Looking for web hosting recommendations

I have a small business which has a web site I am generally happy with but I require updating it every few months. This is where my problem lies and why I am looking for someone else to host my site. I have to wait weeks at a minimum for updates to be done and during that time I have to explain to every inquiry why my website does not display the current information, and most importantly why I want more money then what my website states.
I need to create a website that is idiot friendly so I can do the updates myself as needed every few months and not have to rely on someone else to do them for me. I have looked into the sites which are do it yourself websites, they appear easy to navigate through but none discuss costs until after you have spent many, many hours composing a site, none I have come across discuss the costs of creating and hosting up front.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

You HAVE to do it yourself, otherwise you end up with the situation you're in - depending on some website creator to update and change prices etc while they're busy with the more lucrative building of sites for new clients.

I built a website myself a few years ago with Yahoo Site Builder, it was easy, fun, free, and adequate. I tried Go Daddy but found it hard to navigate and clunky and hated it! Then I blogged for a long time using Google's blogspot. Others use Wordpress. They may have site builders too.

With all of them, there is a bit of a learning curve and it takes some time but once you get it down it's yours! Forever. Look around at some websites you like the style of and scroll down to the bottom where the credits are and see if they're do it yourself. Google something like: free do it yourself website builders.

Maybe others will have some specific names for you. Good luck, it's fun.

I use Webs.com for my small business. There is no cost for a small simple site.

Take a look at www.casadecomo.webs.com

Thanks for the suggestion Bob, I checked that site and found that the instructions to use my existing domain too confusing to follow. I also thought the free template looked very non-professional. I have in the past prepared a site but never carried through with it because I had a lot of unanswered questions on how to do some of the tasks. Making the site is the easy part - getting the existing domain and email address correct appears to be my problem. A lack of understanding how it all works is the problem here.

Well any of the existing "free sites" won't let you use your own domain name anyhow. You have to use their dot domain.com if you want the freebee. Sounds like you need to pay to play.

Blogger allows your domains but I don't know the details

You invest a lot of time in your blog, making sure it fits your personal brand and style. And a big part of making it your own comes from what you call it and where it lives. Blogger has long let you host your blog on a custom domain, so that you can give it any URL you choose. To make that process even easier, starting today, we’re integrating Blogger directly with Google Domains, allowing you to purchase a custom domain for your blog right from Blogger with just a few clicks. wrote:

I imagine Wordpress does too .... but cost I don't know.
Wordpress has 100's of templates so it does not have to look like a Blog

and that's why I can do it. I have build about 40 websites; hosting is $4.00 per month and you can have as many domains as you want.

Very easy to change, upload/remove content/pictures.

I did the website for the Animal Shelter for Goeff for 7-years.

With your own domain name an a moderate learning curve, you are 100% in charge.

IMO of course

I needed to build a website for a small business and chose weebly.com. It's basically a "Websites for Dummies" DIY site, which is exactly what I needed. I had already registered the domain name via Go Daddy. Once the site was designed and built, it did take a little time to get Go Daddy and Weebly to look at each other, but not very much time. Weebly is very user friendly and they even have tutorials and a help desk that answer your questions. I paid a little bit extra for the helping hands and the ability to use my own already-registered url, but it wasn't much. I'm sure there are other websites similar to Weebly, but I had a good experience with it. And I'm totally non-savvy tech-wise.

It is possible to use Weebly for free as a design/build resource. I don't know if they host or not, but I think they do if you're willing to include their domain name in your url.

I chose to go through the learning curve myself for exactly the reasons you mentioned. I couldn't stand the idea of begging someone to make changes to the site…..eventually….whenever they might get around to it. I can change anything - prices, photos, text - instantly. Good luck.

Otrocanuck, you haven't detailed what functionality you need on your site, this makes it difficult to advise on what kind of hosting/software system to recommend. If you need to process orders and take payments that is one thing, if you are simply providing content that is another. Do you need users of the site to register with their own accounts? etc.

I have used Weebly, Wordpress & Joomla. I prefer Joomla primarily because I have more experience with it. I agree, stay away from GoDaddy. I used them for a few years but have moved everything to HostGator. A number of people I know are also quite happy with Siteground.

Moving your domain name should not be a big problem, unless your current provider is listed as the owner of record for it. You can find this out using a whois search (google it). If you are not the registered owner you will need their cooperation to transfer the domain or have them change the DNS entries to your new site. In either case their cooperation will be required. If you are the registered owner and you have access to the control panel on whatever hosting site you are currently using, then you should be able to do the transfer yourself.

If you want to continue the discussion send me a PM with your email address.

I've been using Bluejet for years and they don't charge to renew your domain. Mine is $85 a year and seems to not be the cheapest ($48) but I'm happy

http://www.bluejethosting.com/