Anyone know of any low cost web sites for just getting started?

I heard about intuit.com but just before providing my credit card info I pulled up complaints and it wasn't a pretty site. I would like to try doing a web site with some photos to see if I may get work. I am looking for an affordable way of getting a web site. another familiar term is.....cheap!. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I am also trying to get fresh new photos, but when I offer to provide free face painting for their patrons the larger facilities want insurance...liability. I have been face painting for 7 years and nothing has ever occurred (I guess a knock on wood is required here) I checked on a few insurance quotes, and it was like $275+ per year. I only do it a few times per year, so that wouldn't be cost effective for me. That is why I am thinking a web site might be a good start for me to introduce myself on a larger scale. I am on thumbtack.com (Ramona) but that is all. anyone have any good advice or a direction for me to head in?

I would appreciate your time.

I use www.1and1.com. I don't have a face painting site, but my painted glassware is there. I know they have alot of tools for getting found, and 24/7 tech help (which I used ALOT when i was building) . U can check out my site and see, www.bbeautifulshop.com.

www.wix.com This website builder is used by some teachers in my school district to create classroom web pages. It's got positive reviews, easy to use and free. You can upgrade for a fee to link it to your own domain name, get rid of ads etc. if you want. I may change my website to start using this in the future.

www.weebly.com is what i use for my site. It's free and easy to use. You can use your own domain name that you buy, or you can use a weebly domain name... www.yournamehere.weebly.com.

mine is from www.webs.com (formerly freewebs, but my site still has a freewebs address). It is completely free, you can use their creation software or create the site in your favourite software and upload the html to the site. I make my site using NVu and upload it, but I've seen some of their templates and they look very nice too. You can purchase a custom URL and still host it free at webs too.

I use picturetrail.com that is under $20 a year and go daddy to get my domain name for $10. My site grew so I pay a bit more but it gives me the ability to have a link to one, like Fantasy Faces For You and still have a site for all of it, if you know what I mean.

Lots of art instructors use it and thats how I got started with it over a decade ago.

You can play around with it for a month for free to get the hang of it ; )
And, you have a choice of layouts; photos on the left or lots of thumnails on the right of text.
Susan

I use wix.com. It's free & It has great web templates. I've had a lot of success w/ mine & may even pay for my domain name & site.

Insurance is important if you're getting paid(not sure if it's volunteer work).
You can be sued for more than injury, like, paint stains on carpet/furniture.

A good ins co for face painters: http://www.specialtyinsuranceagency.com/performer-insurance.html

www.doodlekit.com

I agree with www.weebly.com
I used that to set up but then I got my man to build one for us with Dream-weaver and we purchased space on a server, that way I can have my own site address without any add ons.
After you have published your site you will need to list it on free directories and free classifieds so it will turn up in search engins, and as I've just discovered recently you will need to keep updating your site or the search engins will lose interest in a non active site. It's alot more work then I thought it would be.
Also have a look around for entertainers insurance, I don't know what country you are in but in Australia we have a group of entertainers that get a blanket insurance so it's cheaper for us. I think I paid $180 for the year and they offer personal insurance for free by being a member of the group.
It's important you have it if you are working with the public, and alot of event and venues won't allow you in with out it public liability insurance.
Good luck.

I used the webs.com like Perry and I like it. I may upgrade, but no need to yet.

Hey guys, I made one I love on wix but have since realised weebly will let me host it for free with my own domain... those of you that use weebly - does it rate OK in google?

I use weebly as well. I also signed up for several party websites, linking my website to them. It increases your google potential when you have more links out there.

Might you have some examples of these please? I presume you put your links on other websites rather than making your own extra ones? thanks so much

Here are a few of them

http://www.the-painted-dragon.com/links.html

a few of them require that you link back to them on your website. I found that after I listed at several places, my website came up on the first pages of searches. I made a facebook fan page too. Someone told me that if your website address is linked on other sites, it pushes you up on searches. It seems to work.

fantastic, thanks so much! I had read that but hadn't managed to find too many that would link and link back.

Hopefully they'll accept me in NZ

I use godaddy.com a little more $$ but it was very easy for me to use and they give you advertisement credits for google and facebook, etc..

Oh yeah you can open up a facebook account as a business so that you can keep people updated like where they can find you and you can put pics of your stuff and contact info.

I started out using webs.com when I didn't want to invest any money in a website. I now have one through Yahoo Small Business. I wanted something that looked a bit more professional.