Lay My Hat

My website is long overdue a re-haul. To be honest, I never really finished (I was over-ambitious with all the different sections I was going to have). I would like to create something much simpler - probably less than 10 pages, with the emphasis on photos, etc.

I'm proficient with basic HTML having designed websites in the very early days, but I haven't designed a new site for probably more than a decade!

I know there are so many options out there nowadays that make the task easier. Any suggestions on what's best to use?

Wordpress? 1 and 1? Squarespace? Wix? etc.

I'm looking to put together something that's clean and smart (probably from an existing template), mobile friendly, easy to update and inexpensive to host.

Would welcome suggestions on the best options out there nowadays.

Thanks

Paul

I use Promote My Place and am pleased with it.
Take a look at my web-site as an example.

Another vote for PMP!

Can you change hosting without any issues?
What does your present server able to host?
If not then try a drag and drop website builder like Mobirise or websitex5. WIX is online but I think you can download the code after.
Getbootstrap maybe be a bit more complicated to use, but it is free.
There are others which may not be free but still give you good VFM.

If you already have a website and a hosting package, it is probably not worthwhile paying Promote My Place and you'd be paying for the hosting twice.

If you have the time, you might as well use the open source website builders like WordPress.

Drax wrote:I use Promote My Place and am pleased with it.
Take a look at my web-site as an example.

I've had a look and there are a few problems with it.

1) The website generates warnings that it is not secure.
2) At the end of the Privacy Notice there are the highlights of the cottage instead of the name and address of the Data Controller.
3) Cookies are automatically enabled without express permission and there is no way to opt out for your website only.

Are these PMP problems?

As you know a little of HTML coding I would look at Bluegriffon, its free for the basic edition which has everything you need apart from sylesheet compiling. I think it works on all OS'es but I run a Linux system and it works fine.

I'd recommend WordPress. It sounds like you have enough essential knowledge to get what you want out of it. It's very widely used so widely supported with plenty of ready made templates available. There are masses of plugins that expand on the basic features. Lots of forums and Facebook groups so if you get stuck you'll find plenty of help. I use a theme from Elegant Themes called Divi which has lots of great templates and is very customisable, especially if you know any CSS. Most hosts allow WordPress installations although you can get hosts that specialise in WordPress. As you can tell, I'm a fan!

Squarespace is far, far more configurable and user friendly that Sitebuilder according to my youngest who’s our HTML guru.

newtimber wrote:

Drax wrote:I use Promote My Place and am pleased with it.
Take a look at my web-site as an example.

I've had a look and there are a few problems with it.

1) The website generates warnings that it is not secure.
2) At the end of the Privacy Notice there are the highlights of the cottage instead of the name and address of the Data Controller.
3) Cookies are automatically enabled without express permission and there is no way to opt out for your website only.

Are these PMP problems?

Hi Newtimber.
Thanks for this, I will 'look' into your observations.

If you're comfortable with basic HTML I'd go for Wordpress, it's flexible, powerful, mature, adaptable and has endless templates available.
(You don't need any HTML to use it but I'm taking that as a yardstick to say that you're reasonably comfortable with technology)

Wix is very good but I find it a touch limiting.

Squarespace is really more for portfolios, I can see it working well for holiday lets but to me, again, it would be a bit limiting.

Hi, What would I expect to pay someone to design a simple website for me?

Banffy wrote:Hi, What would I expect to pay someone to design a simple website for me?

Why not just use Promote My Place and use one of their off-the-shelf designs? The majority of the work involved in creating the website is then adding the content which ultimately is what you'll have to provide anyway.

Hi Banffy, welcome to Lay My Hat!
The answer to that question is it depends.
It depends how many pages you want, how many photos, whether you have an availability calendar that you want integrated and so on. It also depends who you want to do it for you - an enthusiastic student will charge far less than a seasoned professional. You'll have some basic costs regardless of who does it, mainly domain name registration and hosting, if you don't already have them. Can you tell us a bit more about what you're looking for?

Joanna wrote:Hi Banffy, welcome to Lay My Hat!
The answer to that question is it depends.
It depends how many pages you want, how many photos, whether you have an availability calendar that you want integrated and so on. It also depends who you want to do it for you - an enthusiastic student will charge far less than a seasoned professional. You'll have some basic costs regardless of who does it, mainly domain name registration and hosting, if you don't already have them. Can you tell us a bit more about what you're looking for?

I dont have a domain name or hosting yet. I'm drawn to FTB where you can add iCal, Channel Manager, Stripe etc. I want something simple with availability calender on the home page. Just starting out so a bit lost with it all. Thought about Sykes but they take a fair sized chunk so was put off with that really.