Web site creation software

Computerised Mount Cutters, Computers, other gadgetry.
Not your average framer
Posts: 11014
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Web site creation software

Post by Not your average framer »

Business is still extremely quiet in my town. Retailers who previously not taking about how quiet business has become are starting to get worried and many of us are trying to figure out what we can do about it.

I have decided to get a website and have already set my laptop up with a FTP program and the next move is to pick a free WYSIWYG website creation tool and pick a good deal for web hosting.

Any advice, or recommendations would be greatfully recieved.

Many thanks in anticipation,
Mark
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
Graysalchemy

Re: Web site creation software

Post by Graysalchemy »

I would use a wordpress site, some templates come with really good wysiwyg editors. I paid about £50 for my template and was up and running within a few weeks.

Have you thought of a facebook page to engage with those in the local area. Facebook can work really well for some people.
User avatar
Steve N
Posts: 2992
Joined: Sat 21 Jul, 2007 2:32 pm
Location: Somewhere Staple Hill Bristol
Organisation: Frontier Picture Frames ltd
Interests: Walking our retired Greyhound,art, falling asleep on sofa in front of the telly
Location: Now in Bristol
Contact:

Re: Web site creation software

Post by Steve N »

Good idea Mark

Just had a thought, you could use Weebly , they do a free package https://www.weebly.com/uk/pricing
Our local Arts Trail use it http://www.newbridgeartstrail.com/
If you are not going to sell online, then you don't need all the bangs and whistles, just need to be able to put on the site something about yourself and a gallery of what you have framed and the services you offer, and how to contact you and how to find you and parking
You should have it up and running by the weekend :D :giggle:
Steve CEO GCF (020)
Believed in Time Travel since 2035

Proud to sell Ready Made Frames
http://www.frontierpictureframes.com
http://www.designerpicturemounts.com/
User avatar
David
Posts: 404
Joined: Sat 08 Sep, 2007 10:24 pm
Location: Silverstone
Organisation: Silverstone Framing
Interests: Photography, Motor Racing, Military
Location: Silverstone

Re: Web site creation software

Post by David »

I've just started working on a new site and am using the WIX system. I've used it before and find it easy to use and adapt. Good luck.
User avatar
JohnMcafee
Posts: 1145
Joined: Sun 10 Oct, 2010 9:58 am
Location: Belfast
Organisation: Scenes
Interests: Picture Framing
Putting the world to rights
Location: Belfast
Contact:

Re: Web site creation software

Post by JohnMcafee »

Agree with Steve, Weebly is hard to beat. Intuitive to use but with many grown-up features.

About four years ago our simple site was put together in a few days with Weebly.
"A little learning is a dangerous thing"

(Also known as John, the current forum administrator)
User avatar
GeoSpectrum
Posts: 2151
Joined: Fri 01 Oct, 2010 11:49 am
Location: Lincolnshire
Organisation: Ashcraft Framing
Interests: Family, x-country skiing, wine, art, Jazz
Location: Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
Contact:

Re: Web site creation software

Post by GeoSpectrum »

For hosting I've been using ICUK for years now and they have been very good. 100% reliable and good with support. They have a one click install system for some programs which include Wordpress.
Alan Huntley
Ashcraft Framing
Bespoke Easels and Self-assembly tray frames
http://www.ashcraftframing.co.uk
i-framer

Re: Web site creation software

Post by i-framer »

Not your average framer wrote:Business is still extremely quiet in my town. Retailers who previously not taking about how quiet business has become are starting to get worried and many of us are trying to figure out what we can do about it.
Mark
Have you considered running a campaign together with other businesses? "Shop at any one of these stores for your chance to win 1 of x amount of prizes".

Consider a few of you get together and offer prize each. I.e $100 framing voucher, Free bunch of roses (florist), dinner for 2(restaurant), etc

You combine your contact list to use in an email campaign and can also share in other advertising costs.
If it works, you could continue it and involve other shops as well.

Other then while a website is good, it is only good if someone is looking for a framer, and then they were already half way there. You ned to create business, and that is therefor needing to create a want/demand. You could try Mail drop a local area with a gift voucher (valid for a limited time) even if they don't use it, you will be planting a seed for when they do have something to frame. Visit art galleries, photography and art clubs. Sporting clubs etc.

If you are slow, you need to get out and find the work. Ring previous customers as a courtesy call, to see how they are and if enjoying and happy with the framing you did for them. Nothing more, nothing less - this leaves the customer feeling special that you care about them and their artwork, and they will talk about you.

Hope things pick up for you soon.
User avatar
pramsay13
Posts: 1375
Joined: Tue 27 Sep, 2011 11:46 am
Location: Stonehouse, Lanarkshire
Organisation: Picture Framer (ML)
Interests: picture framing (no, really!) sport, music
Contact:

Re: Web site creation software

Post by pramsay13 »

Some good ideas Mark @ i-framer.
Over 2 years ago I started our local business association as I felt that as a village we were missing out on business to larger towns nearby.
We now have over 35 members in the association who each pay £40 a year and this allows us to deliver a full glossy brochure once a year to all the houses in the village, put up posters with a full list of our members, and a few other promotional activities.
There has been a definite increase in awareness of the benefits of shopping locally.
You can see what we've done at http://www.keepitstonehouse.co.uk.
Not your average framer
Posts: 11014
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Web site creation software

Post by Not your average framer »

Thanks for all the responses so far. I'm still looking at these ideas and recommendations, but no firm conclusions yet.

I've managed to dig out my old original laptop (vintage 1999 and Windows 98 second edition). It has a broken power connector, but if you don't move it about too much it still works. It has a copy of a program called "Web Express" the company who supplied this software no longer exists, but I created lots of web pages for the towns business associations website using this and have a good understanding of how it works.

I'm not sure what would happen if I tried to get this old computer up and running with my existing ISP, or if I could transfer this 32 bit software onto my current Sony laptop which is running Windows 7. At the moment, I have no common means of data transfer between the two machines, but I'm hoping that I can do this some how. Perhaps someone might know if this is worth trying?

My thinking is to run this program for a memory stick as the program does not need any registery entries for it to run. In theory it should be a portable program and I hope is still capable of running on a more modern machine. My ISP's helpline won't support either Windows 98, or Windows XP and this old computer only has the hardware for an old fashioned dial up connection, so any configuration issues and it won't neccessarily be easy to get up and running, if at all.

So this is what I want to try this weekend as a temporary fix! I'll let you all know what happens.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
Graysalchemy

Re: Web site creation software

Post by Graysalchemy »

Things may have moved on a little since then Mark, you really need a responsive site in this day and age, if not Google won't give you time of day in the rankings and if you want people to find you via google then you will be scuppered without one.
Not your average framer
Posts: 11014
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Web site creation software

Post by Not your average framer »

Thanks Allister,

Do you mean things like XML site maps and things like that for google? If you access the correct google address, you can fill in a form and google will create all that stuff for you and you upload to you website maanually. Modern website creation software does all that automatically, but it's no different if you do it manually. Or are there other specific things which I don't know about?

How about stuff like Java and CGI scripts, I don't have much experience of creating stuff like this, but I'm not sure whether this would affect my SEO ratings. Is there anywhere on the web where I can find out about this? Thanks.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
Roboframer

Re: Web site creation software

Post by Roboframer »

The above about the knackered old computer does not sound much of a recipe for success. You've been given good advice but I think this attitude from Jan 2014 has not helped you whatsoever.
Not your average framer wrote:Personally, I'm not sure if advertising makes a lot difference, but it can cost you plenty in terms of time and money!
I don't advertise, currently not got a website, don't do facebook, or any of the other social media sites and yet people keep turning up with framing to be done!
and neither has your failure to do basic things like take card payment.

You have also spoken about getting a website over the years but it has not come off. I hope you make it happen this time and it's not too late.
Graysalchemy

Re: Web site creation software

Post by Graysalchemy »

The major thing if the last 18 months is whether your site is mobile friendly. I don't know what the figures are but the majority of Internet usage these days is done using a tablet or a phone especially people on the move looking for local services.

You will be best using one of the online wysiwyg Web creation sites as suggested. They will be responsive and seo optimised. As I said WordPress is very good.
Not your average framer
Posts: 11014
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Web site creation software

Post by Not your average framer »

Thanks Allister,

Now I understand. I have a plug in for my browser that checks mobile compatabilty. It's a stand alone module that a friend gave me, I don't know where it came from, but you can down load it for free, it lists the changes required and it's fairly idiot proof.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
Jamesnkr

Re: Web site creation software

Post by Jamesnkr »

Mark

You can make this very difficult, or you can make it very easy indeed.

1. Forget everything you ever knew about web design.

2. Take half an hour and go to wix.com and start making a website. Just for fun. It won't cost you anything. Have a play around.

3. After half an hour you will find you have a perfectly acceptable website.

4. You will then want to buy thedartmoorgallery.co.uk and will pay your £7.76 per month to Wix. And you will have a website.

You could honestly have done this in the time you have spent posting about it on this thread!

And if you need a computer to do it, then I bought myself one of these last year which is £120 (seller refurbished with 12 month guarantee):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Asus-X205TA-F ... SwdIFXxUx8

EDITED to add, if you can post on here, you don't need a new computer. The entirety of the thing is held "in the cloud".
Framemaker Richard
Posts: 254
Joined: Wed 02 Jul, 2014 5:06 pm
Location: Worcestershire
Organisation: framemaker
Interests: Antique frames

Re: Web site creation software

Post by Framemaker Richard »

Totally agree with James (and everyone else), forget about making your own website, just go to wordpress, wix, 123reg, weebly, even blogger and you will have a site up in a few hours.

http://www.top10bestwebsitebuilders.co.uk/
User avatar
IFGL
Posts: 3087
Joined: Sun 06 May, 2012 5:27 pm
Location: Sheffield UK
Organisation: Inframe Gallery Ltd
Interests: Films ,music and art, my wife and kids are pretty cool too.
Location: Sheffield
Contact:

Re: Web site creation software

Post by IFGL »

Ours costs next to nothing, less than £10 per month, we get a fair bit of business to the shop though it, also we do sell on it too, only a few hundred pounds a month this is growing though, we tried getting artist to tweet and Facebook their pictures and hashtag the places in the pictures, our web sale's has shot up by x 4 the last week, we will continue these experiments and monitor websales
Not your average framer
Posts: 11014
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Web site creation software

Post by Not your average framer »

O.K., O.k., I hear what you are saying. I try wix.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
kartoffelngeist
Posts: 268
Joined: Thu 14 Apr, 2016 3:07 pm
Location: Aberdeen
Organisation: Rosie's Framers and Crafts
Interests: Framing, mental health, martial arts

Re: Web site creation software

Post by kartoffelngeist »

I can't recommend anything higher than squarespace.com

They have some nice templates which are completely customisable and they can do some really clever things. Can also take card payments etc. Their customer support is top notch too. And you get a free domain name!

Not affiliated or anything, just genuinely really impressed with how easy it is and how well it works.
Thanks,

andrew
"The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them in to the impossible."
Etsy
Facebook
Twitter

Roboframer

Re: Web site creation software

Post by Roboframer »

Mark must be well on his way to a decent website after a week.

.
Post Reply