Pros and Cons - running your own website

[Chatterbox Childcare]

Hi

I have purchased a domain name for my first website and am keen to start using it BUT I want to do it myself. I am wondering if anyone else does this and what the pros and cons are opposed to paying someone else to do it for you.

Honest answers please.....

[sarah707]

I suppose mine isn't as whizzy as if I paid someone to do it for me - but I don't mind that, parents can find what they want and lots of links mean I get a good Google rating.

I have learned as I have gone on and sometimes still get things wrong but it's trial and error.

I don't have to pay every time I make a change which is important to me.

Hth

[Bluebell]

I use wix which is free and i linked my own domain name to it by getting someone else techy to do it for me. I paid them £12 to link my domain name and pay for the domain name for 2 years and they also linked the e-mail to my hotmail account.
The wix is a template so you just choose the look you want and add your own photos and write what you want - when I was setting it up I went live after about a week but still spent quite a few weeks updating and correcting so could go on every day. I still go on and check everything is up to date and add stuff about what we've been up to. You don't have to use a template if you want to upload your own graphics but I found it really easy and you can add enough stuff to make it your own.
The drawbacks are:
-if you want to update to your own name through them you pay a lot more.
-the web name you get with them (the free one) is very long and starts wix.com/your name/your account.
-there is advertising for them - i think its unobtrusive and most of my friends didn't notice but 1 person found it off putting
- mine is flash and as someone pointed out on here a lot of mobiles can't view pages that use flash.
My website is

www.bluelionchildcare.co.uk

I can't actually remember the full proper name of my website so its just as well I purchased my own name!!!

Best wishes to you - and go for it - the majority of my business has come through my website - even people that know me and are my friends on my facebook page have still come to me through my website enquiries page.

[Penny1959]

I use gbbo (getting British business online) Mainly because everything was free including the domain name - and when I was setting up that was very important. There are no running costs involved .

You do have to learn as you go on - and I still have not mastered everything
There are some templates to get you started.

I am not worried about 'extras' I justed wanted a means to pass on information to potential and current

It is time consusuming and at the moment mine desperately needs up datng - but I don't have time.


Penny

[aly]

i have my own...but im going through gmail now looking at their tenmplates...my website and emails are through gmail also so can all link together...worth a look.

[Playmate]

Pauline built our website and is the best web master ever

She is so mega efficient, if we want to change anything (usually about twice a year) we send her an email with what needs changing and she has done it before we can blink!

Well worth the small cost she charges

Thank you Pauline