Website advice needed
Loeffelholz
The United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
Hey everyone... -{
I'm in the process of deciding how to go about setting up a website to promote a book I've written (and will possibly self-publish via an online publisher once it's ready), and ultimately hope to sell copies of my work there as well. I'll naturally want to do it as inexpensively as possible, with as low a monthy/maintenance fee as I can manage, while making it a distinctive/enjoyable online experience to compliment the contents and subject matter of the novel...plus, I want to lock in the domain name before it gets grabbed up :v
I know many AJBers here have their own websites. How did you do it? How difficult is it if HTML, etc isn't a second language for you? How much did it cost?
Any help and/or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I'm in the process of deciding how to go about setting up a website to promote a book I've written (and will possibly self-publish via an online publisher once it's ready), and ultimately hope to sell copies of my work there as well. I'll naturally want to do it as inexpensively as possible, with as low a monthy/maintenance fee as I can manage, while making it a distinctive/enjoyable online experience to compliment the contents and subject matter of the novel...plus, I want to lock in the domain name before it gets grabbed up :v
I know many AJBers here have their own websites. How did you do it? How difficult is it if HTML, etc isn't a second language for you? How much did it cost?
Any help and/or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Check out my Amazon author page! Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Comments
Heres a good review
"I tried Frontpage and DreamWeaver but found it easier to use html. I then discovered NOF for free with a magazine. No need for manuals or even bulletin boards. NOF gives you dead accurate placement of your site components utterly intuitively. Because of this ease of use NOF has the reputation of being a very limited root to Web site development. This is not the case, unless you choose to use the standard styles. But this argument also applies to any other WYSIWYG tool. With very little extra effort you can use NOF to give your site exactly the look you want, in a fraction of the time taken using any other method. This latest version is easily the best yet, with masses of extras such as support for developing e-commerce sites. The only caveat I have is that the support from a knowledgeable and extensive user base is being a little slow to catch up. For once the advertising hype is true - NOF 8 is the cheapest and fastest route to professional-looking Web sites."
http://www.amazon.com/Netobjects-615376211921-NetObjects-Fusion-8/product-reviews/B00027TVI8/ref=pd_rhf_shvl_cm_cr_acr_img_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
Here's a website where you can learn a lot as well register if you wish they are friendly and very helpful. WARNING theres a ton of information as it's easy to get lost there,but eveyone is really nice they will generally give good advice.
http://www.webmaster-talk.com/
also an over-40er, am trying to give you some informations:
1. you have to register a domain (that's the URL with the name for your webpage). It costs me EUR 6,-- a year, I am not sure about .com domains. But here is an exaple, see the "register domain" fields:
http://www.whois.com/
2. You secondly have to pay for a so-called web host, who puts your homepage on his server. This costs me around EUR 13,-- a month, including 150 email addresses (Loeffs@Bondtoys.de is still reserved for you :v)
3. not sure, if you can do the web design yourself. I can't, so I hired a web designer who created the design and the structure for my webpage. Cost: Around EUR 2.000,--
You can try to use Microsoft frontpage to create some basic HTML designs (It works easy and then you can "translate" into html) but I think, that you need some help from someone who knows a bit about creating webpages.
A good address is Remmert, a forum member here (Jamesbondlifestyle.com). Bondaholic seems to be keen as well and once offered his help to me, but I have never received the promised design.
Hope, that I could add some infos.
Good luck and kind regards
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
There are essentially two primary steps you have to do:
1) Set up the domain, and then host the site.
2) Design the site
For my personal site, I use a host called lunarpages.com. But there are several options out there. The thing I like about Lunarpages is that I'm lazy and they'll do the domain registration and the site hosting...the deal essentially breaks down to about $110 a year to register my domain annually and host the site for 12 months. I do the website work for my company, and they a pay a little bit more for essentially the exact same thing, so I'm pretty pleased with the site's value.
There are advantages and disadvantages to having a webhost handle the domain registration, but for someone who doesn't intend to make website work his focus, there are more pros than cons, IMO.
As for registering a domain name, I suggest going to the lunarpages homepage and start plugging in domain name suggestions to see what's available. Ideally, I suggest trying to score your name (or pen name) as a .com. This way you can use the site to promote any future novels as well. If your name is taken, just keep plugging away. I personally dislike the marketability of .net and .biz names since it's so easy for websurfers to enter in .com and visit the wrong site. But that's a personal preference.
Regarding the site design itself, as you can see there are several options as to how to build it. Learning HTML is actually fairly easy, but it takes some dedication to get the hang of the code to craft a worthy site in today's javascript, dreamweaver, flash-driven websites. I wouldn't be surprised if someone in your immediate circle has the tech skills to put together a website and can build something for you. The skill required depends on the complexity and functions that you want from the site.
And definitely don't forget about Facebook. You have to have your own domain, no doubt about it, but Facebook is a great way to publicize both yourself and your novel (and your upcoming website).
PM me if you have any questions!
Good suggestion about Facebook, DH...I'll probably do that sooner rather than later.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM