Selecting the proper hosting company for your site can be the difference between whether your project is successful or not. From affordable to blazing fast, find out which hosting company is best suited to your needs.
Please note that you can also see all the posts under this topic by going here and that posts are listed in reverse-chronological order (to keep this main topic post at the top) Everything that I review will be listed in this one post, however.
From free website design software to free graphics programs and SEO advice, here’s a list of everything you need to get your site up and running with a budget of $0.00. Now that’s affordable.
Free Graphics Programs:
Paint.net: This is almost too good to be true, a graphics program that combines ease-of-use with extraordinarily powerful features, but here it is: http://www.paint.net/.
BeFunky.com: You can read my review and see some examples here BeFunky Review
Inkscape: This is an easy to use drawing tool with a lot of professional features. You can read my “sort-of” review here - Inskape Review – and actually see a picture I drew using it, or you can just go here to download the program: Inkscape
Clker.com: An easily navigated site with loads of quality, free clipart. See my review here – Clker Review – or just go straight to Clker and start grabbing your free clipart here:
FileZilla: My review is here FileZilla Download
For some really interesting sites that offer unique Wordpress themes, see here: Some Fantastic Free Wordpress Themes
The instruction manual to running your own website. From designing your project and selecting your web host to implementation and marketing, we’ll help you find the information you need.
Web Design:
Want to join the fun and start a blog? There are a lot of options out there, from great free blogs at Wordpress to hosting your own. And how does all this work, anyway? It’s the new media revolution.
FREE WORDPRESS THEMES
For some really interesting sites that offer unique Wordpress themes, see here: Some Fantastic Free Wordpress Themes
Sometimes you need something specific that you just can’t find for free. Or maybe you just don’t want to do it yourself. Here’s where you can find a directory of programs and people who can help.
Site Design:
Dream Templates: See my review here: Review of Dream Templates
Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just need real help. Stuck and need to ask a question? You can contact us, but we also have some other free resources you can use to get live, or nearly live, help.
Free Tech Support: Tech Support Guy (see our review here: Free Tech Support)
Sometimes you get what you pay for, and sometimes you get a lot for nothing. What you get at Tech Support Guy is an opportunity for the latter, which is always an opportunity worth taking a grab at. Run like a bulletin board, they have a forum for just about anything. Look through the list and post your question, and someone is sure to pipe up with an answer, and usually pretty quickly (I know because I’ve both asked and answered questions there).
Some of the more relevant forums:
Malware Removal & HijackThis Logs
Digital Photography & Imaging
Software Development
Networking
Web Design & Development
Got a tech question? I suggest giving these guys a try: Tech Support Guy
This is almost too good to be true, a graphics program that combines ease-of-use with extraordinarily powerful features, but here it is: http://www.paint.net/.
Paint.Net is really amazing. For absolutely nothing, with no strings attached, you get a program that for most people will be just as good as PhotoShop.
Don’t be put off by the site design. Just download the product, install it, and start having some fun.
Filled with advanced features like easy layering and pixel selection, about the only thing this software doesn’t have is text effects, but with more than a hundred fonts and easy gradient tools, you may not even need them. Anyway, for $0 with no strings attached, they don’t even run ads, you really can’t ask for more.
Go and give it a try.
Do a search for WordPress themes and you invariably get the same little mix of sites that have lists of their “Top Ten,” or how-ever-many, Wordpress themes. You can find some good themes this way, but there are some great and free themes that are somewhat harder to find.
(Note: Since writing this article, Deluxe Themes has become a pay-to-play theme site. I’m not sure they are good enough that I would recommend paying for one of their themes)
The first place I was going to link to was Deluxe Themes, but they are down right now. Hopefully, that’s not “down for good” because they really have some great stuff. I would keep trying if you go there and they aren’t up, because they are worth it. They’ve created some very complex magazine themes and even a theme that looks just like the People Magazine site. A word of warning, though: One issue with them is that their themes tend to create a lot of databases on your server, so they are a little more bandwidth intensive than the average theme, and if you can only create a limited number of databases with your host, you may want to avoid them. They may also be rough on hosts that offer shared hosting plans.
Another good spot is BustATheme. Greg Johnson has created several unique themes, two of which can be used to make your index page show posts in a calendar form. I also like his News CMS theme, which is very clean and offers something that the vast majority of magazine themes don’t offer: no need for putting freakin’ pictures with every damn post. I mean, most of us are bloggers, not photographers, so why every other magazine theme out there expects you to put photos with every post is beyond me. If you’ve been looking for a clean CMS magazine theme that doesn’t require you to add photos all over the place, check this one out.
Themes Junction provides an absolutely massive quantity of unique and free WordPress themes. I’ve pulled several off of there, and they all worked fantastically. It’s almost overwhelming, really, but they have pretty good search and navigation features.