For those of you who are using or who have used Host Gator, how has your experience been? Have you used their website designer with the free templates? Is it user friendly?

I am not very computer savvy when it comes to installing programs and building websites. I'm looking for something that I can do myself with relative ease and even WordPress has gotten me stumped.

Host Gator's website building seems fairly simple and something that I can do and tweak myself, without needing outside assistance - - I'm just curious as to your feedback on it.

Thanks in advance!
~Lori

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Lori Hedgpeth
Author One Source

Originally Posted by LoriH

For those of you who are using or who have used Host Gator, how has your experience been? Have you used their website designer with the free templates? Is it user friendly?

Excellent! Support is 24/7 and very, very helpful.

No I have only used WordPress to host my sites there. Sorry, I don't have any information for you about their templates. If these are sitebuilder packages, I don't recommend them for SEO. I used a sitebuilder (Microsoft Office Live) when I first started out and the SEO was not very good.)

The actual WP 'skeleton' program that Hostgator offers is a one-click operation. Loading the WP theme you chose, while not one-click can be learned by following the READ ME instructions at the website where you purchase the theme.

Originally Posted by LoriH

Host Gator's website building seems fairly simple and something that I can do and tweak myself, without needing outside assistance - - I'm just curious as to your feedback on it.

There are many good tutorials online at YouTube that can show you how to use WP. I'd like to recommend that you try using WP (Hostgator has a quick install) and purchase a template from Elegant Themes or from Themeforest (affiliates) as I found them quite easy to use.

I say go for Hostgator! I think they are reasonably priced and the service is superb.

Post back at the Web Development http://www.virtualassistantforums.co...gn-development on VAF if you have any questions. Check out this tutorial that another member posted.

Janine

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Write that Winning RFP The Job of Ur VA Dreams http://bit.ly/ZJfatV

Janine, thank you so much for your informative reply. It's exactly what I needed!

My brother-in-law was originally going to design something for me but he has been so swamped with his "paying" work that I needed to explore other options and I have been pulling my hair out and sweating over this.

I will read up on the links you provided.

Do you suggest purchasing a theme versus a free one for SEO options or just overall appearance?

~Lori

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Lori Hedgpeth
Author One Source

Hi Lori,

Glad you found that helpful.

If you are starting out I recommend one of the two theme packages I mentioned above because the install was relatively painless. If you follow the directions that the designers offer, you should be OK. But always research online.

I also found that these two theme designers answered their own support questions. Support in the beginning of work working with WP is important. I spent hours keywording posts from other users to find out the answers to my own questions.

I wouldn't go with the free theme because I sat in on a webinar once where 8 out of 10 of the free themes had malware in it and/or advertisement for another site that was hard coded into it.

And look at it this way...once you get the site up and going by yourself and learn how it works, you may even be able to say that you can offer that service in the future to clients. Or you can help maintain their own WP sites.

There's a real sense of accomplishment when it is done. You have control over your own site and its content.

Janine

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Write that Winning RFP The Job of Ur VA Dreams http://bit.ly/ZJfatV

Just a note of welcome! I am no web designer, as is evident by my site that I got from GoDaddy -- this is a great alternative and is really cheap and easy -- I picked from their themes, have had them a few years now and had no problems with malware etc. I have also been able to get good customer service (and believe me - I need it. No problem setting up, but then year later wanted to make a lot of additions/changes with NO knowledge)

If you find you are having problems with Host Gator and want to think about GoDaddy - just go to my website www.debsprofessionalservices.com -- you can click a link at the bottom of my home page to GoDaddy

I am sure if you have any problems you will continue to get great support and feedback here at VAF! Good Luck! - Deb

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Deb's Professional Services
http://www.debsprofessionalservices.com

Lori,

Something else to consider. If you use a sitebuilder for a website and you decide to move that site to a new host it may affect the appearance of the site.

"Moving SiteBuilder built pages to an outside server may affect the appearance and functioning of a page since the HTML code is not customized for the other server. Also, the new web server does not have the special SiteBuilder files and programs." Here

As I mentioned, I used a sitebuilder on Microsoft Office Live and then when I wanted to get off this site (doing no SEO-good there), and move it to HG, I couldn't. I had to create a whole new website, which ended up being fine because it was then I found WP.

Janine

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Write that Winning RFP The Job of Ur VA Dreams http://bit.ly/ZJfatV

Janine,

From a very cursory glance (I am at my full-time job), Elegant Themes looked promising. I will be researching them tonight.

Can you customize those themes, to change text font, color, background color, etc?

Deb,

Thank you so much for your note of welcome! I will certainly keep your advice in mind should HostGator not work out for me. So many hosting sites to choose from nowadays between HostGator, GoDaddy, HostMonster and FatCow (these are just the ones that I've read reviews on).

Thanks again, ladies. The support here is wonderful.

~Lori

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Lori Hedgpeth
Author One Source

Lori,

I started my first site with Elegant Themes and hired another VA to customize it a little for me. So yes, the themes can be customized.

I thought that there were enough themes from which to make a selection at Elegant Themes and if I didn't like one, I could always choose another since I subscribe to the whole catalog instead of just purchasing one theme.

Each theme has its own support thread. This is where users post questions which are answered by the users and by the designers. I was on this support thread quite often in the beginning but it was the best way to learn.

There are other theme products you can check out such as Headway and Thesis. Many VAs use these themes but I believe one needs to be a little techie to use them.

Janine

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Write that Winning RFP The Job of Ur VA Dreams http://bit.ly/ZJfatV

Hi Lori,
I recently purchased my new domain through GoDaddy and host through Host Gator. It's only been a couple months but I like H.G so far. I purchase ithemes builder (http://ithemes.com/purchase/builder-theme/) which gives you 5 themes and is customizable. I purchased the $80 package at a discounted rate. When I started, I did not know anything about building a Wordpress website, but read everywhere that it is te way to go so I decided to make it happen. With a Wordpress video (link below) and the help of another VA who assisted me with questions and who I hired for an hour to fix and add a couple of things on my website, I was able to go live last week. I watched quite a few how-to videos which there are a lot out there. This video shows how to build a WP website without code. It's definitely a good start.


Good Luck!

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Fatima Arnett - http://virtualadminconnection.com

Like The Admin Connection said, definitely find an easy to use theme like iThemes and install Wordpress. I wouldn't use host gator's free web site builder, the SEO is probably no good. If you go the Wordpress route, watch lots and lots of Wordpress videos. There are tons of tutorials out there than can help you learn and build your site.

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Paulette R.
Rhythm Virtual Solutions | Alpha & Beta Translations