I'm on a tight budget so don't really want to pay someone to do it if I can help it

It only needs to be 5 or 6 pages (no shop required)

Can anyone recommend any online companies that have good layouts they are easily customised?

Maybe with a decent font selection as well

I used Mr Site before but their layouts are just a bit too basic when it comes to placing images and customising menus and buttons

I'm quite good with photoshop so images, logos and banners aren't an issue

Thanks 

Jonathan

You don't, not really, why would you expect it to work for your business if it potentially looks like it's a DIY site? Please, pay someone, even if it's a few quid for a basic, but well produced site, lots of providers on here can help you with this level of project...

good luck with it

Andy

try wordpress or Joomla , plenty of ready made templates

I see what you're saying Andy but I want a creative looking site as well as a functional one. I want to be able to play around with backgrounds, images and buttons first to see what it looks like. I don't wany to pay someone to design something I don't like.

Downloding Joomla noe

Thanks

Watch an "install wordpress" video on youtube and get cracking!

Download filezilla, buy a domain etc etc.  Spend a few hours watching youtube vids and you'll be away before you know it.  

HOWEVER,

The point raised above is serious , don't expect someone to pay for an B2B service with a homemade looking site.  A few B2C sites seem to actually benefit from the homemade look, why I have no idea - A particular example is dog walking.  

Dog walking - yes agreed, seems that those guys do well with the DIY look. Everybody else - NO!

If you really want to build yourself, nab yourself a copy of WP (most web hosts have an installer) and then download a premium theme from places such as themeforest,net, you get a properly designed theme and there are "panels" within the theme that let you edit the theme without code changes, such as backgrounds, colours and layouts. A theme will cost you $35 > $50 so in the region upto £40.

The best thing to do is to get a bespoke website designed and developed for what you what your business to do.  If you are on a budget then wordpress would be the way to go.

General feeling is that for business it's a bad idea.

There's much more to a website than the look. You have to consider the way readers navigate a site, the way they READ a site, how long or short the copy should be, where and how to place calls to action, how to select and place keywords. Then you have to consider what colours work for the business you're promoting, whether you're going for a corporate, friendly, masculine, feminine or quirky look, the legal aspects for minimum disclosure, how easily you might want updating to be...

In all, you could get a site designed from scratch and copywritten for around £250-£300 for what you're looking for. And it would work from the off, so no experimenting and re-hashing. So how much is your hourly rate, and is building your own a cost-effective route?

I hesitate to offer our services, but...

I understand what everyone is saying and yes, I would usually advise going down the professional route. However, in this instance, Jonathan has a pretty clear idea what he wants and just needs to experiment a bit to get all the nagging doubts ironed out. In these fairly rare instances, we have set up customers with Contribute, Kompozer, Wordpress or Joomla to give them a means whereby they can experiment. Once they have crystalised their thoughts, they hand it back to us so that we can produce exactly what they want.

Gary

Jonathan,

I wouldn't reccomend doing it yourself either, but if you really want to by far the best tool is SquareSpace.

www.squarespace.com

you can try it free, they dont even ask for a credit card and then it costs £12 or so a month.

Like everyone has said, get it custom made...

Weebly is not bad

Or Google sites haha..not sure how customizable

Hey Jonathan,

I believe in the power of know how to fish for your own dinner.

You can do so much for yourself these day's.  If you are keen to do that.  However the subject like most is very broad and deep once you peel back the layers.  Like all subject theories and opinions differ.  

I think it would be best for me to understand more about your business type and model prior to selecting the right tool to deliever your solution to the market.  

Be well,

Simon

P.s. I build my own and recommend that you be at cause and not suffer with paralysis from analysis

http://www.thecoachingcouple.co.uk

If you were interested, I'd normally say Wordpress would be better to start out building a DIY website. There are plenty of premium themes avaliable too as well as free ones! Most webhosts (including ourselves) have an installer for both Wordpress (and Joomla) built in.

If you were prepared to host with us I would be prepared to tutor you (1-2-1) through the basics of wordpress and how to work your way around it (although you would need to travel to at least Bristol).  I have someone (from Bristol, and coming to Cheltenham) taking me up on this offer next week.

If not then thats fine, there are plenty of resources wordpress.org or joomla.org (if you still want to go down that route) avaliable to take advantage of.