Hi – thanks for reaching out.
I’ve popped this page online to explain how I can help with those affected by mandates forcing some of us to re-evaluate life. I’m getting so many messages and requests that it seemed easier to pop all the common questions into one place, and explain how I can help. I’m writing this short guide, with the thought that you have no knowledge of how this stuff all works, please excuse me if you already know most of this.
Firstly, don’t panic if this all sounds too techy! I’m super keen to help whoever I can, and I’m able to offer some services for free – things that just use my time and I can do outside of normal hours.
Costs...
There are generally some start up costs involved with any web project, the most common three being the domain, hosting and email. (I’ll assume you don’t know much, sorry if this is info you already know)
- The Domain name is the address people type when visiting your site.
- The Hosting is the space we store the site online at – this then links to your domain name.
- The email is yourname@yourdomain.com email address
For example, this site is https://www.andymoore.biz and is hosted with an American company called Ionos. I pay a set fee (yearly) for this name, and I also pay a set fee (monthly) for the email address (andy@andymoore.biz) etc. Finally, I pay a fee (yearly) for the space I use online. So you can expect to pay anywhere from $30.00 to $100.00 per year for a domain name, email and webspace package. These are the only things you to pay for, and it would be paid to the domain hosts (GoDaddy, CrazyDomain, Ionos, FastHost ect, whoever we choose to use)
So, I can help you find a domain name, and get it registered and help you buy the space to host the site on. This is normally something to consider early on in the project. If you plan to have a simple site with just a single contact page, you wouldn’t need much space – but if you wanted to open an eCommerce site you may need more space. Again, I can help with all of this. One thing to be wary of, is domain providers may try to lure you in with a very cheap domain ($1.00 per year) but then they may charge loads for hosting ($20 per month etc) It’s important we find a suitable combination for you, with a good, memorable domain name, at not too much money, with a reasonable amount of space included.
Short version – allow some costs for all the techy setup costs, which go to the domain provider, NOT me.
What Next?
So, I’ll help you choose a domain and space package (only if you need it; if you already have the above, brilliant).
Next, once all this is in place, I can do a basic install and set up, free of charge. I’ll install whatever software you need, either for a simple one page site, or a full-on blog, or eCommerce store, or all of them. I will do all the setup of this, free. Please remember though, I’m working full time, and I’m doing this out of hours, so it may not be a same day turnaround – but I am trying hard to help as many people as I can.
Once the site is installed, it’s then simply a case of giving your site some content. This is where you will need to help…. I’ll need as much info as you can for the content. Send me all your info on a word document, any prices you plan to charge, any services you will offer. I’ll add as much as I can to the site, and get it functional for you. If you are talking about a huge project that starts to eat up too much time, then we will obviously need to have a chat about $ but as far as getting things up and running, I’ll take care of it, in-between my normal jobs.
Please can you complete this form, to allow me to get as much info as I can easily. If you can complete and send this, then I’ll get on the case asap.
If you have a grand project in mind, just pop all the info you can think of into a brief outline, and I’ll take a look and think about the best way to move this forward, and get your project up and running.
If you already have a domain package, but are unsure on how to get started, let me know. In these cases, I generally require the log into to your cPanel (your hosts Control Panel, where you bought the domain from) I can log in, and install / setup whatever you need.
Finally, I need to point out, that while I’m doing this for free, I cant guarantee that I can help everyone realise their dream website right away. I’m all about just getting your project up and running as fast as possible, so you can take control and start to live life again. Once you are feeling a bit more established, we can re-visit any projects and glam them up as much as we like. I guess what I’m saying is, I will do my very best, for as many people as possible, given the time I have!
Thanks for reading – hope to hear from you soon!