Im looking for someone who can help me create a website. I have the domain name (texasfudge) and some of yall remember me, Im sure. Anyway, I am having the toughest time finding someone reliable and I am convinced that there are ore psychos in this field of work than in any other field because thats all I seem to run into. Anyway, I have a food truck now and I want to incorporate it into my business. For example, I want to have a software that will alert me when an order is placed so that I can see it and get started on it immediately. Anyway, im easy to work with and I just want something simple done.
Is this a confectionary site or a scat site? That will determine what kind of advice and consultant you obtain.
Man, you have been having **** luck with websites since 06 http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=119812
Just create one yourself using a site like Wix, Squarespace, or Weebly. Anyone can create a functional website using these type of sites as long as you know how to operate a mouse. Then you have full control and don't have to rely on an web developer.
I've doing web apps for a few years. I don't have time to help now but I would recommend setting up a Wordpress site. Lots of free themes out there to choose from, and there are plugins you could use to manage your menu, accept online orders and receive email alerts etc... Everything is already made, so you can either set up yourself for free or hire someone with Wordpress experience to set it up for a lot cheaper than building everything from scratch. This is a popular plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/wppizza/
Wordpress makes it really easy to **** up your coding so that you are the exact opposite of search engine optimized, so if you go that route be careful. It's no good to have an awesome site if people can't find it through a search engine - a lot of those point and click web interfaces leave behind a ton of extra coding every time you change something, and Google doesn't like that. My wife has a company and runs into scumbag hucksters every day. And once you get past them, there is a second layer of incompetent people out there as well. Google "Website Houston" or "web design Houston" or some variation on that. Find someone on the first page (excluding the paid placements - any moron can pay enough and get clicks). If they can't get their own website to the first or second page of Google, how are they going to be able to help you get to the front where people can find you? Disclaimer - my wife's there on page one, but it is genuinely sound advice. The goal of a website is to attract customers. If the only people who see your website are the people you get to find the website after you give them the URL face-to-face, what is it really but a really expensive business card that you have to get people to log onto their computer to see? I guess, who are you selling to with your website? People who are already customers or are you looking to reel new people in? I doubt a ton of people sit down in front of their computer and say, "Gosh, I think I'll find some locally made fudge today." What is someone going to be looking for right before they stumble on your site and buy?
Piggybacking on the ottomaton, wordpress sites are usually slower and not very seo-optimized. If you are going to go the wordpress route, I would recommend the yoast plugin. It is expensive, but yoast does a great job of making everything on your site work properly. I would also recommend (for wordpress sites) woo themes. They are very nice themes you can buy.
How many pages do you need? If it's just 1-5 pages and you're marketing the website using traditional tools and branding instead of banking on SEO then I highly recommend giving unbounce.com a try because it's the most simple and conversion oriented tool I know. Technically it's for landing pages but you can build a nav or find a template. It's easier than Wordpress but probably along the same lines as Wix.
I suggest you get one with spell check. I created a website with Weebly and as has been stated here, it's fairly easy.
Great advice Ottomaton. I actually live in the West Texas area but I will try to look up your wife's company. Any idea how much I should be spending a month on hosting and maintaining?
getting to the first page of google requires backlinks, plain and simple. Nothing else truly matters. The problem with backlinks with small businesses is that nobody is going to link to you, so you are stuck. A lot of businesses youi see on the first page of google BOUGHT links. Google may take down the occasional site, but most of the time they don't care about it.
If your business qualifies for a position in the "Map Pack" you can buy affordable citations/links from WhiteSpark that are effective and wont penalize you. A BBB listing pointed at a properly optimized site/page (one the includes the Schema markup for your local business) is as powerful as any link out there as far are ranking locally goes. I've seen that strategy work several times firsthand. FB advertising has gotten a lot better and can actually be quite cost-effective if you get the audience filters right but it depends on your margin.
The Clutch Community website is taking off the ground as I type. If anyone has any tips, I would like to here from you.
