Looking for advice. What costs are involved, how hard to maintain, update, etc. Anything will help. I'm looking into having an associate do one for me, I've seen others he's done but don't know all what's involved. ???
if you are just doing a basic site you have to pay hosting and domian registration. godaddy.com rocks for domains at $8.95/year and their hosting is $4-$10/month depending on what you want for extras and how popular your site is going to be. I have used their domain services and have had good results but not the hosting so I cannot speak for quality of that feature.
Ease of maintenance depends on your computer knowledge. If you are reasonably savvy you can make your own updates and ftp them up. If you are a point and click type of person you will need to find an editor that does the HTML and uploading for you. Talk to your associate to find a good one and have him show you. What to use depends somewhat on how he designs the site.
Either way a website is dirt cheap to do and easy to update if you are somewhat knowledgeable and/or willing to learn. The most expensive part is getting someone to create/update it if you don't know how to do it yourself or have someone willing to help you out.
Amen to that! It's hell when you have to beg and bribe folks to do your stuff. >:(
Name2host.com. $55 a YEAR for DNS and Hosting
What do you want to do with it?
Thanks for the replys. ;)
Jack, I just want to have something posted to list sponsors and give updates on my season, show a few pic's etc. Nothing to "busy" looking. Just a simple set up.
Quote Thanks for the replys. ;)
Jack, I just want to have something posted to list sponsors and give updates on my season, show a few pic's etc. Nothing to "busy" looking. Just a simple set up.
Like a picture of a truck tire in Nashville? LOL ;) ;D
I think I am going to start offering basic racing site services to racers, flat fee and I will keep it updated and hosted for 1 year. I say
$20 domain
$150 for hosting (1 year)
$120 for updating
$300. Is that reasonable?
Go to www.tripod.com
Basic site is free and the have easy to use tools to build and maintain the site. All for free. They just place some banner ads on your site.
Dafan I was just thinking along the same lines as well as I have been creating and hosting sites for a few years now. Who whould do their initial design under your plan? Would they have a basic site template set up for them or would there be more design involved such as custom graphics, layout, logos, team info, etc... Just curious.
Your plan sounds reasonable in terms of costs. Most professionals around here would charge $30-$60/hour for modifications. You figure if you modify the site after each race for 8 races a season thats 6-8 hours coming out to a minimum of $180/season in changes, likely more. Your domain costs of $20 would include dns maintenance so thats not bad and the hosting comes out to 12.50/month which is reasonable as well.
A question I would have is what would a racer pay for a site that is raceer specific and easy to update themselves? (such as online tools to edit content, upload pictures, etc...) Being a person working in web tech for ages I could create one heck of a nice site manager as I have done it many times before, but would enough people want it to make it worth the time and $$$ it would take to set this up?
Another question which I probably should ask first is what else is out there for racers? does everyone maintain their own sites or are there offerings out there which do what they need to do for a reasonable price? or is it a crap shoot and you gotta know someone to get it done?
I don't think most racers do websites because they think it is too involved and it would cost too much to have someone create one for them. If they do it themselves it wouldn't look too professional.
So under my plan they would create a concept template and I make the design for them, then upgrade the content.
I could also set up site manager, or a preset PHP tool loaded to change the site by just updating text and pic info, but then it would again require some tech knowledge.
I have been doing web app's for many years, and automating is obviously the way to go in most cases, but this case, I don't think so. I think having someone to take care of it may be the better way to go because it will get done right. And it wouldn't have to be so "standard" looking because everything came out of the same template.
So I think I am willing to offere the entire service for $300 per year. It is not much more expensive than if you take care of it yourself, and it would get done right.
I have created and maintained small to corporate websites for the last 10 years. I have since gotten out of the "web design" business, but I would love to maintain racer's sites because we would all benefit, and I don't mind doing it.
Any takers?
QuoteI think I am going to start offering basic racing site services to racers, flat fee and I will keep it updated and hosted for 1 year. I say
$20 domain
$150 for hosting (1 year)
$120 for updating
$300. Is that reasonable?
LOL...you took my prices... that is almost exactly what i charge for sites
Mine are all unlimited email accounts and unlimited space and transfer
QuoteAnother question which I probably should ask first is what else is out there for racers? does everyone maintain their own sites or are there offerings out there which do what they need to do for a reasonable price? or is it a crap shoot and you gotta know someone to get it done?
Mine is a simple geocities site. I maintain and write everything for the site (ok, my husband contributed a few things ;)). This includes writing everything for our race report newsletter,
The Bullseye.
I like doing everything myself, because I can work on it when it's convenient for me. Sure, it's a lot of work, but I know when stuff is getting done and to what quality.
Dafan that seems reasonable but as a racer I see a set of tires in the cost ;D
I was looking for more of the "free" hosting type. How hard are they to learn? Copy, post, type stuff or is it more detailed than that?
GSXRMike- yea, I would have to post pics of any travels with you because I don't think anyone will believe the bad luck we have!! ;D
Dafan, if you are creating the design for them based on their concept as part of this package then this is a great deal. Thats where the real setup costs are. very few people know a graphics artist who does pro-bono work.
For an automated system I was thinking more along the lines of using pluggable templates. Where you can choose one of the ones alredy made or plug in your own. (more work for this though) I have done this in the past for real estate agents and it works quite well for sites with the same type of updatable information but needing different looks. It would allow them to post their own race reports, pictures, etc. without requiring you to format their text, resize their pictures, create thumbnails and other fun stuff. Get enough clients and that could get quite time consuming after a big race weekend.
The free websites are not too hard to learn but they are sometimes a pain with the popup ads, banner ads, and other restrictions they place on their accounts. The good thing is they all have decent site managers which make creating a simple page a snap. A lot of the editors work like an advanced version of the editor on this site. Point, click, insert, highlight, etc...
It all comes down to whether you want to spend your time or your money doing this and how personalized you want to make it. For example, if you want to have www.ICanBeatAnyoneOntheTrackSoComeGetSome.com then you will need to do something other then just the free sites.
QuoteDafan, if you are creating the design for them based on their concept as part of this package then this is a great deal. Thats where the real setup costs are. very few people know a graphics artist who does pro-bono work.
For an automated system I was thinking more along the lines of using pluggable templates. Where you can choose one of the ones alredy made or plug in your own. (more work for this though) I have done this in the past for real estate agents and it works quite well for sites with the same type of updatable information but needing different looks. It would allow them to post their own race reports, pictures, etc. without requiring you to format their text, resize their pictures, create thumbnails and other fun stuff. Get enough clients and that could get quite time consuming after a big race weekend.
The free websites are not too hard to learn but they are sometimes a pain with the popup ads, banner ads, and other restrictions they place on their accounts. The good thing is they all have decent site managers which make creating a simple page a snap. A lot of the editors work like an advanced version of the editor on this site. Point, click, insert, highlight, etc...
It all comes down to whether you want to spend your time or your money doing this and how personalized you want to make it. For example, if you want to have www.ICanBeatAnyoneOntheTrackSoComeGetSome.com then you will need to do something other then just the free sites.
Only draw back using templates in this case would be everyone would have a different title and pics so you would prett much have to make every field unlocked and able to edit... so if you are going to do that you would just be better off creating a new page
QuoteOnly draw back using templates in this case would be everyone would have a different title and pics so you would prett much have to make every field unlocked and able to edit... so if you are going to do that you would just be better off creating a new page
What do you mean? For regular pics a photo gallary is a pretty standard looking thing. For pics in content such as a race report, there are many online editors you can use now which allow you to insert pics right into your text.
Not saying that this is the way to do it, I am just tossing ideas out there.
Quote For example, if you want to have www.ICanBeatAnyoneOntheTrackSoComeGetSome.com then you will need to do something other then just the free sites.
Anyone else try the link? ;D ;D
Thanks for all the responses, keep any ideas coming.
(Jack your #1) ;)
QuoteAnyone else try the link? ;D ;D
Thanks for all the responses, keep any ideas coming.
(Jack your #1) ;)
Link dont work for me either. Need a little help Chad!
the link isnt real; it was just an example. ;) I was referring to having your own domain costing more.
Though if someone wants to register and put a site up on it I'd consider hosting it for free just for its comedic value.
I kinda figured that ;D I was draging the mouse around and when I passed the link I couldnt resist! Would have been funny if it opened tho! Hmmm, who do you think it should be linked to? I think I remember seeing a post about Benji having a bit of a swole head..... ;D ;D ;D
I do my own. Got one of the web site creating programs and works decently. I went through Yahoo Domain to host mine. $14/month. Domain reg is by them also.
so you pay about $200 a year in cost alone to host your website, which is about right. So is $100 more a year really not worth having a site professionally done, and the end product is absolutely top quality? I have taught graphic design and web design classes at local colleges here for a few years now, and I can say from experience people need quite a bit training before they start making things that are of a decent quality. Nothing wrong with people trying to make their own websites, after all I teach people to do so, but if there is no big difference between the site you make and the site I make, I think I should just go work at the 7-11 from now on.
A domain name only costs $9/year.. that's nothing.
If you're gonna pay for hosting.. you should only be paying ~100/year. And that's should be for ~200 MB space.
There's plenty of hosting companies that do it that cheap.
As for sites, yea, anyone can make a site using Dreamweaver but like Dafan said, what you're REALLY paying for is the quality of the site.
I'm a Web developer as day job, and have my own business doing web sites on the side. For $120, you can even get a 'reseller' plan, and divide up that space, between a 4 of you, and THEN you'd only be paying like $30/year for hosting. Now there's an idea!
Which brings you to what i have. Like 50 MB space and DNS for $35/year.
As mentioned above, the quality of the site is what you pay for. I do the work for our team's website and it does require a fair amount of time if you want it to stay updated. Most racing sites I see don't get updated as much as they could be.
Or rather than pay for it, hook up with a local service provider that has web hosting and ask them for a sponsorship ;) ;D I developed the site myself using NetObjects Fusion (fairly simple program to use.) DLS provided the web space.
http://www.kingpinracing.com
http://www.dls.net
What stopped you from editing the remaining part of the background from that image?
;D
QuoteOr rather than pay for it, hook up with a local service provider that has web hosting and ask them for a sponsorship ;) ;D I developed the site myself using NetObjects Fusion (fairly simple program to use.) DLS provided the web space.
http://www.kingpinracing.com
http://www.dls.net
If you have high speed internet you likely have free webspace available for your website. My Cox account provides 10 Megs for each of up to 7 accounts. Using this space with any of the available web building tools (make sure it can upload pages via FTP) should allow you to update your site as often as you want with very little time sitting in front of your computer.
QuoteWhat stopped you from editing the remaining part of the background from that image?
;D
Which image? The wheelie? I thought it looked a little nicer, gave it a softer feel, than cropping it with hard-cut edges.
That pic is actually one of the few LEGAL pics of a wheelie that I have. Jack took that photo of DanO at a track rental going down the front straight at BHF :)
Hey Jim,
What does Standard Plastics do? Do they sell plastics to companies, etc? I may be looking for a cheaper and more local supplier of some materials. Would love to buy from them if their products are what I need.
QuoteHey Jim,
What does Standard Plastics do? Do they sell plastics to companies, etc? I may be looking for a cheaper and more local supplier of some materials. Would love to buy from them if their products are what I need.
Standard Plastics does all kinds of injection molding. A large majority (if not all) of their stuff is high-volume. They make headlight bezels for a couple different Ford models, interior dome light surrounds for all Saturns, etc.
If you're going to have parts custom made, what's going to kill you is the mold. A majority of the molds he has there are at or over $100k a piece. If you're just looking for something basic, he MAY already produce something that you can buy a separate run of (?)
If you know specifically what you're looking for, you can drop me a brief description in an email and I can pass it on to my contact there to get you two in touch.
jim@kingpinracing.com
I run a little site off my home computer. I just type in notepad and put it up. It is really my personal photo alblum.
pro's it is cheap and easy and large (6,000+ pics) very fast for me.
con it is slow for others cost 10 a month.
Anybody familiar with the wegorace.com/yoursitehere site??? Any positive or negatives about it????