Ah, a website...
I had dreamed of having my own website for a few years, but I admit I was a little slow jumping on this bandwagon. It seemed like such a huge task, not to mention a tremendous amount of money. But after my initial success at the Moonshine Gallery in October of 2008, followed by more great things in the summer of 2009, I wanted to conquer the world! So I decided to start figuring things out and asking questions.
The first place I looked was at a local web master. He wanted too much money. So then I decided to sit down with my friend Tim, creator and HTML writer of The Art on Ice E-mag (www.artonicemag.com). He wouldn't charge me as much, and I could have design control and I could let Tim have the technical control. I should have stuck with this idea!
Tim told me to register my domain with Go-Daddy.com. So I did, and while I was on their site, I noticed they had some cool looking templates! And I could add a shopping cart! And it was 'point and click!' It would be so easy, and cheap!
So I frantically began searching for domain names. I knew I wanted to use my name. JohnFrench.com was taken by a photographer, I think. JohnFrenchPaintworks.com was open, but sounded more like a home and wall painter, not an artsy painter. JohnFrenchPaintings.com was available, but someday I want to try sculpting, and stained glass, so I checked ArtofJohnFrench.com. Available! So on Jan 1st, 2010, I registered my domain.
After that, I began working on the building of it. If any of you have ever worked with Go-Daddy.com, then you know it is an exercise in frustration. Nothing is ever the same way twice, it's hard to find your stuff, it's hard to figure out what you need, and that's just the sign-in page! Once you're in, the real maze of sales pitched and long halls of Bob and his hot chicks. Don't get me wrong, I like hot chicks, just not when I'm trying to actually accomplish something!
I spent three months figuring out go-daddy's web builder, adding the a storefront as a subdomain to the main domain, painting inventory, taking pictures, uploading pictures, upgrading my services, canceling services that I had accidentally doubled-up on (remember the maze), and typing my keyword rich text. Finally, in March, I launched www.artofjohnfrench.com!
It wasn't so easy, and it wasn't THAT cheap, and I haven't exactly conquered the world. But I've reworked the website many times to sculpt it into something I'm proud of. There are many other web building programs out there to try. I wish I would have check more of them out before I settled with Go-Daddy. Still, as frustrating as Go-Daddy is, it was still quicker than learning how to write in HTML code. Just be ready to scream at your computer!
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