Hello all. Not sure if I could ever class myself as a web designer but am sure I will get plenty of useful information here.
I started an online business four years ago - it is fairly successful considering the niche market I am in.
I have two sites - one which advertises my business - people then pay a one off fee to gain unlimited access. I also offer three different levels of membership. It is an online learning site and depending on how much support the members want how much they pay. It ranges from £25 to £150. I have members worldwide.
I am totally self taught and everything I have learned myself has been from online sites.
My public site is hosted with Microsoft small business and I used their templates to build it. Although with this new Office 365 I am not sure if I will be able to continue with them or will have to move my domain/hosting elsewhere - which I am dreading - I hate doing things like that in case it all goes to pot.
My learning site is hosted with Bravehost and I don't seem to have had any problems with them. I used Front Page to build the site.
I am extremely lucky in that because of the niche subject I am advertising, my website is usually No 1 on google without even having to pay! I get about 500 hits a day - I just wish they would ALL put their hands in their pockets but they don't I get about one sign up a day.
I also work for a local authority and administer a large part of the website (using Tridion). So the web is a big part of my life!!
I am a mum of two teenagers and am very happily married and have been for 29 years (to the same person!!!).