Ease of Setting Up Your Business microblog.pratikmhatre.com

@pcora Ugh! Is Squarespace really that much better for a business site? I know my friend used it, but she isn't the technical sort.

@pratik I think the business site stuff entirely depends on what you plan to use your site for. Is it basically a single page with a contact form? Is it meant to house other content of some kind? Will it be a part of actually delivering your work product?

@pratik I think it really varies, but every time I tried using wordpress, it gives me big irks. It's not intuitive, not simple to do things, even the simple ones. So I just gave up. Every time I dealt with squarespace, I wish I had money to maintain a website there. 😉 ​ ​But this really depends on what do you expect from this website. depending on the complexity, even Micro.blog mini-sites (forgot the name of the thing) can suffice (and you have it payed already).

@pcora Nope. Not paid or set up yet. Mentioned WordPress coz I was on it until 2016 when they introduced Gutenberg. I didn't prefer that editor for blogging.

@pratik I've used Squarespace for years. It's easy and powerful. I recently built a page for my fonts on one of the included "single-page Micro.Blog sites." Based it on the Tiny Theme. Works well and already included in my Micro.Blog subscription.

@pratik Probably the easiest solution is, indeed, Wordpress.org if you just want some landing pages. It's cheap to host, there are countless themes if you don't want to fidget with design, countless plugins for added functionality, and it's easy to expand/move later. You can use a 3rd party editor.

@bobwertz Are there any themes for the single-page Micro.blog sites? How did you modify Tiny for that?

@rscottjones That was my first thought in my tinkerer brain but hosting, at least the good ones, aren't cheap. The last time I self-hosted, it cost me $84 per year.

@pratik How much time do you want to dedicate to developing your business, versus developing a website for your business?

@annahavron Heh. Hence, I want a simple solution and definitely not something to tinker with. I've my personal blog for that.

@pratik cough squarespace cough

@pratik I use Squarespace for my business sites. Since I'm not a designer, I don't have to do much tinkering to make it look good. As you say, I have a personal blog for tinkering purposes. Squarespace sites, however, don't show up well in search unless you work at it. Listing my business with guides and directories has helped with discoverability.

@leeS @annahavron @pcora I guess there are more Squarespace fans than I thought 😊 I'll check it out.

@pratik And if it helps, there are so many decisions to make about how you set things up that it still feels like tinkering -- except with excellent documentation and customer support.

@pratik It can be ininspiring, but simple enough so I can’t screw it up. 🤪

@pratik It’s just a Micro.Blog page without the blog. So you just create the page, apply the Tiny Theme, and modify it like you normally would, with microhooks and all. Worked great.

@bobwertz Do you use the Custom Home Page plugin?

@pratik Yes. With the “single pages,” it’s automatically installed. You can add pages to the single site just like you can on a normal Micro.Blog site.

@bobwertz So that's what's confusing for me. What's the template for that "home page" apart from what you are expected to insert in the text box for the plugin? I wish there were templates for the "single page" sites

@pratik devils advocate: do you really need a “good” host for a simple site, especially when you’re first getting started? Would anyone notice the difference? And how much does Squarespace cost, from day one? Just some food for thought.

@pratik So the "single-page sites" aren't single page sites at all. They're just static sites. I added all my additional pages as you would in any Micro.Blog site. There's not really a template for the home page... I just put my HTML in the text box for the home page plugin. The Tiny Theme and some custom CSS handles the styling. I used the the Tiny Theme Microhooks to customize the header and footer. It worked for me because I'd spent some time customizing my Micro.Blog with the same theme and was comfortable with it.

That said, Squarespace is dead easy and I've used it for many years. I just wanted to try something different for my fonts site, and Micro.Blog worked perfectly for me.​

@bobwertz So you also use Squarespace? Nice. I was trying to avoid spending that much until I got at least some business, but I guess to get that, I may need to have a good website. I wasn't planning on anything splashy but mainly an excellent front page. Any good sources for HTML templates?

@rscottjones I don't mind trying WordPress since I've used it before. What's the minimum viable hosting you are thinking of? All I need is good uptime, reliable customer support, and no upselling.

@pratik I'm not advocating for any particular hosting company, except that you could probably get that for $3-5/mo. Just tossing it out there though, may not be what you want.

@rscottjones Yup, I got that. BlueHost offers a promo deal for $2/mo.

@pratik I used bouehost in past and it was very unreliable for my blog. Serious uptime problems - of course was a decade back so all could have changed.

@stupendousman Ugh! I can imagine. I should just go with Squarespace instead of trying to cut costs. I used TigerTech when I last self-hosted. They are excellent, but their pricing is currently steep at $12 per month.