Want to re-design site and get rid of Wordpress completely - how? Help!

Hello, I am a total newbie to this site and in desperate need of some help from those who are knowledgeable, so here it goes! (And I apologize in advance if I have posted to the wrong board).




Basically, I am an actor and have my own personal site. My friend is currently hosting it on one of his servers for me. Not knowing much of anything when I first got it, he installed Wordpress and I have since been using templates to make my site.


However, it looks a little unprofessional and I want to get away from the bloggish templates and Wordpress altogether. Everyone I know says "Oh, get Dreamweaver....it takes awhile to learn but then you can make all your own stuff, etc."


However, seeing as I am not directly hosting my site and currently working through Wordpress, how would I go about doing that? What other options or recommendations do you have and steps to do so? I do have control of the main panel in Wordpress. And I really want to change it soon - can't stand looking at the template and clunkiness of the site!!


(For reference I'm looking for a very clean appearance: a main page with a few top links to resume, photos, uploaded videos, contact info, and that's about it).


Thank you in advance for your help!!


amanda

 

Login to your friends host via ftp (you can use Filezilla) or on his web address and backup whatever content you need inside wordpress, then just delete all the files and directories installed by WordPress (wp-config.php, /wp-content/, /wp-admin/ etc).
You can always do a search for designers on this forum if you want them to redesign your site for you.

 

I echo same as above ==^ else, hire someone to design & develop your website.

 

Dreamweaver is an overhyped text editor that gives professionals something to laugh at. (We don';t laugh at the program, we laugh at people who waste $400 buying it.)

You can't write your own site unless you know how to write a computer program (that's what the code behind a site is).

You pay doctors, auto mechanics and other professionals. If you want a professional-looking site, hire a professional.

 

Junioreality, forgot to mention to export the database.

My answer would be depending on what you want.

option #1 you don't want your friend to host your site anymore.
you can ask him/someone to copy/migrate your site to a Wordpress Hosting for you.
Wordpress is one of the best platforms out there. Trust me updating site manually even if you know how to do it so counterproductive.

option #2 you don't like the design.
that's not a problem at all.
there are plenty of sites which offer free themes or sell premium themes for $20-$100
if you want the theme not to appear on the site that sells it anymore the price will be much higher.
The last option is something custom: there are sites that offer custom designed themes.
either through freelance sites or similar to 99designs which I haven't used yet.

good luck

 

I agree that Wordpress is a great platform and it's much easier to work with it. Having a web site based on Wordpress doesn't automatically mean that it's unprofessional. Maybe you just have to spend some money on the unique skin and hire a professional web designer etc. This will save your time and probably some money too.

 

good reminder @lordspace

Select the database used by your WordPress install and drop all the WordPress tables. If this was a fresh database only used by WordPress, you can remove all tables. If the database had existing tables before you need, make sure you don't lose them.

Choosing a better wordpress theme like what others suggested is a good idea too. This would save you some time and costs.

 

Thanks for the input, although I'm still a bit confused. I had been searching for ages and couldn't find a theme I really liked. Or I was afraid if I purchased it I wouldn't be able to delete elements that I want to get rid of (for instance, something saying "About me" on the front page. I know that I am not skilled in this or know how to code, I wasn't suggesting I take it all upon my own shoulders or anything. Most people I know did create their own theme or design and that's all I was talking about fiddling with, nothing else.

How much do web designers typically charge/is reasonable? I do know people who are involved in some major websites but any of them/their friends charge a lot and I can't afford that at this time....

 

@evenstar06,do you want to modify it all the time,adding posts and things like that?or do you want a "set it and leave it" that looks good?

 

1. It's better to hire a designer who will design the layout in a graphic editing software, so that you can guide him with your likes/dislikes etc
2. Then hire a coder who can convert the design in to full fledged website either static or dyanamic using wordpress.

or,

1. Get a theme and hire designer/developer who can change the themes look & feel as you want (May be a redesign may required)

For example, Take a look at this website,

http://html5based.com (based on the theme http://demo.woothemes.com/?name=gazette)

Thanks

 

How much does a designer charge? That's like asking how much food costs. A hot dog or filet? Prepared by a hobo, holding it over a fire on a stick, or by a master chef? You can get dinner for $2 or you can pay $500. Same number of calories, same nutrients.

You can find cheap designers on sites like freelancer, but will you be satisfied with their work? You don't exactly get what you pay for in this business (you could pay thousands and get garbage), but you'll very seldom get good work for cheap. (Why would a designer who can earn $50/hour or more spend 2 days designing something for you for $100? I do my brother's site for free, but I charge everyone else, and usually no discounts.)

But take a look at http://www.wptmp.com/ Download the file and start looking. There are 2138 free Wordpress themes in that file. If you still can't find anything you like, look at http://themeshaper.com/2009/06/22/wordpress-themes-templates-tutorial/ Designing a WP theme isn't brain surgery.

Modifying an existing one? You just have to learn a little. It's painless. Really.

 

@ Rockafello Yes, I want to be able to control my content....add photos/videos and post news updates as well as update the resume file & reel video as often as possible.
@Rukbat Thanks for the additional links!

And thanks everyone for the information. I'm not dumb, I'm totally willing to learn what I have to and build my skills up to be able to have the creative control. I'm also willing to pay someone who knows what they're doing, I'm just trying to feel out my situation and the best means because I'm not crazy with this person hosting my website anymore either. It's sticky. I don't like that so much is out of my hands and he's been very uncooperative so I'm concerned about that transfer anyway.

 

I would advice you hire a professional web designer to create a static site for you which should include a blog. Maybe your blog can be pushed to sub domain and re-design to fit the new site layout.

In the blog is where you can add updates, photos, videos and more.

Don't do away with the blog completely its a very important aspect of a site in today's world.

You can see my signature below to find out about buying the best web development software or hiring a professional web designer.

John