# Web Site



## Sundance (Sep 9, 2004)

Looking for recommendations for web site providers.

Presently we are playing with Squarespace and it's OK.
But honestly I am way out of my element.

What are some providers you folks are using? $$ rate??
And pros of your choice.

Thanks!!!


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## tsmullins (Feb 17, 2011)

What do you mean by web site providers? Are you looking for somewhere to host a web page?

Shane


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## Rohe Bee Ranch (Feb 12, 2008)

These are the folks I use. They are great! Tell them the Rohe Bee Ranch sent you. Great price and terrific support. We also use them for www.alabees.com.

They also have tools to create your web site/page if you need them. All included with the support.


http://www.yittle.net/


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## M.S. (Nov 7, 2009)

Really depends on how much you're willing to invest, knowledge of building the site, site design, how much traffic you might expect, Do you want a shopping cart, affiliate program, running ads etc.

There's always the option of outsourcing on site maint., what you don't know or want to do yourself. I used Go Daddy for a couple of years. For the beginner it could be a little complicated and confusing. I also went with servage when with go daddy. servage was alright, they did go down a few times a year. 

HostGator is pretty popular these days, around $4.00 a month seems to be a fairly common price for a small site, prices of business host plans vary. Cloud hosting is another option.

Google is on my list, basic cost is $10.00 a year with an apps account for the domain. It's another $50.00 a yr to get the Google buisiness apps package if you're into that. I'm mentioning this because I'm considering some of this myself. I haven't made a decision yet. 

Here's 1 example of site on google, others I know of are mainly blogs


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

http://www.justhost.com/ $4.45 a month with free setup and multiple domain names if you wish


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## Sundance (Sep 9, 2004)

* knowledge of building the site,*

Beginner to say the least, but willing to learn.



*Do you want a shopping cart*

Yes for sure

*affiliate program*

????

*running ads etc.*

Ads from others?? No to that.

Is it possible to service 2 businesses from one site??
We have the honeybees, and market apples and their
products as well. Or will be need two separate one??


Thanks all!!


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## M.S. (Nov 7, 2009)

Adding another domain depends on the choice of the host provider package. 

If allowed on that level, yes you can, although you might consider two shopping carts. 
one for each, depends on what the shopping carts allows and want you want.

Running ads? 
your own free or paid ad campaign. For example: Advertising by and image linked to your 
site on a different website, text links etc.

Afiliate? 
allowing others to sell your products on their store front or website 
and or selling others products on your site for a percentage.


Considerations: 

Pages: About, sales and refund policy, terms and conditions, disclosure, privacy policy


Sitemap: a basic table of contents written in xml to submit to search engines

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shipping intregration with a cart for FedEx, UPS, USPS, DHL 

-

Payment options: paypal like only and or a merchant account, check, money order,

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Domain - subdomain - subdirectory:

if you want your home page the store front or a welcome page showing as (yoursite.com/) 

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/subdomains-and-subdirectories/ 

On the subject of subdomain (store.yoursite.com) vs subdirectory (yoursite.com/store/) 
an online search would helpful

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Webmaster tools:

http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmasters/


http://www.google.com/webmasters/

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Here's a list of some popular carts to explore. one click install, an admin panel, set up store front. 
Fortune3 has some helpful information and a video on what one might expect from shopping cart software

Zen Cart 
http://www.zen-cart.com/

Agora Cart 
http://www.agoracart.com/

Preta Shop 
http://www.prestashop.com/

Virtue Mart (joomla)
http://virtuemart.net/

Ubber Cart
http://www.ubercart.org/

Magneto 
http://www.magentocommerce.com/

Open Cart
http://www.opencart.com/

osCommerence 
http://www.oscommerce.com/

eShop
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/eshop/


A list of free carts 
http://www.free-carts.com/


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## EvansCedarBeehives (Apr 6, 2011)

I use Weebly. And Paypal.

The site isn't really flashy...but I make beehives, not websites. 

Weebly is free. Even their pay version is well worth the cost (I think 5 bucks a month?) You can get a domain for 12 bucks a year and point it to your weebly page. If you use the free verison, the domain registration is the only cost.


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## M.S. (Nov 7, 2009)

a couple of free tools if you want to go a different route 

WYSIWYG web page editing. 
http://www.kompozer.net/

free FTP 
http://filezilla-project.org/


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## Sundance (Sep 9, 2004)

Excellent info!! Thanks. Lots to learn and pack
into my small brain cavity.


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## kbfarms (Jan 28, 2010)

We also develop websites....www.kbfarms.com. You can also see some that we've developed.


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## KevinR (Apr 30, 2010)

I second hostgator. 

I've been pretty happy with those guys. I have names registered with and hosted by godaddy, dotster, parcom and a couple other places. So far I haven't had any problems from hostgator that wasn't resolved in a couple hours.

I put an ad in the wanting to buy section to swap web/graphic work for bee stuffs.

Of course, there are tons of sites and articles to do it yourself. Just depends how fast you want to get going.

-Kevin


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## Sundance (Sep 9, 2004)

KevinR said:


> I second hostgator.
> 
> Of course, there are tons of sites and articles to do it yourself. Just depends how fast you want to get going.
> 
> -Kevin


I appreciate the recommendation.

We're not in a major hurry, and funds won't allow for
anything but doing it ourselves.


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## rocky1 (Jul 19, 2009)

Sundance said:


> * knowledge of building the site,*
> 
> Beginner to say the least, but willing to learn.
> 
> ...


First off... Bluehost - Excellent service, can't say that I have ever seen any unscheduled downtime, it blipped off and back on for scheduled down time once or twice, but we're talking maybe a minute or two in 5 years on the account I have with them. 

Very affordable!
Excellent Support!!
Free Domain Name as long as you remain with Bluehost. 

-- Willing is great! It isn't real tough honestly. The local college probably offers a basic course, if not BSC offers one on-line. 

-- Are you sure you want a shopping cart? Are you aware of the costs involved with a shopping cart? Secure server is the least of your worries, credit card companies charge you for processing orders, they also charge you for processing on-line orders, they also charge you for having an account to process orders. Be sure of what you are getting into before you install it. PayPal charges you too, but it's a simple percentage of sale thing. 

Bluehost does offer several if you're sure you want it, and it's a simple one click install. Hardest part is naming the folder you want it in!

-- Affiliate Programs can be and often are rather expensive also.

-- Ads... Waste of time! The average internet viewer is so ad insensitive these days that the moment anything looks like an ad they're leaving it. Besides, why would you want to steer a potential client away from your site?

-- Multiple Domains - While it is possible to point multiple domain names at a single domain, it usually doesn't fare well on the search engines. They don't like redirects unless you are actually redirecting. Is there a reason to separate the 2 businesses? Why not make it a Country Store and sell both out of one cart? What are your anticipated revenues? How many million $$$ are you planning to make? Or, is this a work out of the home business, that could get by with one cart? 

And, yes you can also run sub-folders and separate the stores on one site, while utilizing the same cart. You would have to talk to the host in respect to pointing domain names at subfolders however. Some hosts allow it, some don't. 

When you pick your domain name, keep it simple. Simple sells product. You can not sell product if your customers can't find you, and your customers can't find you if they can't remember your name. It does take awhile to establish yourself on the search engines, don't expect that to happen over night. 

Personally, I'd pick a nice general name and run them both together unless you truly are going to be making millions of $$$.


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

Dredging up a 10 year old thread, just to promote an SEO company???


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## Tigger19687 (Dec 27, 2014)

haha ,love it... Banned


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