web sites

[maplehound]

Those of you with web sites: Who do you have host them and do they help your business?
I am thinking of putting my maple bussiness on the web and after taking a couple collage classes on web design I feel it would be to my benifit to have a site but don't know which host to chose. Any help would be appreciated.

[caseyssugarshack93]

godaddy.com and you can add a shopping cart so people can buy ur products online. i havent added one yet but plan to soon

[stoweski]

I have not put my side business online yet but I do have the start of a site going. Went to greengeeks.com. They offer quite a bit for the money. I believe a 2 year site w/domain goes for $140 if you use a coupon code online. I think regularly it's $170 for 2 years.
They've been reliable so far... but I have yet to setup the shopping cart. And they're green!

[maplehound]

I was looking closely at going with Godaddy but seen some others that where much cheeper. sounds like this Green Geek is a little more expensive than godaddy but I am not sure how they compare with all the extras. I don't want a sire that has alot of commercial popups added to it. I did notice that the site that cassy has doesn't have any popups in his regular site but when you get on to the photo album they are constantly popping up even though I have them blocked. I don't think I would use their photo album for that reason. Anything else I need to watch for? I don't want to get stuck with something I really don't want.
Ron

[caseyssugarshack93]

I dont see any popups when i go to my photo album what are you acually seeing Maplehound?

[maplehound]

Cassey when I go to your photo bucket and click on one of the links to your photo's, I get a popup that advertises a flight school. It isn't just yours it is all the ones I look at that yous photo bucket.
Ron

[maplehound]

maybe I am blaming this on godaddy and that isn't even a site that is supported by them.

[KenWP]

I got Casey's web site to work which is pretty amazeing as I am computer handicapped big time. I can't post pictures as I haven't figured out how to get them off the camera yet. Usually use 35mm and then scan them.

[caseyssugarshack93]

oh yeah photobucket isnt my website it is just a place for photos its free, Go to my Caseyssugarhouse.com website thats MY acually website and i pay $6 a month for, theres no Advertisments there that i can see= thats godaddy.com=CHECK IT OUT

[maplehound]

cassey,
how did you make this site? Did you make it yourself from HTML code or from CS4 dreamweaver? Or did you use their software to build it? I see they do have their logo at the bottom, is that always the case with sites hosted by them?
Ron

[caseyssugarshack93]

yes i built the site by myself,you have to buy a domain Which mine was caseyssugarhouse then you have to pay monthy for website tonight and that is what you build ur site, godaddy is really simple to set up a site and if you have any trouble they have really good phone service too,

[maplehound]

I just checked out the greengeek.com site. they don't require you to buy a domain, it comes free with the monthly fee.
I still want to know casey what you used to build your site. Did you use straight HTML code, or a program to build it?
Ron

[caseyssugarshack93]

GODADDY.COM has this program called website tonight that is ur website builder you can get templates for ur site or make your own add your own pictures like i did pretty much anything. I used website tonight and its though godaddy.com thats how you build the sites

[maplehound]

that may explain the logo at the bottom of your page then. If I put my own designed pages on maybe there won't be a logo on it. (I hope) I am also hoping to do some designing on the side for others and I don't want that logo on my pages that I design for others.
Ron

[caseyssugarshack93]

what kind of program are you using? id like to totaly design my own with my own layout these layouts they have are pretty good but id like to make my own so i can put where i want the links and stuff, and logos and stuff like that,

[dnap63]

We have a website and use Godaddy as well. (NappyFarms.com) it is pretty cheap 5 or 6 bucks a month and I think it was around $20 for the domain name. a nice feature my wife put in was a link to mapquest that gives directions to our farm. This reminds me that we need to update the website we haven't done it in a while.

[maplehound]

I took a class on dreamweaver this year and on HTML last year. Dream weaver CS4 is the newest version and is rather expensive, but since I am still a student I can get it for 2 or 3 hundred that is at least 400 off the full price. I also have a copy of Microsoft expresion web, it is a little harder to use but it was free for students to download.
Nappy I will check out your site. I do like the idea of adding a link to mapquest to get directions to your farm.
Ron

[upsmapleman]

We use Fatcow for our maple site and lunar pages for our vacation rentals.

www.millersmaple.com
www.millersvacationrentals.com

Both work well for us.

Upsmapleman

[maplehound]

mapleman, Those sites are both done very well. I checked out the hosts that you are using as well and they seem right in line with the others. It does seem that evryone I talk to around here likes Godaddy but they aslo seem to be the only one that charges extra for the domain name.
I have a couple more weeks till I have the money in my account to do this so I guess I will just keep checking them all out.
Thanks for all the reply's
Ron

[caseyssugarshack93]

im not good with building sites so i liked godaddy due to the website tonight but if you have a program and know how to use it then go for it,

[red maples]

Nate I am going to build a web site too. Probably use go daddy also... at the bottom of the page I noticed there is a copywrite.. did you have to do that or is it part of the web design?

oh and how long did it take you to set up?? it looks like its pretty easy through the site!

DO you need permission to post the link? I wouldn't think so but just curious? don't know much about it yet!!

[RileySugarbush]

We don't have a site for maple, since we don't sell it, just give it away! We have a site ( see my profile for a link). That was hosed on Apple's MobileMe service which is not meant for commercial sites.

For a little family business we put together a site selling Longboards that our boys make. It is hosted by 1&1Internet very economically. We designed and update the site with iWeb which comes free on our Macs. Very easy to do.

Though we haven't automated shopping carts, we do receive payments through PayPal.


http://www.rileylakedesign.com

Check it out as an option for small businesses.

[howden86]

I had a web site and dropped it. I even got on the first or second page of the search engines and never got enough sales to pay for it.

[theschwarz1]

WWW.tlfwebdesign.com is who I have used for my sites. They have great experience and go Rob great lengths to get you search engine optimization and hosting that wont fail you....and they are very reasonable! They've done their homework!

[theschwarz1]

Oh..forgot...WWW.tlfwebdesign.com will get your domain name secured and host it was well....again very reasonable. If I remember right it was a better deal than godaddy.

[Clan Delaney]

If I may suggest another web-presence option: the blog.

My "website" (occasionalcreekmaple.wordpress.com (http://occasionalcreekmaple.wordpress.com)) is a blog hosted at Wordpress.com (http://www.wordpress.com). You can set up a Wordpress account for free, and even their basic services, which is all I'm using right now, offer quite a bit of options:

Image hosting - I believe 4 gigs of space for uploading photos. My wife has been using this for 4 years and is nowhere close to using up the space they offer for free.
Traffic tools - Wordpress keeps track of all your incoming traffic. For example, I know that this season, 87 people found my site through the Mass Maple online directory listing. 30 more found it through the Facebook Fan Page.
Domain Name - If you own a domain name, you can have it point to your WP blog for just $15 a year.
Customizable Themes - 85 Themes to choose from, with all kinds of layouts and options. Many themes allow for multiple pages, just like a website.


I don't work for Wordpress, I'm just a big fan of it's services. I've done the "website" thing. I've found it to be extremely cumbersome to update a website, especially compared to the ease that a service like Wordpress provides. Layout, style, fonts - it's all done. You just add the content.

I should say that the main purpose of my web presence isn't to sell syrup directly to buyers, though I'm gearing up to add that ability. It's more of a tool to keep in touch with those who are, or may be interested in what we do here. I also like the blog interface that allows readers to comment on posts, ask questions, give feedback, praise, whatever. And for now, it's all free, outside of what I already pay for internet access.

[red maples]

I am by no means a web master like Mr. Delaney here but I am learning as I go. And I thought that Godaddy was pretty easy but I am learning I still have some stuff to on mine I have to condense my pics and re upload them so they come up faster and fix my email link and stuff but it was only a little painful. My wife is an artist and she used Godaddy for hers and her pics came out very good and she is even less computer literate than me and thats not saying much.

[WF MASON]

Wfmasonwelding.com

[Clan Delaney]

Wfmasonwelding.com

nice site! Now I don't have to remember where I put your brochure! :lol:

[sanfordandsonpa]

Those of you with web sites: Who do you have host them and do they help your business?
I am thinking of putting my maple bussiness on the web and after taking a couple collage classes on web design I feel it would be to my benifit to have a site but don't know which host to chose. Any help would be appreciated.

I have been using www.hostmonster.com for the last 2 years with no problems.

[maplehound]

http://www.personal.kent.edu/~rwehr/maple%20syrup/raccoonrunhome.htm
http://www.personal.kent.edu/~rwehr/Wehr%20final%20web%20design/index.htm

here are a couple links to web sites that I have designed for my hobby. they are both currently hosted by the kent State University Server and probably will only be on there a short time. The first one I did all in Html code as a group project with 2 other students the other is done with dream weaver. Let me know what you think of them.
Someday I do want to get them hosted by Godaddy or someone simmular.
Ron

[theschwarz1]

If I may suggest another web-presence option: the blog.

My "website" (occasionalcreekmaple.wordpress.com (http://occasionalcreekmaple.wordpress.com)) is a blog hosted at Wordpress.com (http://www.wordpress.com). You can set up a Wordpress account for free, and even their basic services, which is all I'm using right now, offer quite a bit of options:

Image hosting - I believe 4 gigs of space for uploading photos. My wife has been using this for 4 years and is nowhere close to using up the space they offer for free.
Traffic tools - Wordpress keeps track of all your incoming traffic. For example, I know that this season, 87 people found my site through the Mass Maple online directory listing. 30 more found it through the Facebook Fan Page.
Domain Name - If you own a domain name, you can have it point to your WP blog for just $15 a year.
Customizable Themes - 85 Themes to choose from, with all kinds of layouts and options. Many themes allow for multiple pages, just like a website.


I don't work for Wordpress, I'm just a big fan of it's services. I've done the "website" thing. I've found it to be extremely cumbersome to update a website, especially compared to the ease that a service like Wordpress provides. Layout, style, fonts - it's all done. You just add the content.

I should say that the main purpose of my web presence isn't to sell syrup directly to buyers, though I'm gearing up to add that ability. It's more of a tool to keep in touch with those who are, or may be interested in what we do here. I also like the blog interface that allows readers to comment on posts, ask questions, give feedback, praise, whatever. And for now, it's all free, outside of what I already pay for internet access.

YEah I do like wordpress to blog my sugaring/homesteading ventures. (http://dailyhike.wordpress.com/) www.dailyhike.wordpress.com