Small Project Design

I am looking for advice on putting together a new web site. 
I have recently restarted my own office, to focus on designing of Cultural Building such as Theatres, Museums, and Civic projects.  This type of work requires me to work around the country,and  team with local Architects.   That means about half the work is the result of the local client finding me.  This requires a "GREAT" web site.  searches brings up so many alternatives I don't know where to start.   If you have a site that really captures your firm, I would love to know more.   Any suggestions and guidance would be a big help.

Thank You,

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Scott Georgeson FAIA
Georgeson Architects
Shorewood WI
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I recently completely rebuilt my web site by myself using the facilities at PhotoBiz.com . My architectural photographer recommended them to me as he uses them as well.  Their site has a ton of templates with incredible flexibility.  They have on-line video tutorials which lead you through the process step by step.  They will also host your site for a very nominal monthly charge.  One thing which is very attractive is the ability to edit your site as often as you like to add new photos, edit your blog, add videos, change color scheme, change text styles.  So you are not dependent on some web guru whenever you want to make a revision or addition.  I am thrilled at how my site turned out.  There are some limitations, but for the nominal charge, ease of use, and flexibility, you really can't beat it. You can see my site at www.rrlaia.com, or PhotoBiz has samples on their site as well.  The one thing I have not done yet is to add the SEO tags so people can find me, but I use my site mostly as an electronic portfolio - but PhotoBiz will guide you through that process as well.  Good Luck ! ! !  

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Robert Larsen AIA
Principal
Robert R. Larsen, A.I.A.
Denver CO  
rrlaia@earthlink.net
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The hardest part of a website isn't the launch. It's the maintenance. And I think an out of date website can be worse than none at all. For that reason, I'm a longtime fan of Wordpress - initially a blog platform - as a platform for websites. Because of its blogging heritage, it is easy to update. I've set up 4 or 5 websites (for church, volunteer organizations, my former firm, and now my own small firm - all on the Wordpress platform. You may wish to start at Wordpress.com, which offers free hosting and a fixed set of templates, until you get comfortable with how it works. Then you can consider paid hosting that uses Wordpress.org, but allows you to choose from a universe of site templates and plugins. Don't be too quick to go custom. As designers we can be tempted to spend more time tweaking the look than the message and content. You can find my website at goodcityarch.com and my blog at churchthatmoves.com

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Ronald Geyer AIA, NCIDQ
Principal
Good City Architects LLC
Greenville SC
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-25-2014 20:44
From: Robert Larsen
Subject: Small firm Web site

I recently completely rebuilt my web site by myself using the facilities at PhotoBiz.com . My architectural photographer recommended them to me as he uses them as well.  Their site has a ton of templates with incredible flexibility.  They have on-line video tutorials which lead you through the process step by step.  They will also host your site for a very nominal monthly charge.  One thing which is very attractive is the ability to edit your site as often as you like to add new photos, edit your blog, add videos, change color scheme, change text styles.  So you are not dependent on some web guru whenever you want to make a revision or addition.  I am thrilled at how my site turned out.  There are some limitations, but for the nominal charge, ease of use, and flexibility, you really can't beat it. You can see my site at www.rrlaia.com, or PhotoBiz has samples on their site as well.  The one thing I have not done yet is to add the SEO tags so people can find me, but I use my site mostly as an electronic portfolio - but PhotoBiz will guide you through that process as well.  Good Luck ! ! !  

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Robert Larsen AIA
Principal
Robert R. Larsen, A.I.A.
Denver CO  
rrlaia@earthlink.net
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You may want to consider the web hosting company Squarespace. I am building a website with them and their templates are gorgeous and their interface is straightforward.

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Daniel Alter AIA
Daniel Alter Architect PLLC
Brooklyn NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-26-2014 17:25
From: Ronald Geyer
Subject: Small firm Web site

The hardest part of a website isn't the launch. It's the maintenance. And I think an out of date website can be worse than none at all. For that reason, I'm a longtime fan of Wordpress - initially a blog platform - as a platform for websites. Because of its blogging heritage, it is easy to update. I've set up 4 or 5 websites (for church, volunteer organizations, my former firm, and now my own small firm - all on the Wordpress platform. You may wish to start at Wordpress.com, which offers free hosting and a fixed set of templates, until you get comfortable with how it works. Then you can consider paid hosting that uses Wordpress.org, but allows you to choose from a universe of site templates and plugins. Don't be too quick to go custom. As designers we can be tempted to spend more time tweaking the look than the message and content. You can find my website at goodcityarch.com and my blog at churchthatmoves.com

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Ronald Geyer AIA, NCIDQ
Principal
Good City Architects LLC
Greenville SC
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