mike56gte
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Registered: 23rd Jun 09
Location: Fife, scotland Drives: Audi S3
User status: Offline
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hi guys, was just wondering whats the best way to go about making your own website? it will just be a simple site really nothing to complicated. its for my grandads furniture shop which i am working in at the moment since being paid off, and was thinking a website might boost some sales.
all that would be on it is contact information with also a map to shop where it is, and just some general information about the shop and what we deal in. maybe even list some select things in the shop to list on the website so maybe a section for that.
any help would be appreciated and your input into what the website might need would be great.
thanks. 
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Neo
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Registered: 20th Feb 07
Location: Essex
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If its a tiny shop website just go to http://www.webs.com/
Set up a free site, buy a domain name for £10 a year or so and done. Just use a template on the site and the CMS built in.
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Sam
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Premium Member
Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
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wordpress.com with a pre-designed theme, a domain name and Google for email.
P.S. Geek Day.
[Edited on 03-12-2010 by Sam]
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mike56gte
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Registered: 23rd Jun 09
Location: Fife, scotland Drives: Audi S3
User status: Offline
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cheers
what is the 'domain' thing for/do?
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Whittie
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Registered: 11th Aug 06
Location: North Wales Drives: BMW, Corsa & Fiat
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If you need cheap hosting / domains feel free to contact me.
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Sam
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Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
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Domain name is the website address, i.e. "corsasport.co.uk" is a domain name for this website.
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mike56gte
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Registered: 23rd Jun 09
Location: Fife, scotland Drives: Audi S3
User status: Offline
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so you start your own site on a site like neo posted and then pay £10 and you can change the name of the site? or do you need to start a hole new one?
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Paul_J
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Registered: 6th Jun 02
Location: London
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Just a word of warning though. Just because you have a website it doesn't mean people will find it.
With no marketing, SEO or page rank - your site will be invisible to most people just 'searching' on google.
This is the most basic mistake people make when having websites built. They believe, if they build it - they'll come... like a swarm of traffic turning up on your door.
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Neo
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Registered: 20th Feb 07
Location: Essex
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quote:
Originally posted by mike56gte
so you start your own site on a site like neo posted and then pay £10 and you can change the name of the site? or do you need to start a hole new one?
You change the name.
so it would go from myshopswebsite.webs.com to www.myshopswebsite.co.uk for example.
As paul said you would need to invest in SEO
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Sam
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Premium Member
Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
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quote:
Originally posted by mike56gte
so you start your own site on a site like neo posted and then pay £10 and you can change the name of the site? or do you need to start a hole new one?
Yes you need to buy a domain name, for example "mike56gte.co.uk" and then you need somewhere to host that domain name. When the two are linked up, people will see whatever web pages you've got on your host when they type in mike56gte.co.uk.
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mike56gte
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Registered: 23rd Jun 09
Location: Fife, scotland Drives: Audi S3
User status: Offline
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cheers sam shall give that a go.
sorry for being so clueless about this stuff but what exactly is SEO?
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Sam
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Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
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Search Engine Optimisation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization
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ed
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Registered: 10th Sep 03
User status: Offline
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If you use a Wordpress site then it will already be highly optimized. Anyway, in my experience, if you have a thoughtfully designed website then all this SEO stuff is bollocks, it comes naturally if you use HTML correctly.
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Paul_J
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Registered: 6th Jun 02
Location: London
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quote:
Originally posted by ed
If you use a Wordpress site then it will already be highly optimized. Anyway, in my experience, if you have a thoughtfully designed website then all this SEO stuff is bollocks, it comes naturally if you use HTML correctly.
but my point is that, if his site is page rank 0 - then he'll not rank in google searches.
People expect they can upload a site about say, furniture and have loads of traffic.
But since everyone uses the internet by searching in google, you are unlikely to rank anywhere in the google list for a generic search like 'furniture store', especially if he's page rank 0.
Hence ... don't expect to just upload a site and get traffic.
- The SEO for them would be in regards to the fact they want local people to use them, therefore there will need to be key SEO emphasis on location in keywords / domain name / titles / h1s / etc.
e.g. 'ascot furniture store' - is far easier to rank high for than just 'furniture store'.
That sort of SEO, combined with a back link scheme to improve page rank - may eventually get some traffic to their site. I was just giving a general piece of advice (since mike sounds quite new to it all) that just because you upload a website it doesn't mean any traffic will come - it'll be like having a deserted island in the middle of the ocean and no map to get there, apart from the exact route which would require communication to the potential user first (telling them your domain)
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ed
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Registered: 10th Sep 03
User status: Offline
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Getting your business listed on Google Maps Places would be a better option than linkbacks.
(Simple and free BTW - http://www.google.co.uk/places  )
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Sam
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Premium Member
Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
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SEO isn't about just making sure you do things right on your web pages - you need to do off-site work as well, for example getting links to your site, spreading the word, etc. etc.
There are loads of so-called SEO companies that promise you page 1 rankings and that, but most of the time it's either bullshit or they just use blackhat SEO techniques which Google will penalise your site for.
I've seen the website of some company once, it was designed by a web designer and he had links to it from loads of spammy fake websites that they (the designer) owned in order to create high levels of backlinks to their customer's site.
This was for a really well known website in golfing circles too.
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ed
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Registered: 10th Sep 03
User status: Offline
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That's the sort of thing I'd class as SEO - dodgy practices...
Using HTML properly and making and efficiently designed site is just good design practice and properly promoting your business and services is good business practice. All of which leads to success
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JordyCarter
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Registered: 14th Mar 10
User status: Offline
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I work at a web design office. We make all sorts for huge companies and small ones. If your interested in a site they could probably sort you out a deal, this includes like all the admin area, coding and a nice template.
http://www.imediasolutionsltd.co.uk/
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