Start with a website

By nature, I am a planner, but because going "online" with my business was such a big endeavor and there were too many choices and methods, I chose just to dive right in.  I will probably tweak it later but for right now, I'm pretty happy.

I am familiar with cruising the Internet, so searching for information on websites was not hard.  But it is arduous. And time-consuming.  If you want a website of your own (and you do), you will have to purchase a web DOMAIN (approximately $25-$40 a year, depending on where you register and how many years you commit to).  That's your identifying website name.  That is something to think long and hard about.  If you own "Joe's Donuts", you probably won't find a web domain available for the name www.joesdonuts.com.  You may find instead "www.bestdonutsintown.com" or "dunkit.com".  Think about what promotions and fabulous logos you already have or what motto you may want to express. To find out if the domain name is available for your website, there are many sites online where you can search. One I found was at www.register.com, but there are more. I searched for "register domain" in Google to find that one.


There ARE web hosts out there that will host your website free, using their software to maintain your site yourself. My website is hosted at Weebly.com and I use their free platform.  I set up an account there and registered my domain name with them (karenstonestudio.com). Then I can set up my website right on there, without knowing any HTML code.  My experience with their site and customer service has been excellent. To clarify, I am not getting paid for reviewing my experiences with them here. You can search for "websites" on Google and get even more companies where you can set up a web site. If you want to go with Weebly, you can click on their logo in the right column above.  If you know of any other easy or free sites out there, let's hear it in the comments section below.

When you have your website up and running (which could be just a matter of an hour or so), fill it with some great stuff.  Add some products.  Set up a blog.  Takes lots of photos and post them.
Make it yours!

Have a great week!




ps. If you click on the "Weebly.com" link above, and choose to open an account with Weebly, I could possibly receive a tiny little compensation just for putting the link on this blog. My mention and review of Weebly.com is in no way altered by any compensation (however teeny tiny) I may receive from them.  It is strictly an unbiased review.  And I also have no connection to Joe's Donuts, although I would be open to the possibility if there is a "Joe's Donuts" anywhere in the world.  I do like donuts....just sayin'.....