Google friendly website builder?

[Former_Member]

I would like to create my own website. It would be my online portfolio and it would link back to my etsy shop.
I am looking for a good website builder that is also SEO/google friendly and free :)
Any suggestions?

[Former_Member]

I used Google Apps to build my site - I found it fairly user friendly, works with Google (obviously!;), and its free! Google Sites is a part of google apps, and had everything I needed. Here's how my site came out ... http://www.flourishanddebonair.com

[Former_Member]

thanks for this information. i needed it 2

[Former_Member]

thanks flourish. your site is beautiful
I will check them out.

I saw few gorgeous Wix sites,but I read that sites that are on wix are not picked up by google
is there something similar to Wix, that is picked up?

[EderaJewelry]

I've heard good things about Squarespace.com, but I'm not sure about it being picked up by Google. FlourishAndDebonair, your site looks wonderful--I will have to check out Google Sites!

[AggieRay]

Flourish. so your website is basically informative to link to your blog and etsy shop? have you seen increased traffic. Both shop and website are beautiful!

[Former_Member]

About.me

Here is mine it is so easy and takes five minutes to set up.

http://about.me/ValerieLazear

[Former_Member]

Right now I'm using wix and I don't think they're SEO...I'm going to have to check out googlesites! Thank you for the info :)

[Former_Member]

thanks ValValVoom.
can I create a gallery on that page or is it just for links? I would like to have a portfolio of my work.

[Former_Member]

Aw, thanks for all the nice comments!! :D

Hi Aggieray! To answer your question ... yes, I have seen increased traffic, but its because I'm driving it there. I made the website so that instead of giving people three separate addresses (my two shops and my blog) I can direct them to that one site, and they can find everything there. For instance, on my twitter profile, there's only a small amount of room, so I just have my own website there - but in my analytics, I can see that my site is definitely driving traffic to my various places I want people to go. Or on my business cards, it will be easier to just have that one address and convey everything I need to. Its not that the website is inherently creating traffic, its more that I can use it to direct traffic.

Also, I use my domain to host my blog, which is another perk of having your own domain. Like, my blog is a blog.flourishanddebonair.com instead of a blogspot address.

Anyway, hope that helps! :)

[Former_Member]

I found this useful guide for choosing a SEO friendly website builder
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Choose-an-SEO-Friendly-Website-Builder&id=1979130

but there are no sites suggested

[AggieRay]

This is all great information. So the application is called google Aps. I see that they give you a free trial then it is $50 per year, is that correct?

[Former_Member]

Actually, its continually free - what you're looking at is Google Apps for Business, and that is for organizations that need a whole lot of different users and such. Just plain Google apps is for individuals, including entrepreneurs, and its completely free. Here's the run down on the different versions here: http://www.google.com/apps/

[Former_Member]

Thank you so much for this thread, and for your information Flourish...this is so helpful. I've been wondering about this for awhile myself.

[Former_Member]

thanks for sharing everyone.
are there any other suggestions? any other sites?

[Former_Member]

Wow, Thanks FlourishAndDebonair ! We used intuit for my hubby's website
and not sure it was the best choice. Here is his http://LScottFetterhoffArchitect.com .
I need to work on setting one up for me.

Audrey

[SNicoleDesigns]

I used weebly.com to build my site. After trying a number of different site building websites i found this one to be the easiest to use, and its free! Here's how my site came out www.snicoledesigns.com ... hope this helps :)

[Former_Member]

thanks everyone for your help. in the end I chose Weebly to build my website.
it is pretty simple and the most important thing it links to my Etsy shop :)

http://milakeln.weebly.com/

[Former_Member]

I was really surprised at how quickly everything showed up using weebly. For those who haven't heard of it. It is a new sitebuilder/host that I am using. It is actually free and you can add ecommerce to it. There are only a couple features that you can't use with the free site, but the pro account is only $4.99 a month. I have used several others and all of them were too expensive (especially for ecommerce) and took forever to show up in google. Here is a link to it so you can check it out: http://www.weebly.com/link/OoCAy3 and here is my site that I built using weebly and it even figures shipping! http://www.fbessentials.com

[byTheArtBug]

This is great info!
I created mine with google but the site address it shows is:
https://sites.google.com/site/cassyzcutiez/
and not:
www.cassyzcutiez.com
And it does not show up in google search.

Just one question, FlourishAndDebonair , Are there some other reqirements for changing web address?