Anyone created an informational website for a business?

[woodkins]

A good friend will be opening up a business within the next month & has asked me to create a simple webpage/website to provide information about their business. It is a gymnastics type studio for kids. This has to get up and running as quickly as possible so the easier the better

I was a computer trainer/teacher so I have intermediate to advanced computer skills. I would prefer not to purchase software if I don't have to.

Here are my questions:
1-Who is the best/most economical place to register our domain & host the web sight.

2-Any free/low cost easy to use programs or websites that I can use to create the site. We are not looking for flash or music/effects.

3-The site would be a main page with picture/logo and links to pages such as: location/contact us, About Us, Schedule etc.

4-The possibility to link to pdf documents

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

 

[gallaj0]

I use Google Sites for a site I created for my family; you can register your domain name though this (via a third party google connects you with), then you can basically drag and drop things in place on the pages.
Its pretty basic, but if you have some skills, you can fancy it up.

I say it was for my family, but I actually set up a small business website; everyone gets a full set of google business applications (gmail, calendar, documents, etc.) that can be shared between people, and I set up the webpage with a shared calendar anyone with access can see to keep schedules in sync.

My wife uses Microsoft OfficeLive, it work about the same (drag ans drop on pages) but she had to chase the domain name through GoDaddy, then link/redirect them somehow; it got kind of complicated.

 

[HelenaB]

I'm a website designer and you certainly don't need expensive programmes to write an excellent website (I only use free HTML editors).

BUT that requires that you learn HTML properly and obviously that's time consuming.

If I were you I would use WordPress - hands-down the best and simplest system for setting up a website with no HTML knowledge. The advantage it has over most of those freebie-website-creation tools is that it produces good, clean accessible code which matters as much as how nice the site looks. It matters for future-proofing the site and it matters for cross-browser compatibility.

It has a ton of free plugins to add functionality to the site and it's really easy for the user to update their site (add/edit/delete pages) themselves without having to come back to you to help them.

Thousands of free themes too (some better written than others).

I use this all the time for clients who want a "content management system" for their sites.

Personally I'd suggest getting some decent cheap web hosting - preferably one with something like Fantastico (or similar) which will install WordPress for you at the click of a button (literally). All you then do is type in some information about the site (your email address etc), choose a nice theme, add your pages and then choose which page is your "home" page and that's pretty much it.

 

[dizneegirl]

Good luck - this thread is 13 years old.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I'm currently working on one and finding it quite an adventure! I plan to launch soon, could you share your tips on what worked best for you?

Good luck - this thread is 13 years old.

And the OP hasn't been here for 8 years.

 

[Clifton Tesh]

And the OP hasn't been here for 8 years.