I have been thinking of having my own website for a couple of years now. We have so many great photos of the dogs & I also think it would be a good place to give information on my breed etc.

I've been having a look online today but it seems a complete minefield. To be honest I'm finding it pretty confusing! I am pretty computer literate, so not a complete numpty and can usually work things out.

So those of you who have your own website, how did you go about it? Also, what were the costs involved etc (if you're willing to give that info obviously). Was it a difficult process?

I am a fully paid up member of Champdogs by the way :)

Tanya

Have a look at www.webs.com It is all free with options for upgrades if you want those extra features.

Another vote for webs.com here. I've got 3 active websites, 2 business and 1 dog and find it very easy to use. I pay an extra £10 a year for each site to go ad free, just so you don't get the annoying adverts at the top of your site. If you can live with those it's totally free.

A professional website here http://www.ekmpowershop.com

sent a PM

First check if your own ISP provides free webspace.

then you need to decide if you want to be trapped into their own templates/layouts or have the freedom to design your own pages.

I prefer a WYSIWYG program to create pages.

I use Serif Webplus.  Originally I used Webplus 6 which was free on-line.

I then bought webplus 9 a few years ago, as that allows me to download pages into the program. so great if something happens to your computer, and not having to start all over again from scratch.

I imagine there are now more recent versions of Webplus available for free, so worth a try.

When I ran out of my free space I put some of my pages on Awardspace, which was free with no adverts.  I also use Awardspace for hosting my deceased friends website, as the kennel was a mainstay of our breed for 50 years.

The program for creating my webpages can do a lot more than what I do with it, but I prefer a plain and simple site.

Also I have a free guestbook and webcounters from 'Bravenet' who also do free hosting packages.

THANK YOU all so much for your replies, gives me somewhere to start.

Will look into each of the ideas & decide which way to go.

Thanks again
Tanya

We use moonfruit.com they are fantastic and you can create a very professional looking site with little effort. The prices aren't bad either, think I pay £5.99 a month (I have a lot of pictues lol) though you could just have a free site with a basic package which still looks good.
We made a free site for french friends to sell their property on and you would never know to look at it that its a freebie! :)

I use moonfruit too.  I run 3 websites for friends throughout it too.  Really easy to use and you can have a free page or pay for more space etc.