Default Style Register
Daycare.com Forum
Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Websites and Blogs
originalkat 07:34 PM 12-14-2009
I was wondering if any of you have websites and if so do you pay a monthly/yearly fee or use one of those free ones? Also I am going to start a blog to post pictures and learning activities for the parents to see. Does anyone else do this?
Reply
mac60 03:49 AM 12-15-2009
I don't do either. I simply don't have the time. I devote enough of my after hours to dc related things, cleaning, shopping, planning, etc. I can't imagine adding another thing to the mix.
Reply
DBug 04:27 AM 12-15-2009
I have a website. It took a few hours to get it set up, but a good number of people have found me through the internet, so it's totally worth it in my opinion. Parents have also told me they watch my site to see when availabilities come up. They can also check out my policies before our interview, so they're already pretty much on board when we go over them in person. It's definitely worth the time!

I designed my site on www.wix.com , and I used www.dot.tk to give my site a manageable domain name. Both are free :-)

My site is www.doodlebugs.tk . Feel free to check it out!
Reply
mac60 05:28 AM 12-15-2009
I would love to have a website, just haven't found the time to get one established. Maybe that should be my New Years Resolution.
Reply
tymaboy 06:23 AM 12-15-2009
I have a site that has almost all my paper work on it & lots of pictures. I think my husband went to godaddy for it. I use the IWeb software on my Mac to create it & upload it. If I have an opening & get calls I will direct them to my site so they can see the pictures & read over my policy, then they can call me to set up an aptment if they are still interested.
Reply
originalkat 07:53 AM 12-15-2009
Thank you for sharing everyone! I really enjoyed looking at all of your sites. I think I might try webs.com. I too want to take the ads off. Or I have thought aout going with vista print website. Is it 9.99 per month to take the ads off? I think in this day and age every business should have a website. I'm not judging...I dont have one yet. But I think it is worth the effort to create one. I think it is a good idea to direct parents to your website when you have an opening. I think I could even put it on the answering machine so interested clients could check it out.
Reply
Unregistered 11:42 AM 12-15-2009
When you have a website, how do people search and find you? Like by area or name?
Reply
originalkat 09:47 AM 12-16-2009
I went ahead and got onto webs.com and did the free website. It does have ads because I dont want to pay the extra money until I make a really cool site (my brother is a graphic designer (he did my logo on the first page of my site) but I hate to bother him since he is so busy)! But until then, I really like how it turned out. The only real problem I incurred was that I was not able to load any pictures. It says you can, but after it downloaded it...it would just say "optimizing photo" and it took forever!!! So I said forget it. I did go ahead and link to my blog in a couple of places so it takes you to some picture tours. I will try to upload pictures another time when I get a chance. Check it out if you want...
www.greengatepreschool.webs.com
Reply
Unregistered 11:55 AM 12-16-2009
Great job, everyone's websites look so nice. On nrserafin's website where on there did you find the cute backgrounds? I didn't see any of those. I want to do a website but I haven't decided which site to use yet.
Reply
Michael 02:38 PM 12-16-2009
Here is a shameless plug for Daycare.com Enhanced listing. We also offer picture uploads and HTML options with our searches and listings. It is $5 per month for basic listing or an extra $3 per month for the picture uploads and enhanced pages. So for $8 a month you can be searched from our 90,000 listings. We are also ranked #1 for the search word "daycare" in Google, Yahoo and MSN. Here is a sample listing with pictures.
https://www.daycare.com/php/showlist...D=00006721&p=1

Anyone that is a member of this forum we will give an extra three months membership free if you contact me.
Reply
originalkat 11:10 PM 12-18-2009
Well, I have been working on my website again tonight (for several hours). I got all the pictures to load correctly this time. And a shortcut I figured out (after a lot of time wasted) is you can copy and paste pictures onto the website. You do not have to upload them directly if you dont want to (unlike my blog). If you want to check out the updated version here it is...
www.greengatepreschool.webs.com
Reply
Michael 09:47 PM 12-19-2009
Originally Posted by originalkat:
Well, I have been working on my website again tonight (for several hours). I got all the pictures to load correctly this time. And a shortcut I figured out (after a lot of time wasted) is you can copy and paste pictures onto the website. You do not have to upload them directly if you dont want to (unlike my blog). If you want to check out the updated version here it is...
www.greengatepreschool.webs.com
Site looks great. Pictures really make the difference. One suggestion most people overlook. Each of your pictures are too large in byte size. That means they will take longer for viewers to download to see on their browsers. I looked at one of them it and it was 300,000 bytes.
http://greengatepreschool.webs.com/wildlifehabitat.htm

In reality it should be 50,000 bytes for the size that you have it on the page. I reduced it for you to see here. Even though it looks the same it will come up much quicker when viewed.



Also on your "Our Home" Page http://greengatepreschool.webs.com/ourhome.htm

The total download for all your pictures takes a long time. If you simply resize them before uploading them to your page your viewers will not have to wait near as long. Just a suggestion since this is my type of business. If you do not have a photo program to resize you can simply use the program that comes with Windows. Here is what I did to make your photo 1/6th the size it was.

Click Start (Windows button at the bottom right of your desktop) and click on All Programs
Click on Accessories and then click on Paint
Click on File then Open (at the top of the page) and choose the picture file you wish to resize
Once the photo is up click on the Image (at the top of the page)
Change the horizontal and vertical fields to 40%
Next click on File then Save As (at the top of the page) and save the new/smaller image.

Everyone that uses Windows has this program (Paint) and can resize images. Good luck.
Reply
originalkat 05:38 PM 12-20-2009
Okay Thanks. Mine loaded pretty quick when I pull up my site but I know a lot of computers wont be as fast. I dont want people losing interest because it takes too long for them to load. My brother will be in town for Christmas so I will ask him to help me do it...or I will attempt to do it with your directions. Thanks!
Reply
originalkat 08:07 PM 12-20-2009
Okay, I went through and re-sized ALL the images to 40 %. It took forever. But I hope it was worth it. I went ahead and made a new folder for all my web photos at the same time so I would not have to search for them again. Thanks for your easy-to-use tips!
Reply
Tags:blog, website
Reply Up