Website - How To & Why

[Auntie'sHouse]

Welcome to the virtual world. You've bought and created your first privately owned virtual property with an address! That's a big step, and you will advance in your knowledge and understanding of how to make it better and more marketable over time.

I like what I've seen so far but I am looking at it from my iPhone and the template will look different then from a desktop. I will check it out later and have more feedback.

I was excited back when I started my first website back in 1995 and have been ever since.

Just today a friend that I have known my whole life just put up her website. Years ago I registered her last name knowing that someday she would need it. She asked for it last year and created her new business on it and is branding the name. Check it out. www.Lividini.com

You can't hear the music from a cell phone....Love your friends page! Thanks for the response.

[Michael]

You can't hear the music from a cell phone....Love your friends page! Thanks for the response.

I had a chance to look at your address at my desk. I like it and have several suggestion or observations.

It looks very patriotic with the red, white and blue. Was that on purpose?
I would not have your text in blue since that color is identified as a link to me. Links do not have to have to be underlined anymore.

Are you the artist in the music? If not, I would not use it. People usually don't sit and wait for the music to finish. They are usually looking though your content for something specific about you and your daycare. I know you may be trying to create ambiance but it actually distracts when switching through your pages as the ambiance from one page stops and a new song begins with a new page. Almost makes me not want to disrupt the song.

ON your frontpage, I would remove "Auntie's House Home Daycare" that sits on top of the picture and put it where "Welcome to Auntie's House" currently is. The two titles seems redundant to me.

Lastly, in the About Us page. I would like to read more about you and your methods and experience.

Hope that helps.

[Auntie'sHouse]

I had a chance to look at your address at my desk. I like it and have several suggestion or observations.

It looks very patriotic with the red, white and blue. Was that on purpose?
I would not have your text in blue since that color is identified as a link to me. Links do not have to have to be underlined anymore.

Are you the artist in the music? If not, I would not use it. People usually don't sit and wait for the music to finish. They are usually looking though your content for something specific about you and your daycare. I know you may be trying to create ambiance but it actually distracts when switching through your pages as the ambiance from one page stops and a new song begins with a new page. Almost makes me not want to disrupt the song.

ON your frontpage, I would remove "Auntie's House Home Daycare" that sits on top of the picture and put it where "Welcome to Auntie's House" currently is. The two titles seems redundant to me.

Lastly, in the About Us page. I would like to read more about you and your methods and experience.

Hope that helps.

Yes it does...thanks. I keep getting info about the appearance needs to be bright etc. I'll go fix it now...thanks a bunch.

[mamac]

Ok. So I went ahead and bought my domain name with godaddy.com. happyface

Now I am COMPLETELY lost as to what to do next. As I have mentioned before I am very "technologically challenged". Can someone point me to the most user friendly website builder. (Website-for-dummies style) Free would be ideal, although I wouldn't mind spending a reasonable amount. I didn't sign up through godaddy because I had no idea what options to choose. :confused:

Any help would be appreciated!

[Michael]

Ok. So I went ahead and bought my domain name with godaddy.com. happyface

Now I am COMPLETELY lost as to what to do next. As I have mentioned before I am very "technologically challenged". Can someone point me to the most user friendly website builder. (Website-for-dummies style) Free would be ideal, although I wouldn't mind spending a reasonable amount. I didn't sign up through godaddy because I had no idea what options to choose. :confused:

Any help would be appreciated!

You can try all of the free ones. The great thing about buying your domain name is you can point it to whatever free website you like most. Start with weebly.com and lets go from there. I can always walk you through some of it if it becomes complicated.

Creating on the web is like driving. It seems complicated at the beginning but becomes second nature after doing it over time. Then you wonder how you ever did without it.

[mamac]

You can try all of the free ones. The great thing about buying your domain name is you can point it to whatever free website you like most. Start with weebly.com and lets go from there. I can always walk you through some of it if it becomes complicated.

Creating on the web is like driving. It seems complicated at the beginning but becomes second nature after doing it over time. Then you wonder how you ever did without it.

I'm on my way there now. Be prepared for LOTS of questions! And you've never seen me drive...... just kidding. I'm a good driver. Really. ::

[mamac]

And one other question before I begin- My name is ***X Family Daycare and Preschool but the domain I bought is ***X Family Daycare.com. I thought it was a bit long for someone to type the whole thing. Is it worth getting my full name or should I stick with the shortened version and post my full name on the website?

[Michael]

Well, I'm a little different them most on that one. I even buy typos like www.Dacyare.com

I just point the one to the other. Domains are so cheap I would buy it. Names are as long as people need to remember them. Late last year I sold MyrtleBeachSouthCarolina.com for the price of a small home in Wisconsin. So $10 a year is a no brainer.

[mamac]

Well, I'm a little different them most on that one. I even buy typos like Daycare.com and www.Dacyare.com

I just point the one to the other. Domains are so cheap I would buy it. Names are as long as people need to remember them. Late last year I sold MyrtleBeachSouthCarolina.com for the price of a small home in Wisconsin. So $10 a year is a no brainer.

Shoot. I think I might be getting into the wrong business doing daycare! !::

[Michael]

Shoot. I think I might be getting into the wrong business doing daycare! !::

Funny, I actually registered a couple names today related to our threads here. I registered www.PottyIssues.com and pointed it to our TAGs relating to it. May be a waste of time but the ideas struck me and it only cost a few dollars to try it.

[DaisyMamma]

Well, I'm a little different them most on that one. I even buy typos like Daycare.com and www.Dacyare.com

I just point the one to the other. Domains are so cheap I would buy it. Names are as long as people need to remember them. Late last year I sold MyrtleBeachSouthCarolina.com for the price of a small home in Wisconsin. So $10 a year is a no brainer.

Holy Crap Michael!

And one other question before I begin- My name is ***X Family Daycare and Preschool but the domain I bought is ***X Family Daycare.com. I thought it was a bit long for someone to type the whole thing. Is it worth getting my full name or should I stick with the shortened version and post my full name on the website?

Buy the short version and use that one in your advertisements so people can remember it.

[Unregistered]

Have you heard?

I am in the process of trying to create a website can you tell me if you have heard anything about the website called: "websites for daycares"

[Checkinkids.com]

Website, Google Maps Business listings, Yellowpages

My experience was that I developed a small daycare website for my wife (I'm a web developer). It was ok. We were about on the 3rd page for our town when someone searched for "daycare bloomington, in" .

However you make your website, just make sure you put plenty of phrases in the content, headings and keywords that match how people might type a search in google. Eg. 'daycare south orlando florida' or 'bloomington, IN preschools' or 'hillsdale VPK' etc...

Then we set up our business in google maps https://support.google.com/business/.../2911778?hl=en - That really helped us start getting calls and get our website higher (to the first page) in search results.

And we also signed up with yellow pages - that was a big kick start as well.

[cassiesue]

recent efforts?

I know this thread is old, but has anyone recently set up their daycare's website or Facebook page?

I bought my domain name (I think that is what it is called) back in July although I have yet to do anything with it. Actually I guess I rented it because it seems I have to renew it again next July. I have never set up a webpage and can not afford a designer. I am going to try to do what Mike suggested and point my page to my webpage. If I ever find the time that is.

In the meantime, I did just start to set up my daycare's Facebook page, but I am nowhere near finished with that - again the issue of time.

What annoys me is I wanted to enable the review feature, especially as I get drop-ins. However, I recently had to terminate a family during the trial period. It was my second time with this family and I allowed them to come back against my better judgment. I had 4 reviews all 5 stars. Then she came in and rated me 2 out of 5 stars.

I actually would have most likely left it on there as it only reduced my overall rating to 4.4 stars, but her review remained at the top of the list and I was unable to rotate it down to the bottom. I had created a response to her review, but ended up not posting it. Instead I screenshot the reviews and created a FB album and uploaded the reviews into it. Apparently if you have a FB business page you are unable to delete individual reviews, even if they are a gross misrepresentation of the facts.

Any tips or ideas from people that have recently set up their daycare's website or FB page? I do not have a lot of time to devote to this and I am not very tech savvy. For those that already have their webpages set up do you mind sharing the links to them? A lot of the links in this thread no longer are working.

Thanks in advance for any assistance. I love this forum and it has been a great resource for me!!! happyface

[Mike]

I bought my domain name (I think that is what it is called) back in July although I have yet to do anything with it. Actually I guess I rented it because it seems I have to renew it again next July.

Domain names are actually rented or leased with the agreement that it's yours for as long as you pay for it. You can pay yearly, or for most domains, you can prepay for up to 10 years. When it comes time to renew it, if you don't renew it before its expiration date, it will stop working, then you have a period of time when you can still renew it at regular price, usually about a month. After that, it becomes more expensive to renew, then too late to renew.

For anyone else who reads this, don't let a domain name expire and not renew it, and think you can just register it again later. I've had clients do that, and sometimes if you let one go, it ends up getting taken by another person later.

Another mistake some people make is deciding they want a domain name, but they aren't going to use it yet, so they are going to wait until later on to register it. They go to register it later and oops, someone else got it. Once you decide you want a domain name, get it.