Detailing Business Website Design

Website Design

We have often been asked what is the "best platform" for designing and hosting your business website?

This is really a difficult question to answer because it will depend on your own comfort level when it comes to designing and maintaining a website.

There are many hosting companies available each offering a wide variety of services and options. In my opinion many of the options that people pay for are either unused or even unnecessary for the average detail business website.

Blogging has become an important element of a successful website. Blogging allows you to quickly and easily update your site with special offers, photos and more without the need to add additional pages each time. If your website does not incorporate a blog, I would strongly recommend adding one as soon as possible and update it on a regular basis.

So, which platform or service to use?

One of the most popular services is WordPress. They are easy to customize with the many themes that are available. Most hosting companies offer WordPress Blogs as part of their service.

The service we use for Auto Detailing Network is called "SquareSpace". I personally prefer this format but that may be because it is what I am familiar with. Like WordPress, it has a variety of themes to help get your site started,  though there are substantially less than WordPress. The themes offered can be customized to your personal preferences.

One of the big advantages to SquareSpace is their awesome customer service. You can send a "support ticket" with your question and I have never waited longer than 1 hour until I received a personal response. Of course a general understanding of HTML is helpful with whichever program you select.

Adding pages, blogs, photos etc. is very easy with SquareSpace. There are also helpful tools built in to help you obtain better search engine rankings over time.

Here is a great video with an overview of the SquareSpace service.

You can register on SquareSpace for a 14 day trial without the need to enter a credit card. This can give you a chance to get your hands "dirty" with the system.

Plus, there is now an iPad app for SquareSpace. Unknown if an Android app is coming but the company is receiving many requests for one.

So, take a look at these services and see what you are most comfortable with. As mentioned above, we have used SquareSpace for years and offer website design using the SquareSpace service.

As you can see from the video SquareSpace makes it easy and fun to design your site, but if you prefer, we can build your site for you so you can tend to your business. Don't worry, we'll have a conference call to provide complete instructions to update your site and we are always available to assist after your site is live.

Our rate for a five page site is $500.00. This includes the following pages:

• Homepage
• Services Page
• Contact Page
• About Us Page
• Photo Gallery (or other page of choice)

Please note: This rate is for the design only. Domain name registration and hosting fees are paid directly to the respective company.

Logo design is not included.

For SquareSpace hosting rates, click here.

To register your domain name, we recommend GoDaddy

If we can be of assistance building your site, please contact us.