Hi all. I'm just starting out and am up to creating my website and picking a webhost. Naturally I'm trying to keep costs down when picking webhosts and creating my site (prefer not to go with the freebie ones).

I think I've got this right ... if you've already created your webpages you just have to sign up and pay a webhost then upload your website, Yes?

But if you haven't yet created your webpages you have choices of:

1. Start from scratch ... Dreamweaver, HTML or a free software package?
2. Use the Webuilder package that is offered by your Webhost
3. ??? What else

I don't have Dreamweaver and probably don't have the patience to learn and do HTML. The Webbuilder package (includes hosting) offered by the webhost that I'd like to use is expensive. However, the hosting only option is great. I'm thinking of using CrazyDomains (I'm in Aust).

I wouldn't mind having a go at Wordpress but is this just used for Blogs? Can it be uploaded to any webhost or do I have to use Wordpress itself?

I'm getting somewhat confused and need some expert guidance here.
Help Please:huh2:
Betty

I started my hosting with GoDaddy for $5/month and used their free Website Tonight software. Since then, I have changed to HostGator hosting and a Wordpress website.

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Lily Chambers, The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC
Author "How to Do Your Own Small Business Bookkeeping"

My host is iPage and I used their website building platform to create my website. There are quite a few extras you can add to your site. I pay $6 a month which also includes 24 hour tech support.

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Sabrina L. Williams
For a bird's eye view of your business

I use Wordpress hosted by FatCow for my website.

Wordpress can be used for blogs and/or static pages which makes it a great option for building a website, as you can incorporate both. I was inexperienced at Wordpress before I started my VA business but with time, patience, a lot of persistence, and some help from a professional theme, I managed to build my own website.

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Linda
Clockwise Virtual Assistance

I use webhostinghub to host 3 sites and use GoDaddy for the domain registration. All three sites are set up on WordPress. Bear in mind that wordpress.com is for blogs only and wordpress.org is to set up websites.

Since I have no knowledge of HTML or CSS, after much research, I decided to use iThemes Builder to build my website because you don't need to know HTML or CSS. They have 3 different prices points and I went with the cheapest that only allows you to download 5 themes. Honestly, I went with the cheapest because I was unsure if I would be able to build my own website with it with my lack of web skills. It's been about a month now and I have very happy with it. I plan on upgrading to a more expensive package, unfortunately, I lost my job so that's on the back burner.

Anyhow, this is the site I built for my father's business using iThemes with one of the basic themes provided. It's nothing special, and other than needing a logo which a friend is taking care of, I think I did a decent job. I'm in the middle of building my own VA site using iThemes.

Just for reference, there are tons of coupon codes for GoDaddy out there for both new domains and renewals. Using one of those coupons makes GoDaddy a great place to buy your domain. As far as finding the codes...Google is your friend...

With regard to hosting: I tried and quickly left iPage because of slow site issues, as well as having experienced a number of strange problems that seemed to go away once I'd contact their support. Their reply?: "Nope, nothing wrong here!" So, I'm with HostGator now and I could not be happier.

WordPress gives you the flexibility to take a theme (template, essentially) and make it your own. So, I've found it to be quite nice for my needs. But, of course, it's not a perfect fit for all sites. I'd recommend taking a look at some of the sites others here have. Often, WordPress sites will identify themselves as such in the footer...

As as example, you can see GoDaddy+HostGator+WordPress in action on my personal site over @ www.lukegerhardt.com.

Reading through the forum it looks like GoDaddy and HostGator are popular. Can I ask what made you change to a Wordpress site?

I checked out their packages and they do offer Website creation for free and unlimited Mb, email etc. Only drawback is 24/7 support in US only. But I will keep them on my list of possibilities. Thanks Sabrina

Wow Linda, you did a great job with your website . I do like the look of the Wordpress websites and am leaning in that direction.

Thanks Betty - it just shows that you can do it even if you don't have any prior experience. I recommend giving Wordpress a whirl and don't give up if at first it seems daunting. I felt the same way but with determination and some trial and error you'll get there.

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Linda
Clockwise Virtual Assistance