So I tried them all...What do you think?

[cherpel]

Greetings Fellow Bodyworkers!
I posted on here earlier that I wasn't sure which website to try...
So Guess What.... I'm trying them all...they're sort of all a work in progress.
However, I'd love to get some feedback.

First one is through Microsoft Office Live
http://www.therelaxationspot.com

Next is through spaboom...
http://www.relaxationspot.spaboomtime.com

Third one..and I'm not sure if the addy is entirely correct but here goes

http://www.myholisticalliance.com/worldwideweb.relaxationspot.com


I liked being part of spabooms community...My husband likes the control and syncing abilities with Microsoft...and my holistic alliance was really easy to set up. So if anyone is considering any of these options. I guess this is a good comparison for you as well.

Thanks so much!
~Cheryl

[makingachange]

this is a great comparison. thanks for setting it up.

unfortunately, i couldn't get the spaboom site to go through.

as it is though, i *love* the holistic alliance one. but the microsoft site is pretty sweet too. what a tough choice!

~amanda

[cherpel]

http://www.relaxationspot.boomtime.com

I believe this should do it...thanks for the feedback...

[cherpel]

http://relaxationspot.boomtime.com/

This is getting confusing...hope this one works

[makingachange]

it worked. and spaboom is (shuddering at the thought of admitting this) my least favorite of the three. although i really love the people at SB. i guess i'm just tired of the same templates. they do have wonderful reporting features, though.

#1 HA
#2 MS
#3 SB


hth!
amanda

[shivashiva]

I have to say that the mywholisticalliance one looks the most modern and cool, next would be the microsoft one, and spaboom last.

Hey! As I'm writing this I see amanda has the same preferences. I don't know anything about spaboom so I don't mind saying I like it least of all. But really, they all look nice and professional, and if one has better features for you as a business owner than others, definitely take that into consideration.

[pueppi]

I have to say that the mywholisticalliance one looks the most modern and cool, next would be the microsoft one, and spaboom last.

Agreed.

[cherpel]

I also agree that I like the look of holistic alliance, however it was very limiting on what I could change about it. For instance the request appt page...when someone req an appt I will only know their name email & phone number and nothing more. This creates a need for an instant callback from me without allowing me to provide an educated callback. If this site allowed me some of these freedoms i'd be in heaven, because it is so user friendly.

Spaboom ...no matter which template I use I can't make it not look like all the other spaboom sites ....no offense to anyone with a spaboom site. However, I like that it's geared towards spa/massage and there is some support available.

The microsoft supposedly will allow me to do what I like...however I have to know how to do those things. So...not sure where that puts me. It sounds like people on here do well with GC sales on spa boom so I wanted to be connected to that...confusing

[tcmassage]

Mine's a little different. I like:

#1 MS
#2 HA
#3 SB

Did you have to edit html or are these all template based?

[Breathe]

I like the look of the holistic alliance site the best, but your URL is too long, and for me, that is a dealbreaker. Also, I would never go with a site that is proprietary in its template and/or hosting. If you ever have a need to move hosts, you lose your entire site. Just something to consider.

[shivashiva]

but your URL is too long, and for me, that is a dealbreaker.

I forgot to mention this, but I agree wholeheartedly. Why can't you buy a domain name and use it with them? Much preferable.

Also, I would never go with a site that is proprietary in its template and/or hosting. If you ever have a need to move hosts, you lose your entire site. Just something to consider.

Hadn't thought of this and I also totally agree. It may be a bit much to learn some html, but if you are willing to do so, you can buy a template that will be yours alone (or close to it) and then modify it to your liking if you've got a little bit of html knowledge. This will make your site more unique overall, and yours forever.

[BJB-LMP]

I like the top one best -- looks good, easy to read, and I can remember the URL.

[cherpel]

Thanks for the responses...(BWO wouldn't let me log in earlier ...)

I agree with the domain name. We do have others and I could make myholisticalliance whatever domain I wanted...however, we don't want to do that yet, till we know what we're doing.

Breathe you have a very good point that I would lose everything if I left those other sites.

To reply to the question about HTML...My Holistic...won't accept HTML, Spaboom you don't need it at all, but you can add some, and Microsoft...well it's sort of like using Microsoft Word, however they have their recommended design flows and if you don't choose one of those templates...then you need to know a bunch of HTML to make it the way you want.

About 10yrs ago I understood HTML, however I haven't touched it since and so much has changed...plus I don't have photoshop or other good program to design with. If I took the time...I know I could learn it. I also just put a barter add on craigslist to see if anyone wants to trade.

[pueppi]

Also, I would never go with a site that is proprietary in its template and/or hosting. If you ever have a need to move hosts, you lose your entire site. Just something to consider.

Regarding templates: www.allwebco.com has nice ones.

My husband builds websites and uses their templates because they are clean and load up fast. You can PM me, if you want more info on how he works/ what he charges, or if you have the web savvy yourself, you can build your own. Remember all pics are interchangeable, banners can be completely deleted and you can copy as many pages from the template as you like to make your site as large as you want. So, if you purchase a site with five pages, just copy them to the number of pages you want.

The main thing is to find a template with a color combination and layout that you like. From there, you can do just about anything.

The nice thing with something like this is that once you've bought it, that site is yours... and you don't have to pay someone monthly fees for it, you can take it with you (to any hosting company you want, over the years) and you're just responsible for paying your hosting company/domain name.

[cherpel]

So the final decision was to keep the microsoft site, get rid of my holistic alliance, and only keep spaboom's GC page(I'll test out this feature for a while and see if it's worth it). This website is still a work in progress, but I like the freedom to change, add whatever I want.
http://www.TheRelaxationSpot.com

[Meg D.]

Cheryl,
Your website came out great!
I have the abmp freebie, but am interested in more, and have been reading all I can about creating a website.
Good grief, theres alot to know.
I like the instant gc's. Good job