SiteBuilder`s graphic selection.
     
    Hope this helps.
  • vwebworldvwebworld subscriber Posts: 40
    thanks for the comments everyone - the purpose of the site would be to sell the notepads - they can upload their logos, graphics etc - I would like to have an order form in a pdf format - let them print them out and just fax me the actual orders - then I would setup and send them a proof - then by a phone call get their credit card info etc -and finish the order and ship to them - I have owned by printing company for 12 years and I am just wanting to see what if I can get any work off the net - we have always done these notepads for companies and lately we have been doing them for individuals for christmas gifts, shower gifts and wedding notepads - we can put the peoples personal pics etc - reasonably priced unique gift - so i am just wondering if their is a demand for these.

     
    You might consider a couple of changes to make the process more customer friendly...
    Instead of requiring the customer to print out the pdf file, complete it and fax it back to you, have an online form. Alternatively, you could use a pdf form that they can complete online, then print and fax or email back to you.
     
    If you throw up hurdles in front of people who are trying to buy online - they will just go somewhere else. So, you want to make the process as user friendly as possible. The success of your online venture is affected not only by your products / service but by how the user interacts with your website.
     
    Re: payment - you can use PayPal to generate and email an invoice (and process credit card payments).
     
    ~Roland 
    vwebworld4/26/2009 8:35 AM
  • ArcherTCArcherTC subscriber Posts: 1
    I agree with Roland.  The process you described is NOT how people shop online for products and services.  Everything, including the billing, should be available for them to complete online.  If you have 12 years of business working offline, you`re smart to add this to your business development.  But if you`re going to bother, do it right.
  • rkensparcrkensparc subscriber Posts: 2
    I`ve got 0 experience running an online business, but I agree with Roland 100%.  If I`m shopping on line - I want to do everything from my keyboard.  If I was looking for your product and realized I needed to fax you and call wait for a call from you - I would move on to the next site. 
    Remember, too that with the internet you are selling to the entire globe - with the calling there could be time zone issues (when to you call the Aussie back, someone in Japan, Europe?). 
    Give your customer an on-line form to fill out.  Allow them to upload their image, and use Paypal, or set up a merchant account (all of this is standard fair for websites).  Email your proofs back in a PDF fromat. 
    Don`t get me wrong - I think offering you clients the ability to fax information and contact you directly is a very good idea - but I think you will lose sales if you don`t make it possible for your clients to complete the orders via the internet and email.
    Good luck -
  • VideographyVideography subscriber Posts: 401 Silver Level Member
    "please email me directly if you can ....."
    Please don`t.  This is a discussion forum and many of us on the forums can benefit from seeing the ideas presented.
    Look at how your competition does it.  I`ve used Vistaprint for years, and one of the SUN members is an online printer (the name escaped me for now, look in the SUN Marketplace).
    If you could design a knock your socks off web page in Photoshop, then look at SiteGrinder by Medialab (they advertise regularly in Layers and Photoshop magazines).  I`ve never tried it because I think the price is too high.  At least for my purposes.Videography5/5/2009 11:34 AM
  • BoetqojuBoetqoju subscriber Posts: 0
    Template Monster website templates, Flash templates and other web design products are famous for being top quality solution for a quick, easy and affordable website production. The best part about our templates is the simplicity - you purchase the template package, customize it a little bit and upload it to your hosting. And there you have it - your website is up and running within as little as several hours from the moment you've been choosing a website template! So when choosing TemplateMonster as your website design provider, you can always rest assured that you get a premium quality product along with a huge set of absolutely essential goods and services - delivered to you instantly
  • Xeoxa21Xeoxa21 subscriber Posts: 0
    Template Monster website templates, Flash templates and other web design products are famous for being top quality solution for a quick, easy and affordable website production. The best part about our templates is the simplicity - you purchase the template package, customize it a little bit and upload it to your hosting. And there you have it - your website is up and running within as little as several hours from the moment you've been choosing a website template! So when choosing TemplateMonster as your website design provider, you can always rest assured that you get a premium quality product along with a huge set of absolutely essential goods and services - delivered to you instantly
  • shyam12shyam12 subscriber Posts: 0
    nice sharing ........... i hosted my sites at Tucktail.com here they provide free Hosting package for each paid domain that we buy from them they aslo provide paid Hosting plans .their hosting plan supports both Linux and windows platform.they provide 24/7 customer support.I hopt it ll be helpful to you all...............
  • bkaellnerbkaellner subscriber Posts: 0
    Check out www.businesswebsitesource.com
    If you like the look of that site, click the link in my signature for a 45 minute tutorial on how to build it from scratch using WordPress and BlueHost. Total cost = $5/month
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