DIY Websites

[prepaidplans]

Hi I'm kinda new here and wanted to float an idea I have about a service to small business that enables them to DIY website.

Now I know there are many template building tools out there, but when I had an idea last year to list and compare all prepaid mobile phone plans on a website a friend showed me how simple it was to buy a domain, get it hosted and then find a CMS and start building. Well it wasn't that easy without his guidance.

What I was thinking of doing was sharing this experience with the small business public and people who have an online idea and want to try working from home. The ideal example is a cleaner who has their own business and would like a website. They could go out and get it designed for $1000+ or they could do it themselves for under $200.

So I was thinking of setting up a Tool Box, that pointed them in the right direction, gave them the insight I have learn't as well as access to resources that would assist them.

It probably would be free to register. Some tools would be free others would include a small cost eg ebook, special templates, SEO etc.

I would like to get some feedback on what you thought of the idea and would you use it?

[Shade]

A lot of hosting businesses offer something similar.

For me, I wouldn't do my own website because I know virtually nothing about setting them up. Besides, I want to concentrate on my business, not the hassle of setting up my own website.

This is why I would spend the $1000+ on a graphic designer/web developer who knows what they're doing and can make something for me that will work and attract customers because I am crap at it and would rather park a domain that put something up that looks half arsed (which is what it would look like if done by me).

[ConnextHosting]

Most web hosts will provide Fantastico which is an automatic script installer. It enables you to install PHP scripts such as blogs, ecommerce scripts, forums and much more with a few clicks of the button.

You can go about finding a CMS (Content Management System). I'd recommend Joomla or Drupal because of the rich features they provide. Fantastico has Joomla and Drupal, ready to be installed.

There are plenty of themes/templates out there available too.

A .com.au domain costs around about $30 per 2 years.

Hosting prices can vary from $5 per month to $100 per month.

[peppie]

You could, but as is said there is already a lot of similar tools available and yes hosting providers tend to have those sorts of tools or cheap services to set a site up.

You would have to have something about your service that stood out as unique and a convincing reason/s for people to use you. I found out long ago that you have to either set up a business that is totally unique and never done before, which means you have to market it from scratch, or you compete with lots of other similar businesses, which means you need to be better than them.

[zenStudio]

For DIY fantastico and Cpanel are a bit complex for the average "no skills" user.

If you get some basic hosting with someone like netregistry or tppinternet they come with a "site builder". Thats a true DIY system made for people who dont need to know how to do the fiddle bits.

the sites will look basic, but it will do the job until more is needed.

But add up the costs because when you take a years hosting + the time needed to make a website with the site builder it could be worth it or cheaper to go with a $750 starter pack or similar.

When you think about it, if you charge out rate was something like $50/hour for your service and you were to take 20 hours of your time to figure out and setup a very very basic website... you might as well do what you do best and buy a $1000 website.

[prepaidplans]

Great feedback guys. I really do appreciate it. When I look back on what I did to build my sites, if I had to rely upon the host provider for info (or domain provider), I wouldn't of gotten anywhere. Maybe NR is better than crazy domains at this sort of thing. I didn't even now about hosting and what it was used for.

I had someone to guide me, but when I look at it now, it wasn't that complicated.

Tools like fantastico are great but again you need to know that they exist and what they do. I ended up using Wordpress for all my sites and I found it did the job, not perfect but good enough for a basic novice like me.

If I had to fork out $1000 to get started, I never would have.

In terms of costs, I have probably spent $400 on over 5 sites. This is total out of pocket costs. I think the critical point is, if you are going to have to spend 20 hours of your precious time doing this, then at $50 p/h its worth farming out to someone else. So if I can't make it easier and quicker than that, no point doing it.

Please keep the feedback coming in as its invaluable.

[exstatic]

Hi Prepaidplans,

We had exactly the same idea about 12 months ago, and since then have launched http://www.yourbusinesswebsite.com.au

Our business focuses on the small business owner who hasn't got the thousands of dollars to get a professional designer to come in and design a web presence for them.

We provide an advanced very easy to use website builder that allows anyone to get their business online with little to no knowledge of HTML, the internet etc..

We guide them through using the tool and how to market and get the most from their new website!

The key to this sort of business is to define your target market early, work out what sort of businesses you want to sell to, whether they have a need for the type of service you are wanting to provide.

[Adam Randall]

All computer/technology problems take seconds to fix once you know how!
Its the 20 hours of research before that takes time.

I would say that its OK as long as you are not interested in using your web site as a high profile part of your marketing. In other words, if you web site is not important to you and its something you just have to have because everyone else has one then sure the self setup systems are OK.

The problem I have with the DIY sites is the restrictions.

Usually there is no way to easily transfer the website from one provider to another, so you dont actually own the site.

The other thing is last time I looked at one (admittedly a very long time ago) there was no easy way to mass update.

They also take way longer to update and create content for compared to traditional methods using products like Dreamweaver.

There is still a steep learning curve with many CMS systems.

I suppose what you need to do is look at all the web design sites out there and ask yourself why they don't in many cases use the product they are trying to sell you.

If it was me, I would pay someone to do a web site because then I own that site.

[Adam Randall]

Originally Posted by prepaidplans

What I was thinking of doing was sharing this experience with the small business public and people who have an online idea and want to try working from home. The ideal example is a cleaner who has their own business and would like a website. They could go out and get it designed for $1000+ or they could do it themselves for under $200.

If they want to do it themselves then all they need is access to Googles home page, the information is already there and its free.

The problem with that is, you start explaining DNS and what you need to do etc to the average person on paper, they are going to run a mile no matter how simple it actually is.

Also its not just setting up the web site, but a range of other factors, where do they point their MX record to? How do they setup the reverse lookup to prevent domain spoofing. Do they need backup DNS services. Like all these technologies the difference between setting it up to work and setting it up properly is a fair margin.

The average web designer just like the average tiler, plumber, cleaner is going to have a range of tricks that are obvious after 4 or 5 years of experience and which they make look simple, so simple that it makes the average person think, well Im going to have a crack at that, just remember time is money.

If said cleaner spent 40 hours (and thats conservative) figuring out how to use even the simplest CMS system and then creating his own site, he may as well of just paid someone to do to it and save the agravation, he would probably much prefer to be cleaning than pulling his/her hair out when he realises that nobody told him that he would also have to know how to do image optimisation and figure out how to crop and resize for the web or that he needs to know how to use layering in an image program that he is not even sure he owns to create the logo he wants and why is this not included in the $200 after all it was advertised as all inclusive & simple!!!

[LukeMoulton]

Even with all the information out there available there are still plenty of people who don't know where to start. Take this post for example:
Help? Costs? Online business

Although it's a crowded space, perhaps there is room for an unbiased step by step guide for those who'd rather put $1000+ towards other areas of their business.