Sunday, September 19, 2010

Building a website

  There are many tools available these days for working professionals, and a great one for performers is a website.  From anywhere in the world, your bio, headshot, performance reel and so much more can be displayed and shared with potential employers.

  I've done quite a bit of researching to find an affordable and comprehensive website builder.  I've created a few websites over the years for various projects, and here are a few sites that you might find helpful:


  • www.bludomain.com- This is the site I used to build my professional photography site.  I found the setup to be easy to use and love the flash look.  Although this is not a free service (templates start at $50 with a $50 annual hosting fee- just over $4/mo, but I chose a $100 template and am happy with my site)
  • www.homestead.com- This site hosts for $5/mo (after the initial 30-day free trial) and appears to have many perks.  Besides a simple drag-and-drop design and thousands of templates, they appear to include some SEO, a hosted domain name and e-mails that are associated with your site.
  • www.showitfast.com- This site is geared more towards photographers, but it boasts the most versatility.  There are pre-designed templates or options to customize everything to suit your personal style. 
  • http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com-This site focuses more on "stores," but the same basic principles apply with any of these drag-and-drop websites.  They will host you for about $9/mo.
  • www.webs.com (formerly www.freewebs.com)- This is the site I used to build my performer page in 2007.  It is free and looks to be even more user-friendly than it was a few years ago... supplying space for video, photos and plenty of pages.  There are three upgradable options that will increase your storage space and leave you ad-free. 
  • www.wix.com- I have used this site a few times to build pages (most recently for a photography business and an informational page for natural healing).  It is another free site that has lots of perks: video, photo galleries, multiple pages and LOTS of customizing options- plus tutorials to help figure out any tricky situations.  I highly recommend this site.  It also has options to upgrade.

  I hope this list helps point you in the right direction!

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