Word Press Website

[DaneMcCloud]

Hey guys, I had a website for my business built back in 2007 and it's no longer effective or even working properly. I need music to stream from my site (no downloading option) and I need to be able to make easy updates in terms of latest projects, TV show appearances, etc.

My contract with GoDaddy was up in November and their new pricing was exorbitant for my needs, so I switched to iPage. I uploaded all the files from the old website so there's at least a presence but there's no music, as the database built by the original designer hasn't been working for years.

My knowledge of web design is an F-. iPage has a deal in which I can pay $150 per month for 24/7 help in designing a Word Press site and apparently, there's a plugin for about $30 dollars that will allow streaming. The site will be very simple, with a Bio, Latest News and about 12 tracks available to stream.

Is it worth it for me to pay $150 dollars for support or is building a WP site super easy? Is it a waste of money or a good investment? Will it really take days and weeks to build a simple site or am I being conned?

Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[penguinz]

If you have no wordpress knowledge and the site is important for your business then $150 is nothing.

Without knowing what all the services you are getting at $150 I can not say if it is a good deal or not.

I currently manage a WP environment that the hosting costs run us $15k per month. Mainly due to storage and bandwidth needs.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by penguinz

If you have no wordpress knowledge and the site is important for your business then $150 is nothing.

Without knowing what all the services you are getting at $150 I can not say if it is a good deal or not.

I currently manage a WP environment that the hosting costs run us $15k per month. Mainly due to storage and bandwidth needs.

Thanks! Yeah, the $150 is nothing to learn how to build a WP site, I just have zero familiarity with the process.

If it's something that'll take 8 hours or less, I can handle that but if it begins to cut into my actual work time, I'd rather pay someone to do it for me, then teach me how to do simple updates (change out music tracks, text updates, etc.).

Thanks again!

[Chiefspants]

I have built Wordpress sites and have a buddy who does it professionally.

To build a professionally looking page, it will certainly take more than 8 hours of time.

However, if you use a template and don’t need too much customization, Wordpress should have options.

[Fish]

$150 per month? That seems expensive, even if that includes hosting. The initial setup is really the only difficult part. After that you should just need to pay for the hosting for the most part. After it's setup and going, support shouldn't really be necessary. 24/7 support is overkill once a website is up and running.

Web design is a pain in the ass though. If you went with a different option like a local geek, you'd probably pay quite a bit up front to get it up and running, but once it's up and established, you'd just pay a much lower monthly fee just for data hosting.

I'd shop a round just a little bit...

[mr. tegu]

I have a Wix site and have been very happy with it. It is really easy and almost works like a phone in which you can add apps that basically can do anything. The apps will generally have free and pay versions which typically run a few bucks a month. I think I only have one that I needed to upgrade to the pay version. I have documents that can be downloaded straight from the site so I’m sure that music could be streamed.

You can make a site for free and just use one of their templates. It shouldn’t take you more than a few hours to play around and see if it can do what you need and then you can just upgrade it to your own domain if you want. Or if you don’t need people to make purchases or you don’t need to build it’s online presence (like if you link people to it) you may just be able to keep the free version.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

I have a Wix site and have been very happy with it. It is really easy and almost works like a phone in which you can add apps that basically can do anything. The apps will generally have free and pay versions which typically run a few bucks a month. I think I only have one that I needed to upgrade to the pay version. I have documents that can be downloaded straight from the site so I’m sure that music could be streamed.

You can make a site for free and just use one of their templates. It shouldn’t take you more than a few hours to play around and see if it can do what you need and then you can just upgrade it to your own domain if you want. Or if you don’t need people to make purchases or you don’t need to build it’s online presence (like if you link people to it) you may just be able to keep the free version.

A non-profit I was on the board for did the same thing. We did registrations and payments but I’m pretty sure that was just a link to a form site program. I was impressed with how easy it was to make.

[penguinz]

Originally Posted by Fish

$150 per month? That seems expensive, even if that includes hosting. The initial setup is really the only difficult part. After that you should just need to pay for the hosting for the most part. After it's setup and going, support shouldn't really be necessary. 24/7 support is overkill once a website is up and running.

Web design is a pain in the ass though. If you went with a different option like a local geek, you'd probably pay quite a bit up front to get it up and running, but once it's up and established, you'd just pay a much lower monthly fee just for data hosting.

I'd shop a round just a little bit...

When it is a site for your business 24x7 support is a must. If the site is down you are potentially losing money.

[DaneMcCloud]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses. My apologies, but I don't think I was clear in the thread starter.

1. I need a simple website that has a picture of me, a brief bio and link to IMDB, along the ability to stream songs of my choosing in different genres.

2. iPage offers tech support for people like me that know nothing about building a Word Press website. That support is $150 for 30 days and can be ended at any time. Once the site is completed, I cancel the support and only pay for web hosting (which is prepaid already for 4 years).

3. The site can be built from a template. It's basically an extension of a Business Card. If I'm out and meet someone in the industry and they ask what I do, I can give them my card, which has my website url and email address, so that they can check out my work and credits. The site itself isn't intended to attract clients via a Google search.

4. The only maintenance I'd expect to perform on the site is swapping out tracks and updating the bio. For example, if I score a new Microsoft commercial, I'd want that track on the site, a link to YouTube and a note stating that I scored the latest commercial.

5. The $150 isn't an issue but would I be better off just hiring someone to create this simple site or is it worth my time to learn how to create and update on my own without paying a 3rd party individual? It's a business expense, so it's no biggie but is there value for me to actually know how to do this on my own?

Thanks again! The info is greatly appreciated!

[Fish]

If the $150 is just for initial setup, then I'd say go with that and cancel once the site is up and running well. That sounds much more reasonable.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Fish

If the $150 is just for initial setup, then I'd say go with that and cancel once the site is up and running well. That sounds much more reasonable.

Excellent, thank you!

[BWillie]

My website sucks ass but I did it in 4 hours on Word Press and Host Gator. Pretty easy.