Starting a website?

[slimcharm]

I think Jessica is going to have to eventually start her own website. What is the simplest way to do that?Broadjam seems fairly easy (and we have a coupon for free upgrade) but Jessica was not impressed with the lay outs .Ideas appreciated.Thanks....

[nomiyah]

I've been happy with my website. It's hosted by ASCAP Webtools. If you are an ASCAP member there is a discount, go to www.ascapwebtools.com. If not a member, go to www.nimbit.com. It cost me $35 to set up (including domain name) and $14 per month.I don't know anything about websites but it's very easy to upload music, pics, videos and text. They give you a choice of templates which you can use if you don't know how to design from scratch. Plus they have a design staff who can do things for you if you can't handle something technical and they are very fast and very reasonably priced.Extras they offer is a message board and a Wimpy audio player (you can see on my site if you click where it says "listen to Nomi's music"). These extras are a one time charge about $65. They also offer an online store for another small fee.Hope this helps.Nomi

[slimcharm]

Thanks Nomi ..you are incredibly helpful. I will check out your site. Jessica needs to join ASCAP but gosh the paperwork!

[davewalton]

Hi,Mine is more of a customized solution but is still inexpensive and fairly easy to deal with. Website link is below.The look of the site itself is a template that is available from places like www.pixelmill.com. There are a lot of these. Google phrases like "frontpage templates" or "website templates". The advantage is that you get a really slick looking site and the only thing that needs to be done for the most part is to modify the text. If you can't do it yourself, hiring that out would not be expensive. Template costs are almost always under $100 (mine was $60 if I remember right).To host the site, I use www.bluehost.com. You pay annually but the price is right - under $100 for the entire year. They have more options and features than you can shake a stick at... all included with the basic price.Just another option to consider. Dave

[slimcharm]

Its hard not to do Broadjam since I have two coupons..(for the $99 package) so it would be free.But she didnt like the layouts. I am not sure if going through Broadjam is a good idea.Dave, I like the site I saw ..at bluehost..Hmm what to do. I certainly want to keep it simple given that a techie I am NOT!

[nomiyah]

If I were you, I'd go with Broadjam for now since it's free. Then maybe Jessica would get motivated to set up her website and let you get off easy. She's old enough, my 13 year old helps me with my site and knows way more than me about HTML, etc.Nomi

[slimcharm]

I may do that..of course I paid for the Taxi broadjam membership and THEN got the two free coupons with my Mbox. So I would be missing out on the rest of my broadjam membership (just joined in Oct.)Regardless what happens if you dont like your host site? Then what happens to your host name if you move to another site? That is lets say we did the free Broadjam and a few years from now she said I want to pay for another site ..what happens to the domain name? She really does as much as she can with her music..She is just incredibly busy. She gets up at 5:45 for high school, takes two dance classes a week, two vocal lessons, has to study, learn to play piano, collaborate with her co-artists, prepare for SAT's, finish senior project - though she is a junior she is doing it early, look at colleges, etc etc...so she is like on the go all the time. Fortunately she is very high energy. But she wants it..so she will just have to make time to add the website to her todo list.

[nomiyah]

I don't know much about Broadjam (though I have a site there too) but you buy your own domain name for a website. You can tranfer it to different hosts anytime. You pay for your domain name by the year, less than 20 dollars per year so it's cheap.

[slimcharm]

Where do you buy the domain name? Thanks Nomi! Lee

[superflux]

Many web hosting services will help youregister your domain name. There are alsostand-alone registrars like www.register.comsteve