Squarespace or 1&1?

[calvinslawnservices]

I am looking to build a website for my business. Which website designer is overall better? Squarespace or 1&1 or another I have missed

Thanks,
Calvin

[Duekster]

I hand coded many of my first ones just because I wanted to learn something.

I used Drupal recently but it does have a learning curve on it.

If you just want a shingle why not look at godaddy hosting and webtemplates>

[calvinslawnservices]

What is a shingle?

[tonygreek]

He means "if you just want a place to hang your sign", you can go with the basics of a godaddy, etc template.

The biggest issue you run into with the various web mill type sites is the lack of search engine optimization (allows your customers to find you in the search results). If you can roll up your sleeves and do some of the work yourself, the companies you mentioned are serviceable. Just don't buy in to the marketing hype of "build it on our platform and get seen by everyone!", because it just isn't realistic.

If you go through the posts in this forum, especially those asking for "what do you think of my site?" feedback, you'll find plenty of tips, help, advice, and sources to learn the ins and outs. If you don't want to do much with the site, or do want your site to help acquire new customers, I wouldn't recommend the various site builders.

[calvinslawnservices]

I have no problems getting into code and everything, I just have the worst graphic designer eye and can't put together a website that is looks good. I was leaning towards 1&1 mostly because what I have read on here, is this true (in terms of SEO)? I'm to the point where I need to find more work but I don't have the budget to drop thousands on a website.

[tonygreek]

Originally Posted by calvinslawnservices

I have no problems getting into code and everything, I just have the worst graphic designer eye and can't put together a website that is looks good. I was leaning towards 1&1 mostly because what I have read on here, is this true (in terms of SEO)? I'm to the point where I need to find more work but I don't have the budget to drop thousands on a website.

No need to drop thousands on any typical service business web site. $500-$1,700 is a usual range, depending on what is included.

If you are comfortable with digging in to the code, and as long as the web site builder allows you to customize tags, you'll be fine. In a quick look at 1&1's site builder, it appears you can do so (it looks like a really old copy of microsoft frontpage) by inserting custom code and changing the various seo-driving tags.

From a visual design standpoint, Squarespace blows 1&1 out of the water and is not even a contest. And if you have good photography, Squarespace better utilizes it.

Tony

[calvinslawnservices]

I am going to use squarespace for my website, It looks as I can get into code and SEO stuff. I found an excellent website for tutorials on squarespace. http://www.bigpictureweb.com/squarespace-tutorials/

Thank You for your help.

[GreyFlames]

Originally Posted by calvinslawnservices

I am looking to build a website for my business. Which website designer is overall better? Squarespace or 1&1 or another I have missed

Thanks,
Calvin

We create websites for lawn care professionals. Check out our website and let me know if you are interested or have any questions.

[greg8872]

Might help if you list actual sites that you have done already, I see there are two mentions of a sites, but I couldn't find a site for either of them (I gave up after the 6th page of google results for "Elegant Lawn Care Pennsylvania", and couldn't locate your twitter account to follow back the reference there)

BTW, in case you forgot to set them, I tried your Facebook link, it and the LinkedIn ones are not working.

Have a great day.

-Greg

[GroundOneMN]

3plains.com they are big into hunting websites, but are really getting started with non-hunting sites.