Free and easy websites with Homestead.com
Written: Nov 04 '00 (Updated Nov 04 '00)
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Pros: Easy to use for beginners
Cons: Slow
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| Caleo's Full Review: Homestead.com |
This review is done as part of a write-off called Epinion’s Helping Hands. I would like to say a special thank you bgoodday for organizing this and promoting a spirit of giving here at epinions.
Free and easy home on the web
This week I took a huge step into the cyber world. I have been online for two years now, and during my first few weeks I quickly learned the basics of surfing, using message boards, and maintaining an email account. But that was perhaps the limit of my web expertise.
Then came that joyous day, almost two months ago, that I discovered Epinions, and a full blown addiction took hold. I read more far more than I write, and in my travels around this site, I have been receiving a grand education in many areas once foreign. And this has been responsible for giving me the courage to stick that baby toe into the cold water of web design and leap right in.
It began quite innocently... I wanted a photo on my profile page. As most of you know, you must have somewhere to store that photo online. My daughter, the 13 year old computer guru, has a Trellix made web site hosted by Tripod, so we stored the photo there originally but it kept disappearing from my profile page. Not the smooth and savvy look I was going for. Then one day I happened across the profile of kristennc and noticed that she had a (very nice!) website at Homestead.com.
If you have not seen a Homestead site before, perhaps the first thing you will notice is the non-existence of banner ads that plague so many other free sites. This fact, coupled with kristennc's appealing layout, led to me to explore the site further, and sign up. Joining Homestead could not be easier, you need only to supply your name, year of birth, email address, and country of origin, and then create a name and password. So within a few minutes you are the proud owner of a yet to be designed web site.
The Creative Process...So now what do I do??
If you are a relative newcomer to the web like myself, you may find HTML and Java scripting quite intimidating. With Homestead, however, you are supplied with a vast array of ready to use templates, borders, shapes, clip art, text and photos, even free access to such goodies as animated gifs, hit counters, message boards, email and voice messaging...no HTML required at all. You can even set up a storefront with shopping cart selling your own wares or using merchants supplied by The Homestead MoneyMakers Affiliate Program™ . Each site is allotted 16 MB of storage allowing plenty of room to download and store your own photos and graphics as well. You have the option to acquire 50 MB more (free as well), and create as many sites as you desire. For the more experienced user, Homestead offers FTP for quick file transfers and you can import and edit your own HTML files.
If you are at all experienced with desktop publishing programs like Pagemaker or Quark, you will find the drag and drop features of Homestead very easy to use. The elements on every page are all easily moved around and even those of a ready to use template can be deleted or altered. Once you have decided upon your purpose and intent (personal, small business, club etc.) spend some time and sketch out a rough layout on a piece of paper, this will speed the design process along considerably. The next step is to import any photos and graphics (using a simple pop-up window), have your text ready to paste or type in, and the URL's of any web sites you want to link to.
Basically, if you have all of your ducks lined up in a row, you will save yourself a great deal of aggravation. Using Homestead can be a rather slow process, and it is best to have all other programs and unnecessary windows closed. If you are unsure of which layout direction to venture towards, Homestead offers some very useful tutorials and layout ideas for the beginner. By the way, linking pages is very easy... select the element, such as a button, or highlight the text you wish to have linked. A pop-up menu will appear and you simply input the url of email of the page you want to link to.
HINT: Save your pages often as you work on them. I have frozen on three occasions and had to restart the computer while working on Homestead. It seems to be rather fickle that way, although for the most part it does run smoothly.
Done!...Now what?
Once your new website is done you will want to promote it. If your page is linked to your epinions partner site make sure you add the url on your profile page. Then list your site in one or more of the Homestead directories that include Organizations and Clubs, Personal Home Pages, Small Business, Hobbies and Interests, Holidays, Teens and Stories from Around the World. Join the Homestead message boards to promote yourself and seek advice. Tell all your friends and relatives...but please never, ever SPAM your good news to the world. Remember to update your site often so that the content is fresh.
Do I recommend this
During the last two weeks, Homestead has revamped their home page and added more elements and services that make the site even more appealing. It is a great place for the beginner to learn basic concepts of web design, and set up their homepage. While it tends to run fairly slowly as it loads between pages, and supplies a limited selection of fonts, it is very easy to use and offers an attractive selection of elements and money making concepts. And it is very flexible, limited only by the user's imagination.
Curious to see what I put together...check out http://totocaleo.homestead.com/home.html
I would not recommend this for the serious entrepreneur who should invest in the professional looking .com name. As you can see by my rather long url above, this would be hard to promote and remember. Customer service is by email only, so if a problem were to arise that required immediate attention you would be left holding the "virtual" bag, and at risk of hurting your business.
But for the individual who wants a personal page on the web, and is perhaps just dabbling in e-commerce I think that Homestead offers a great service. Neat, clean, easy to use, and customer oriented. 7 million would members would probably agree.
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Myself and all of the participants have so generously decided to contribute all money earned from this write-off to help someone in need... My donations will go to my local food bank. All contributors have written in a variety of areas but the common denominator is that we will make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate then ourselves.
If you would like to help someone in need this year but were not able to participate in this write-off, you can do so by reading as many of these reviews as possible. Please take a minute out of your day to help another. I am honored to present you with the list of people who have decided to participate with me in this Helping Hands Write-Off.
alwaysstubborn, amykhar, argonut, bgoodday, bluehawg, bluesky2, bmcnichol, bops_mom, broadwaybaby, bunnyjav, caleo, canne, ceeJay62, cntaur5, conradd, cutie_pi, cyndiA, dani257, dannyzmom, darkmistress, diverpam, dreamcatcher39, dunkjam, emeleel, francesca57, frani49, gracef, grumpifrog, gypsyrose75, jcellis, jenni1396, jimdaisy, jo.com, joubert, katetpz, kelly60, kimmiekg, kristennc, kyhiera, lildev, maddi, meanbeast, merlot, mimi369, mmounsey, monicaL2me, mskills, mspooh5, pantazis5, pianomam, prepoia, rmartin_cpa, roadiem, shanny21, soxfan, sugarbugg23, suzig, taurusmoon, thinkerlady, tipu, viper1963, wavesandshells, wickedgood, and wildbillm.
Thank you all for reading and for helping us to help another.
Recommended:
Yes
Monthly fees (US$): 0.00
Hosted on Secure Server: Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Caleo
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Member: Brenda C
Location: Ontario, Canada
Reviews written: 49
Trusted by: 121 members
About Me:
Searching for inspiration...
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