Friday, November 21, 2008

My first site--and my second--and my third, how easy it is!

Just what you want to be saying, right? Well, after having built my first sites in a free site builder, I was wondering if there was an easier way. Turns out it wasn't an easier way I should have looked for but rather an easier to use web host. Frustrated with a literally hand built site in Yahoo, add slow response to support questions and overpriced hosting plans, I made it my mission to find better.

And I did. The host I have now has been very helpful, easy to use and even though the time difference is four hours, they do get back with meaningful dialog and answers in record time. Their setup includes a shopping cart--something that has thinned my hair considerably while trying to find and understand how those suckers work! Whoever invented "fill in the blank" should have a monument dedicated to them.

I have chosen both free templates and purchased templates that my host loads for me. Not only that, but at any time I can change the template for the whole site with a button click. Great for holiday motifs. With the shopping cart installed (by them), I just enter the price, description and upload pics. I can assign the products to a multitude of categories, which I create by "fill in the blank". I can set up a sale price, discount, coupon code, gift registry, post articles, even offer an affiliate program!

Oh, I tried ZenCart and OsCommerce and lost a lot more hair struggling to get the look I wanted and still did not have a shopping cart solution.

Then I found everything I needed at PappaShop. Having come across a site I liked, there in the footer, was a link to PappaShop . The demo does not do it justice but they had tons of links to sites that had been built in their program. It took only minutes to get started and it has been so much more versatile, customizable, quickly updating and much more attractive than other site builders I have used. For as little as $9.95 a month ( or $4.99 hosting only), you can't beat the quality and the service. And as I add sites, they have plenty of servers to separate my businesses.

It's not often I sing the praises of anything to do with the internet (maybe not "evil" but frustrating and quite necessary), so this rare moment is one I have to pass on. No one else should go bald when there is a solution like PappaShop hosting.

Jay
PS be sure to visit my blog at http://www.How2BooksandVideos.com

....and for a peek at the sites I have built so far go to:
www.StorkandVeil.com
www.BabyBouquetsandBaskets.com
www.123MonogramMe.com

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