Looking at building a builders website

Nemesis379 · 12 Dec 2012 at 02:26

Basically I'm looking at building a website for my services, such as plasterboarding etc.

Where would be the best place for buying domain names and web hosting. Also where to make/customize a website.

Cheers!

bertles86 · 12 Dec 2012 at 06:52

1and1
United Hosting
Blue Host

To name a few. They should all have laymans "wizards" to build a basic static page/site. Obviously if you want more than that, then you need a bit more knowledge on coding. If you want to go that route alone, start with W3Schools.

Black Dynamite · 13 Dec 2012 at 10:58

Vidahost for web hosting and domain name registration.

I'd look into using Wordpress to create your site.

Tackle_Berry · 13 Dec 2012 at 11:26

TSO for hosting and domain (UK company)
Wordpress for the site.

reflux · 13 Dec 2012 at 11:29

+3 for Wordpress.

fini · 13 Dec 2012 at 11:30

Black Dynamite said:
Vidahost for web hosting and domain name registration.

I'd look into using Wordpress to create your site.

Nemesis379 · 13 Dec 2012 at 13:50

Isn't wordpress for blogs?

RoyMi6 · 13 Dec 2012 at 15:25

Nemesis379 said:
Isn't wordpress for blogs?

Not this again

(thought you were trolling until I noticed you were the OP!)

Check: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18467016. Note that there is a difference from setting up a blog on wordpress.com and downloading the WordPress CMS that is available for download from http://www.wordpress.org.

By downloading WordPress the CMS you'll imediatly be able to create a blog like website (like you'd get from simply using wordpress.com) but with a single change to a configuration option (done in the user interface) you're able to make your homepage use a static page that you create. And there you have it, a website that doesn't look like a blog using WordPress.

Another vote for Vidahost and Wordpress.

Nemesis379 · 13 Dec 2012 at 15:47

Wow, those Vidahost prices are great, at first I thought it was £17 per month then I saw it was annually

, I will look into WordPress, cheers guys!

If I need anymore help (most likely I will), I'll post here.

reflux · 13 Dec 2012 at 15:51

Yeah, just to echo what others have said WordPress might be primarly a blogging platform, but that doesn't mean it isn't perfectly capable of serving as a full blown website. With the right tweaks here and there and a good template you can create something that looks very professional quickly, adding things like contact forms and other PHP bits that would take ages to code from scratch if you're a beginner.

Nemesis379 · 13 Dec 2012 at 16:24

So what plugins/themes do you guys recommend I use?

Thanks.

RoyMi6 · 13 Dec 2012 at 16:31

With WordPress 3.5 (latest version) you actually don't need any plugins specifically to get up and running.

It's more stuff like "google analytics" and plugins that might make something easier for you in the long run - but nothing is required to start.

Mostly what people added in fresh installs was to get a good set of image / gallery tools in place but the built in stuff is good enough now.

Theme wise it's really up to personal preference - no point in recommending a theme because even the default can be tweaked to give a professional looking website that only someone in the business would look at and go "oh, that's a wordpress website".

Just have a search around and try out what looks interesting

Nemesis379 · 13 Dec 2012 at 17:08

Ah, ok will do, cheers.

uniQ · 13 Dec 2012 at 17:10

Avoid 1&1. Vida, TSO, Krystal, Domainmonster, Gandi.net will all serve you well for hosting.

WordPress is hardly a blogging platform at anymore. It's been a full blown CMS for well over a year. If anything WordPress is overkill for basic blogs these days.

Nemesis379 · 14 Dec 2012 at 14:21

How do I remove the Leave a Reply, guys?

I'm using the theme Shell Lite if that helps.

Thanks again.

hargi · 14 Dec 2012 at 15:12

When your logged in go to page you want to disable comments on . click edit page> at the top there should be something that says scren options Right under howdy 'yourname' click that then tick the discussion box. Scroll down you should now see a section called discussions with a tick box to allow comments.

RoyMi6 · 17 Dec 2012 at 10:44

You can also turn this off for new posts be default by:

Settings >> Discussion >> uncheck "Allow people to post comments on new articles"

Disadvantage of this is that you might end up with "Comments are disabled" text on the page. To remove that you'll need to edit the theme.

Look up creating a "child theme" so that any changes to you make aren't going to be lost if the parent theme needs an update.

Chanc3 · 18 Dec 2012 at 13:19

Check out "all in one SEO", "Faster Insert" and "Bulletproof security", especially the latter, as it helps lock-down your site from any unwanted intrusions.

Morningwalker · 25 Dec 2012 at 12:39

there are number of company in market that offer best website development.