Wordpress alternative

Hi Andy, wordpress.com is expensive, but wordpress.org is free to use and looks and works just like it... https://wordpress.org/

Just get some website hosting if you don't already have - these guys are excellent if you need hosting... https://www.guru.co.uk/shared-hosting - and the wordpress.org version can be installed with one click.

You can then install themes and any plugins to do what you want eg WooCommerce for selling stuff, just without the WordPress.com prices.

The first time I used wordpress was from .org as it was the auto install from hosting site..Anyway have tried again with wordpress and seem to be getting somewhere this time .Has taken me ages to find a decent theme that is simple.. All I really wanted was a simple blog/shop.But have been forced to install woo commerce    in the end. Anyway getting there slowly

Edit: Have just completely messed up home page lol ...damn

Have you seen what Facebook has just announced, Facebook shops.

All very brand new and only had a glimpse, but for someone like yourself Andy, could be beneficial rather than the hassle of maintaining your own site.

BBC - Facebook Shops: Online stores open on Facebook and Instagram

I have known about that for  awhile now.. But you spurred me on to try again today.... Managed with a lot of trouble to to get them all up,albeit with lots of missing stuff  which I will have to do manually as I didn't have the info

Thank you

Slowly getting the hang of this Word press.. Spend a lot of time take 1 step forward 10 steps back..

Do you think it is wrong to have examples of what you do on the home page and explanations  and a shop on another tab. I see most others have there product categories as the home page, I've seen a few with examples.. But our camera pictures are not as great as any other site... That will have to be worked on for sure

It really depends on your website and what you are trying to sell. I often have the shop on another page when doing a client's website. I then use the home page for examples and just have one or two products, usually the top sellers.

The key is often not to overwhelm your customer as they step in the door. If you have a range of products or categories, then just give them clear signposts of where to go from the homepage to get want they want.

For example, if you are selling cakes then maybe its good to have category banners on the home page eg wedding, birthday, anniversary, congratulations etc and then you're not overwhelming the visitor with every cake you have on the home page or the shop page.