The 15-minute Weebly Website . . .

Looks good!

Thanks, Ed! Still a work-somewhat-in-progress . . . :-)

:::laughing at your title and ifrst line, line...will check out your site when I return....
GoDaddy used to have "website Tonight". I lovingly renamed it "website Fortnight."!

Haha, Marlene -- a fortnight would be a real improvement for me!

Have a good day!

Well done :D Looks good!

Thank you kindly, Abbie -- glad you found time to check it out! :-)

Wendy, one thing that puzzles me with Weebly, I've been looking at their blurb ( without signing up) and they give the impression everything is free ( unless you want a personal hosting address) but they also say there is no advertising. Is this correct? if so I wonder how it pays for itself.

Hi, Paul,

Here's a comparison of the free and premium plans -

https://secure.weebly.com/weebly/apps/purchasePage.php?s=www.weebly.com&type=premium&refer=site_row&siteID=401311060768995802&comparison=1

I started with the free plan, but already knew that I wanted:

1. To use my own domain.
2. A customizable footer section.
3. To remove the 'powered by Weebly' link at the bottom of every free page.

There's absolutely nothing on my site that says 'Weebly', which is what I was looking for.

Currently, Weebly hosts over 20 million sites; I'm betting a huge percentage of those are free. The Weebly links on all those free sites encourage new users, like myself, to sign up. Once there, it's likely that many of us decide, in short order, that we (need) want some of those premium features, and are willing to be at least a small amount to get them.

Every free site has the Weebly message in the footer, and the actual word 'Weebly' in the domain. That's passive advertising, but it's still advertising, IMO, and brings them millions of new members, I'm sure.

I've signed on with the Starter program -- less than $40 per year -- and it suits my needs just fine. I don't plan to do e-commerce through Weebly, so the Pro and Business plans are overkill, for me. I'd like to have a search box on my site, but not enough to pay so much more to get it.

I consider the Weebly site as a partner to my FAA AW site -- but, a partner offering a very different UX (user experience).

As a bonus, only two days since beginning to add SEO features to the individual pages, my Video and Phone Cases pages are showing up on Google!

So, Paul -- I've totally over-answered your question (nothing new there!), but I hope this helps, or is useful to other readers.

Thanks Wendy for a very comprehensive reply, it answers all my question very well :)

I use weebly and it is the best of I have found so far after had tried others platform. I am happy more than never with my website.

Your website looks very good Wendy. Good job. :)



--Marcio Faustino--

Your site looks absolutely mahvelous my dear!

Looks great!!

Paul, I'm always happy to pass on what I've learned! :-)

Hi, Marcio -- I agree; it's a great platform, and flexible enough to be taken in any direction. It's very different from the Weebly I looked at four or five years ago. Thanks for stopping by! (Nice to see you around the forum, these days.)

Syd-not-Greenstreet! Thank you ever so! :-)

You guys are pushing my 'Unique Visitors' numbers through the roof! Whatever will I do tomorrow? Think I'll be moving up that proposed launch date, so lots of work tonight! ;-)

Thanks, Bradford!

Wendy, looks great so far!
Too funny, I have a weebly window open right now I've been messing with for a few weeks for my salon site.I like it so far after a bit of learning curve, still some curves ahead... I have a site through homestead but I don't like it anymore and I hate the change they did recently to email, which pushed me to look for alternatives. I also signed up with virb for art/photo site recently too, but I may cancel that and use weebly for that too...or look at some other options! I may set up for ecommerce, pondering that one. All this is going to mean domain transfers for me and getting email situated.

Nice work, Wendy. :-)

My hosting site has a Weebly builder and that's what I use for my site. At least for now. I found it very easy to use and I actually had a basic site done using it within a few hours. It's all drag and drop. The hard part is always figuring out what to say for each area.

Way to go, Wendy! I proofed it and caught no errors.

Lots of work... Wow!

@Melissa -- Thanks! :-)

I'm interested to hear how your Virb experience goes. I stumbled around over there for weeks, and got almost nothing accomplished, though I know others do fine with Virb. Guess we just weren't a good fit.

I didn't realize Homestead was still around! I belonged to some boards that were Homestead-based, back before the turn of the century. (I mean pre-2000 -- not pre-1900!) For sure, there are many, many options out there!


@Roseann -- I'm totally jealous of your 'few hours'!

My experience went more like -- drag and drop . . . no! Don't drop there!!! Re-drag and re-drop. Drag, delete, change mind, drag something else entirely to somewhere else, entirely! Drag and drop . . . no! I told me not to drop there!!!!! Loser, loser, loser!!!

Not to mention the two pages which I, apparently, deleted then saved over . . . in my sleep.

Thank goodness for words; they're always the easiest part! ;-)

Looks great!

Chuck, thank you so much! The proofing, especially, is greatly appreciated!

Reason #25 why I'm a Staley Fangirl! ;-)


Thanks, Priya!

Wendy - LOL okay, when I worked at midnight, some of my conversations were similar. But leave off the loser part. You're not that at all.

*hugs

Well done Wendy. I like how you use your FAA avatar on your website header image. Good cross marketing tie in. If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion, you may want to consider dropping the Art166.net from the header below your name. And another suggestion would be to consider emphasizing your tag line, "The Fine Art of Insomnia!" by using caps on your emphatic words and possibly italicizing. These are merely design recommendations and not criticisms. Another suggestion would be to remove the "Prices start at..." line. The art buyers will find the prices when they click on the images, unless of course you are targeting a specific demographic of price minded shoppers.

Please don't take any of what I have said as criticism. My remarks are simply suggestions, and not intended to impune or harm you in any way, or to take away from your accomplishment. It is impressive what you put together. Best of luck.

Worth the effort ! Looks exciting,interesting,professional! Well done you...

I'm going to cancel virb (less than two weeks). Weebly was easier to understand getting started and has better videos. Virb seemed super cool when I hit the integrate etsy shop, which immediately populated. After a day or two, I realized that wasn't as great for me as it seemed at the time. Part of the descriptions are very specific to etsy and don't make sense reading them off site. Also, it defaults to images, not to galleries and turns out, I don't like that! Plus, it's the only section I figured out, so that's all that has happened there and I really don't find the rest of it very intuitive. Had time to look at your a bit more, really really looks great. I need to see or watch video on weebly on how to have a drop down menu off the menu buttons.....I might be pm'ing you if you don't mind :o))

Wendy, nice job. Enjoy the continued process of building your site. I use weebly for my art school website. I started out with just a blog and an intro page. Then added one page at a time as my business grew. Most of it was built under the free packet. I upgraded when I reached my content max. That was three years ago. What I love about weebly is it's easy to use. Plus it makes me feel in control. I can add and delete when ever I need. No more waiting for some one else to do it for me.

http://www.art-e-studio.net

Hi, Syd,

I didn't know about the upcoming, new stuff at Weebly. Thanks for the heads up! :-)

"Our webcast series is on hiatus until mid-June while we move over to a new webcasting provider and retool the series with all new content. In the meantime, you can watch a full recording of a recent Beginner's Guide webcast above. This video recording is almost exactly the same as the live presentation, so the only thing likely to be different between the two are Richard's always topical jokes."

Wendy, is there certain things we cannot put on our websites pertaining to FAA?

thanks for the reminder, Wendy. I used to tell my daughter the same things, never to call herself dumb and to divide things into small steps when you start feeling overwhelmed. She is very much like me and I need to remember that those wise words are for my use as well!

thanks!

@Syd -- I never saw that notice! Glad they've left the older vids available while they're moving!

Shooting you an email...

@Rebecca -- Good! :-)

ahhhhh, had to take a break and watch a good detective shoot 'em up to relax. hahaha

it looks good Wendy!

Thanks, @Nina! Don't see you around here often enough! :-)

@Syd -- If I understand your question -- The FAA info I borrowed is copyrighted, and used with permission, of course!

@Rebecca -- Sounds good; I'm all for some popcorn with a side order of Due South. Sounds like the perfect break! :-)

I've been working on this, today; here are some useful links for making the most of Weebly's SEO settings:

http://www.webnots.com/seo-for-weebly-site.html
http://weeblyseo.weebly.com/
http://www.siriweberfeeney.com/template-faqs/dont-miss-these-easy-to-add-seo-settings-in-weebly

You'll need them . . . eventually. :-)

Wendy - thank you for the generous information you have provided in this thread - and for having a sense of humor about opinions. :)) I came across this discussion today and have bookmarked the weebly info - as I am sure others have done.

Thanks Wendy for your support and generous advice.

But is it worth having your own website? I had one myself, but I shut it down. It didn't seem worth the cost.

@Susan -- You're very welcome! Useful information is meant to be shared. My sense of humor is my constant companion . . . as is my sense of the absurd. Some days, one comes into play more than the other!

It's great to think this thread, and the links and info within, might become a useful resource for members looking to build a user-friendly, personal website. All good! -)

@Sydne -- But of course, and the same to you! We've passed some great info and ideas back and forth -- I appreciate that!

@J L -- I think it's more than worth it, as long as I keep the site manageable, so it doesn't become a huge time or money drain. For about 3 bucks per month, I get to put my choice of my own work and videos, plus whatever info I want to add to that, in front of the eyes of a whole, new, segment of the Internet public!

Stats show that I'm getting double- to triple-digit 'unique' views each day, and I haven't even officially launched, yet. (That happens Wednesday, with any luck.)

Maybe it's a coincidence that I had zero FAA print sales in all of 2014, but in the last few weeks (since the new site went live), that number has suddenly jumped to three . . . or, maybe it's not. ;-) That's not a huge leap (well, it is for me, at FAA), and there's no definitive proof that the new site is the source. But, it's encouraging!

I've been showing and selling my work online for more than a decade. I'm definitely of the opinion that your potential to find buyers is greater when casting a big, wide, net than when tossing out a little, narrow one. The new site widens my net, considerably.

I've always maintained several, simultaneous, online venues -- each provides a revenue stream of some sort, and contributes to my financial bottom line. I hope to add at least two more venues, other than Weebly, before the end of 2014.

For mostly medical reasons, I've given up about 80% of my local show schedule -- I have to pick up that slack somewhere. Online is the 'somewhere' of choice!

Ideally, potential buyers should be tripping across my work (and my name) on a pretty regular basis, and I'm working to make that happen.

I have two more Weebly pages in the works -- one to represent my Zazzle offerings, and another to highlight RedBubble. Sales are already up on both those sites this year; I'll attempt to capitalize on that.

I'm running a one-woman business. I'm artist, manager, accountant, PR rep, ad exec, motivational guru, et al for this business. I believe everything I attempt is 'worth it'! :-)

(I totally over-answered your question, J L -- I was temporarily swept away by my own enthusiasm!)

Question for all of you Weebly folks out there. Somehow my site was published, I probably hit the publish button instead of the save button. However I did upgrade but the online site has the Weebly.com on it. Unfortunately I wasn't quit done with the optimizing or spell checking....I am confused!

Sydne you can go in and edit things any time you want. You will have to "publish" the edited version in order for it to correct what has been already published.

Thanks Darice, I almost pooped my pants! Whew!

reopened

I just upgraded my weebly to be BIGGER and BETTER!! Muahahaha!!!!!

Your site is awesome. It would have maybe taken fifteen minutes if you weren't such a professional. I love it. I am inspired by your site.

In fact, I like your site so much I am going to bookmark it and use as a reference guide.

In the past 4 years or so - I have purchased four sites to create a website - NONE was ever completed - hardly begun - I am just too inept at it. - I get bored - and my patience and temper get the better and I abandon them and never go back - and yes - it's cost me several hundred dollars - I probably could have paid some "expert" to create just the perfect one for me at that cost. It's kind of like me trying to create a video of my artwork to put on YouTube - just ain't happening. Inept - I guess I'm fortunate in being able to feed my face a few times a day.

Been using weebly for my site via my webhosting company for a while now...really like the ease of creating/updating.

~Michel Soucy
http://www.michelsoucy.com

@Rhonda, you mean Wendy's site not mine right? Mine is barenaked right now but not bad for basic info :o) Wendy rocked her site!

I'm adding e-commerce with my all my stuff and my mom's jewelry...which will be a few weeks before 'launching'. I've flip flopped back and forth on whether that would work but I think I got that figured out how it actually will...and not feel or look ridiculous. If I didn't put her stuff there, she'd have me making her a full on website too and then we would be paying double...and then she would harass me on how to promote it and I just barely have the basics figured out for me! Or even worse....she would want me to 'teach' her how to create her site...I would consider that a fate almost worse than death (not being too dramatic or anything! lol) This is the woman I can't get to click on the 'spare' tab to open a new webpage. I already photo her jewelry, edit it and list it, and recently she's been wanting me to do some of her descriptions too because I 'flower' them up some, so may as well put it all together!

Hi, guys -- welcome back to The Walking Thread! ;-) Thanks for granting the re-open, Abbie. I'll monitor this more closely to keep it from closing again.

@Melissa -- Looking forward to seeing your new website, Ms. Bittinger! Don't forget to come back and share all!

@Rhonda -- Welcome to the discussion, Rhonda! Thanks for the lovely comment; feel free to chime in as we explore the wonders of website building! :-)

@RoyD -- Glad you're keeping yourself fed, Roy! :-) Let me know if you're looking to hire some Weebly or video help; I've got some recent experience under my belt! http://www.art166.net/artist-sos.html

@Michel -- Thanks for sharing your Weebly site link, MIchel. Your site looks gorgeous -- I love the big, bodacious, slideshows on your pages. Wow!

Hello Wendy,

You have re-whet my appetite to reinstate my Weebly page after having popped over to yours. Great layout and very informative!
Please re-check your links on http://www.art166.net/about-digital-art.html, Photographic Art and Digital Abstracts, they do take one to FAA but there are no images.
Thought you would like to know.

Thanks for all :-)
Nicole

Hey Wendy ... glad to hear you had a moderately good experience with Weebly. I used them for a real estate client's custom home about a year ago and found the site to be slick as a whistle. Wish I could link here but we closed it.

I've been waiting to clear a space in my activity calendar to do one up for my fine artsy stuff (and link to FAA for sales, of course) and one for the real estate stuff. Maybe after the holidays ... wait ... was that an echo??

HAH!!!

... deeply in love with Austin Speaks ... tweeted and tumbled ; ))

I've been using free Weebly and very happy with it.

http://www.jeffsphotos4you.com/

Another inexpensive site is Fat Cow - around $40-50 per year.

Beautiful site, Jeff ... and I'm in love with your home page image!!!!!!