Elfstone
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1285
Registered: 03-01-2006
IP: Logged

I'm seriously thinking about making a web site for the first time - a big leap in the dark for me. It will be about my house here and I'm hoping that it will help to sell it. I've done a little research and it seems that "one.com" might be a good place to start. Other than a £9 set up fee, I pay nothing for the first year (and I'm hoping that the house will be sold long before then) and that essentially free aspect is very important given that I have been supporting 2 houses on my pension for nearly a year now and money is tight.

So a couple of questions to those of you who know about these things:

* do any of you have any opinions on "one.com" - or better suggestions perhaps?

* what do I do in the making of this to cause my website to come onto the search page when someone searches for "highland property" for instance?


____________________________
Winner of: Novice Architect Excellence 2006.
FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

Penumbra
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 358
Registered: 02-17-2005
IP: Logged

I am going to start with saying that I am in no way a professional web designer, but I have made and maintained some sites in the past. I'm sure others here can and will give more details.

I have never used One.com before, but it seems to have everything you would need. Domain registration, hosting and email services. Looks like they don't charge you per address like some places **COUGH**godaddy**COUGH**

It has a "website builder" with templates, along with tech support, which means it shouldn't be too hard to get started with something. I have always written mine from scratch, usually just to teach myself something. So I can't speak to the learning curve. I could always help with "the basics" though.

The free offer for the first year sounds good, but I see the following at the bottom of the page:

The 1 year free domain + hosting offer is only valid for companies and individuals in United States

Google doesn't expose the exact mechanics behind how it ranks pages, but there are some good methods. Be clear in your keywords on the property's address and location and use multiple pages with concise titles. One of the big things is having other websites link to yours. The more interconnected your site is with others on a certain topic, the higher your site's page rank will be.


Is owning a domain and creating a website something you actually want to do, beyond the purpose of selling your home? If so, this sounds like a good opportunity to learn and explore. If you are just doing this to sell a home and nothing more, I could think of a few simpler and faster methods. (more expensive, of course, assuming you set the rate for your own time to "free" )

larrymurk
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1911
Registered: 12-09-2004
IP: Logged

You can create web pages entirely free. Just search on "free blog" and you'll find several options like google's blogger.

If you are trying to sell your house, I'd imagine there are probably sites dedicated toward listing real estate, but they would likely charge something. Of course there are always real estate agents too.

Elfstone
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1285
Registered: 03-01-2006
IP: Logged

Very many thanks to Penumbra and larry for your help.

Penumbra wrote:
The free offer for the first year sounds good, but I see the following at the bottom of the page:

The 1 year free domain + hosting offer is only valid for companies and individuals in United States

That's very interesting - at the bottom of the page I viewed from here it says -
"Setup fee pound 9.00. All prices are without VAT. The 1 year free domain + hosting offer is only valid for companies and individuals in United Kingdom. Money back guarantee, see "Before You buy"."

Penumbra wrote: Be clear in your keywords on the property's address and location and use multiple pages with concise titles.

- not entirely sure (at the moment) what this means but perhaps that will become clear as I work through the process?

Penumbra wrote: Is owning a domain and creating a website something you actually want to do, beyond the purpose of selling your home? If so, this sounds like a good opportunity to learn and explore. If you are just doing this to sell a home and nothing more, I could think of a few simpler and faster methods. (more expensive, of course, assuming you set the rate for your own time to "free" )

A number of years ago I started down the road of setting up a website for my poetry, but I didn't get very far - Life and medical problems intervened and when I click on the url now it comes up "page not known" (not sure what happened there). So what I will learn in doing this for my house may in the end be useful for my poetry. At the moment however the priority is selling the house.

Larry - I hope to be able to link what I make to my Estate Agent's site and the 3 other sites to which they are affiliated and on which my house is already advertised.

____________________________
Winner of: Novice Architect Excellence 2006.
FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

Penumbra
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 358
Registered: 02-17-2005
IP: Logged

Elfstone wrote:
A number of years ago I started down the road of setting up a website for my poetry, but I didn't get very far - Life and medical problems intervened and when I click on the url now it comes up "page not known" (not sure what happened there). So what I will learn in doing this for my house may in the end be useful for my poetry. At the moment however the priority is selling the house.

Ok, so you actually want to have and work on a web site. Now for more questions! How much do you want to learn to do yourself?

If you just want the blog, as Larry mentioned, those are available for free, but limited to just the blog.

If you want to do everything yourself, you are going to want a basic hosting package from somewhere else. I use a place that gives me a virtual Linux server, and nothing more. Let's me do anything I want, but I have to do it.

The basic kit from One.com comes with all the server backend already created. You won't be installing Apache or PHP, configuring python or setting up a mail server. It doesn't look like you are getting access to the actual OS. There is FTP access, so you can upload all your own content, but the rest seems to be configured through their management frontend. That will definitely smooth out the learning curve and let you get to the good bits faster.

Next, your domain name. You said you had "started down the road" but now it doesn't work. Can I ask if you setup a free account somewhere, or did you register a domain? Domains expire after your registration period expires and become available for anyone to take again. If it says 404 when you try and go there, it may just be vacant again. If it was a blog service, they may have an inactivity limit, or they just shut down.

Either way, you will be ending up with both a domain registration and a hosting package. You could always transfer your domain from One.com to another registrar later, if you wanted the freedom to change your hosting. Most hosting lets you change the name servers associated with your domain name, and thereby changing your hosting provider. It looks to me that One.com just lets you use theirs. Not a problem, just an observation. I may be going into far too much detail here, so I'll apologize and just stop there.

Elfstone wrote:
Larry - I hope to be able to link what I make to my Estate Agent's site and the 3 other sites to which they are affiliated and on which my house is already advertised.

That interconnection with your site will help your page rank.

Elfstone
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1285
Registered: 03-01-2006
IP: Logged

Penumbra wrote:
Ok, so you actually want to have and work on a web site. Now for more questions! How much do you want to learn to do yourself? - that's a bit like asking 'how long's a piece of string?' of someone who has never seen string!

The basic kit from One.com comes .... frontend. That will definitely smooth out the learning curve and let you get to the good bits faster. - that sounds good!

Next, your domain name. You said you had "started down the road" but now it doesn't work. Can I ask if you setup a free account somewhere, or did you register a domain? I seem to remember I registered - with something called webeden and according to THIS which I have just found, it was way back in 2007.

Domains expire after your registration period expires and become available for anyone to take again..... then that's probably what happened.

Either way, you will be ending up with both a domain registration and a hosting package. You could always transfer your domain from One.com to another registrar later, if you wanted the freedom to change your hosting. Most hosting lets you change the name servers associated with your domain name, and thereby changing your hosting provider. It looks to me that One.com just lets you use theirs. Not a problem, just an observation. I may be going into far too much detail here, so I'll apologize and just stop there. - no, this is very helpful!

Elfstone wrote: Larry - I hope to be able to link what I make to my Estate Agent's site and the 3 other sites to which they are affiliated and on which my house is already advertised.

That interconnection with your site will help your page rank.

that also sounds good! Ironically one.com's site now seems to be mal-functioning! I can't access any of their pages at the moment. (Doesn't inspire confidence. )

____________________________
Winner of: Novice Architect Excellence 2006.
FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

Penumbra
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 358
Registered: 02-17-2005
IP: Logged

Elfstone wrote:

Penumbra wrote:
Ok, so you actually want to have and work on a web site. Now for more questions! How much do you want to learn to do yourself? - that's a bit like asking 'how long's a piece of string?' of someone who has never seen string!

200 ft.


Let's see if I can explain myself better. In creating and managing a website, there are many different technologies being used. Different hosting sites will handle "the details" in different ways. This ranges from them doing nothing to creating nearly everything.

Getting a domain from One.com is putting you in a system. They will manage your domain registration, as well as allowing you to use their hosting services. However, you will only be able to use their hosting services. This might be totally fine, but if it doesn't work out, you'll have to migrate things.

Here is my suggestion. WordPress! It will help you create a really simple blog, totally free. No Flash, just simple boxes to fill out. You will pick a theme and start posting content.

If you want to go the domain/hosting route, you can setup a private copy of Wordpress on your own server.

Either way, tryout the free Wordpress option to see if you like it. Then, we can talk about your options.

Elfstone
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1285
Registered: 03-01-2006
IP: Logged

This is very kind of you Penumbra. I'm heading back to Raasay for a few days tomorrow so I will have to continue this conversation when I return.

Incidentally, clicking on the link you've given brings up an interesting picture of Beethro which I have not seen before. He's stepping off a cliff into a pile of skulls.

I googled Wordpress and came up with THIS I'll look at it when I get back.

____________________________
Winner of: Novice Architect Excellence 2006.
FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

Penumbra
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 358
Registered: 02-17-2005
IP: Logged

That Wordpress is the actual software. You could download it to your webserver and set it up. It is pretty easy. You would have to register a domain and get a general hosting plan. Then, you could install Wordpress on it and be all self-sufficient!

If you just want to play around with it first, though, you can sign up for a free account and use their servers first.