Need recommend for website build

[riffwraith]

Hi all

Sorry if this doesn't go here; I wasn't sure if there is an appropriate forum for this.

I need to redo my personal site, and wanted to do something similar to this:

http://www.twostepsfromhell.com/

I contacted a high-end site builder called Blue Fountain, and they want $50k. Which to me, is kinda silly. Correct me if I am wrong here.

So, I took to google, and even tho I am filtering results with a minus sign, I cant get past these freebies, DIYs and write your own code sites, to get me to a qualified and experienced site builder.

I was wondering if someone here has a recommendation for me.

Thanks in advance.

 

[file3456]

Your best bet to obtain something like that is with WordPress and an appropriate theme. You would then seek a shared hosting account since you more than likely don't need a VPS.

For hosting I use Geekstorge, but I've heard good things from Stablehost. Never buy the domain from a host, but use a third party domain host like Namesilo. I use Namesilo myself and they are pretty decent. They offer two factor auth for your account and will automatically renew your domain when the time is up.

I also use Namecheap, but that's for a dedicated E-mail address. They also offer domain hosting.

The thing with WordPress is it seems like it's a target for hacking and spam. So you have to take a proactive approach with security. To do this you can install WordPress plugins to expand functionality. One plugin I can recommend is CIDRAM. I use it myself, but not in plugin form and I have helped build it with ideas. I'm friends with the author of CIDRAM.

Some other security plugins you might also want to use are Bad Behavior, Block Bad Queries,Disable comment author links, Disable XML-RPC Pingback, Limit Login Attempts, Shield, wp-bcrypt.

That may sound like a lot of crap, but it will help protect your site. You should also read about security at WordPress. Hardening WordPress WordPress Codex

Another option is to hide your website behind a reverse proxy like CloudFlare. This will help protect against DDoS attempts. But it has to be deployed in such a way to make sure your origin IP address is masked. You can read what I posted here about that. I largely talk about using SSL, but I go on to talk about how to get CloudFlare setup correctly. If you use Geekstorge they have mod_cloudflare installed so you don't have to worry about IP addresses not being from unique visitors. If your host doesn't have mod_cloudflare, then you'll have to use the CloudFlare plugin.

I'm not sure what theme you should use. There are hundreds at WordPress to chose from and I'm sure one will suit your needs.

To get an idea of what WordPress is capable of, have a look at my site dedicated for my cousin. https://toddexler.com/

You can do a lot with WordPress and it really isn't hard to deploy, setup and secure. No massive amounts of money required. For a shared hosting plan it shouldn't cost you no more than 8 bucks a month and about 11 bucks a year for the domain depending on what the domain name is.

 

[riffwraith]

Thank you for that info, and for your time.

I already own my domain, and my website is currently hosted w/InMotion Hosting. I have been with them for a long time, and am happy with their service.

I am just looking for someone to redo my site. I don't know if WP is the way to go for me - I will look into it, but all of the QP sites I see look cheap (I of course have not seen all of them), and the person visiting the site sees that it was done in WP, which for me, cheapens it even more.

Would love to hear some more ideas

Cheers.