My website is badly in need of an overhaul. I have outsourced the design and maintenance of the site, and because there is always a charge for adding and deleting information, images, etc., I don't do a good job of keeping it up to date.
I think I have two choices, and I would appreciate your advice on the matter.
Option #1: Go to an on-line site that will give me a template for doing my own website. The advantage of this is that I get to keep my domain name. The disadvantage is that there will be a steep learning curve for me. Because I would want it to be bilingual, I would be limited to the few templates that allow for this. (I understand the WordPress is one of them.)
Option #2: I start my own blog. My son says that blogs are livelier, more immediate than websites. On the plus side, I am somewhat familiar with the blog format. Also, I could include little galleries of my work, as we do for past challenges. I am pretty sure I could do at least a weekly posting. Downside: I will have to reprint my business cards.
If I choose Option #2, I could pay a small annual fee to retain ownership of my domain name. (Who else would want it? A pornographer?) When you are asked to list your website on submissions, etc., is a blog site as readily accepted?
I hope some of you will weigh in with your experiences and advise me.
P.S. I'm not on Facebook and would prefer not to be, if that is even a factor in the decision.
The group blog of four quiltmakers and textile artists scattered around the world in 4 countries and across three continents. Our aim is to create a small quilt every three months. The theme is chosen by the members in turn. Our website is: www.12bythedozen.weebly.com
Hi Heather. I am firmly of the opinion that if you want to be taken seriously you need to take yourself seriously and that means a professional *front* - be it a blog or a website.
ReplyDeleteOption #1 - a website. I use www.weebly.com It is free, you can keep your own webname/URL and pay a small fee to whoever holds your web name registered - it does NOT have to be Weebly. Our Contemporary Quilt website is also Weebly - www.contemporaryquilt.org.uk as is a local group I belong to working to participate in an open studios fortnight at the nd of May here in Dorset. www.allsortstextileartists.weebly.com
Personally I find it user friendly, very flexible and it contains virtually everything your need - videos, galleries, slide shows, including being able to sell from the website (with a PayPal Business account). It has a wide choice of templates which you can customize to a reasonable degree with images of your choice, fonts, colours, effects - you name it. I don't know about translation though. Linda B is a whizz at IT and she may know about adding a translator.
Wordpress is between a blog and a website. Linda B and I used it for the Quilter's Guild fund raising Little Gems (http://littlegemquilts.wordpress.com/ )a few years back. I did not find it intuitive but I did find my way around. Some big names speak highly of Wordpress.
One thing I was told was not to make navigating your site too complicated - nothing should be more then 3 clicks to find. Also that you should keep your site fresh with changes, updates, etc. This shouldn't be too difficult for someone who is so prolific and will have new work to upload often.
Option #2 - a blog. Blogger has come on recently and being able to have pages opens up the possibility of having galleries of your work in a sorted scheme.
I'm right behind you with Facebook and Twitter - I'm staying well clear as I spend enough time on the computer already and some would say I need to get a life!
Good luck,
Hilary
gloria hansen (gloderworks) offers an outstanding, personalized service. she gets involved personally and has an outstanding professional team. her system allows you to manage your website yourself - that is their goal. if you prefer them to do it, they charge a fee. i have been more than satisfied with what they offer. worth chatting with them about it
ReplyDeleteHow strange life is - I've just been approached about re-designing a website, and had e-mailed Linda B privately to get some advice. When I saw the comments on your post (before I saw the post) I spent a while wondering if I'd sent my e-mail to the group rather than Linda B. One thing I'm uncertain on - when you've bought a website name; do you have to keep paying for it to be yours, or do you purchase it outright? If you have to keep paying - who gets the money? Does the person providing the server for your website have any claim over your web name?
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it, my domain name is registered for me with a domain registrar. I pay less than $10 per year for this. If I let it lapse, then someone else can come along and steal it.
ReplyDeleteI pay $150 a year for "site hosting". I get an invoice for this from the fellow I deal with locally, but whether he pockets this himself or remits it to some other company isn't clear to me. He also charges me by the hour for making my requested updates and changes.
I too pay $10 a year for my domain name. And then $200/year/site to the host, who I believe keeps this money. But I do all the changes on my websites myself using Adobe Contribute. It's not hard at all, once you get the hang of it. And then I can update the sites whenever I want, as often as I want, for free.
ReplyDeleteI also, have been thinking about a new look for my web-site. My web hosting is $90.00 per year. I think a web site is a must for anyone in business. In order to avoid paying someone to regularly update your site you could have a link to your blog where you announce your upcoming shows and feature current pieces of work. Heather, you would be terrific at writing a blog. You write well and you are a wealth of information concerning local art shows and textile art techniques. I look forward to 'following' you.
ReplyDeleteBtw, I just completed 'Steps'. Yippee!
reading all the other comments and prices and what you are getting for what you are paying, i certainly see the services of gloderworks as being ahead of the game in terms of look, individuality, price, the ability to do everything yourself and more.
ReplyDeleteBlogger, Wordpress and Weebly (and others) are all basically WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get. To add to them, change, update, etc is no different really than working with documents on your computer. You do not need any programming language or experience. You add text and photos, etc in boxes/tables which are either invisible when published/saved or visible if you choose.
ReplyDeleteIf you have an ounce of artistic talent then you can create a presentable, even stunning website with one of these free templates. Mine is not finished yet (ran out of time) but it costs me nothing.
The one thing I would highly recommend is that you gather the best quality photos of your work into a new folder called website - keep these images together - even duplicated if you have them saved somewhere else. The resolution (dpi) needs to be down between 72 and 100. Any bigger and it will take so long to open your website people will get bored and move on. These images are only going to be viewed on a computer screen - they are not meant for printing. Check their size as well - some cameras take huge photos - you don't need a photo bigger than your screen! Make sure your photos are cropped, straight, in focus and well lit (not too dark).
Look at loads of websites and work out what you like and dislike about the layout, the fonts, the colours, the navigation, etc. Write it all down.
I seriously suggest anyone try Weebly - for free - and just play with the templates, see how user friendly and flexible it is. If you settle on one layout, you can still change it umpteen times at the click of a button. You can move text and images around by dragging them. Give it a try - you have nothing to loose.
Hilary
Some thoughts:
ReplyDeleteThere are three basic steps to website creation, regardless of whether you do it yourself or not:
1. Registering a domain name which has to be paid for and is effectively rented on an annual basis, though there are significant reductions for buying more than a year at a time. I have used 123-reg for a couple of sites and find them as user friendly as any.
2. Creating your web pages - you can pay to have this done but have to put in as much work as you would for a DIY site on the design side. If you go for DIY sites like Weebly make it relatively easy by providing a framework that you can complete as you would any document on your PC. There is no need for you to know or understand coding*.
3. For me the hardest part - keeping your pages fresh and up to date. Hilary does a great job on the CQ site which is probably at the expense of her personal site! But a couple of people have mentioned the need to update their sites so perhaps the clue is to keep the information on your site as timeless as possible!
If you go for a blog, like this one, you can arrange to point it to your own domain name to remove the blogspot or wordpress part of the address.
You are more limited in terms of layout but that is not necessarily a negative.
You can create separate pages which can be displayed in different ways - as a bar across the top of the page or as Hilary has done here as a list which she has called Previous Challenges.
My advice is to sign up to Weebly, Blogger and Wordpress and try them all - it costs time but this is an invaluable exercise as you will quickly learn which tools suit you best and how much time you have for a project of this nature.
ps An example of using code is a language translator such as google's - http://translate.google.com/translate_tools
Most websites tell you how you can do this by using copy and paste without having to understand the code you are copying!
Thank you, everyone, for weighing in with your opinions, resources, and encouragement. I had a quick look at everyone's blogs and websites and was very impressed.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to get on it...soon!
Having finished my Steps (ahem) should free up some time.
You've finished your Steps piece - agh, the pressure
ReplyDeleteThis has been a very informative and lively discussion. Thank you to all who have given your input via experience...it means alot! My plan is to continue to build in 2012 and get ready to go "live" in 2013.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I am very impressed with those of you who have "Stepped up" and already completed your next challenge! WOW!! Can't wait to the big reveal day! In the meantime, I am stepping out to go for a run! :-)