Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

What is everyone`s opinion on Microsoft Office Live as a starter web site?  Is it user friendly for someone that has next to no experience with HTML with the exception of copying and paste pre-written codes?  As some of you may know, I make Floribbean Apparel (kind of like Hawaiian, but since I live in Florida I call it Floribbean)  I will be using the site for info about the shirts, dresses, and board shorts that I make.  Not sure about selling them online because every shirt and dress is hand made and can take hours from start to finish.  I will also have a link to my Cafe Press site where I have t-shits and other apparel for men and women along with accessories for the home and office.

As always I look forward to everyone`s input and advice.

p.s.- you can see samples of my work in my profile.  The picture is my new wife and I after our beach wedding on Feb. 17, 2007

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Cabo Loco- Paradise is closer than you think.

I also am wondering about the features of Office Live. Just in case you were not aware, they are hosting an online demonstration this week during the Small Business Summit (the links to sign up are the banner ads featured on SuN currently). I am sure the demonstration will either encourage me or discourage me from moving forward with Office Live.

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**College Application** **Scholarship Search** **Essay Editing** The Experts in College Admissions Counseling. CollegeStrategiesOnline.com Blog.CollegeStrategiesOnline.com

the Office Live! session takes place right after our online speech is broadcast on friday morning. when you click over to the summit info from their banner, look for friday`s "startup day" agenda...

rich


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Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation

Hi,

If you intend to sell your product online, it would be best to use a non-proprietary program - like Zen Cart or osCommerce.  Proprietary ecommerce solutions like Yahoo stores or other hosting connected programs not only limit some design features of a site but also are not transferable to another web host if you choose or need to change web hosts at some time.

~Roland

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

Apologies if this is the wrong forum (if so, please direct me to another).

Can you use the free Microsoft Office Live service to host just a blog? MSN Spaces does not suffice because I need to be able to use a custom domain name (i.e. not something like zzz.spaces.msn.com).

I know I could use Wordpress or something like that. But I am asking this question for a different reason.

Thanks.

I`m not sure why you`re asking the question, or why`d you`d choose to not use one of the many free blogging sites -- if your domain is that valuable then you are no doubt already hosting/building your own site and that`s the logical and easy place to build your blog.

But to answer what I know, "No" (they don`t have an existing business application "blog" and their custom tool are more data point driven; if you upgrade past the free version then you have more room to build what you want)

Please note I didn`t say "never" and I`m sure we have folks here that can build a workaround (e.g., everything really is only data), but I`d think you`d go farther faster by using tools as they are designed and not put too much time in coding/mashing what`s already available as an individual tool.

here is their "what`s right for me page".

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Chris Miller, a simple taco maker:
The Tiger Taco home in the U.S.A.
Tiger Tacos in Australia
Tiger Tacos in the United Kingdom

My understanding is that  the free version is "what you see is what you get".  I send many clients there to create their first website and play around with it.  This way they understand what they want --- when they talk to a web designer later on.

There is a constant debate here on SuN about DIY vs hiring a pro when you build your website. Although some might find me biased towards using a pro, I have written plenty of DIY articles (like this one) as well.

That being said, sending "many clients there to create their first website and play around with it" sounds like (to me) a great way to waste a lot of time and money. You could spend several weeks doing what a pro could have done in a couple of hours. In the end, what is your time worth? And is it better spent struggling to create an ineffective website instead of just working with a team to help you build something better?

IMO it would be better for an entrepreneur to spend time doing business planning, marketing planning, and website planning - not trying to make a DIY site if you are starting from a place of zero knowledge about web design.

To answer the original question - not that I know of. I`d highly recommend TypePad if you need a hosted blog solution with your own domain name.

Thanks everyong for their replies.

Nikole --- does Typepad allow the addition of ad networks and affiliates like Google AdSense, Microsoft Ad Center, Kontera? Also, what about plug-ins. WordPress has things like: Comment Spam Killer, FeedBurner, Show Top Comments, etc.

Thanks.

You can add all of those to your TypePad blog, and they do have spam blockers and such. All of mine are connected to feedburner. They have widgets galore too. If you upgrade to be able to use Advanced Templates, you really can do whatever you want with the thing.