Hi Folks,
Just wanted to see if I can get some advise on setting up a website for the new repair business I’m trying to start.
I’ve already setup a website which is live on SiteGround and built off of Weibo and WordPress (yes I know, big mistake, but that’s what googling recommended and being a beginner to this who else do you trust?) but it is so slow, and the website that loads in the creation tools is nothing like the actual page that loads once I visit that site. When I visit the site I just get a black screen with the first line of text that I’ve setup and nothing else, so It’s like only 10% of the page is loading. Unfortunately SiteGround seem as interested to assist as Apple are to providing schematics, so I’m looking elsewhere for hosting & setup services.
Keep in mind I’ve never done anything like this before so I’m not too sure as to the requirements and what processes need to be completed to get a smooth functioning website.
For the design I was looking at something that will allow user selection and will bring up selections depending what the user selects. For example the home page will provide a short description on the company, than ask the user what device they have. That will than filter down to the services we offer on that device, and so on.
The main function of the website is to act as a information portal and provide a way to contact us. It will not be used as a store so a product like Shopify likely will not be needed as I would not be using any of the ecommerce features. I do not currently plan to be selling anything like parts or whatever on the website, though that may change in future.
Lastly does anyone know of any places who offer website creation for the non Microsoft’s of the world? I’ve done tons of googling and every place I’ve found is a “roughly 5K+ but we would have to assess the project and that likely will increase” or haven’t gotten back to me. Having not worked for over a year now I don’t have that kind of money, nor do I want to blow that kind of money into something that may not work out, especially given how competitive this industry is and how serialized things are becoming. I’m more than happy to do it myself but since I’ve never done anything like this before it’s made it kind of hard, and “how to create x website” tutorials are rather, well, lets say lacking.
Thanks for the advice!
You might want to check out squarespace. I believe you can disable the cart on their templates if you’re not going to be using it. Squarespace doesn’t offer as much customization as Shopify, but it is a little less ecommerce focused, and you could always switch the cart back on later if needed.
If you still can’t get the results you want, then I’d look at other hosting providers and maybe take on some of the frontend work yourself. Since you’ve already got a WordPress theme, then maybe a managed hosting provider like WPEngine might be a good fit.
Thanks I’ll check them out. I was going to go with SquareSpace originally but I was told that they do not support migrations, so if you decide to go move to another platform in future and pay someone to do your own website built from the ground up they would have to start from scratch, hence why I went with word press. For now I just want to go quick and dirty so I can get something up and running, but it obviously would be nice to pay for a proper professional site in future if this does work out.
For the hosting side is there anything you need to setup yourself? Just a bit confused as to how hosting works, DNS and that whole thing. Trying to understand what is probably causing this current site to run so slow so I don’t make the same mistake. All I did for the original site was register a domain through siteground than used their weibo wordpress tool to design the website and hit publish that was it.
In regards to marketing and getting your name out there is their any third party tools, or industry go to that people like to use? I know google does not allow repair companies to advertise on their platform (gee I wonder why) so that’s out of the question, but surely there has to be others available.
Yep, that’s why you go with someone like squarespace. Lots of drag and drop. Not much access to the inner workings, but if you’re more interested in using the site than building it that might not be a bad thing.
No, that’s the “managed” part of managed hosting. For hosting, on one end are places like squarespace which take care of almost everything for you. On the other is getting a simple VPS from Linode for $5 a month, and doing everything yourself. That’s a great place to start, but it’s a lot more work.
It could be a number of things. Hard to say without specifics. Maybe the page builder widget sucked. Maybe they’re under provisioned. There’s also certain things you’ll learn to avoid as you go here. For example, don’t upload a 300dpi 4k image in a spot where you need a 100x100 thumbnail, or something like that.
Thanks for the clarification. I’ll have a look at SquareSpace and go from there. Since I’ve already registered the domain with SiteGround and have several email addresses with them do I have to delete the website and email addresses before starting with SquareSpace? Or can you just create the website and once you publish it will “take over” as such?
I’m not familiar with siteground. It doesn’t sound likely they’d have tools for DNS migration and so on, but I can’t say for sure.
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