Thread: Web sites: which is best?

Which is best - having a web site other people may think looks outdated (like shira.net), building a web site on a free server such as geocities or angelfire, having a social networking profile that you steer people to (such as myspace), or having no web site at all?

Obviously, the BEST thing is having a sleek, beautiful state-of-the-art web site, but if someone isn't in a position to create that, what's second-best?

Are you thinking of making a new website?
I like the one you have for informational purposes.
As far as attracting jobs or students , then my vote is for the new website on a freeserver.

I vote for a website on a free server, though I prefer the upgraded sites from free servers better because you get a deent URL adres and no ads.

Guess what my choice is for my own three websites,r:;

I think a website that is fully functional, logically laid out, easy to navigate and informative, even if "older" looking, is far better than any other option.

Originally Posted by elljay

I think a website that is fully functional, logically laid out, easy to navigate and informative, even if "older" looking, is far better than any other option.

What she said.

I'm sure people are tired of me saying this, but I'll keep saying it because it needs to be emphasized: Your own site with your own domain (such as Belly Dancing -- Art Of Middle Eastern Dance -- Bellydancing in Iowa City) beats freebie or almost freebie sites, teenage sites, video hosting sites, etc. www.toocheaptopayforspace@thissucks.com. Always has, always will.

Originally Posted by elljay

I think a website that is fully functional, logically laid out, easy to navigate and informative, even if "older" looking, is far better than any other option.

Totally agree with this.

Originally Posted by *Shira*

Which is best - having a web site other people may think looks outdated (like shira.net), building a web site on a free server such as geocities or angelfire, having a social networking profile that you steer people to (such as myspace), or having no web site at all?

Obviously, the BEST thing is having a sleek, beautiful state-of-the-art web site, but if someone isn't in a position to create that, what's second-best?

Second best is, in my opinion, what I've been recommended to folks -- build on one of the new "Free Server" sites, such as Google Sites or Weebly. (NOTE: Google Sites recently replaced the old Google Pages that I have direct experience with.)

The reason is that both sites produce MUCH better HTML, tools for creating/maintaining that HTML, and overall back-end support, than the old Geocities/angelfire/etc. crap sites. Most notably, they give you generally good templates to start with, so you're not trying to do both layout and content and colors, all at once! Both also allow you to link up a DNS name, so you direct, say, asimraqs.com to their hosting solution. And most of the web pages they create can be exported to plain HTML, so you can move on (it's the cool widgets, like embedded Google Maps, thet you'd have to find a designed/coder to re-create on your new site, but we're pretty easy to find and hire, I think...)

So, if you're just starting, and have no HTML experience, those are the places I'm pointing people to, and the folks who've used them so far seem to be pretty happy with them.

Originally Posted by zorba

What she said.

www.toocheaptopayforspace@thissucks.com.

Ah ha ha ha ha, that is so funny I had to click on it. Nothing happened.

Honestly, getting a website designed and hosted with your own domain name really doesn't have to be that expensive if you shop around. If your purpose in having a website is to help generate business, then a quality website (even made within a middle-range budget) will probably pay for itself pretty soon. For eg, the one-off-cost of having my website created was the equivalent of 5 hen's party gigs or 10 student enrolments. It costs 1/2 a hen's party gig per year to host. Bargain!

Whereas the time and effort you might otherwise put into www.halfassedwebsite@obscurebutfreeserver.net.xp probably won't pay for itself nearly so well! If it doesn't turn up in search engines, or you don't link it well to print/other marketing, it's not going to be much use.

If you're just looking for a website as a hobbyist, or perhaps to share info with your existing students (rather than to attract them), I'd probably lean towards a free/cheap site that lets you use templates. I think networking sites are too restrictive in formatting/what you can put on them. I think they can be a compliment to your website, rather than a replacement for it.

depends on your purpose..

a clean, well designed myspace would be fine for a dancer, it's easy to edit

for vendors i prefer using a store format, couldnt be happier with the new magento store i have..if anyone wants something similar I'm happy to refer you to the guy who did this one for me (but I already have a website with content in place ..he just modified it into store format)

after listening to customers I changed the site around so it was less informative and story/magazine like and more product like. Am still working on it in small steps..but now there is a menu of products and they link right to where you can purchase them so you don't have to search many pages, find an item that you like then have to search for a store or find out, even worse, that it's not available

but still working on it..

over the years I've discovered a lot of customers don't want to read a lot of verbiage, or instructions, or even policies. Short and sweet works best. Simple easy things like refund/return policy, ways to ship, how to custom order, etc. No one ever read the looooong policy that was in the ebay store (I won't even read long ebay listings that are confusing..three lines of what it is and some pics should be enough) .

It's good I suppose to have the policy listed somewhere on the site in case there is a dispute but I've always been able to work out any issue with someone ordering direct or thru etsy. Ebay has had its problems but I blame part of it on the new feedback that allows buyers to buy and not pay and as sellers we have no recourse.

Still adding products to the store as they become available and find it works best to keep it to a minimum, keep the pages short and easy to read, and easy to purchase. I don't like web stores that you have to scroll down the page for two days to see all the items..right now I'm working on making a quick thumbnail catalog that can go at the top of the page to show you at a glance what is in the store/section without having to scroll all the way thru

Originally Posted by *Shira*

Which is best - having a web site other people may think looks outdated (like shira.net), building a web site on a free server such as geocities or angelfire, having a social networking profile that you steer people to (such as myspace), or having no web site at all?

I'd say it depends on your audience. Free server URLs look cheesy to me. On the one hand, having a MySpace page is trendy and will attract a younger audience that might be turned off by an outdated-looking site. A MySpace page can be done up quite tastefully, though it takes a lot of work to actually make it so and I still don't think they have to option to pay to remove ads or otherwise have more control over the content presented. A site with a real URL is much more professional looking IMO, but one that has old outdated wallpaper or old-school flashy buttons or whatnot is almost as difficult to look at as the typical MySpace page. With all the templates and DIY site hosting options available, it's not really hard to come up with a clean, simple site...which I think is better than all of the above options.

I used a free server for a while and people complained that the url was too difficult. So I bought a domain name. It was worth it, even if it doesn't result in much of anything. My 2 cents.

Originally Posted by *Shira*

Which is best - having a web site other people may think looks outdated (like shira.net), building a web site on a free server such as geocities or angelfire, having a social networking profile that you steer people to (such as myspace), or having no web site at all?

Obviously, the BEST thing is having a sleek, beautiful state-of-the-art web site, but if someone isn't in a position to create that, what's second-best?

wait, best for whom? I am confused!
If you mean best for the viewer, then either 1.) outdated site or as a very distant second 2.) networking profile

If you mean best for the pocketbook of the dancer, then either a free server or a networkign profile.

As a viewer I don't like all the ads on geocities and angelfire. And social networking pages are usually not too satisfactory on content, although sometimes I have seen the blogging options used in an interesting fashion.

Originally Posted by lotus

wait, best for whom? I am confused!

Valid question!

I was thinking in terms of "best for purposes of selling yourself to prospective students and people hiring performers". In other words "most effective to attracting new business".

Originally Posted by *Shira*

Valid question!

I was thinking in terms of "best for purposes of selling yourself to prospective students and people hiring performers". In other words "most effective to attracting new business".

In that case, I really have to vote against even the best-designed myspace-type sites. People who have those tend to forget that those without accounts can't see everything on your site. Recently I was part of a mass mailing where a local dancer said "look at my gallery!" But I couldn't. No account.

Cheap hosting these days is very very cheap, and even if you know no HTML you could put up one fairly pleasant page with a picture of you, what you do, your rates, and contact info -- just using the free builder normally available.

When I go to a dance website I really just want my questions about the dance/dancer answered quickly. I want it to be easy-to-navigate and to load quickly. That said, a pretty website can be a draw. But pretty isn't my first priority.

However, sometimes animations, video, flash files, blaring music, or high res pictures that take 3000 years to load can just turn me off. I hate having to download some new flashy web software just to view a page. I don't like blaring Arabic pop music when I load a page.

People surfing the web just want accessible, precise, easy-to-read information. They want their questions answered. They don't like clutter and excess.

I'm not a big fan of free servers b/c of all the clutter and ads. And I think a website is better than a myspace page. So I'd vote for an older and less beautiful website.