I need a new website.

Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum

Help Support Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Hillbilly

Hillbilly

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 22, 2011
Messages
939
Reaction score
17
I need a new website for our B & B. Our current site was built by Acorn and was built a year before everything went responsive. We spent over $6000 and to mke our site responsive they want over $5000 and that would not be a custom site. They seem to be pricing themselves way up there. So I’m at a crossroad on what to do. I feel there is the technology now to be able to hve a great site for a substantial savings by using Wordpress or Wix. I looked at both and wanted to know peoples thoughts on this? Wix seems to be a lot more user friendly but that’s just at a glance. Will either one be good to use? I read back through old posts but it’s been several years and things have changed. Will it hurt me from leaving Acorm and going to Wordpress or wix? Any help would be appreciated!
 
Do you own the site or does WIX if you use them? I vaguely remember someone saying there was a monthly fee with WIX.
 
With wix I believe they own the site. That said, its still less than the month'y charge to host with Acorn. Basically $20 a month.
 
We went wordpress. Hired someone on elance (now upwork) to install and create a new website. Hired from fivver to get wordpress hardened. Paid for a few licences from CodeCanyon. Still under $1K to get it all done.
 
Too bad EmptyNest/Catlady isn't around anymore. She really knows her stuff.
I built my website with WordPress so all it cost me was $69 for a responsive theme. Took me a couple of weeks to really figure it all out and get comfortable with WP. Well worth the time, IMO, to learn to do it myself because a) I saved $thousands and b) it's mine and I can make changes myself, any time, from any Internet-connected computer in the world.
I tweak something or other on my website at least once a week, because it's so easy.
 
Arks said:
Too bad EmptyNest/Catlady isn't around anymore. She really knows her stuff.
I built my website with WordPress so all it cost me was $69 for a responsive theme. Took me a couple of weeks to really figure it all out and get comfortable with WP. Well worth the time, IMO, to learn to do it myself because a) I saved $thousands and b) it's mine and I can make changes myself, any time, from any Internet-connected computer in the world.
I tweak something or other on my website at least once a week, because it's so easy..
Click to expand...
I do it all myself and visually now, with WPBakery, but paid someone to professionally install and move it all over to save time.
 
I really appreciate all the info! I think Wordpress is the way to go. I can’t wait to dive in and see what happens. Arks, glad to know it worked for you. I like the thought of being able to change stuff when needed and not hve to wait on a support ticket to be filed and paid for before changes can be made!
 
I maintain a wordpress site and it's easy enough to edit but I was at a loss how to create one. It was about six years ago that I tried and never looked back. So it might be easier now.
I also created a site using weebly that I love - all drag and drop. It's for a tiny church with serious budget constraints, but I am able to do a lot with it. It doesn't need the features you need.
I'm sure you'll come up with something great.
 
For years I had a site that I made using Front-Page and then Expression-Web, at suggestions on this forum I moved to Word-Press a couple of years ago purchasing the Avada theme.
Empty Nest helped me get started in the modern world and I love my site. She also pointed me in the direction of Khimaira for hosting the site, they are reasonable, helpful and accessible, so nice to have folks that respond back faster than I expected, real people that you know by name. I'm in the category of "slowly learning", but glad to share any limited knowledge I've gained with the Avada theme.
 
Hillbilly said:
With wix I believe they own the site. That said, its still less than the month'y charge to host with Acorn. Basically $20 a month..
Click to expand...
Glad to see you are leaning WordPress. You do not want ANYONE other than you to own your website and content. If I get PO'ed with my host company, I can transfer, but you would lose everything if you wanted to ditch WIX.
 
Hillbilly,

You may not need a whole new site. What makes a site responsive is what is called CSS. CSS is a styling language that lets you display things differently for different device sizes using what is called media queries. Essentially, with a media query you can do things like display one type of menu for a tablet device and display a different type of menu for a smartphone.

Ultimately, it comes down to having someone that knows about all this stuff review your existing site and then let you know if what is there can be made responsive relatively easily or not.
If you go with wordpress, I believe it does have some integration with booking engines so that's a plus.
Also, there are tons of responsive templates available for $10 to $15 on sites like themeforest or wrapbootstrap. What the template gets you is that someone has done most of the heavy lifting (building it and testing it) for you. There is still a lot of work to turn that template into a site.

I use reservation key for my booking engine for the time being. I really, really hated the way they displayed their "check availability" widget on my web site. I spent most of a full day just styling it so that it looked professional. Any of this web site work takes a ton of time. But its a good investment since you'll get most of your bookings directly on the site if it gives people a good impression.
 
MNVineyardBB said:
Hillbilly,

You may not need a whole new site. What makes a site responsive is what is called CSS. CSS is a styling language that lets you display things differently for different device sizes using what is called media queries. Essentially, with a media query you can do things like display one type of menu for a tablet device and display a different type of menu for a smartphone.

Ultimately, it comes down to having someone that knows about all this stuff review your existing site and then let you know if what is there can be made responsive relatively easily or not.
If you go with wordpress, I believe it does have some integration with booking engines so that's a plus.
Also, there are tons of responsive templates available for $10 to $15 on sites like themeforest or wrapbootstrap. What the template gets you is that someone has done most of the heavy lifting (building it and testing it) for you. There is still a lot of work to turn that template into a site.

I use reservation key for my booking engine for the time being. I really, really hated the way they displayed their "check availability" widget on my web site. I spent most of a full day just styling it so that it looked professional. Any of this web site work takes a ton of time. But its a good investment since you'll get most of your bookings directly on the site if it gives people a good impression..
Click to expand...
MNVineyardBB said:
I really, really hated the way they displayed their "check availability" widget on my web site. I spent most of a full day just styling it so that it looked professional.
Click to expand...
Are you speaking about the Check In, Check Out, # of Guests, Search widget? I had to spend a ridiculous amount of time getting it to line up horizontally in WP. I told John that it can't have any spaces. Or are you talking about something else?
 
dumitru said:
*cough cough*
Let me know if you need a one on one consultation, free and no strings attached :).
Click to expand...
dumitru said:
*cough cough*
Let me know if you need a one on one consultation, free and no strings attached :)
Click to expand...
thumbs_up.gif
regular_smile.gif

 
Momma Smurf said:
MNVineyardBB said:
Hillbilly,

You may not need a whole new site. What makes a site responsive is what is called CSS. CSS is a styling language that lets you display things differently for different device sizes using what is called media queries. Essentially, with a media query you can do things like display one type of menu for a tablet device and display a different type of menu for a smartphone.

Ultimately, it comes down to having someone that knows about all this stuff review your existing site and then let you know if what is there can be made responsive relatively easily or not.
If you go with wordpress, I believe it does have some integration with booking engines so that's a plus.
Also, there are tons of responsive templates available for $10 to $15 on sites like themeforest or wrapbootstrap. What the template gets you is that someone has done most of the heavy lifting (building it and testing it) for you. There is still a lot of work to turn that template into a site.

I use reservation key for my booking engine for the time being. I really, really hated the way they displayed their "check availability" widget on my web site. I spent most of a full day just styling it so that it looked professional. Any of this web site work takes a ton of time. But its a good investment since you'll get most of your bookings directly on the site if it gives people a good impression..
Click to expand...
MNVineyardBB said:
I really, really hated the way they displayed their "check availability" widget on my web site. I spent most of a full day just styling it so that it looked professional.
Click to expand...
Are you speaking about the Check In, Check Out, # of Guests, Search widget? I had to spend a ridiculous amount of time getting it to line up horizontally in WP. I told John that it can't have any spaces. Or are you talking about something else?
.
Click to expand...
Momma Smurf,
Yes, I'm talking about the Check In, Check Out, # of Guests, Search widget. Here is what mine looks like. It has a whole new look to the date picker with new calendar icons too.

Reservation Key does a nice job on the features that they provide but they really need to hire someone that is a designer that will make their dashboard and everything else look more professional.

I may do some more styling on the search button yet but other than that I think it looks good.

searchwidget.jpg

calendar.jpg

 
MNVineyardBB said:
Momma Smurf said:
MNVineyardBB said:
Hillbilly,

You may not need a whole new site. What makes a site responsive is what is called CSS. CSS is a styling language that lets you display things differently for different device sizes using what is called media queries. Essentially, with a media query you can do things like display one type of menu for a tablet device and display a different type of menu for a smartphone.

Ultimately, it comes down to having someone that knows about all this stuff review your existing site and then let you know if what is there can be made responsive relatively easily or not.
If you go with wordpress, I believe it does have some integration with booking engines so that's a plus.
Also, there are tons of responsive templates available for $10 to $15 on sites like themeforest or wrapbootstrap. What the template gets you is that someone has done most of the heavy lifting (building it and testing it) for you. There is still a lot of work to turn that template into a site.

I use reservation key for my booking engine for the time being. I really, really hated the way they displayed their "check availability" widget on my web site. I spent most of a full day just styling it so that it looked professional. Any of this web site work takes a ton of time. But its a good investment since you'll get most of your bookings directly on the site if it gives people a good impression..
Click to expand...
MNVineyardBB said:
I really, really hated the way they displayed their "check availability" widget on my web site. I spent most of a full day just styling it so that it looked professional.
Click to expand...
Are you speaking about the Check In, Check Out, # of Guests, Search widget? I had to spend a ridiculous amount of time getting it to line up horizontally in WP. I told John that it can't have any spaces. Or are you talking about something else?
.
Click to expand...
Momma Smurf,
Yes, I'm talking about the Check In, Check Out, # of Guests, Search widget. Here is what mine looks like. It has a whole new look to the date picker with new calendar icons too.

Reservation Key does a nice job on the features that they provide but they really need to hire someone that is a designer that will make their dashboard and everything else look more professional.

I may do some more styling on the search button yet but other than that I think it looks good.

searchwidget.jpg

calendar.jpg

.
Click to expand...
Very nice! I have been able to totally customize my Res Page to match our site. PM me and I can share.
 
Momma Smurf said:
MNVineyardBB said:
Momma Smurf said:
MNVineyardBB said:
Hillbilly,

You may not need a whole new site. What makes a site responsive is what is called CSS. CSS is a styling language that lets you display things differently for different device sizes using what is called media queries. Essentially, with a media query you can do things like display one type of menu for a tablet device and display a different type of menu for a smartphone.

Ultimately, it comes down to having someone that knows about all this stuff review your existing site and then let you know if what is there can be made responsive relatively easily or not.
If you go with wordpress, I believe it does have some integration with booking engines so that's a plus.
Also, there are tons of responsive templates available for $10 to $15 on sites like themeforest or wrapbootstrap. What the template gets you is that someone has done most of the heavy lifting (building it and testing it) for you. There is still a lot of work to turn that template into a site.

I use reservation key for my booking engine for the time being. I really, really hated the way they displayed their "check availability" widget on my web site. I spent most of a full day just styling it so that it looked professional. Any of this web site work takes a ton of time. But its a good investment since you'll get most of your bookings directly on the site if it gives people a good impression..
Click to expand...
MNVineyardBB said:
I really, really hated the way they displayed their "check availability" widget on my web site. I spent most of a full day just styling it so that it looked professional.
Click to expand...
Are you speaking about the Check In, Check Out, # of Guests, Search widget? I had to spend a ridiculous amount of time getting it to line up horizontally in WP. I told John that it can't have any spaces. Or are you talking about something else?
.
Click to expand...
Momma Smurf,
Yes, I'm talking about the Check In, Check Out, # of Guests, Search widget. Here is what mine looks like. It has a whole new look to the date picker with new calendar icons too.

Reservation Key does a nice job on the features that they provide but they really need to hire someone that is a designer that will make their dashboard and everything else look more professional.

I may do some more styling on the search button yet but other than that I think it looks good.

searchwidget.jpg

calendar.jpg

.
Click to expand...
Very nice! I have been able to totally customize my Res Page to match our site. PM me and I can share.
.
Click to expand...
Sent you a contact from the forum.
 
My daughter has a degree from UCF in Graphic Design and Digital Media with a minor in Fine Art. She did mine (of course). My B&B is very small (3 guest rooms) but you can check out her work @ www.baldmountainhouse.com
Her contact info: phone # 4076971148 call or text; or email [email protected]
She said that $5,000 is ridiculous.
 
Roxanne Trees said:
My daughter has a degree from UCF in Graphic Design and Digital Media with a minor in Fine Art. She did mine (of course). My B&B is very small (3 guest rooms) but you can check out her work @ www.baldmountainhouse.com
Her contact info: phone # 4076971148 call or text; or email [email protected]
She said that $5,000 is ridiculous..
Click to expand...
But... why are all those ads on your page? I would hate that and run for the hills.
 
Momma Smurf said:
Roxanne Trees said:
My daughter has a degree from UCF in Graphic Design and Digital Media with a minor in Fine Art. She did mine (of course). My B&B is very small (3 guest rooms) but you can check out her work @ www.baldmountainhouse.com
Her contact info: phone # 4076971148 call or text; or email [email protected]
She said that $5,000 is ridiculous..
Click to expand...
But... why are all those ads on your page? I would hate that and run for the hills.
.
Click to expand...
Ads? If you mean the attractions, they are what bring people into this area. The ski resort, Appalachian Trail entrance and stables are inside the same resort as my B&B. Some reciprocate and link my site on their web page.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top