Sunday, December 06, 2015

DIY (Do-It-Yourself), Website and Blog Designers & Hosting Providers


I often get asked by independent small business artists and crafters where to go to build a website.   I usually tell them that depending on their requirements they probably don't need to hire a professional website designer.  Depending on their needs if they are a small business owner most of the DIY websites and blogs will work just fine.

To give you a little background on me I'm a doll maker and doll pattern designer and have had websites for over 10 years.  I created two of my own websites that I updated to Godaddy via FTP and also managed and maintained two websites that were hosted through In A Pickle Web Design: one an instant download e-products website using MyCartToGo e-commerce software and Mals-E shopping cart and one selling my handmade goods and crafts

Now I have 1 consolidated Linda Walsh Originals Shop website at Go-Daddy that I maintain that uses a Quick Cart shopping which allows me to sell all my handmade goods and e-products on the same website.

For the past 5 years I've also maintained a Linda Walsh Originals Info website utilizing Website Builder at Go-Daddy.  This is basically a 5 page DIY website that contains all the information about me, my websites, and all my blogs.  Website Builder is very easy to use and very suitable for my information purposes.

Over the years I've created many, many, many selling and non-selling blogs, most of which were created using Blogger.com.  My main Linda's Blog  was created in 2005 and is used for posting everything and anything concerning Linda Walsh Originals.  It's a personal blog, selling blog, and promoting blog all in one.

When I started you only needed to worry about how your website looked on a desktop computer and laptop.  Now you have to worry if your website is optimized for a desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile phone.  You also need to be concerned with the browser used, as well as the computer platform. The good news is most of the DIY websites and hosting providers are already equipped to handle this. Just be sure to check this out before making a final decision on where to create your website.

So, I  thought I'd create a list for you of  DIY (Do-It-Yourself), Website and Blog Designers & Hosting Providers that I'm aware of.  If you're an independent small business artist and crafter looking for a website please check out my list below.  I hope you find it helpful.

3dCart.com - 3dcart is the quickest and fastest way to sell online. Easily build, edit, and maintain your online store without any programming knowledge. Start selling, today!

ArtDealers.com- ArtDealers is a revolutionary new tool for artists and galleries to easily create and maintain a powerful web site with industry level features. With the point and click easy to use website builder, anyone who can use microsoft word can now create their own web page.

ArtFire.com - The premier online marketplace for handmade products. Our community celebrates and supports art and creativity in all forms.

ArtPal - Sell art and buy art. Featuring artists from around the world, find the perfect art and choose your framing instantly. Create your free gallery and sell your art - It's free, and easy. There are no membership fees. You receive 95%-100% when ArtPal sells your art, and you can start selling in minutes.

Artshow.com - Artshow.com specializes in websites for artists and photographers. Art Resources: ARTISTS' PORTFOLIOS - browse original fine art for sale, OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS - art contests, shows & competitions, WORKSHOPS, CLASSES & TOURS - search by location, medium, and theme, TIPS & TUTORIALS - learn techniques to improve your art, ART SUPPLIES, PRODUCTS & SERVICES - art materials & services for artists, EXHIBIT YOUR ART ON ARTSHOW.COM - affordable art marketing for artists.

Artspan Contemporary Art - Artist, Photographers, Artisans & More - ARTSPAN IS HOME TO 4,000 CONTEMPORARY ART WEBSITES - Founded in 1999, Artspan is a major contemporary art destination and the leading provider of premium artist, artisan and photographers websites. Use our search functions and directories to access the individual websites and to view or buy work directly from Artspan members. Artspan provides creative contemporary artist professionals with websites and features designed specifically for their needs. The work shown on the individual sites is only original work and prints.

Art Studios Online - Art Studios Online is a website service designed by artists for artists. We provide a variety of website options designed to fit every need and budget – from membership in our juried online gallery, to artist portfolio websites built from our pre-designed templates, to custom sites designed around your artwork. See for yourself what many other artists, artisans, and craftspeople already know: our artist websites are professional, affordable, easy to setup, and easy to update 24/7 — and our great personal customer service is second to none.

Beautiful Artist Websites - Beautiful Artist Websites is a boutique design studio based in Santa Monica, California. We create beautifully designed 21st Century online-marketing systems that showcase, market, and sell artists’ work to galleries, collectors, and art buyers. Our goal is to provide artists with the best online marketing tools, systems, and advice to pursue an enjoyable creative life and get their work seen and sold. Creative and commercial success in one artistic lifetime!

Big Cartel -Big Cartel is where artists set up shop. We provide clothing designers, bands, jewelry makers, crafters, and other artists with their own customizable store to sell their stuff online.

BigCommerce - BigCommerce is the easiest way to sell your products online and reach thousands of new customers both locally and around the world.

Blogger.com - Create a free blog, it's easy and only takes a minute. - Your blog. Share your thoughts, photos, and more with your friends and the world. - Easy to use. It’s easy to post text, photos, and videos from the web or your mobile phone. - Flexible. Unlimited flexibility to personalize your blog with themes, gadgets, and more.

Bluehost - BlueHost has been providing hosting solutions to thousands of business and personal web sites since 1996. Our internet hosting package helps businesses and individuals get high-powered service at a fraction of the cost.

BuildYourSite.com - BuildYourSite.com helps small business owners create and manage a professional website. Pick from over 4,000 industry based website designs and easily manage your website with our easy to use tools. Our all-inclusive services are backed by friendly and live customer service.

CraftIsArt - Online artisan and handmade goods selling community. Shops created and maintained by handmade artisans. E-Patterns sold by designers are emailed to customers as attachments to an email. Two tiers for selling - pay as you go and premium.

Create A Shoppe - Looking to build a website and sell your products or services online? Create A Shoppe's DIY website builder is packed full of features to make building and maintaining your own website easier and more affordable then ever! With our do it yourself website and online store builder you can build a quality, fast loading, feature rich website all on your own and in no time at all!

DJdoodle.com - Country & Prim Craft Website Design & Web Hosting :: DIY Services :: Your 1-Stop Web Shoppe for Craft Sites and Small Businesses

Doodlekit -Doodlekit is an Online Free Website Builder that allows people to create and maintain their own websites for personal or business use. Doodlekit provides users with everything they need to make their website a success: domains, hosting, advanced online website builder, design tools, stock photos, blog, photo albums, forums, form builders, shopping cart, email forwarding and much more.

Duda - Duda is a leading DIY website builder for web professionals and small businesses via its products; DudaMobile, a mobile-only site builder; DudaOne, a responsive website builder and eCommerce platform and DudaPro, which enables entrepreneurs, designers and agencies of all sizes to create personalized and dynamic web presence solutions without the need to invest in hours of costly development time. Duda is based in Palo Alto, California, currently hosts over five million websites and won over ten awards in the last year, including ranking #185 on the Inc. 500|5000 and Small or Medium Business Service of the Year.

eCRATER - What is eCRATER? eCRATER.com is both a free web store builder and a free online marketplace. Sellers can easily create their own free online store in minutes. Buyers can easily browse and compare between thousands of products. Sellers receive free website hosting, a free subdomain and a powerful admin tool to manage their free online stores. All products are posted to Google Product Search as well.

EHost.com -Everything you will EVER need to host and manage your website! Build Your Own FREE Professional website - Choose from Thousands of Templates - Free Domain Name - SEO Tools Included FREE - Free Business Email.

ETSY.com  - Our mission is to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers.Our vision is to build a new economy and present a better choice: Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade.  Now offering digital goods  instant download capabilities for items like e-patterns, e-printables, e-tutorials, etc.

EZShoppes.com - An online shopping directory that showcases the finest Crafts, Home Decor, and gift giving products all in one place. Numerous merchants and crafters gathered in one place for your shopping pleasure.

FASO | Fine Art Studio Online- Websites for Artists by FASO - The Easiest Art Websites, Blogs & Newsletters for Professional Artists.

FatCow- We Blow Away the Competition - FatCow Web Hosting is Now Powered by 100% Wind Energy. FatCow was born in 1998 and the rest is history. We've grown our company with a dedicated group of talented believers in the notion that simple, old fashioned service and value still ring true. FatCow has focused our entire company on delivering the best value and customer service experience in Web hosting to the small business user. We make every effort to make our services easy to own, easy to use and most importantly to provide real business value. And yes, we like to have fun doing it.

FineArtAmerica - A Professional Network for Visual Artists, Photographers, Art Collectors, and Gallery Owners - FineArtAmerica.com has revolutionized the way that artwork, home decor, and apparel are bought and sold around the world.   With a few clicks, artists and photographers can upload their images to FineArtAmerica.com, set their prices, and instantly sell prints, throw pillows, greeting cards, iPhone cases, apparel, and more to a global audience of online buyers.   Fine Art America fulfills each order on behalf of the artists - taking care of the printing, framing, matting, packaging, shipping, collecting payments from the buyers, and sending profits to the artists.   Each print is manufactured at Fine Art America's production facility and delivered "ready-to-hang" with a 30-day money-back guarantee.  In addition to providing an online marketplace and fulfillment service, Fine Art America provides artists and photographers with sales and marketing tools to help simplify and accelerate their careers.   These tools allow artists to set up branded web stores, sell prints on Facebook, create e-newsletters, and much more.

FolioLink- Website designs and services for photographers, artists and creative professionals to showcase and sell their work online.

GoDaddy.com - Go Daddy is the world's largest domain registrar, is also the top hosting provider in North America and the world's #1 provider of new SSL certificates.

Homestead - An Intuit Company - Homestead Technologies is a leader in website and online marketing solutions for small businesses. Since 1996, more than 12 million customers have used our award-winning products and services to establish their presence on the Web, maintain and promote their site, and sell or market their products and services—all without mastering programming or design. From our award-winning SiteBuilder software to our ecommerce solutions and world-class support, we help small businesses achieve success online.

Host Gator - HostGator.com LLC is a world leading provider of shared, reseller, and dedicated web hosting. Products: Shared Hosting, Reseller Hosting, Dedicated Hosting, Domain Names.

Host Monster - HostMonster has been providing hosting solutions to thousands of business and personal web sites since 1996. Our internet hosting package helps businesses and individuals get high-powered service at a fraction of the cost.

Hub - Webhostinghub.com - HUB makes it easy to unleash your creativity.  Popular Tools and Builders Free Premium Website Builder Build from Scratch. Our Premium Website Builder is the easiest way to get your small business website online. Simply choose a theme, edit your website's content and then publish it for the world to see.

Iconosites - IconoSites is a free website builder tool that lets you create a professional website in minutes. It's web-based, so there's nothing to download or install. And, you don't need to be a technical expert to use it. It's 100% Free!

Imcreator - A simple & elegant website builder (and it's free). http://imcreator.com/ - Build gorgeous sites fast using our Drag & Drop editor. No programming needed. Start from a template or blank page

InMotion Hosting - InMotion Hosting is a leading web hosting company serving customers around the world. We provide reliable, high-performance hosting environments that are affordable and easy to use, but the hallmark of InMotion is excellence in customer service. Our aim is to delight every customer with friendly service that is readily available, expert and effective.

IndieMade - IndieMade DIY Websites include store + blog + portfolio + calendar + news + custom pages + social sharing on your own url. IndieMade offers the simplest, most affordable way for indie entrepreneurs to build an online presence. For a low monthly fee, IndieMade provides crafters, artists, writers, filmmakers, DIYers, and creatives of all types a well-designed, customizable website—which can include image galleries, a blog, a shopping cart, and much more—with your very own URL. Creating a site with IndieMade is perfect for portfolios, online stores, or simply showing off your talents. Did we mention hosting’s part of the package? Everyone needs a website, we make it easy. We give you simple tools to use and we host it for you.

InstantEstore - InstanteStore allows for you to quickly and very easily start up your online store and start selling to people all over the world. It doesn't matter whether you're just starting up or you're already well established, InstanteStore caters to your every need.

Intuit Small Business - Create Your Website The Easy Way! * 2,000+ designs to choose from * Easy changes - just drag & drop * Publish in a few clicks.

IPage - Let iPage help you get your business online. Our team has been hosting business, personal, social and non-profit websites for more than 10 years. We know web hosting and the typical hosting customer, which means we know there is NO typical hosting customer. That's why iPage offers a great deal of flexibility, without overcomplicating things.Moreover, we focus on the three things our customers care about: their websites, their email and their online security.

Jimdo - We make it possible for anyone to create a beautiful website. The easiest way to create a website and online store. http://jimdo.com/.

Moonfruit - Moonfruit lets you build beautiful websites, simply. Build your own professional looking site quickly and easily with our do-it-yourself website builder.

Mozello - World's fastest and easiest to use website builder. Create your own awesome website, blog or online store in just 5 minutes. Modern and mobile ready!

MyArtPlot - To change and empower the art industry and profession. To create the art world All-in-One Social, Professional, and Commercial art platform. Some features: Art Market, Personalized Ad Engine, Resume Builder, Portfolio Builder, Business Card Designer, Portal Publication, Automated Newsletter, Global Review, Blog, Broadcast Tools, Microblogging, and much much more!

Ning - Ning is the social platform for the world’s interests and passions online. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Ning offers an easy-to-use service that allows people to join and create Ning Networks. With more than 2 million Ning Networks created and 43 million registered users, millions of people every day are coming together across Ning to explore and express their interests, discover new passions, and meet new people around shared pursuits.

PrestaShop -PrestaShop continues to be the world’s most popular open source e-commerce solution powering more than 150,000 stores worldwide. Backed by leading industry partners, PrestaShop ensures easy online selling by providing more than 310 native features that can all be customized to fit the needs of every online business.

RedBubble - From hobbyists to pros, we have artists share their brilliant works with us so you can find incredible art of all styles in one place—then we take care of turning that artwork into useable, wearable, hangable pieces whenever you place an order, and deliver everything safely to you, wherever you are—in a really cool box, of course.  And what makes us most unique—we don’t keep inventory. Everything you buy is made just for you.

Shopify - Shopify is a commerce platform that allows anyone to easily sell online, at a retail location, and everywhere in between.

Simbla - The most modern, responsive, bootstrap3 based website builder. Dress your site and change it's look & feel, style, mood & more with just one click.

Simple DIY Websites - Simple DIY Websites brings you a fast, easy and customizable web based program to build and maintain your own website! NO html knowledge is necessary, everything is web based. Several layouts are available so that your site will not look like everyone elses!!

SiteBuilder - Everything You Need to Get Online Today - We give you all the tools you need to create your website today. Enjoy the freedom to drag-and-drop your content and images into your chosen template and build your dream site.

Squarespace - What is it? A fully hosted, completely managed environment for creating and maintaining a website, blog or portfolio. Who is it for? Bloggers. Businesses large and small. Authors. Teachers. Lawyers. Doctors. Squarespace's flexible platform can power sites of all sizes. Why use it? We give you full control over your content and site customization. You can build it 10X faster on our comprehensive platform. Seriously.

Strikingly - Own a gorgeous, mobile optimized website in minutes. No code or design needed. For your business, project, or personal branding, a great-looking website is necessary for your online legitimacy in the Mobile Age. With no code or design experience at all, you can set up a quality site in less than 30 minutes. Your site will look great on your smartphones, tablets, and computers. Get on it now. The new age has just begun. Don’t get left behind.

SocialGo- SocialGO creates a flexible, fun social networking website for you and your group. It is stand-alone or can simply be bolted onto an existing site if need be. As a browser based service, it is operated from dedicated servers and does not require software downloads. In this way, members of a network can access it from anywhere in the world. SocialGO lets you easily create and run a feature-filled social networking website. You choose who can join, what they can do and how it looks and the best part is it's free to get going.

Society6 -The artwork on Society6 is created by hundreds of thousands of artists from around the world. One of the most active artist communities in the world, Society6 empowers artists to make their artwork immediately available for sale as a variety of products, without giving up control of their rights.

Storeya - StoreYa is a global leader in Social Commerce. Increase your fan base and boost your sales using a Store Tab on your Facebook page.

Typepad - Blog Like a Pro - The best bloggers use TypePad Pro. Beautiful. 100's of gorgeous themes, or customize your own. Connected. One-click integration with Twitter and Facebook, plus built-in search engine optimization. Supported. Get answers fast from our expert blogging support team, TypePad One.

Victory Vision - Web Design & Hosting- Web Design & Hosting Since 1996. Web design - Complete web development services for businesses and non-profit organizations. Professional quality at affordable prices. Web Hosting - Host your website on a fast, reliable, multihomed network which is monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Vistaprint- No technical skills? No sweat. Anyone can build a website. Easy-to-use is an understatement. See for yourself. Simple Setup - It only takes 3 steps. Drag and Drop Editing - Personalize your site in no time. Live Customer Support - We'll be here to help you.

Web.com - Web.com is a U.S.-based company that creates affordable websites, online marketing campaigns, and eCommerce stores for small businesses. We love small businesses!

Weebly - The surprisingly easy way to start a high-quality site, blog or online store. http://weebly.com/ has everything you need to plan, create, publish and grow your site.

Webnode - Webnode is a remarkably simple tool that lets you create a website for free with no technical skills needed. Webnode is a free revolutionary interactive real-time drag-and-drop website builder. Webnode allows visitors to create, design, develop and run powerful websites and web application from start to finish. Engineered for ease of use and extreme speed, it can effortlessly produce high-caliber professional web pages within minutes.

Web.com - Web.com Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: WEB) provides a full range of online marketing services to help small businesses compete and succeed on the Internet!

Webs.com - At Webs, Inc., we combined our website building savvy with our affinity for small businesses to create the most popular website building and hosting solution for entrepreneurs. Webs enables small and micro-businesses to easily create a great-looking website and project a professional image. The Webs site builder provides everything you need to get your business online: a wide variety of customizable templates, and engaging features like blogs, photos, videos, forums and more.

Webstarts - WebStarts is everything you need to build and maintain your very own website. It's powerful enough for professionals and easy enough for everyone.

Wix.com Wix.com is a cloud-based web development platform that allows users to create professional HTML5 websites and mobile sites, through the use of online "Drag & Drop" tools. Users can add functionalities such as social plug-ins, eCommerce, contact forms, email marketing, and community forums to their websites using a variety of Wix-developed and third-party applications.

WooThemes/WooCommerce - The world's favorite eCommerce solution that gives you complete control to sell anything. Get started today for free. With 11,140,336 downloads WooCommerce powers over 30% of all online stores. WooCommerce is now the most popular eCommerce platform on the web (stats from Builtwith), so you can rest assured you're in good company.

Wordpress - Takes seconds, costs nada - You can get a blog started in less time than it takes you to read this sentence. All you need is an email address. You’ll get your own WordPress.com address, free storage,  customizable designs for your blog, 3 gigabytes of file storage and more. You can blog as much as you want for free, your blog can be public to the world or private for just your friends, and our premium features are completely optional.

Yahoo Small Business - Yahoo! Small Business helps small businesses get online and grow online. We provide easy-to-use, award-winning tools that make it easy for any small business owner to create a professional presence on the Internet. Helping millions of entrepreneurs achieve their dreams online.

Yola - Build a beautiful mobile-friendly website in minutes. Grow your business online with SEO tools. Start for free, no tech experience needed.

Zhibit - Zhibit.org is the leading online community for artists who wish to harness the power of the internet to exhibit their work online. Zhibit.org provides artists with simple tools to build unique personal websites and sell their artwork online.

Zibbet- Zibbet is a global marketplace, connecting buyers and sellers of Handmade Goods, Fine Art, Vintage Items and Crafting Supplies.

Zoho.com/Sites  - CREATE a WEBSITE  - All the tools you'll ever need to make your online presence felt.  As easy as pie.  Our intuitive drag- and- drop builder makes it easy to build your online presence. Bring your ideas to life in minutes, without using any code.


1 comment:

  1. Thanks for this information, I think it will come in handy in the future.

    ReplyDelete