I need your good advice

[djjerriatric]

Evening all (I'm in the UK)
My wife and I have a small locally-based disco and buffet catering business, based in Essex England, looking to create a website and advertise on a 20 mile radius (we're not looking to dramatically increase our work base). All we have so far is a 2 year registration on a domain name.
1. Presumably FutureQuest is US based. Is that the right way for a small local UK business to go? Would we be better registering with a UK equivalent?
2. If FutureQuest is a good option how much can they help us with web design and how much extra is it likely to cost?
I've always found business-based forums to be honest and helpful so over to you...........

[Bob]

Hello,

I will leave the UK direct related questions for those that have UK and other European sites to comment on from their experience...

But you are correct FutureQuest is a US based Hosting Provider, the servers are physically located in Orlando, Florida and to learn more about the nuts and bolts of FutureQuest I recommend this site ;)
http://www.VisionQuest.net/

As far as FutureQuest providing direct assistance with designing, building and maintaining a site that is not part of the Services we offer. We do provide assistance with issues such as accessing email and server related support.

These forums are one of the best resources for those seeking assistance with coding problems or locating applications to accomplish certain tasks as well as getting help with installing third party scripts.

You may also find the FutureQuest Knowledgebase Articles to be of help in getting started...
http://Service.FutureQuest.net/?_a=knowledgebase

I hope this helps and the best of luck,
Bob

[djjerriatric]

Thanks for that Bob
regards
Les

[Bob]

Les,

I am not sure if you have dabbled in HTML at all or have tried any WYSIWYG, What You See Is What You Get, HTML editors but a FREE and rather easy to use editor is NVU which can be obtained here:
http://www.nvu.com/index.php

A tutorial regarding using NVU is also here.
http://thesitewizard.com/gettingstarted/nvu1.shtml

You may want to see what you can get setup on your own and then if you run into any specific coding issues then post them here for others to see if they can help...

-Bob

[Andilinks]

I would like to add that getting your questions answered in under 10 minutes 24-7 is typical, one of the best benefits of FutureQuest. Bob took 12 minutes this time, it must be a holiday... :)

There do seem to be a lot of European and other non North American clients here and they seem satisfied, but like Bob says I'm sure they'll add their first-hand thoughts.

Andi

[Dr Mirth]

1. Presumably FutureQuest is US based. Is that the right way for a small local UK business to go? Would we be better registering with a UK equivalent?


Being based in the UK myself and having a variety of web sites hosted with FutureQuest I can honestly say I see little justification for having my web sites hosted in the UK just because that is where I (and my clients) are based. I've contacted FutureQuest's technical support team many times (and not usually for faults - more my silly technical questions!) and I think I've always received a response within 30 minutes. The time difference just doesn't seem to be a factor - they offer a 24/7 support service as far as I'm concerned.

If you factor in the favourable exchange rate the UK pound has against the US dollar then it actually becomes more expensive to host your web site in the UK when compared to it being hosted in the US.

You could do a lot worse than going with FutureQuest. :)

[djjerriatric]

Thanks for all you invaluable and gratefully received advice. The nub of our particular requirement is the fact that ours is a small business and we won't need a large and ultra sophisticated website. In fact, because of our age, I don't think we could cope if we were too successful!
At present, it's merely an adjunct to our inclusion in the Brit Yellow pages and, because enquiries via Yell are not really enough. So you can see that we only really need a modest package. Unless, of course, I could interest my sons in following on in the business. But, as they both have careers, it's unlikely at present.....
Ideally, it needs someone locally to punch in keywords like "children's parties" "disco" "buffets" "funeral buffets" etc and up pops our site (ideally one of the first 2 or 3 that presents itself). So we'd like a modestly-priced package that also puts us in a premier position on search engines - do the 2 requirements go together?

[sheila]

The size of the hosting package really has little to nothing to do with your search engine results. Well, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is practically a career in itself. (There are many people who specialize in that area specifically for their career.)

It sounds like you would need advice in the area of both developing the website and in search engine placement. As Bob noted previously, FutureQuest doesn't provide services in these areas. We prefer to stick with the hosting aspects only.

If you are willing to take a stab at these things and learn them yourself, then these forums are a great resource (you can search on previous discussions from these forums). Also, we have a Knowledgebase (http://service.futurequest.net/index.php?_a=knowledgebase) with a few articles about Search Engine placement:
http://service.FutureQuest.net/?_a=knowledgebase&_j=subcat&_i=19

On the other hand, if you prefer to hire someone to perform these services for you, then you can either post here in the Contract or Be Contracted forum, or we do have FutureQuest Site Owners who list their services in our Net-Sleuth (http://Net-Sleuth.net) hosted site directory.

[georgeek]

Ideally, it needs someone locally to punch in keywords like "children's parties" "disco" "buffets" "funeral buffets" etc and up pops our site (ideally one of the first 2 or 3 that presents itself).You will need a .co.uk TLD, UK hosting (make sure it is has a UK IP address) and lots of local links i.e. from other local businesses, chamber of commerce, local government etc., etc.

Also, we have a Knowledgebase (http://service.futurequest.net/index.php?_a=knowledgebase) with a few articles about Search Engine placement:
http://service.FutureQuest.net/?_a=knowledgebase&_j=subcat&_i=19To be honest Sheila as these articles were written in the last century (literally) they are worse than useless, maybe even harmful in some cases. I think you would be wise to remove them (definately) and replace them (if you can) with accurate up to date information.

- George.

[Andilinks]

http://www.seobook.com/archives/001562.shtml

[Jeff]

To be honest Sheila as these articles were written in the last century (literally) they are worse than useless, maybe even harmful in some cases. I think you would be wise to remove them (definately) and replace them (if you can) with accurate up to date information.

- George.
What exactly is potentially harmful in those links???

[Andilinks]

What exactly is potentially harmful in those links???The article is dated 1999 and mentions several currently irrelevant search engines but not Google. Eight years is an eternity in internet time.

When you are starting a new website or business your time is a scarce resource, you cannot rely on old information. The risk is failure.

Links are my business here are a few more free ones:

http://www.google.com/webmasters/
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/
http://www.seomoz.org/
http://searchengineland.com/
http://www.seroundtable.com/
http://searchenginewatch.com/
http://www.seobook.com/

[ifrance]

Hello,
am also in the UK, not far from you, and am going to have my brand-new website hosted by Futurequest, have heard from this company in a webdesign forum -sorry can't remember who- about a year ago, and have been looking at their comprehensive knowledge base since. In the meantime I've also looked at other UK companies, even considered India, but I don't think any other company can offer such an extensive help, haven't found any actually. About the money, I didn't consider it as there's actually a hosting company a lot cheaper (uk) which will never provide you with any help at all. Also the many options to have xtra domains sharing the same package isn't something you may find somewhere else. I have learnt a lot from aota.net
Thanks a lot already for their service.

[ifrance]

If FutureQuest is a good option how much can they help us with web design and how much extra is it likely to cost?.........so over to you...........

I can help you if you don't feel like doing anything yourself. I am using a webpage template, from http://www.oswd.org/ and I can set it up with your requirements, all you need is providing me with your text, photo(s).
You can contact me on this website, they have my email address.
I'll also need to talk to you about your biz, as I may have customers for you. This later when we talk.
Have just applied for hosting my website on Futurequest and am awaiting for their letter (24hours). I also have to do a DNS transfer as my domain name is at the moment residing with easyspace.com