Article Created Monday 21st December 2020
Can i offer some GUIDANCe?
Right now, Covid has forced many to embrace technology and rethink their approach to how they work. Recently in the media there have been many reports about how some (certainly not all) multilevel marketing (MLM) companies are taking advantage of people. Over the last few months, I have spoken with numerous small businesses, many within my own dance industry, and have been shocked by the fees they have paid, not only for the creation of their websites, but also for the hosting and maintenance of the sites. I certainly feel that some web design companies (again, certainly not all) are taking advantage of those who are trying to reinvent themselves or their businesses in these hard times.
Our running costs
Everything that we publish on any online platform including this website and our emails is created by ourselves. Our entire annual online infrastructure cost is £128.00. This sum covers:
To put the sum of £128.00 into perspective, I recently emailed 30 companies in England to discover how much they would charge me for a copy of my website. The average quote* I received was a build cost of £1,895, plus an annual hosting fee of £132.00 (without smart features). With smart features the build cost increased to £2,995 with the same annual hosting fee. The most outrageous quote that I ignored when calculating the average fees, came in at a staggering £7,500 before VAT with an annual hosting fee of £250.00 (an example of a company taking extreme advantage). Please remember that this was for a like-for-like quote to create a copy of our website (www.CoastalDanceClub.co.uk).
- Website Building Software And Tools
- Website Hosting
- Website Address
- Search Engine Optimisation
- Website Popup Chatbot (Smart Feature)
- Email Service (Intelligent)
- Website Email Popup Capture (Smart Feature)
- Licence Free Images
- Social Media Integration
- Third Party App Hosting
- Cloud Storage
- HTML Embed Code Solutions
To put the sum of £128.00 into perspective, I recently emailed 30 companies in England to discover how much they would charge me for a copy of my website. The average quote* I received was a build cost of £1,895, plus an annual hosting fee of £132.00 (without smart features). With smart features the build cost increased to £2,995 with the same annual hosting fee. The most outrageous quote that I ignored when calculating the average fees, came in at a staggering £7,500 before VAT with an annual hosting fee of £250.00 (an example of a company taking extreme advantage). Please remember that this was for a like-for-like quote to create a copy of our website (www.CoastalDanceClub.co.uk).
what we use
Weebly
Tidio (Free)
Google Webmaster Tools (Free)
Google Analytics (Free)
Convertkit (Free)
123 Reg
- Website Building Software And Tools
- Website Hosting
- Search Engine Optimisation
- Licence Free Images
- Social Media Integration
- Cloud Storage
- Third Party App Hosting
- HTML Embed Code Solutions
Tidio (Free)
- Website Popup Chatbot
Google Webmaster Tools (Free)
- Search Engine Optimisation
Google Analytics (Free)
- Website Analytics
Convertkit (Free)
- Email Service (Intelligent)
- Website Email Popup Capture
123 Reg
- Website Address
How easy is it?
If you can use a word processing and/or presentation package, then you can use Weebly successfully. Of course, you need to give some time to do this, but just like a word document, you can save it and come back to it later.
Not having to communicate and await the execution or potential misinterpretation of your ideas by a third party is where we save vast amounts of time. Using a platform like Weebly, Maggie and I have the ability to create and edit our content as many times as we like (some design companies limit amendments).
Often our initial ideas on how new content will read and look will evolve when we view it on different devices such as a laptop or mobile screen, and we are able to react immediately with changes and try different ideas until we reach a final decision we like.
This ability to create, edit and publish your own content without support or payment to others, is both satisfying and rewarding. Whilst we’re certainly not qualified web designers, we think we’ve done a very good job based on our expenditure.
Not having to communicate and await the execution or potential misinterpretation of your ideas by a third party is where we save vast amounts of time. Using a platform like Weebly, Maggie and I have the ability to create and edit our content as many times as we like (some design companies limit amendments).
Often our initial ideas on how new content will read and look will evolve when we view it on different devices such as a laptop or mobile screen, and we are able to react immediately with changes and try different ideas until we reach a final decision we like.
This ability to create, edit and publish your own content without support or payment to others, is both satisfying and rewarding. Whilst we’re certainly not qualified web designers, we think we’ve done a very good job based on our expenditure.
just message me
If you need any advice on how to use these tools to set up a low cost website or email system, send me an email and I will be happy to give you some free friendly advice.
quick update
Shortly after sending the email with the link to this page, I've quickly added this update. A few people have asked if I would be prepared to create an initial infrastructure for them. Some offered payment. I’m happy to offer advice, ideas and support at this stage.
If people are interested in more substantial input from me with regards to creating a website on their behalf, I will give this some thought over the Christmas period & get back to you all in the new year.
If people are interested in more substantial input from me with regards to creating a website on their behalf, I will give this some thought over the Christmas period & get back to you all in the new year.