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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Did Anyone Make Your Website For You??
Crazy8 08:41 PM 07-09-2011
I planned on having someone do mine (I was going to pay her) but she got tied up with some other things and I don't know when she will be able to do it. I really need to start advertising now for some Sept. openings and wanted the website up and running.

I just don't know if I can do it myself. I was going to buy the template and I already have the hosting but I just don't know the ins and outs of building a website and afraid I won't be able to do it. In the past I've done the free ones using the easy web builders.

So, has anyone hired someone to do their site for them? How do you find someone? When I look up web designers they usually want a few hundred dollars - I was hoping to not have to spend that much - just want someone who has a little more experience than me who could use a few bucks for their time.

Is it that hard to do? Should I just try to do it myself??
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spud912 09:07 PM 07-09-2011
I was also going to pay someone to do it, but then I realized that the companies really charge an arm and a leg! In the end, I decided to build my own website. I looked up a webs website builder and ended up upgrading so my site would be ad-free. It took a long weekend, but I think in the end it looks good! I pulled a lot of information from my Parent handbook to use on the site. I also like the fact that they give me site statistics so I can see how many people are looking at my website.
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Kaddidle Care 10:32 PM 07-09-2011
Try Weebly - it's free and very user friendly. You just drag and click things into place. You can do it! Go for it!
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JaydensMommy 10:36 PM 07-09-2011
I use vistaprint and think the monthly fee is very worth it. The website looks professional and its so easy to do and you get a personalized business email. It has a lot of great features. Most people that see it and calls compliments on how they liked my website.
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AnneCordelia 03:33 AM 07-10-2011
I also use weebly. I love it! It's very easy to use and my website looks great. I have a friend who does website design for a living and she recommended it to me. I could pay her $550/year to build/maintain my website or I can do it on weebly for free.
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Kaddidle Care 05:51 AM 07-10-2011
Don't forget to inform Google and other search engines of your website. It doesn't automatically appear when it's a free website.

I love our Weebly one, it's always a work in progress - I update the blog monthly and add slideshows and photos of the children's artwork. You can even set up a passworded parent's page if I'm not mistaken. I haven't done that yet but I may in the Fall.

Do not post photos of the children online unless you have proper signed authorizations from the parents. I even went so far as to ask for authorization to display the artwork since the children's first names appear on a lot of them.

To date I have no photos of children on our website even though I have authorization from some parents to do it. I just don't like that. If I take photos that a parent wants to share, I'm more than happy to email it to the parent and they can display it on their facebook or whatever.
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Crazy8 06:16 AM 07-10-2011
thanks for the input. I already pay for the hosting of my own name dot com on GoDaddy so I can't go use weebly or something like that. The GoDaddy themes are very limited but I found a wordpress template I can use with it but I just don't know how to do all that and I get a headache when I start trying to read it all.

Maybe I should just give it a try but the template is $60 so I'll be mad if I buy that and then still can't get it working. I am pretty computer savvy - I can make anything in excel, I can get around the web easily, etc. I am just not all that creative so this is a stumbling block for me!

I think I'm going to try it though!

And I also have a photo release, but I thought if I used pics of kids it would be unidentifiable ones - like them in a group, back of heads, etc. I was mad when I discovered I couldn't make a private photo album on my business page on FB so I can't share pics there either.
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childcarebytori 10:32 AM 07-10-2011
Little Diamonds,

I've had great success with my website (www.childcarebytori.com). I first bought my dot com name from GoDaddy and I went on a search to find a website builder that was easy and inexpensive. I am using Wix.com, which is a flash website builder and it is almost too easy to use. I found a template to use, and I just added my information onto the website and it allowed me to use my own dot com name.

I also LOVE that my interested families can email me right from my website. GoDaddy also allowed me to have a business email and I just linked the email to my website and anyone who emails from my website, their email gets sent to my business email. Super easy.

I pay about $13 a month for the website on Wix and I'm very pleased with the price and how professional my website looks.

I highly suggest wix.com for anyone interested in building a website.
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Michael 12:22 PM 07-10-2011
Originally Posted by childcarebytori:
Little Diamonds,

I've had great success with my website (www.childcarebytori.com). I first bought my dot com name from GoDaddy and I went on a search to find a website builder that was easy and inexpensive. I am using Wix.com, which is a flash website builder and it is almost too easy to use. I found a template to use, and I just added my information onto the website and it allowed me to use my own dot com name.

I also LOVE that my interested families can email me right from my website. GoDaddy also allowed me to have a business email and I just linked the email to my website and anyone who emails from my website, their email gets sent to my business email. Super easy.

I pay about $13 a month for the website on Wix and I'm very pleased with the price and how professional my website looks.

I highly suggest wix.com for anyone interested in building a website.
Smart to buy "your name" .com (domain name)
Many registrars (where you buy your name) will also allow you something called URL Forward. Once you have your dot com name you point it to your website at weebly.com, wix.com or whatever place it is now. That way you can advertise the name you "own" and it won't matter where your site is. I helped dEHmom do it for her website and domain name.

I've been doing domain names since 1994: http://www.ccin.com/about.html
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Christina72684 06:54 PM 07-10-2011
I'm confused. So I have to buy a name off of one website, and then use another website to create my website?
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Michael 02:32 AM 07-11-2011
Originally Posted by Christina72684:
I'm confused. So I have to buy a name off of one website, and then use another website to create my website?
Well there are lots of ways to create a website. Weebley is free to construct one but you are beholden to them for your needs and web address. If you buy your address/name, at least you own it and can advertise it. Just point the free website to the name/address you own. Cheapest, best way to have a website, who's name you own and control. Hope that's not too confusing.

Example: ChristinasDaycare.com or ChristinasDaycare.weebly.com ?

ChristinasDaycare.com or facebook.com/ChristinasDaycare ?

One you own, one they own.

Control your address.
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DBug 10:41 AM 07-11-2011
I use wix.com too, with a free .tk domain (www.dot.tk). Here's my site: www.doodlebugs.tk .By far, most of my business comes from the internet. Everywhere I advertise, I post my website. During interviews, most of the things I go over are all review for parents, because they've already read it all on the website. Totally worth it, and YES, you can do it yourself .

So far I've been doing it all for free, but I have been thinking about getting a "real" domain name. The .tk name is great, but as my techie brother says, it LOOKS like a free domain, which may reflect badly on my business. Unfortunately most of the various combinations of my daycare name are already taken, and besides that, I'd have to reprint all of my advertising. So if you're just starting with a site, I'd definitely do what Michael suggests, and get a real .com domain name to begin with. They're usually pretty cheap anyway.
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daycare 11:14 AM 07-11-2011
I use Yola, I bought my domain name and only paid $59.00 for two years. I have a platnium account and have free access to almost everything the site offers... I love this site to build websites. Mine gets the job done and the parents can go on it to see what is going on for the week!!
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Tags:domain names, website, websites, weebly
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