Rant: Free Websites

If you are trying to sell a product please go ahead and buy a domain and hosting, most hosting comes with a free site builder!!!!!!! Most people will not buy from a free website (freewebs or any of them) because they look shady. Go ahead and invest a few bucks in the website! Treat your hobby like a business!!!!! You can get hosting for $5/month and a domain for less than $10 a year. You can buy templates for under $100 or use a free site builder or even do a trade for a site!!!!

I am one of those who will not even think about buying from a website that is a free site. They look cheap, and it makes me think about how cheap of product I am buying.

Sorry had to get that off my chest, I hope I put this in the right location.

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Originally Posted by Clear

If you are trying to sell a product please go ahead and buy a domain and hosting, most hosting comes with a free site builder!!!!!!! Most people will not buy from a free website (freewebs or any of them) because they look shady. Go ahead and invest a few bucks in the website! Treat your hobby like a business!!!!! You can get hosting for $5/month and a domain for less than $10 a year. You can buy templates for under $100 or use a free site builder or even do a trade for a site!!!!

I am one of those who will not even think about buying from a website that is a free site. They look cheap, and it makes me think about how cheap of product I am buying.

Sorry had to get that off my chest, I hope I put this in the right location.

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Yeah, damn the little guy just getting started and on a budget. He doesn't deserve your hard earned money if he can't even look like a bigtime breeder.

Yeah, you show em boyo, you just go right out and support the guys who have enough money that they don't have to worry about spending a hundred bucks on a template when they aren't sure what they're getting.

Yeah, you let those folks who may not be computer savvy that they are doing it all wrong and are losing valuable customers like yourself.

Yeah, you make sure to .....wait, what are you making sure of again?

Dude, have you ever pondered the possibility that someone may have a good reason for doing things differently than you and that not only may they have a good reason but one that, by subsequent success, proves that they too were correct?

Eh, whatever.

You know, the person's ability on the web doesn't concern me nearly as much as their ability to breed quality animals and be honest in representing and selling the animals.
Why not use a free website? I have bought my hosting and such.. but I still have no site up, because I have not taken time to learn about it, and haven't taken time to sit down with one of my friends that do know.
I wouldn't count a free website against someone at all. I'm not fooled by a slick website and shiney pictures, when the person selling isn't a quality dealer. To me a website is nothing more than a contact for the person, not the representative of the snakes.

Those saying that the site doesn't matter are crazy. They also have never owned a business or worked any sort of management position at one.

Image is EXTREMELY important. If your business is to shanty to pay a hundred or so bucks to make a decent website, I'll probably pass on you too.

Look at the ads at the top of the screen and tell me I'm crazy. :taz:

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Originally Posted by Soterios

Those saying that the site doesn't matter are crazy. They also have never owned a business or worked any sort of management position at one.

Image is EXTREMELY important. If your business is to shanty to pay a hundred or so bucks to make a decent website, I'll probably pass on you too.

Look at the ads at the top of the screen and tell me I'm crazy. :taz:

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You're crazy.

What else ya got?

I am going to side with Wes on this one.

I have some animals on a 'freewebsite'....am I a shady character? I don't think so.

I am on the brinks of my final year of Graduate School. Working at 2 internships, take care of my animals, and I am also a newlywed who plans on starting a family soon. Any free time I can find I use to take care of my animals. My animals the their health comes first...not a website.

I also am not very website savvy...did I say I was a graduate student? There goes any funds to pay a stranger to build a site for me. I would rather learn how to myself. But it takes time...time is something I have very little of.

I also don't judge an animal from a breeder on the quality of their website. :rolleyes: I will do my research on the breeder before making a purchase.

Like Wes said...not all of us are in a situation to host our own websites...I have a desire to learn how to build my own website one day. I have PM'd a few people from the forum on good places to start.

...don't judge a breeder on the quality their website. Go check the BOI, I bet you can find some nice websites where the breeder has received negative feedback....and vise-versa. ;)

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Originally Posted by wilomn

You're crazy.

What else ya got?

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You slay me! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

No your not a shady character but cheap websites are just that, cheap. Skip on one cheeseburger from MCD's or BK or where ever and pay for your website. No you dont need to spend $300 for a site. There is site builders that come with hosting packages, you can get hosting dirt cheap!

Like the other user said, Image is everything, you dont need flashy, just professional. Yes you can find crooks who have a nice website, you will find great people with a free site. But the professional site will get more traffic than the free ones, thats a given.

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Originally Posted by Clear

No your not a shady character but cheap websites are just that, cheap. Skip on one cheeseburger from MCD's or BK or where ever and pay for your website. No you dont need to spend $300 for a site. There is site builders that come with hosting packages, you can get hosting dirt cheap!

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So basically free is too cheap? But it is okay to go dirt cheap? :confused:

...websites are like cars. Some look nicer than others, and some run better than others. No matter how nice it is, I ALWAYS look under the hood. I've seen some nice cars with shady carfaxes. ;)

$5 is dirt cheap, most of your common web servers charge that amount.

Free sites will put 500+ users on one server. 150 is a huge load on one server.

$5.99/month https://signup.dreamhost.com/
$4.95/month http://www.hostgator.com/
$4.95/month http://www.innohosting.com/

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Originally Posted by Clear

$5 is dirt cheap, most of your common web servers charge that amount.

Free sites will put 500+ users on one server. 150 is a huge load on one server.

$5.99/month https://signup.dreamhost.com/
$4.95/month http://www.hostgator.com/
$4.95/month http://www.innohosting.com/

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I wonder if the size of the servor might have something to do with how many sites of a given size, something you seem to have ASSumed all sites are, it could maintain with satisfied clients.

Well, let's not even go there because that brings up all sorts of questions that just blow your thesis to pieces. (made a little rhyme there)

Anyway, tomato tomatoe I am more right than you but your agreement to that point is not necessary for its validity so, and with good grace mind you, I bid you good day.

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Originally Posted by wilomn

I wonder if the size of the servor might have something to do with how many sites of a given size, something you seem to have ASSumed all sites are, it could maintain with satisfied clients.

Well, let's not even go there because that brings up all sorts of questions that just blow your thesis to pieces. (made a little rhyme there)

Anyway, tomato tomatoe I am more right than you but your agreement to that point is not necessary for its validity so, and with good grace mind you, I bid you good day.

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If you want to get into specs about how many clients x server can hold we can go there. If you want to go there it wont blow my "thesis" to pieces.

Your opinion is your opinion. I dont see how your right about anyhing. Opinions are not right or wrong. If you want a cheap site, you are welcome to have a cheap site. I bid you a good day also.

The website does not make the breeder, or quality of snake for sale. I know of two breeders that advertise on this site, that I would love to buy from, but I cannot stand their websites. I know that their sites cost many dollars, and are done by pros, but they are hard to navigate, and have little or no info or pics. If I were to judge these two, I would never get to have one of their great snakes.

I know that sounds like a big mess of a comment. Sorry. What I am trying to say, is it does not matter how much the site costs. Make it easy to use, and have all the info needed to make the person want to buy from you. Because of those two sites, I may never get to buy from them. I already know they have good stuff. I want to be able to find it, and I want to see pics of it.

Clear as mud??:D

I think what the OP is trying to say is that your website is like your storefront. You wouldn't want to even go into a store to buy something if it looks sketchy on the outside. Now given, many of the people you're referring to you already know produce quality animals but don't have a great website, but from an objective point of view if you were to simply stumble upon a shady site you may not be so willing to give that breeder any benefit of the doubt and buy from them to begin with.

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Originally Posted by Enser54

I think what the OP is trying to say is that your website is like your storefront. You wouldn't want to even go into a store to buy something if it looks sketchy on the outside. Now given, many of the people you're referring to you already know produce quality animals but don't have a great website, but from an objective point of view if you were to simply stumble upon a shady site you may not be so willing to give that breeder any benefit of the doubt and buy from them to begin with.

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Exactly.

Sites do not have to cost hundreds. Most sites can be done for less than one of your snakes!

while lots of breeders dont have sites and lots do and some just have terrible sites. i would have to say if your going to both with a site why not go for something nice because that is what ppl will see first on the net. i could cruise all over the internet and sure there are lots of free sites with some nice snakes forsale but that is if you get to actually seeing the snakes. then again this also goes with the fact that most sites are hardly ever updated.

in a world where everyone and his nephew can make a swoopy website with little effort, I don't put a lot of stock in a nice site.

I'm more the type that will be drawn by the reputation of the business, and will do my homework and check things like whether the business has a valid license, what customer reviews are out there on sites like Fauna, etc.

The style of the site doesn't matter to me - I care about substance.

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Originally Posted by Soterios

Those saying that the site doesn't matter are crazy. They also have never owned a business or worked any sort of management position.

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I have owned my own successful business, and managed three. I've been the site boss at another business, and ran my own commercial boat.

Now. What were you saying about no experiance because I'm not taken in by a flashy site? Or was it more that I don't put stock in external trappings, and I'm more concerned with the person's experiance with reptiles, instead of websites.
I don't understand the idea that $5 for a site is great, but free is not. If you want to make a great site on a free server, then I don't think you should be penelized for it.

I don't have a problem with free vs. paid hosting. However, I will say that if I see a sloppy website and I don't know the person, I'm not likely to take a lot of time to try to find out more about them.

Like it or not, your website IS a representation of you and how you choose to present yourself.

I've seen some awesome free hosted sites, and I've seen some gawd awful paid sites.

A clean site that's updated frequently keeps me at your site. A sloppy site that's not kept updated isn't likely to keep me on your site for very long.

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Originally Posted by Fallguy

The website does not make the breeder, or quality of snake for sale.

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True, but to someone who does not know the breeder, the website does help to create an image of the breeder. A breeder with a cheap website looks cheap and unprofessional. A breeder with a professional website looks professional. They look like they are serious enough about their business that they would spend some money to create and host a website promoting their business.

I set up my site with domain name for less than 5 bucks a month. Had a free site for awhile.
Free is good, but it's really not much money to go with paid hosting.
It took me about a week to learn enough to get my site up and working. I'm sure I could whip up a site in a day or two now that I have a little experience at it.

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

I have owned my own successful business, and managed three. I've been the site boss at another business, and ran my own commercial boat.

Now. What were you saying about no experiance because I'm not taken in by a flashy site? Or was it more that I don't put stock in external trappings, and I'm more concerned with the person's experiance with reptiles, instead of websites.
I don't understand the idea that $5 for a site is great, but free is not. If you want to make a great site on a free server, then I don't think you should be penelized for it.

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I was more referring to sites that were sloppy in result of being free. IE, free ads and such.

I have to agree that a pop up free, no ad site is much better in my opinion. I put my site together for about what I spend on feeders every month, and I think it looks great. Naturally if you know a seller or have done business with them in the past, you dont really have to worry about what the site looks like, but if I am buying a 1800.00 snake I would much rather buy it from a reputable dealer (not neccessarily a "BIG" breeder) with a flashy site with nice big pics than someone with a "for sale" folder on their Myspace account.

My site isnt finished yet, I am lazy....but the guy who designed it/ hosts it is doing a hella good job!