Websites, Webhosting and Photography, Part 2

So now it was time to find someone to do it for me. When I started getting quotes on what the design would cost I was astonished! I am a (very) small business here in Waterville, Maine. My studio is in the refinished attic of my home. I don’t have thousands of dollars to put into a website.
My daughter lives in Massachusetts and I go down there fairly often. I have a favorite coffee shop down there, Bohemian Coffeehouse in Melrose. If you happen by there, tell Hillary I said hello! Anyway so I was in the coffee shop one day talking to Hillary and sipping a wonderful triple latte and she introduced me to a really nice guy that owns one of the biggest bead stores in New England. The Bead Gallery http://www.beadgalleryinc.com/
Come to find out he is also the owner of Artisans Accomplice, a designer of websites geared to the needs of artisans. I still looked around for another 6 months or so. What a waste of time and probably money! The folks at Artisans Accomplice ROCK. I told them what I wanted, simplicity, colors palette, etc and they put the whole thing together for me. They wrestled my domain away from a large company that I had it registered with. They handled setting up the shopping cart. The list goes on. Most importantly to me, someone who is computer inept, is that I can manage everything on my own! This would include photos, blog, coupons and sales, editing pages and I can even decipher the very detailed Reports page to see who is coming to shop from where! Amazing!! I tell you I am really a beginner when it comes to this stuff and I can do it. In the event I have questions they are just minutes away. Now really, I mean support is available free within minutes…not hours or days or how about never as was the case with 2 webhosting companies I tried. OK so enough about the wonders of Artisans Accomplice, Suffice to say to that if you are looking to open your own website you should check them out. Part 2 complete, I found someone to do it for me. Now, the cost…