Anyone used Vistaprint for web design and host???

Cheersbaby

Hi All
I am hoping to set up a website (brochure style) for our small construction business, however, it is unfamiliar territory for me. I have contacted two web design companies via e-mail and have heard nothing back from either. We have used Vistaprint in the past for stationery and signage and we were very happy with them. They can do the web site for approx 20 euro per month - the plus side to this is they use the same logo we already have. Anyone any advice? Also (sorry if this is a stupid question!!) - how do we ensure we come up near the top of any searches for our type of business in google etc?
Many thanks.

Hoku

20 a month seems quite steep for a brochure-style website... Even on their own site the advertised prices are cheaper.

With regards to the search engine results, start off by setting up Google Webmaster Tools for your website and letting Google (and the other search engines) know that you have a website. A good web design company would probably offer Search Engine Optimisation to some extent included in the price you pay for the website. You can search for SEO tips to get a better idea for yourself how to make your website show up on the first page of the search results.

You can always "buy/rent" the spot at the top of the results via Google AdWords.

jmcc

I see a few Vistaprint business card type websites (extremely basic with contact details only) in each of the Irish Webscape monthly surveys (over 300K sites checked). However I can't remember having seen anything more complex from Vistaprint.

Regards...jmcc

allthedoyles

with some web design experience , it is possible to make a very good vistaprint website .

tricky D

You can get much more value, features, widgets etc. from other hosters. Support isn't good in my experience.

business bloomer

Cheersbaby wrote: »

Hi All
I am hoping to set up a website (brochure style) for our small construction business, however, it is unfamiliar territory for me. I have contacted two web design companies via e-mail and have heard nothing back from either. We have used Vistaprint in the past for stationery and signage and we were very happy with them. They can do the web site for approx 20 euro per month - the plus side to this is they use the same logo we already have. Anyone any advice? Also (sorry if this is a stupid question!!) - how do we ensure we come up near the top of any searches for our type of business in google etc?
Many thanks.

Hi, paying 20euro/month for how long? That's kinda expensive.

What you need is a low cost web designer that is able to build a user-friendly website allowing you to edit the content in future - so you do not need to hire a IT all the time.

Re: "near the top in the search engines" you need a proper S.E.O. analysis done, in order to have better chances to show up at the top. Again we're talking about "chances" and it is not sure you're gonna be on Google's page 1.

PM me if you need.

Rodolfo

Trojan

Just addressing the €20/month is expensive point. That's €240 a year. That's not expensive, even for a simple brochure site.

A custom designed brochure site from a professional studio will cost you €1,000 absolute minimum, and that'd be cheap. Anything less than that will be either provided by a start-up, or will be template based.

(Aside: don't get me wrong, I love templates - in fact a lot of my business model is based around high quality templates - but it's not the same as custom design.)

I'm not saying the Vistaprint sites are great (they're probably not), but to say it's expensive is just not true, and they allow businesses that might not otherwise achieve a web presence of some sort without too much effort and expense.

business bloomer

Trojan wrote: »

A custom designed brochure site from a professional studio will cost you €1,000 absolute minimum, and that'd be cheap. Anything less than that will be either provided by a start-up, or will be template based.

Ok Trojan, €240/year is not expensive, I agree, but they are a huge company that supplies other services and that's their marketing strategy. So it's up to you if you want to use their site builder and look at their ads and nice offers every day.

Re: €1000 I do not agree. There are companies building professional websites for less than half the amount, and it's a custom design. Even my own company, despite being a start-up, is not going to increase the price once we get a bigger portfolio!

Hoku

I'm sure VistaPrint have their own business plan, but I personally just don't agree with having to pay for designing a website on a monthly basis, unless it was a financing agreement. Designing a website is generally done for a once-off fee, and then just paying the hosting/domain and occasional maintenance bill. At €20/month, you'd half-expect either a small VPS or a biggish Shared hosting package.

For a budget solution of the design element of your website, you could buy a template from the likes of TemplateMonster or any other provider (which tend to be just resellers of TM) for around €40-60. All you'd need to do is replace the logo and insert your own content.

BarackPyjama

business bloomer wrote: »

Re: €1000 I do not agree. There are companies building professional websites for less than half the amount

No there aren't.