Cheapest, easiest, way to get website

[Arkless Electronics]

Time to get a website up and running once again and I don't want to go through all the palaver of re learning HTML etc so just the easiest, quickest, wysiwyg method of building it and then having it hosted. What's the word on AOS street on this? One thing I would like is to be able to contact the host company by telephone.... my last web host deliberately made this impossible and so I won't be using them again...

[nthall]

Time to get a website up and running once again and I don't want to go through all the palaver of re learning HTML etc so just the easiest, quickest, wysiwyg method of building it and then having it hosted. What's the word on AOS street on this? One thing I would like is to be able to contact the host company by telephone.... my last web host deliberately made this impossible and so I won't be using them again...
WordPress. They will do the hosting and you can either buy an address, or transfer one you already own over. You can have one up and running in 20 minutes. You can install it on any web host you already have as well. It used to be mainly for blogs, but it's full featured now.

[Bigman80]

Time to get a website up and running once again and I don't want to go through all the palaver of re learning HTML etc so just the easiest, quickest, wysiwyg method of building it and then having it hosted. What's the word on AOS street on this? One thing I would like is to be able to contact the host company by telephone.... my last web host deliberately made this impossible and so I won't be using them again...
Go Jez !!! Good luck mate, hope you get some business through it. The reviews on your phono stage are very impressive

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

[Wakefield Turntables]

Weebly.com very very easy.

[Arkless Electronics]

Ok well I've checked out weebly and wordpress and they seem to be virtually identical. Both seem to share my biggest bugbear which is the impossibility of actually contacting them with any query etc.... faceless mega corps R us!

I can't even find an answer to whether or not one can use the cheapest paid for service for business purposes! The more expensive ones which say they are for business use claim things like unlimited on line storage, web sales capability etc, non of which interest me. All I need is something like my old website which tells people what I do, with some back ground etc and has a "contact us" bit which gives my phone number and opens up an email window for enquiries.

[nthall]

Ok well I've checked out weebly and wordpress and they seem to be virtually identical. Both seem to share my biggest bugbear which is the impossibility of actually contacting them with any query etc.... faceless mega corps R us!

I can't even find an answer to whether or not one can use the cheapest paid for service for business purposes! The more expensive ones which say they are for business use claim things like unlimited on line storage, web sales capability etc, non of which interest me. All I need is something like my old website which tells people what I do, with some back ground etc and has a "contact us" bit which gives my phone number and opens up an email window for enquiries.
You can do all of that with the basic version of WordPress. Most web providers here offer an automatic install of it through your login portal. I assume it's the same in the UK. I use HostGator, but I don't know what you have available. They answer the phones.

I've never used Weebly but I've heard it's fairly similar. You can set up one of the free WordPress accounts to try it and see if you can put it together the way you want. The business accounts offer online payment and more plugins, but it doesn't sound like you need any of those options.

[Truckletheuncivil]

Yola is cheap and easy to use all sites can be used for business. Not sure if they have phone support - I used their email support once and got very quick and accurate answers. I know nothing about websites and I managed to get it working.

[dimkasta]

Wordpress is mature, proven, extensible and really easy to use.
But like all similar platforms, it needs some extra hands-on work. Even if you chose the hosted WordPress option.

If you want something really hands-off that will look nice for a minimum of work, I have had good experience with Wix and Shopify (they have chat and phone support).
They give nice value for the money spent.

[BilliumB]

I use weebly - never had a problem.

Cheers. Bill

[Arkless Electronics]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I'll look into them and hopefully get something up and running before long. My last website was on-line for about 6 years and I made it myself the hard way with Adobe Dreamweaver... that was some learning curve! and unfortunately long forgotten :rolleyes:

[Sherwood]

I have had my own domain name for donkeys years and have been happy with www.ixhosting.com

Very inexpensive and very reliable with good 24/7 support. Support for many apps including the ubiquitous Wordpress

Only downside is that the web email app is a bit naff but I seldom use it anyway.

Geoff

[dimkasta]

If a simple hosting plan fits your needs, then I suggest having a look at Hostgator too (both phone and live chat support). I have many small sites there on shared plans for many years and had minimal downtime (measured by a separate monitoring service)

Cpanel is pretty much the industry standard control interface and is used by most such services.

Keep in mind though that such plans are really susceptible to hacking (directly from your site, or indirectly from other sites on the same server). And since this is a DIY effort, you probably have no particular plans for frequent backups, tests, verifications or platform updates (WordPress etc).

I would suggest sticking with a fully managed solution (both server and site framework). You will sleep better at night.

[CageyH]

I use 1&1 to host my site, which was created using Microsoft Publisher.
It was very easy to do.

[Reffc]

I would also recommend Wordpress. Good templates etc but you'll need to work out which plug-ins you'll need and want, and keep them up to date. For web domain I recommend GoDaddy. 24/7 phone availability and great service.

[dimkasta]

+1 for godady too
I have not used their hosting, but I have some domains there and support is flawless.

[nthall]

+1 for godady too
I have not used their hosting, but I have some domains there and support is flawless.
I like GoDaddy too. They'll call you if there is a problem.

[Arkless Electronics]

Cheap and contactable by phone are my main concerns... I'd prefer it if things were "all in 1" ie the wysiwyg web builder is part of the same company that does the hosting.

The ones I've looked at so far (the big names mentioned in this thread) all piss me off by trying to get me to immediately make a web site with pretty much no knowledge of terms and conditions, caveats etc. They take you straight to a full page screen saying "Start here! It's so easy!"... trying to get beyond this to find out the real nitty gritty is very difficult. googling "best cheap web hosts" or anything like that of course takes one to sites purporting to be consumer review sites but which are obviously advertorials....

For me, cheap over rules all other factors at the end of the day.

[dimkasta]

For me, cheap over rules all other factors at the end of the day.

Of course I do not know and cannot comment on your finances or your budget, but if we are talking about a few dollars per month difference for a clearly better service, I would throw the extra money without hesitation.
Your website is the image of you and your products to the world after all.

That said, I would save some money for proper photography and copywriting first. Both things that will be useful outside your website as well (brochures, ads etc)

[nthall]

Cheap and contactable by phone are my main concerns... I'd prefer it if things were "all in 1" ie the wysiwyg web builder is part of the same company that does the hosting.

The ones I've looked at so far (the big names mentioned in this thread) all piss me off by trying to get me to immediately make a web site with pretty much no knowledge of terms and conditions, caveats etc. They take you straight to a full page screen saying "Start here! It's so easy!"... trying to get beyond this to find out the real nitty gritty is very difficult. googling "best cheap web hosts" or anything like that of course takes one to sites purporting to be consumer review sites but which are obviously advertorials....

For me, cheap over rules all other factors at the end of the day.
https://wordpress.org/support/