How Can I Use My ValleyLists Listing as My Website

Using your ValleyLists Listing as your website is a great option for many people who don't need a complex, multi-page website.  It is simple to set up, quick and easy to keep up to date, and is ridiculously inexpensive ($10/year).

There are two ways you can use your ValleyLists Listing as your website.

1.  The easiest thing to do is to just tell people you have a listing on ValleyLists and then perhaps what key words to use in searching for your Listing.

2.  The second way is to register a domain name, something like "www.yourbusinessname.com" and then have your hosting company "point" the domain name to the URL of your ValleyLists Listing. 

For example, I took down my stand-alone law firm website and now www.flanderslawoffices.com "points" to my law firm's ValleyLists Listing.  My business cards still show my website as "www.flanderslawoffices.com" but I can keep my ValleyLists Listing up to date much more easily than I could my old website.

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Background information for those who need it: 

The first step in having a website is to register a domain name, that is, the name of your website.  It will be something like "www.yourbusinessname.com". There are many companies on the Internet who are in the business of registering domain names.  I use www.pinnaclehosting.biz.  Domain names usually start with "www." and end in ".com", ".org", ".biz", and a few others.  The cost should be on the order of $10/year.

Step two is to sign up with a hosting company.  These companies are also called Internet Service Providers (ISPs).  (ISPs will usually register your domain names as well.) ISPs will set you up with a hosting plan.  The cost of your hosting plan will depend on the size of your website, the number of email addresses you need, etc.  Normally the least expensive hosting plan costs about $10/month. 

Once you have a domain name and a hosting company, you instruct your hosting company to "point" your domain name to your ValleyLists Listing page.  You will need to know the URL (or Internet address) for your Listing page.  If you go to your Listing on ValleyLists, your URL will be shown in the box located at the top of your browser page.  It will be something like:  "http://www.valleylists.com/item/your category-your business name-1234".

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If you want to use your ValleyLists Listing as your website, the best deal I'm aware of is to use the free hosting option at my hosting company:  www.pinnaclehosting.biz.   They charge only $10/year to register your domain name and then, for small accounts, they offer free hosting with one free email address.  Ask them for their least expensive account.

So, between ValleyLists and Pinnacle Hosting, you can have a very nice business website for $10/year!

Note:  In addition to the great deal they offer, in my personal experience, www.pinnaclehosting.biz has very helpful and patient customer service representatives.  If you have any questions at all during your set-up process, call their customer service number shown at the top of each page on their site. 

Note:  Be aware that Pinnacle Hosting serves thousands of websites and people.  Their customer service representatives will not know anything about ValleyLists.  Here are the steps with Pinacle Hosting:

1.  Register your domain name with them.

2.  Tell them you want the free hosting option.

3.  Tell them you want your domain name to "forward" or "point" to your page on ValleyLists.com.

4.  Copy and paste the URL for your ValleyLists page into the appropriate place on their website (They will instruct you.)

 5.  Enter the email address you want your free email to be sent to into the appropriate place on their website (They will instruct you.)