A website? Here's where to start

After I stepped down from editing Perfect Horse, I spent a lot of time researching what makes a good website. I talked with plenty of people — from those who had something that looked very outdated to those who had spent thousands of dollars trying to make a very large website fly. There was a common theme — they needed the help of a web designer every time they wanted to make any change in the site. So that meant either they spent more money or they didn’t update the site often.

A static website — essentially an online brochure — is adequate to give people directions to your location or tell them that your farm offers a lighted arena. But one of the main purposes of a site it to build relationships. You want potential clients to check back to your site from time to time. And for that, you have to be able to update it easily, quickly, and frequently.

So one of the main criteria for my website was that I had to be able to do it myself. It had to have good tech support (since I was going to be the webmaster), and it had to be always up. There was also a variety of other services that I wanted (the ability to send out a newsletter, etc.).

To make a long story short, I felt that the services offered by Sitesell were superior to nearly anything else that I could find, and in two years, I haven’t been disappointed. One fee — $299 per year — covers most everyone’s needs.

You can click on this link to go to the Sitesell site and read about the services. Let me mention that there is a holiday two-for-one special going on. If you are interested in getting a website, this is an excellent time. And if you don’t want to split the special with a friend, let me know, since I may be working with someone else who could split the cost with you.

One thing they’ll recommend and I heartily agree with — if you sign up for the service, don’t automatically register a domain name that you have in your head. In another article, I’ll explain why it’s better to wait until you’ve done some brainstorming with some of the Sitesell tools. It has to do with “getting found” by the search engines, primarily Google.

Feel free to contact me and I’ll be glad to talk all this over with you.