Our web site, lindadaltonpottery.com, was first built in 2000, using Front Page. It worked OK, but in 2010, we upgraded to Expression Web 4, as Front Page was no longer supported. Try as I might, I cannont get the kind of results I want with EW4. It is just too complex, complicated, and arcane.

We use our web site for the following purposes:

  1. to drive local and tourist traffic to our studio showroom to purchase at retail.
  2. to promote our twice yearly open house studio sales.
  3. to let patrons know what shows we will be doing, and when.
  4. to promote the galleries which represent us.

All of our work is relatively high end, one of kind, so we have no plans to sell directly from the website. It seems to me we have four possible scenarios:

  • learn to use Expression Web, buy some books, take some classes, suck it up. The downside to this is not making any art while doing so.
  • Use a service like website tonight. We have our hosting through Go Daddy, so this does not increase our costs, but I have taken a look at it, and it seems very confining.
  • Go to Word Press. We have heard a lot of good things about it, including that it is easier to use and more flexible, but have not experience. Again, since Go Daddy could host it, not cost increase.
  • Hire someone to update the site, clean up the cobwebs, and then use EW$ to keep it up to date. Unknown cost, but get to make art instead of learning HTML.

Would love some advice from some of the more experienced.




 

You need to be a member of Art Fair Insiders to add comments!

Join Art Fair Insiders

Votes: 0
Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • In a word... WordPress. Hands down the best platform available today.

  • Knowing a little bit of CSS and HTML can go a long way.  It will certainly make you far less beholden to code monkeys (and I use that term affectionately).

    Check out htmldog.com

    It will teach you the bare bones of both codes and allow you to, at the very least, understand some of what you're seeing when you use the "view HTML" option in WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors.  This is especially helpful when the formatting effect you are trying to produce isn't going as planned.  Usually, it's messy HTML.  With CSS you can even make minor changes to your templates.  If you prefer a different font, let's say, you can change that in the CSS rather than every time you use the WYSIWYG editor.  Elegant and efficient.

    I always check the HTML to make sure it's as clean as can be.  I don't trust WYSIWYG editors to do the most elegant or efficient things behind the scenes.

  • Faso.com

    Easy, easy.  Templates, no code needed.   Minimal monthly fee.

    Great SEO.

    Support staff is excellent.

    Here's mine:  http://karencooperpaintings.com

    • Hello,

      Try to get some advise. I am artist lives in New Jersey, USA. I have done paintings on convas, metal, and murals using oil, and acrylics.
      Try to find best web site design builders, if you advise me with ur past experience, which will be great web site builders.
      Thanks have a great holidays
      Kind regards
      Sayeed..
  • I'm with Jim a self hosted wordpress site is very powerful and google loves it. Website tonight however I would run for the hills. We started there years ago and when we decided to move our site we couldn't get the files, long story, but I would stay away.  I tried doing some html sites with dreamweaver also tried yahoo site builder, honestly it wasn't worth the effort. I finally listened to my brother and started a self hosted wordpress site and never looked back. He was right google loves wordpress and everything I post is indexed almost instantly. We have a very large custom PHP site as well, that I attached a wordpress blog to, once I did that rankings went up as well. Wordpress is so incredibly dynamic that it will and should change with your needs. There are tons of free themes as well, but you can also buy custom themes as well. Hope that helps.

    Andrew

  • I use Weebly via iPage and I'm pretty happy with it. I didn't want to pay for the extra doodads, but the basic functions are working well for me. I even added a video to the "tips" page yesterday.

    Robin Ragsdale

    www.evenbetterimages.com

    • Looking at your site, Robin, that is pretty amazing what can be done with basic tools. Nice job.

      • Thanks Connie!

  • Update:

    My weebly site is just about ready to go. I have some more work to do on the gallery, posting some video, and starting my blog....oh, and getting some social media tags, analytic code and some behind the scenes stuff done. This will be ongoing and easy to change on the fly. So far I love weebly. I've probably put about 20 hours (morning and night) into this so far. Here is what I have to date. I will direct the url to my domain in a day or two. Please provide any feedback as far as likes, dislikes, glaring ommissions etc. Thanks - Jay

    www.jaymcdougalltestsite.weebly.com

    For comparative purposes, here is my current/old site:

    www.jaymcdougall.com

    • Thanks for all the feedback. I am in the process of having my domain redirected to my new Weebly site, so the jaymcdougalltestsite.weebly.com is no longer a valid address. If all goes well my weebly site should be available for viewing at www.jaymcdougall.com by the end of the day.

This reply was deleted.