My very first website: http://chotkis.t35.com

Tamelyne · #1 (**permalink**) 01-02-2004, 07:50 PM

I started making handmade rosaries about six months ago, and recently people started buying them from me just by word-of-mouth. So I started selling on eBay, but that seems to be hit-and-miss. I decided to put up a website on a free hosting plan, and here it is:

http://chotkis.t35.com

This is my very first website and I did all the HTML programming from scratch, using a little tutorial I found online.

I've noticed though, that when you open the homepage on a new computer the background and logo images don't show up. If you then click on one of the links and then go back to the homepage, everything is the way it should be. Any ideas what I can do to fix this? I'd like to make a GOOD first impression when people go to my site!

Thanks in advance for your help.

Tammy

Elite Skills · #2 (**permalink**) 01-02-2004, 07:59 PM

Is there alot of interest in this field? I liked your design. I think it would be better if you didn't give so much room between the links and the main content and note that making a site with html is not programming. The problem your describing may be due to the site being on a free server. However, I don't think it'd be appropriate to tell you how to exploit a free server to kill the ads here. If you really wanted to you could find out on your own.

Tamelyne · #3 (**permalink**) 01-02-2004, 08:23 PM

Elite Skills,

Thank you for your comments! There is a lot of interest in rosaries, given that Catholicism is the world's largest religion. But there are also a lot of rosary-makers out there (just run a search on eBay)!

Chotkis are a less well-known kind of prayer rope, used by Eastern Catholics and Orthodox. There are only a few suppliers of the beaded Chotkis (most supply knotted wool prayer ropes). I am trying to create a "niche market" by offering custom services and products in other materials besides plain wood.

As far as cheating the ads on the free server, I'll probably just upgrade to the $5/month paid plan. No ads, higher bandwidth, etc. It's not like $5/month will break the bank - but I bet they make you pay a whole year up front. I didn't want to invest in it until I find out if this is going to take off.

I am constantly "tweaking" and re-uploading my web pages. I will work on your "less space between the links and the main text" part on my next update.

Thanks for the ideas!

Tammy

Elite Skills · #4 (**permalink**) 01-02-2004, 09:54 PM

Sure, no problem. Try anhosts.com, it's my server [ http://www.anhosts.com/cgi-bin/affil...id=Eliteskills to give me credit if you want ] They have really great featured ;). I'm catholic too ^^, maybe I'll get one whenever I get a creditcard.

trojanhorseantiques · #5 (**permalink**) 01-03-2004, 01:24 AM

Hi Tammy,
Great first effort.... I can't tell you how bad mine was when I look back on it. After five years, its still a constant work in progress. :-)

I don't have any particular suggestions for your site, but just wanted to say hello. With billions of pages on the internet, I'm always surprised when I run across a "near neighbor". Cheers from Tehachapi! :-)

Tamelyne · #6 (**permalink**) 01-04-2004, 11:10 AM

TrojanHorseAntiques,

I just read in a newsletter last night that it's good for SEO if your content is constantly changing because it tells the spiderbots (or whatever they're called - those things the search engines use to spider the web) that you're supplying up-to-date info. So it's good your website is a work in progress!

Tammy

Website Biz · #7 (**permalink**) 01-04-2004, 02:28 PM

Tammy,

I visited your site at http://chotkis.t35.com/. When I did, six different pop ups opened. When I started closing them, more opened and one of them locked up Internet Explorer and I had to close it and reopen it.

How will your customers respond to this? If you are serious about trying to sell your products online, use a paid host. A free website that drives people away has a pretty high price tag.

Tamelyne · #8 (**permalink**) 01-04-2004, 11:43 PM

Hmmm, when I go there I only get one pop-up. Sometimes I get a pop-up plus a "Do you want to download {whatever}?" screen. I wonder if you happened on some 6-ad part of the pop-up cycle? This is the first time anyone has mentioned this problem.

Anyway, I plan to upgrade to a paid plan within the month. You are right - ANY pop-ups are too many! I have gotten enough positive response to my site to validate the idea of investing money in it!

Thanks,
Tammy