Best website building services and best platforms to be on
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I used Wordpress to build my site, I won't lie, I struggled along for ages, never happy with that I have created.
Eventually settling with it being 80% what I am looking for.I would use Squarespace, but I am not really wanting to pay $18 a month for the site. At the moment I pay $50ish for the entire year and that is for my hosting and domain renewal. But it looks so much easier to put together one here than in WordPress.
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@reddprime I don't understand, did you use a premade theme?
vanessastoilova.com
instagram.com/vanessa.stoilova/Check out my Youtube channel for tips on how to start your career in illustration! www.youtube.com/c/ArtBusinesswithNess
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I’m just going to comment on here so I can find this thread again. Extremely helpful! You guys are awesome! I really want to get a website ready in the near future.
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@irina Aces! The sample pack is worth having for reference. Nothing like having it in your hand to feel the texture and appearance. They do a lovely Bamboo paper. My favorite paper for illustrations is the Hahnemüle Photorag. I love the smooth, matt finish. It holds the ink really well and looks similar to a screen print. They also do a free helpful book called - Selling Art Online 2018. You can just go in and pick one up from the counter.
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@sigross Oh, that's great!!! Thank you
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@nessillustration I used a prebuilt theme, but then customised it to what I currently have.
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I just found a pretty awesome tool for this that was mentioned in this Creative Bloq post - https://www.creativebloq.com/web-design/best-website-builder-8133804
The tool is https://mobirise.com/, it seems super simple to use. You will just need to host the site.
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@sigross With shopify, can i do a simple portfolio first and then develop the shop? Also, do i need a separate domain? some people said godaddy but others don't rec it... so confusing
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@irina I think all-in-one platforms like Squarespace and Shopify give you the option to buy your domain directly from them. But if you have to go with a different domain, Google Domains is the safest cheapest option!
I just wouldn't recommend a shop on Shopify, at ALL. It is the most expensive option you could go for.. I think even a shop on Squarespace is less expensive. But it's also easy to do yourself on Wordpress by putting in pre-built, pre-coded free plugins. There is so much documentation on Wordpress, you can Google "how to put together a shop in wordpress" and get videos of a step by step method, what plugins to use and how to assemble them in minutes to get your shop. It's that easy! -
Storenvy is a good one to look into to sell art and have a shop. Pretty good community as well.
For my site (https://www.exodusillustration.com/), I use site123. Super simple and easy but with most of the tools you'd need.
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@irina Yes they have free themes and you can build on it yourself. I bought one off pikikiwi and I bought my domain for the shop through Shopify to make it simple - you can adjust your privacy settings and transfer domains in shopify. I think the issue is, if you don't privatise your domain name then its on public display in the WHOIS database, with your email address and contact details. So that's why marketers will contact you. I have one of my addresses on public display and get website builders contacting me but I just ignore them or put them in my spam folder. Most junkmail I get already goes to my spambox. It depends how private you want to be. Running a shop online makes you accessible to the public. Perhaps setup a private email address and one you use for the shop.
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