Hiring out website design... questions....

[EmptyNest]

Maintenance costs: this is a few years old, I do my site myself with nudging from empty nest.
$25 to add a photo, change a photo, + cost of time to edit photos to fit.
$25 per edit - add info, make changes to text
$100/month to make sure website was working, links were active and, back in the day, to resubmit website to search engines every month.
There was another charge to create new pages. At one point my site had almost 100 pages. It still has close to 50 now.
Luckily, I cut my teeth on website building back when doing it yourself was ok. There is some stuff I do not understand at all. It would be nice to call someone and say "fix that" instead of having to learn a bunch of stuff I'm not interested in any longer!
As JB said, if you have a website already, or you hire someone down the road, we'll be happy to go over it for you and point out what doesn't work from the guest standpoint.
Make sure whoever you hire doesn't copy from other places in your location. That is a huge no no. Some folks have had that happen. Brand new site goes up in their location with all of their info stolen from other sites. Or the designer models the new site on a high producing site with similar layout, photos, text. To the point the guest thinks it's all the same property..

So, I've talked to a guy, and he talks a good game... but is he any good? Major inducement - he is willing to barter
... they say you get what you "pay" for and in this case it is about $5,000 with photo's but how do I know if he can produce..?
His own website does not show up on the first two search pages (SEO is something he is supposed to be really good at.) Some of the websites in his portfolio are good, some are kinda lame... matter or taste I suppose. The one other b&b he did - well, they aren't using his stuff on their actual site. Last week caught some code exposed on his website -- gone now.
Bottom line this is a big decision... and I don't have the budget for it without the barter. I don't know if I could do it myself or not... I think I'll be taking your advice and sending you to check it all out, whatever I end up doing....
Thanks for all the input!
.

for $5000 he had better be damned good! I would love to see his site and portfolio and then I will give you my real opinion. Care to share a URL? I hope it is not the company who did the current site. I would never use them again.
You MUST MUST have a responsive website.
.

Can I post the url here - not taboo? Or should I pm it? I would love some opinions on what's what here. Because even with the barter - that's a lot of energy and rooms wasted if the site isn't popping at the end of it!
Meantime, I have a folder ready to grab a word press theme and give it a whirl myself. But the only website I've built in the past was for another business and it was drop and drag... no ecommerce, booking, or merchant accts. to weave in. Go that route and I could get stuck from what I'm reading here.
The current website is well...old! It was built by a guy from the Ukraine who speaks only Russian... this is not a joke. He is a friend of my SIL's. It just sounds like a joke!!
.

No not taboo....I don't think we "trash" lots of posted urls here......LOL

But only in the name of trying to help out.
.

Alrighty then: http://jarthur-co.com/
.

will have to wait till I am on computer again.can't get it to do anything on my tablet.

 

[user 26]

i've done a lot of web things - often always based on the money in my pocket. sad reality is that sometimes you can't get the best or anywhere near it if you can't pay for it. yet you need a good website.
if i don't like the web designer's site, i find it hard to want them to work on mine.
i don't care for the website of the url you shared. it's just not my style.
i like to see a portfolio. and then i go to the websites themselves from my web browser. i took a peak at a couple listed on their website and there is an inn site that is hard on my eyes. take a look and see what you think.
it has to appeal to YOU.
on the other hand, i sometimes go crazy for a website and i'll dig around to find who created them. get ideas from them.

 

[EmptyNest]

Maintenance costs: this is a few years old, I do my site myself with nudging from empty nest.
$25 to add a photo, change a photo, + cost of time to edit photos to fit.
$25 per edit - add info, make changes to text
$100/month to make sure website was working, links were active and, back in the day, to resubmit website to search engines every month.
There was another charge to create new pages. At one point my site had almost 100 pages. It still has close to 50 now.
Luckily, I cut my teeth on website building back when doing it yourself was ok. There is some stuff I do not understand at all. It would be nice to call someone and say "fix that" instead of having to learn a bunch of stuff I'm not interested in any longer!
As JB said, if you have a website already, or you hire someone down the road, we'll be happy to go over it for you and point out what doesn't work from the guest standpoint.
Make sure whoever you hire doesn't copy from other places in your location. That is a huge no no. Some folks have had that happen. Brand new site goes up in their location with all of their info stolen from other sites. Or the designer models the new site on a high producing site with similar layout, photos, text. To the point the guest thinks it's all the same property..

So, I've talked to a guy, and he talks a good game... but is he any good? Major inducement - he is willing to barter
... they say you get what you "pay" for and in this case it is about $5,000 with photo's but how do I know if he can produce..?
His own website does not show up on the first two search pages (SEO is something he is supposed to be really good at.) Some of the websites in his portfolio are good, some are kinda lame... matter or taste I suppose. The one other b&b he did - well, they aren't using his stuff on their actual site. Last week caught some code exposed on his website -- gone now.
Bottom line this is a big decision... and I don't have the budget for it without the barter. I don't know if I could do it myself or not... I think I'll be taking your advice and sending you to check it all out, whatever I end up doing....
Thanks for all the input!
.

for $5000 he had better be damned good! I would love to see his site and portfolio and then I will give you my real opinion. Care to share a URL? I hope it is not the company who did the current site. I would never use them again.
You MUST MUST have a responsive website.
.

Can I post the url here - not taboo? Or should I pm it? I would love some opinions on what's what here. Because even with the barter - that's a lot of energy and rooms wasted if the site isn't popping at the end of it!
Meantime, I have a folder ready to grab a word press theme and give it a whirl myself. But the only website I've built in the past was for another business and it was drop and drag... no ecommerce, booking, or merchant accts. to weave in. Go that route and I could get stuck from what I'm reading here.
The current website is well...old! It was built by a guy from the Ukraine who speaks only Russian... this is not a joke. He is a friend of my SIL's. It just sounds like a joke!!
.

No not taboo....I don't think we "trash" lots of posted urls here......LOL

But only in the name of trying to help out.
.

Alrighty then: http://jarthur-co.com/
.

His site too way tooo long to load for me.
1. Way too gimmicky for me
2. Why would you put a mobile menu ...those little lines in the upper left corner. Many would never know to even click on them.
3. I am not a fan of this long scrolling kind of page. Though it seems to be the rage right now with many developers.
4. I don't like that I can't click on a link to view his portfolio sites.
5. The B & B inn site..when I googled looked nothing like the site in his portfolio it has another web design listed on the site. So maybe this isn't the right one
6. I looked at the jo site. Using a theme called nosh from theme forest. You can buy one of these themes yourself and do the same things. I would suggest AVADA or ENFOLD. Those are the two most popular right now. Play around with them yourself before you pay 5K to someone.
You might want to look this blog article over.

 

[Generic]

Maintenance costs: this is a few years old, I do my site myself with nudging from empty nest.
$25 to add a photo, change a photo, + cost of time to edit photos to fit.
$25 per edit - add info, make changes to text
$100/month to make sure website was working, links were active and, back in the day, to resubmit website to search engines every month.
There was another charge to create new pages. At one point my site had almost 100 pages. It still has close to 50 now.
Luckily, I cut my teeth on website building back when doing it yourself was ok. There is some stuff I do not understand at all. It would be nice to call someone and say "fix that" instead of having to learn a bunch of stuff I'm not interested in any longer!
As JB said, if you have a website already, or you hire someone down the road, we'll be happy to go over it for you and point out what doesn't work from the guest standpoint.
Make sure whoever you hire doesn't copy from other places in your location. That is a huge no no. Some folks have had that happen. Brand new site goes up in their location with all of their info stolen from other sites. Or the designer models the new site on a high producing site with similar layout, photos, text. To the point the guest thinks it's all the same property..

So, I've talked to a guy, and he talks a good game... but is he any good? Major inducement - he is willing to barter
... they say you get what you "pay" for and in this case it is about $5,000 with photo's but how do I know if he can produce..?
His own website does not show up on the first two search pages (SEO is something he is supposed to be really good at.) Some of the websites in his portfolio are good, some are kinda lame... matter or taste I suppose. The one other b&b he did - well, they aren't using his stuff on their actual site. Last week caught some code exposed on his website -- gone now.
Bottom line this is a big decision... and I don't have the budget for it without the barter. I don't know if I could do it myself or not... I think I'll be taking your advice and sending you to check it all out, whatever I end up doing....
Thanks for all the input!
.

for $5000 he had better be damned good! I would love to see his site and portfolio and then I will give you my real opinion. Care to share a URL? I hope it is not the company who did the current site. I would never use them again.
You MUST MUST have a responsive website.
.

Can I post the url here - not taboo? Or should I pm it? I would love some opinions on what's what here. Because even with the barter - that's a lot of energy and rooms wasted if the site isn't popping at the end of it!
Meantime, I have a folder ready to grab a word press theme and give it a whirl myself. But the only website I've built in the past was for another business and it was drop and drag... no ecommerce, booking, or merchant accts. to weave in. Go that route and I could get stuck from what I'm reading here.
The current website is well...old! It was built by a guy from the Ukraine who speaks only Russian... this is not a joke. He is a friend of my SIL's. It just sounds like a joke!!
.

No not taboo....I don't think we "trash" lots of posted urls here......LOL

But only in the name of trying to help out.
.

Alrighty then: http://jarthur-co.com/
.

His site too way tooo long to load for me.
1. Way too gimmicky for me
2. Why would you put a mobile menu ...those little lines in the upper left corner. Many would never know to even click on them.
3. I am not a fan of this long scrolling kind of page. Though it seems to be the rage right now with many developers.
4. I don't like that I can't click on a link to view his portfolio sites.
5. The B & B inn site..when I googled looked nothing like the site in his portfolio it has another web design listed on the site. So maybe this isn't the right one
6. I looked at the jo site. Using a theme called nosh from theme forest. You can buy one of these themes yourself and do the same things. I would suggest AVADA or ENFOLD. Those are the two most popular right now. Play around with them yourself before you pay 5K to someone.
You might want to look this blog article over.
.

The B&B is in Newport, RI and you are right, they aren't using his page.
The reality is that a good CMS and a theme will do 90% of the work. Even if she needs to hire someone to do the photos and set up the website.

 

[2ndLife]

Maintenance costs: this is a few years old, I do my site myself with nudging from empty nest.
$25 to add a photo, change a photo, + cost of time to edit photos to fit.
$25 per edit - add info, make changes to text
$100/month to make sure website was working, links were active and, back in the day, to resubmit website to search engines every month.
There was another charge to create new pages. At one point my site had almost 100 pages. It still has close to 50 now.
Luckily, I cut my teeth on website building back when doing it yourself was ok. There is some stuff I do not understand at all. It would be nice to call someone and say "fix that" instead of having to learn a bunch of stuff I'm not interested in any longer!
As JB said, if you have a website already, or you hire someone down the road, we'll be happy to go over it for you and point out what doesn't work from the guest standpoint.
Make sure whoever you hire doesn't copy from other places in your location. That is a huge no no. Some folks have had that happen. Brand new site goes up in their location with all of their info stolen from other sites. Or the designer models the new site on a high producing site with similar layout, photos, text. To the point the guest thinks it's all the same property..

So, I've talked to a guy, and he talks a good game... but is he any good? Major inducement - he is willing to barter
... they say you get what you "pay" for and in this case it is about $5,000 with photo's but how do I know if he can produce..?
His own website does not show up on the first two search pages (SEO is something he is supposed to be really good at.) Some of the websites in his portfolio are good, some are kinda lame... matter or taste I suppose. The one other b&b he did - well, they aren't using his stuff on their actual site. Last week caught some code exposed on his website -- gone now.
Bottom line this is a big decision... and I don't have the budget for it without the barter. I don't know if I could do it myself or not... I think I'll be taking your advice and sending you to check it all out, whatever I end up doing....
Thanks for all the input!
.

for $5000 he had better be damned good! I would love to see his site and portfolio and then I will give you my real opinion. Care to share a URL? I hope it is not the company who did the current site. I would never use them again.
You MUST MUST have a responsive website.
.

Can I post the url here - not taboo? Or should I pm it? I would love some opinions on what's what here. Because even with the barter - that's a lot of energy and rooms wasted if the site isn't popping at the end of it!
Meantime, I have a folder ready to grab a word press theme and give it a whirl myself. But the only website I've built in the past was for another business and it was drop and drag... no ecommerce, booking, or merchant accts. to weave in. Go that route and I could get stuck from what I'm reading here.
The current website is well...old! It was built by a guy from the Ukraine who speaks only Russian... this is not a joke. He is a friend of my SIL's. It just sounds like a joke!!
.

No not taboo....I don't think we "trash" lots of posted urls here......LOL

But only in the name of trying to help out.
.

Alrighty then: http://jarthur-co.com/
.

His site too way tooo long to load for me.
1. Way too gimmicky for me
2. Why would you put a mobile menu ...those little lines in the upper left corner. Many would never know to even click on them.
3. I am not a fan of this long scrolling kind of page. Though it seems to be the rage right now with many developers.
4. I don't like that I can't click on a link to view his portfolio sites.
5. The B & B inn site..when I googled looked nothing like the site in his portfolio it has another web design listed on the site. So maybe this isn't the right one
6. I looked at the jo site. Using a theme called nosh from theme forest. You can buy one of these themes yourself and do the same things. I would suggest AVADA or ENFOLD. Those are the two most popular right now. Play around with them yourself before you pay 5K to someone.
You might want to look this blog article over.
.

Ah, my take is similar...may be high tech and all the rage -- but not user friendly when you have to go offsite and google his portfolio pieces to take a look at his work. I saw that too -- that the other B&B has a web designer's name -- just not his, (which is why I had asked do you have to pay for it if you don't use it...)
Drat - I was hoping to lightened the load a bit here...
Thanks for the opinion and suggestions. I'll check them out! ...right after I lead the alarm guy through 10,000 sq ft of house, fed-ex a check back to Spain, paint the crown molding in room 3, and repair the coffee table someone broke by sitting on it... I need minnions! Where are my minnions!???
Deep breath - okay I'm good!

 

[2ndLife]

i've done a lot of web things - often always based on the money in my pocket. sad reality is that sometimes you can't get the best or anywhere near it if you can't pay for it. yet you need a good website.
if i don't like the web designer's site, i find it hard to want them to work on mine.
i don't care for the website of the url you shared. it's just not my style.
i like to see a portfolio. and then i go to the websites themselves from my web browser. i took a peak at a couple listed on their website and there is an inn site that is hard on my eyes. take a look and see what you think.
it has to appeal to YOU.
on the other hand, i sometimes go crazy for a website and i'll dig around to find who created them. get ideas from them..

I didn't hate the design, and tried to keep in mind that he is trying to show off his skills... but I didn't know what was navigable and what was just... well...there.
The logo's down the bottom... are they his or....? They don't connect to anything. And what's "justice" got to do with anything... he isn't a law firm. I find that a perplexing choice.
Thanks for your take seashanty! Lots to digest!

 

[2ndLife]

Maintenance costs: this is a few years old, I do my site myself with nudging from empty nest.
$25 to add a photo, change a photo, + cost of time to edit photos to fit.
$25 per edit - add info, make changes to text
$100/month to make sure website was working, links were active and, back in the day, to resubmit website to search engines every month.
There was another charge to create new pages. At one point my site had almost 100 pages. It still has close to 50 now.
Luckily, I cut my teeth on website building back when doing it yourself was ok. There is some stuff I do not understand at all. It would be nice to call someone and say "fix that" instead of having to learn a bunch of stuff I'm not interested in any longer!
As JB said, if you have a website already, or you hire someone down the road, we'll be happy to go over it for you and point out what doesn't work from the guest standpoint.
Make sure whoever you hire doesn't copy from other places in your location. That is a huge no no. Some folks have had that happen. Brand new site goes up in their location with all of their info stolen from other sites. Or the designer models the new site on a high producing site with similar layout, photos, text. To the point the guest thinks it's all the same property..

So, I've talked to a guy, and he talks a good game... but is he any good? Major inducement - he is willing to barter
... they say you get what you "pay" for and in this case it is about $5,000 with photo's but how do I know if he can produce..?
His own website does not show up on the first two search pages (SEO is something he is supposed to be really good at.) Some of the websites in his portfolio are good, some are kinda lame... matter or taste I suppose. The one other b&b he did - well, they aren't using his stuff on their actual site. Last week caught some code exposed on his website -- gone now.
Bottom line this is a big decision... and I don't have the budget for it without the barter. I don't know if I could do it myself or not... I think I'll be taking your advice and sending you to check it all out, whatever I end up doing....
Thanks for all the input!
.

for $5000 he had better be damned good! I would love to see his site and portfolio and then I will give you my real opinion. Care to share a URL? I hope it is not the company who did the current site. I would never use them again.
You MUST MUST have a responsive website.
.

Can I post the url here - not taboo? Or should I pm it? I would love some opinions on what's what here. Because even with the barter - that's a lot of energy and rooms wasted if the site isn't popping at the end of it!
Meantime, I have a folder ready to grab a word press theme and give it a whirl myself. But the only website I've built in the past was for another business and it was drop and drag... no ecommerce, booking, or merchant accts. to weave in. Go that route and I could get stuck from what I'm reading here.
The current website is well...old! It was built by a guy from the Ukraine who speaks only Russian... this is not a joke. He is a friend of my SIL's. It just sounds like a joke!!
.

No not taboo....I don't think we "trash" lots of posted urls here......LOL

But only in the name of trying to help out.
.

Alrighty then: http://jarthur-co.com/
.

His site too way tooo long to load for me.
1. Way too gimmicky for me
2. Why would you put a mobile menu ...those little lines in the upper left corner. Many would never know to even click on them.
3. I am not a fan of this long scrolling kind of page. Though it seems to be the rage right now with many developers.
4. I don't like that I can't click on a link to view his portfolio sites.
5. The B & B inn site..when I googled looked nothing like the site in his portfolio it has another web design listed on the site. So maybe this isn't the right one
6. I looked at the jo site. Using a theme called nosh from theme forest. You can buy one of these themes yourself and do the same things. I would suggest AVADA or ENFOLD. Those are the two most popular right now. Play around with them yourself before you pay 5K to someone.
You might want to look this blog article over.
.

The B&B is in Newport, RI and you are right, they aren't using his page.
The reality is that a good CMS and a theme will do 90% of the work. Even if she needs to hire someone to do the photos and set up the website.
.

Okay... newbie with some of the terms -- CMS? Help a gal out here Jon.
I wasn't crazy about the web design the b&b went with either...
I did notice that many of his sites say in "affiliation with" and am wondering why that terminology?

 

[Morticia]

Maintenance costs: this is a few years old, I do my site myself with nudging from empty nest.
$25 to add a photo, change a photo, + cost of time to edit photos to fit.
$25 per edit - add info, make changes to text
$100/month to make sure website was working, links were active and, back in the day, to resubmit website to search engines every month.
There was another charge to create new pages. At one point my site had almost 100 pages. It still has close to 50 now.
Luckily, I cut my teeth on website building back when doing it yourself was ok. There is some stuff I do not understand at all. It would be nice to call someone and say "fix that" instead of having to learn a bunch of stuff I'm not interested in any longer!
As JB said, if you have a website already, or you hire someone down the road, we'll be happy to go over it for you and point out what doesn't work from the guest standpoint.
Make sure whoever you hire doesn't copy from other places in your location. That is a huge no no. Some folks have had that happen. Brand new site goes up in their location with all of their info stolen from other sites. Or the designer models the new site on a high producing site with similar layout, photos, text. To the point the guest thinks it's all the same property..

So, I've talked to a guy, and he talks a good game... but is he any good? Major inducement - he is willing to barter
... they say you get what you "pay" for and in this case it is about $5,000 with photo's but how do I know if he can produce..?
His own website does not show up on the first two search pages (SEO is something he is supposed to be really good at.) Some of the websites in his portfolio are good, some are kinda lame... matter or taste I suppose. The one other b&b he did - well, they aren't using his stuff on their actual site. Last week caught some code exposed on his website -- gone now.
Bottom line this is a big decision... and I don't have the budget for it without the barter. I don't know if I could do it myself or not... I think I'll be taking your advice and sending you to check it all out, whatever I end up doing....
Thanks for all the input!
.

for $5000 he had better be damned good! I would love to see his site and portfolio and then I will give you my real opinion. Care to share a URL? I hope it is not the company who did the current site. I would never use them again.
You MUST MUST have a responsive website.
.

Can I post the url here - not taboo? Or should I pm it? I would love some opinions on what's what here. Because even with the barter - that's a lot of energy and rooms wasted if the site isn't popping at the end of it!
Meantime, I have a folder ready to grab a word press theme and give it a whirl myself. But the only website I've built in the past was for another business and it was drop and drag... no ecommerce, booking, or merchant accts. to weave in. Go that route and I could get stuck from what I'm reading here.
The current website is well...old! It was built by a guy from the Ukraine who speaks only Russian... this is not a joke. He is a friend of my SIL's. It just sounds like a joke!!
.

No not taboo....I don't think we "trash" lots of posted urls here......LOL

But only in the name of trying to help out.
.

Alrighty then: http://jarthur-co.com/
.

His site too way tooo long to load for me.
1. Way too gimmicky for me
2. Why would you put a mobile menu ...those little lines in the upper left corner. Many would never know to even click on them.
3. I am not a fan of this long scrolling kind of page. Though it seems to be the rage right now with many developers.
4. I don't like that I can't click on a link to view his portfolio sites.
5. The B & B inn site..when I googled looked nothing like the site in his portfolio it has another web design listed on the site. So maybe this isn't the right one
6. I looked at the jo site. Using a theme called nosh from theme forest. You can buy one of these themes yourself and do the same things. I would suggest AVADA or ENFOLD. Those are the two most popular right now. Play around with them yourself before you pay 5K to someone.
You might want to look this blog article over.
.

Ah, my take is similar...may be high tech and all the rage -- but not user friendly when you have to go offsite and google his portfolio pieces to take a look at his work. I saw that too -- that the other B&B has a web designer's name -- just not his, (which is why I had asked do you have to pay for it if you don't use it...)
Drat - I was hoping to lightened the load a bit here...
Thanks for the opinion and suggestions. I'll check them out! ...right after I lead the alarm guy through 10,000 sq ft of house, fed-ex a check back to Spain, paint the crown molding in room 3, and repair the coffee table someone broke by sitting on it... I need minnions! Where are my minnions!???
Deep breath - okay I'm good!
.

I need minnions! Where are my minnions!???

Something I say everyday.

 

[Generic]

Maintenance costs: this is a few years old, I do my site myself with nudging from empty nest.
$25 to add a photo, change a photo, + cost of time to edit photos to fit.
$25 per edit - add info, make changes to text
$100/month to make sure website was working, links were active and, back in the day, to resubmit website to search engines every month.
There was another charge to create new pages. At one point my site had almost 100 pages. It still has close to 50 now.
Luckily, I cut my teeth on website building back when doing it yourself was ok. There is some stuff I do not understand at all. It would be nice to call someone and say "fix that" instead of having to learn a bunch of stuff I'm not interested in any longer!
As JB said, if you have a website already, or you hire someone down the road, we'll be happy to go over it for you and point out what doesn't work from the guest standpoint.
Make sure whoever you hire doesn't copy from other places in your location. That is a huge no no. Some folks have had that happen. Brand new site goes up in their location with all of their info stolen from other sites. Or the designer models the new site on a high producing site with similar layout, photos, text. To the point the guest thinks it's all the same property..

So, I've talked to a guy, and he talks a good game... but is he any good? Major inducement - he is willing to barter
... they say you get what you "pay" for and in this case it is about $5,000 with photo's but how do I know if he can produce..?
His own website does not show up on the first two search pages (SEO is something he is supposed to be really good at.) Some of the websites in his portfolio are good, some are kinda lame... matter or taste I suppose. The one other b&b he did - well, they aren't using his stuff on their actual site. Last week caught some code exposed on his website -- gone now.
Bottom line this is a big decision... and I don't have the budget for it without the barter. I don't know if I could do it myself or not... I think I'll be taking your advice and sending you to check it all out, whatever I end up doing....
Thanks for all the input!
.

for $5000 he had better be damned good! I would love to see his site and portfolio and then I will give you my real opinion. Care to share a URL? I hope it is not the company who did the current site. I would never use them again.
You MUST MUST have a responsive website.
.

Can I post the url here - not taboo? Or should I pm it? I would love some opinions on what's what here. Because even with the barter - that's a lot of energy and rooms wasted if the site isn't popping at the end of it!
Meantime, I have a folder ready to grab a word press theme and give it a whirl myself. But the only website I've built in the past was for another business and it was drop and drag... no ecommerce, booking, or merchant accts. to weave in. Go that route and I could get stuck from what I'm reading here.
The current website is well...old! It was built by a guy from the Ukraine who speaks only Russian... this is not a joke. He is a friend of my SIL's. It just sounds like a joke!!
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No not taboo....I don't think we "trash" lots of posted urls here......LOL

But only in the name of trying to help out.
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Alrighty then: http://jarthur-co.com/
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His site too way tooo long to load for me.
1. Way too gimmicky for me
2. Why would you put a mobile menu ...those little lines in the upper left corner. Many would never know to even click on them.
3. I am not a fan of this long scrolling kind of page. Though it seems to be the rage right now with many developers.
4. I don't like that I can't click on a link to view his portfolio sites.
5. The B & B inn site..when I googled looked nothing like the site in his portfolio it has another web design listed on the site. So maybe this isn't the right one
6. I looked at the jo site. Using a theme called nosh from theme forest. You can buy one of these themes yourself and do the same things. I would suggest AVADA or ENFOLD. Those are the two most popular right now. Play around with them yourself before you pay 5K to someone.
You might want to look this blog article over.
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The B&B is in Newport, RI and you are right, they aren't using his page.
The reality is that a good CMS and a theme will do 90% of the work. Even if she needs to hire someone to do the photos and set up the website.
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Okay... newbie with some of the terms -- CMS? Help a gal out here Jon.
I wasn't crazy about the web design the b&b went with either...
I did notice that many of his sites say in "affiliation with" and am wondering why that terminology?
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CMS = Content Management System. Basically big software in the back that simplifies delivery to the web. Many of of us use Wordpress as a CMS rather than as a blogging front end. But there are others out there, like Drupal, Joomla. And there are websites that are CMSes, like WIX.
In my case, the fact that I need my website to be set up in multiple languages influenced my decision. But basically between the CMS and a theme, you can make your website do a lot with little effort. And responsive themes make them work as mobile or as full screen.

 

[2ndLife]

So I have found a site I think is beautiful (doesn't hurt that the house is spectacular...lol)
Wondering if anyone recognizes the basic theme? In particular on the rooms page I love the way the rooms scroll through as you roll over the widget displayed in the teal bar...(part way down on the left)?

 

[Generic]

So I have found a site I think is beautiful (doesn't hurt that the house is spectacular...lol)
Wondering if anyone recognizes the basic theme? In particular on the rooms page I love the way the rooms scroll through as you roll over the widget displayed in the teal bar...(part way down on the left)?.

Can't see it without an address

 

[Morticia]

So I have found a site I think is beautiful (doesn't hurt that the house is spectacular...lol)
Wondering if anyone recognizes the basic theme? In particular on the rooms page I love the way the rooms scroll through as you roll over the widget displayed in the teal bar...(part way down on the left)?.

Usually you can right click on the page (not on any links in the page) and select 'view page source'. That lets you see the code, which generally tells you what theme was used.

 

[EmptyNest]

So I have found a site I think is beautiful (doesn't hurt that the house is spectacular...lol)
Wondering if anyone recognizes the basic theme? In particular on the rooms page I love the way the rooms scroll through as you roll over the widget displayed in the teal bar...(part way down on the left)?.

What is the site uRL? Then I can tell you if they are using a WP theme or something else

 

[2ndLife]

So I have found a site I think is beautiful (doesn't hurt that the house is spectacular...lol)
Wondering if anyone recognizes the basic theme? In particular on the rooms page I love the way the rooms scroll through as you roll over the widget displayed in the teal bar...(part way down on the left)?.

What is the site uRL? Then I can tell you if they are using a WP theme or something else
.

oops! Sorry! More caffeine needed!
http://www.cliffsideinn.com/

 

[2ndLife]

So I have found a site I think is beautiful (doesn't hurt that the house is spectacular...lol)
Wondering if anyone recognizes the basic theme? In particular on the rooms page I love the way the rooms scroll through as you roll over the widget displayed in the teal bar...(part way down on the left)?.

Usually you can right click on the page (not on any links in the page) and select 'view page source'. That lets you see the code, which generally tells you what theme was used.
.

Aw! Very helpful! I can see it is wordpress - though what theme...isn't clear to me...

 

[Generic]

So I have found a site I think is beautiful (doesn't hurt that the house is spectacular...lol)
Wondering if anyone recognizes the basic theme? In particular on the rooms page I love the way the rooms scroll through as you roll over the widget displayed in the teal bar...(part way down on the left)?.

What is the site uRL? Then I can tell you if they are using a WP theme or something else
.

oops! Sorry! More caffeine needed!
http://www.cliffsideinn.com/
.

That's WordPress, a custom theme by WhiteStone. A very well known B&B website company.

 

[DH22]

So I have found a site I think is beautiful (doesn't hurt that the house is spectacular...lol)
Wondering if anyone recognizes the basic theme? In particular on the rooms page I love the way the rooms scroll through as you roll over the widget displayed in the teal bar...(part way down on the left)?.

What is the site uRL? Then I can tell you if they are using a WP theme or something else
.

oops! Sorry! More caffeine needed!
http://www.cliffsideinn.com/
.

That website was designed by White Stone Marketing as you can see in the footer if you scroll to the bottom of the page. They design custom Wordpress sites, so it did not start from any theme you could buy.
edit.. Looks like someone else beat me to it by a few seconds

 

[GoodScout]

My $.02 worth:
Cost of designing? Can be anywhere from $1k to $15k. If you pay any less, you're getting crap. Pay any more, and you're getting robbed. May sure you specify how many pages you get for what you pay, and whatever functionality you need (links to online booking sites, flash animation, etc.)
Cost of maintaining? If it's done in WordPress and you're relatively savvy, you can do it yourself. My designer didn't want a full-time webmaster job so training and limited support were included in my price.
Do you give the designer money up front (a portion as you would a contractor?) I agreed to pay my designer 50% after I saw the first 50% of the website pages he'd designed, and the remaining 50% once it launched and I was satisfied.
What if you don't care for what he/she ultimately creates? Then you'll get whatever they want and not what you want.
Are you obligated to pay for the work - if you don't use the product? Yes.
Is photography/photographer typically included? If not how much for this service...? It should be. Very important: Make sure designer has bought the rights to the stock photos he/she uses, and make sure they give you copies of all documentation showing this. You don't want a demand letter from Getty Images for thousands of dollars for photos. .

Don't use stock photos, period. Guests should not be 'surprised' that the building, grounds, rooms, area, food don't look anything like the photos.
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I only use stock for things like package illustrations (massages, pet packages, etc.) Agree always better to show guests what they're getting. If you're place looks awesome, why not show it off!

 

[2ndLife]

So I have found a site I think is beautiful (doesn't hurt that the house is spectacular...lol)
Wondering if anyone recognizes the basic theme? In particular on the rooms page I love the way the rooms scroll through as you roll over the widget displayed in the teal bar...(part way down on the left)?.

What is the site uRL? Then I can tell you if they are using a WP theme or something else
.

oops! Sorry! More caffeine needed!
http://www.cliffsideinn.com/
.

That website was designed by White Stone Marketing as you can see in the footer if you scroll to the bottom of the page. They design custom Wordpress sites, so it did not start from any theme you could buy.
edit.. Looks like someone else beat me to it by a few seconds
.

The widget used to display the rooms - is that custom too do you think?

 

[EmptyNest]

So I have found a site I think is beautiful (doesn't hurt that the house is spectacular...lol)
Wondering if anyone recognizes the basic theme? In particular on the rooms page I love the way the rooms scroll through as you roll over the widget displayed in the teal bar...(part way down on the left)?.

What is the site uRL? Then I can tell you if they are using a WP theme or something else
.

oops! Sorry! More caffeine needed!
http://www.cliffsideinn.com/
.

Personally, I don't care for the look of this site.
This site is a custom WP theme...BIG BUCKS and done by a company we all know very well here.Probably Waaaaaaaay more than 5K!
Everything is pretty customized.
HMMMM one thing i notice is it doesn't seem to be responsive. Anyone else thing this? Not resizing when I change my browser size.
Although they may be the # 1 in TA, I sure don't like seeing that at the top of the page first thing.