Thread: In search of a BETTER Bellydance Website?

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to show everyone the website that I recently finished for Alimah Amani:

Alimah Amani - Philadelphia & Delaware Bellydance

The work I am doing would be ideal for semi-professional to professional dancers in the region who want to really raise awareness of their presence in their area. The websites I am doing use cutting edge web-based technology
(rss feeds, e-mail branding, and more) to make it easy for fans and/or students to be aware of your schedule and keep them updated. The website can include an automated e-mail subscription system that your students and/or fans can sign up for. Once on the list they will receive an automatic update any time you add a workshop, class, or performance to your javascript web-based calendar (powered by Google Apps).

I know that many bellydancers are hobbyists and I would love to work with anyone who would love a beautiful website. Just know in advance that this is a "two costume" expense :) I think you ladies can probably understand what I mean by that...

The website also features all original photography and graphic design (promotional postcards, business cards, etc.) by my company and I am happy to set up a time to do some photography or work on a business card, postcard, etc. with you if you just want some stunning images to add to your existing website or give to potential clients, friends, etc.

Keep Dancing!
Brian
(P.S. please respond to the e-mail address below as I don't check my bhuz mail very often)
DreamStar Studios
info@dreamstarstudios.net

Nice looking site. Can I make a suggestion to include a meta description field on the page.

How To Use HTML Meta Tags - Search Engine Watch

Hey that's a great idea! So great that I already did. Not sure how you missed it. Check the header of the page again.

You might also want to add better title tags to each of the pages so she ranks better for the important key terms. Just a suggestion.

The site is very beautiful. I think the reason you're not getting a warm response is that you've posted a purely commercial post in a community forum.

Oh... I'm sorry. I'm confused... I posted on the forum titled "Business of Bellydance" so I didn't realize that it was not a place for doing business. Where should I post next time?

Originally Posted by DreamStarStudios

Oh... I'm sorry. I'm confused... I posted on the forum titled "Business of Bellydance" so I didn't realize that it was not a place for doing business. Where should I post next time?

DreamStar, the optimal approach is to purchase advertising rights from Rosey, the person who runs bhuz. Her bhuz ID in the member list is "Rosey". You can then post your promotional comments in the "Retail Swap Meet" section. It's also possible to purchase display ads on bhuz if that's something you're interested in doing.

@Samira: Good suggestion... thank you!

nvm

@Shira: Thanks for being patient with me and explaining things. My apologies to anyone I offended for not following the proper protocol.

Hey there locals ..g.:

I *still* haven't gotten paid yet ,f::, so no website for me. No pictures either

But am curious (for anyone who makes dancer websites) how easy is it for the dancer to update their own website? As someone who speaks some HTML, I'd want to be able to update immediately, and I'm not sure that is possible with the super snazzy sites. How hard/easy is it? ..c::

Confused?

I have no super snazzy site..but the changes I make in Front Page are FTP'd over to the server and the changes are immediate. I dont know HTML from Greek.

Originally Posted by resullivan

Hey there locals ..g.:



But am curious (for anyone who makes dancer websites) how easy is it for the dancer to update their own website? As someone who speaks some HTML, I'd want to be able to update immediately, and I'm not sure that is possible with the super snazzy sites. How hard/easy is it? ..c::

Hi Lorelei - I created and update my own site (it's not super snazzy, but snazzy enough!) It should be easy to update your site if you know html - since most of the supersnazziness would be in between header tags - the html in the body tags could be easily changed. Once you get a snazzy site, I'd be happy to help show you.

Originally Posted by phillyraqs

Hi Lorelei - I created and update my own site (it's not super snazzy, but snazzy enough!) It should be easy to update your site if you know html - since most of the supersnazziness would be in between header tags - the html in the body tags could be easily changed. Once you get a snazzy site, I'd be happy to help show you.

Rock on. Sounds good. Suppose I have to figure out these .css things eventually too. And need to find my ftp program too. I'm spoiled by yahoo's upload program. *goes back to stalking the mail man, as there really should be a paycheck in the mail sometime this week*

Originally Posted by DreamStarStudios

Oh... I'm sorry. I'm confused... I posted on the forum titled "Business of Bellydance" so I didn't realize that it was not a place for doing business. Where should I post next time?

I can see where you might have been confused. This forum is for bellydancers to discuss business concerns.

Because this is a free, advertiser-supported forum, anyone who's trying to sell things to members for personal gain is asked to buy advertising or pay for a listing in the retail swap meet.

Rosey puts her labor and $$$ up to provide this forum for us, and we appreciate it, so we're not always welcoming when people want to use her efforts to make a buck without paying her for the privilege.

Is it a software purchse issue? Still confused.

Ha, I was just thinking that DreamStar had posted in an appropriate way...advertising a service that might be useful to me, in a matter-of-fact way without going overboard with 'best ever' superlatives or spamming every board. At least he's not pretending to be a forum participant while secretly pushing an agenda. But I can understand that many would prefer to see a paid ad (especially as it supports this site being free to us!).

As for website backends - I am completely html challenged, too, but my website designer put on a stupid-proof backend that I can use. All the text is in boxes which I edit and click 'update'. Then there's options for 'add an extra class location' or 'add a link' etc, so that my site's text is 100% updateable by me. I just log in to a hidden page via the internet. I wish I could tell you how he did that...but I don't understand it myself. It's probably worth asking your own website designer whether they can put on this sort of backend for you. I had to pay extra to convert my existing site to this format, but it wasn't expensive, and is so worth it.

Originally Posted by jewelbellydance

Ha, I was just thinking that DreamStar had posted in an appropriate way...advertising a service that might be useful to me, in a matter-of-fact way without going overboard with 'best ever' superlatives or spamming every board. At least he's not pretending to be a forum participant while secretly pushing an agenda. But I can understand that many would prefer to see a paid ad (especially as it supports this site being free to us!).

As for website backends - I am completely html challenged, too, but my website designer put on a stupid-proof backend that I can use. All the text is in boxes which I edit and click 'update'. Then there's options for 'add an extra class location' or 'add a link' etc, so that my site's text is 100% updateable by me. I just log in to a hidden page via the internet. I wish I could tell you how he did that...but I don't understand it myself. It's probably worth asking your own website designer whether they can put on this sort of backend for you. I had to pay extra to convert my existing site to this format, but it wasn't expensive, and is so worth it.

For whatever it's worth...it's called a Content Management System (CMS) and they are incredibly useful for small business owners. I have done tons of websites (not generally dancer sites), and all of them use a CMS system for all of the reasons you mentioned above. Additonally, you can log into your site and change it from anywhere. So if you need to make a change when you are out of town, it's really easy to do.

(and truly folks...I'm not pushing any secret agenda here. I don't specialize in bellydance related sites. I just really love CMS systems for the non-html literate individuals).

Originally Posted by Samira_dncr

For whatever it's worth...it's called a Content Management System (CMS) and they are incredibly useful for small business owners. I have done tons of websites (not generally dancer sites), and all of them use a CMS system for all of the reasons you mentioned above. Additonally, you can log into your site and change it from anywhere. So if you need to make a change when you are out of town, it's really easy to do.

(and truly folks...I'm not pushing any secret agenda here. I don't specialize in bellydance related sites. I just really love CMS systems for the non-html literate individuals).

Oh, cool 'stupid-proof backend' is actually a 'Content Management System.' Now I can sound far more intelligent when talking about my website!

Originally Posted by jewelbellydance

As for website backends - I am completely html challenged

Ha, I guess I am challenged as well because I kept reading "backbends"...l;,

I start to learn about making websites on monday and I hope I don't have to get everything translated into BD-terminology to understand.

Originally Posted by gisela

Ha, I guess I am challenged as well because I kept reading "backbends"...l;,

I start to learn about making websites on monday and I hope I don't have to get everything translated into BD-terminology to understand.

I once read a street sign that said 'Business Park' as 'Betwanes Beek' ...and for a second there, it didn't seem strange

Originally Posted by gisela

Ha, I guess I am challenged as well because I kept reading "backbends"...l;,

I start to learn about making websites on monday and I hope I don't have to get everything translated into BD-terminology to understand.

I read it the same way, you are not alone!

LOL...glad to help. I speak "geek"...so I'm usually pretty good at translating things... bwhahahahahaha.

backend, backbend...it's all good.

Originally Posted by DreamStarStudios

Hey that's a great idea! So great that I already did. Not sure how you missed it. Check the header of the page again.

I did. The syntax error is still there. The homepage has meta name="title" which doesn't exist. It should be meta name="description"