Personal Website/Web Hosting

Having your own website is a very important in the photography business. It is a way of looking professional, having a platform to show you work and also get recognition for your work on a global scale. I have looked at a few different web hosting sites that offer a range of options. I have evaluated them and will see what I personally think will be the best option for me to take.

When searching for a domain name, I have learned that it is best to get both .com and also .co.uk , the reason for this is that your website won’t be confused with anyone else’s of a similar name. Also it is a worldwide recognized one as well as English. Even if you choose not to use one of the domains it is still the best option to buy them and leave it unused. 

1&1 :-

When first coming to the 1&1 website home page I really was rather overwhelmed. It was really bright and the home page had loads of options, although this may be handy to other people, I felt like it was overpowering and not very straight forward to use. Also a number of pop-ups came onto the page when I went on filled with figures and details on packages straight away, this was all a bit too much and from here I wasn't sure what to do or where to go to find out if they had the domain name I needed available. 

Selecting a name was simple enough I just had to type what I needed in the search bar a then it would do the search for me and bring back the results. This again however was really busy and the use of colour was too ‘in your face’. I feel like all the information could have been put across in a better simpler way. I feel like there attempt to grab your attention has worked but not in a good/positive way. 

 This is one of the easier pages to navigate on the website. It shows you what names are available, and if you can have .com or .co.uk and so on. This is what I think the rest of the website should be. Simple and clear, easy to use.  I also like how the most popular are at the top. I didn't really know any of the ones in the lower box so by pulling the top ones out for me this has saved me time by showing the most probable options clear and away from the rest.


After selecting what name I wanted I was then hit with even more figures and prices for deals, by this point I was so confused and sick of seeing numbers that I didn't know what to choose, how to do it and what was best for me. These prices didn't give much detail and it wasn't clear what I was getting for my money.  I think that all the financial details should have been put on one page so you knew what the packages were offering and what you needed to pay extra for.

Summery:

I feel like it would have been time consuming to create my web page using this website. It was unclear to me what I was paying and how I could get the best for my site. The colours and layout of the 1&1 website were too over powering for me and were really distracting. I would choose not to use this website for these reasons. 

Layerspace:-

This website is clean and really clear. It is understandable, clearly states that it is for Photographers. This seems something that will be easy to use as I am a photographer, and as it has been created specifically for this hopefully it will be easier to use and have photographic options that others may not. 

What I like about this is it offers you images of websites that have been created by others. This gives me an idea of what I could be able to create by using this website. This is unlike any other website creator that I looked at, this is a great aspect and something that was really helpful. This page again is really clear and easy to understand. I think that because it’s not over powering I would be more likely to use it.

 

The top of the page offers links that take you to other pages. From here you can go and see price plans, layouts and also about the website itself. This also makes the website easier to navigate.  

 The price plans state clearly what you can get in the package. For example how many images per website, if there are text pages. This is all really useful because it is laid out in a table clearly. It only really has options and prices for add-ons that I will need as a photographer, rather than things that are irrelevant to me.  I also like how they show you the most popular options.  The price plans seem more expensive than the other websites that I have looked at. However this a photography website, this has more relevance to me. Also it clearly shows me what I get in my package. Unlike other websites, they keep adding things on what in the end rises the cost of the package.

I couldn't go any further than this without entering my details. However I this shows the questions that I have to fill in. it says that the name that I want is available also. I also like that it gives you a 14 day free trial. This isn't something that the others offer. 

Summery:

The website was so much easier to navigate. I appreciated the costing been laid out like it was, this was easy to understand and see what I was getting. The website itself was simple and basic making it clear for me to understand what I was getting. I also really like the fact that it gives you previews of existing websites created by the web hosting website.

Fasthost:-

Although this website has something that I have previously stated that I didn't like – that being a lot of pricing details placed all over the website – I think that in this case it is still quite simple to understand and isn't as chaotic as what I looked at previously. The search bar to look for my domain name is clear in the middle of the page. And to begin with this is the most important thing to me. Its irrelevant about prices if they don’t have the name that I am looking for. 

 The names – like in every other case – are clear and on a page of their own. Again the options that I am most likely to use are on the top of the search. This page also doesn't give you all stupid options that will never really be used. Others have lists upon lists that are really unnecessary. This is really short and simple.

 As well as having confirmation on the name that I have selected it also gives you price plans. This really useful as you can choose over what period of time you want to use the name for. This will save the trouble of having to re-new the package ever year.

Again when I got to the point of choosing how long a period I wanted to have the domain over, and also the name I couldn't go past this point without adding my details. This really didn't show me what else I would be adding onto the price for things such as email, passwords etc. I would have been curious to see how this would go after this point. 

Summery:

Although this wasn't as clear as the layerspace website, what I liked about it is that it was simple and straightforward to use. However, although there was information on the home page about packages that were on offer and the financial information. When I had chosen the name of my website and how long a period I wanted it over, I couldn't get any more information without entering my details. This made me uneasy as I didn't want to be committed to anything and I wasn't sure what they might charge me with after this point. Due to this I don't think I would use this site to create my personal website. 

My Opinion:

 After researching different sites that offer a way to create your own personal website I have decide that the best one for me is Layerspace. It is clean, clear and very easy to understand, what I think the others are not. The financial details and what you get for your money are also laid out in a clear table. I really struggled with pricing from the other websites so this was defiantly the perfect option for me. Also it seemed logical to use this one as it is photography based unlike the others.