Which website builder do you use?

Everything to do with using your own website to advertise your rental property. Design, usability, hosting, getting listed on the search engines, optimising your site, pay-per-click, etc, etc.
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GRL
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Which website builder do you use?

Post by GRL »

For those who have created their own websites can you say which builder you have used (WordPress, Weebly etc) and anything you like or dislike about them.

Many thanks :)
Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

I use Promote my Place. I stumbled into it after a recommendation on here from another LMHer. I thought I had arranged to move my web hosting at the end of its contract. I thought I had 6 or 7 weeks to set up a new site, as the one I was using was a template based site from the company. What happened was that deletion of my website was almost immediate, and I had to get something back up and running in a very short space of time. PMP fitted the bill, and I have continued to use it. Support is good, and setting it up very easy. I can send you a code for a reduced price 1st year if you decide to use it.
FelicityA
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Post by FelicityA »

Another vote for PMP. I would describe their support as outstanding. Easy to use. Easy to edit. You get google analytics thrown in and even a Blog if you want it. Nothing I don't like!
Last edited by FelicityA on Sun Mar 29, 2015 11:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
rosebud
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Post by rosebud »

I am in the process of building a website using WordPress - I am following an online course for holiday let owners to achieve this ...

Currently I am also using the Promote My Place template - which is good ....
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Robin S
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Post by Robin S »

Personally we use myvr.com. It includes not only a website builder that also automatically renders the site to be mobile friendly, but:

- Centralised enquiry management
- Centralised calendar
- Contact management
- Quote creation
- Card payment (Stripe)

They're a US based start-up. We've been really happy with their service and support so far. Some of the code quality of the output site is a bit average but the additional capabilities above make a big difference to us in terms of reducing time to manage enquiries and bookings.

http://www.lodgify.com/ are a Europe based alternative offering a similar service.

R
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

I've built mine via wordpresss. My previous version was on Google Sites. I needed a lot of help to do it from a webguy, but then I knew exactly what I wanted which was relatively complex. The thing I dislike most about Wordpress is how it places images within a page; it's very difficult to control. Using a gallery helps but then the images placed there are no good for pinning on Pinterest for example.

Nothing's ever perfect!
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

Another Promote My Place fan reporting for duty :D I know that tech-savvy people can spot a PMP site at 50 paces, but your average Joe can't. It is sooo easy to create a very professional looking page in no time at all. The combination of templates is growing all the time, and of course no two sites will ever be the same because of the fact that they are completely personalised. The support is excellent, and they are genuinely interested in suggestions to improve the site and its functions from both an owner and guest perspective. If PMP was a bloke I'd snog it :mrgreen:
wanderer
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Post by wanderer »

I too am in the process of creating a website and have seen here recommendations for PMP. Would appreciate Helen the code for discount if you wouldn't mind.
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GRL
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Post by GRL »

Merci folks - anyone else want to add their penny's worth?
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greenbarn
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Post by greenbarn »

I used Wordpress and bought the U-Design template, which is not specific to holiday rentals but very flexible and has very good support, even for numpty questions (important!) It's made its author a lot of money.......

I've never tried PMP, it sounds like a very good start point to cut one's teeth, and maybe a lot more.
A lot of people praise PMP, perhaps those who use it could highlight what they see as its limitations in terms of producing the end result (eg can it handle more than one property easily?) and whether any of the limitations are significant? What's the initial investment?
Important point - how well does it work on phones and tablets?
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

greenbarn wrote: A lot of people praise PMP, perhaps those who use it could highlight what they see as its limitations in terms of producing the end result (eg can it handle more than one property easily?) and whether any of the limitations are significant? What's the initial investment?
Important point - how well does it work on phones and tablets?
I can't answer all your questions with accuracy because for example I don't list more than one property - but I do know that the PMP template allows for this. One version looks like this: http://devoncottages.promotemyplace.com/ but clearly you can customise it in terms of layout etc. The price is £69 per annum for a single property listing and that figure increases depending upon how many properties you feature - for instances if you had four cottages or apartments then the price would be £96 per annum. You can purchase extra input if desired including having your page designed for you or copywriting services. They also offer SEO checking or keyword analysis for a small fee. Personally I think the site is fairly well optimised for phones and tablets - looks pretty good on my HTC anyway! I wouldn't say it was a 'mobile site', but the regular pages seem to display fairly well.
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kevsboredagain
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Post by kevsboredagain »

greenbarn wrote: A lot of people praise PMP, perhaps those who use it could highlight what they see as its limitations in terms of producing the end result (eg can it handle more than one property easily?) and whether any of the limitations are significant? What's the initial investment?
Important point - how well does it work on phones and tablets?
I was criticised for trying to point out the pros and cons.
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kevsboredagain
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Post by kevsboredagain »

As I can't mention PMP without upsetting the fan club, I'll talk about some of the others :P

Wordpress: Millions of websites are built using WP which is a content management system. Not much technical know how is required but it can take a little learning and is frustrating at first. There are some fantastic templates if you want to get started with say a responsive layout. As Nemo mentioned, it can sometimes be difficult to get the exact result you want. You are also at the mercy of plugins, although the choice is staggering. It would be a good choice for a computer savvy person who does not want to program.

Weebly: One of the better online editing suites. Easy to produce a nice looking site with almost no technical knowledge. The limitations though will be what the tool can produce and whether it matches your requirements. It's easy to have a go with Weebly for free and see what you think.

Other software: There are many good tools for non programmers out there. For example, my parents use Serif Webplus and it seems fairly good. Still a fair learning curve to start producing a website.

One to avoid: GoDaddy website builder. It's cr*p! :lol:

Then there are 1001 other ways too ...
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French Cricket
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Post by French Cricket »

Weebly fan here (there are several of us on here but the others don't seem to be around!).

I've built 4 sites with it so far - two holiday rentals (one French and one English, matching sites) and two professional websites. I bought (inexpensively) templates from Div Tag and have customised them, though since I set up the sites Weebly's own selection of included templates has improved beyond all recognition. All their latest templates are fully responsive. All the templates have several page design options. You have access to the css and html files for customisation if you wish.

Easy to use - drag and drop widgets - but can be made as sophisticated as you like, and I've always been happy with the support. I recommend wholeheartedly.
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Jimbo
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Post by Jimbo »

Raising a small flag for Moonfruit. I've built four rental sites with this software over 5 years and, recently and very speedily, a temporary sales site following a photo job at the House of Lords. Very quick and easy to use, used to be flash-based (and much criticised on here for this) but now moved to HTML5, with a natty device that shows the layout of your site on a mobile phone.

Price increased recently from 54GBP to 72GBP per year for 5 sites (you can pay more for enhanced features if you wish), but software tools now work more efficiently (for me) than in the past. Support also much better - a query about my sales site was answered within a few hours - not always the case in the past.
Jim
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