Making a Website that Works
Making a Website
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There is more to making a website than just page design or graphics. Here are some opportunities to consider before you design your site.
When I first got started out on the Internet, only the very few bothered with making a website. You see, the Internet was still clunky and slow, and it required some real programming knowledge to make your own website.
Learning that HTML language from scratch
Back in the day, you had to take HTML classes or at least distance learning to make a website. There were no shortcuts back then, no Dreamweaver or anything like that. Building a personal website was a labor of love, something not for the faint of heart or the inexperienced.
It is funny how quickly things have changed. Nowadays, creating pages is practically a rite of passage for anyone who wants to consider himself or herself tech savvy.
Everyone and their mother has a site, and the numbers are only growing. If you have not learned to make your own website, you probably feel behind by now. After all, sites such as MySpace and LiveJournal make it so easy that people who know next to nothing about the Internet are doing it.
My first website
I have to admit that, up until recently, I had never made a website. I had told myself that making a website by purchasing a DIY web design course was a waste of time – that I didn’t really have the desire, and there were more important things to do. In reality, however, I was a little bit scared.
I knew so many people who had made some very good websites, and I knew that mine would not look like anything special. I was far below the level of most of my friends were at. I could not build a professional website. At best, I could make something stripped down and basic to display my content. Nonetheless, I finally decided it was worth it.
When I got down to it, making a website was a lot easier than I had expected. There was so much free Web hosting that I had a variety of options available. I didn’t have to pay a lot of money, and I certainly didn’t need to know how to program! You can make a website with some basic functionality and content.
Putting up a small business website
I have had a small business for some time now, but I realized that I had come to a point where I needed to expand my base. A presence on the Internet is an important part of small business today, so I decided it was high time I began researching the fine art of making a website.
Money and time factors
I started out knowing two things: First I didn’t have much money to invest in this venture; and second, I didn’t know the first thing about making a website on my own.
I decided I needed to do some research first, so I went online to gain all the knowledge I could about this process. I quickly found more than enough information about making a website, whether I wanted to tackle the project myself or hire someone else to do it. I learned that there were plenty of options in this process, and I would be able to find success if I did my homework beforehand.
Hiring web designers
The first option was to hire a trained professional to do the job, and this was tempting indeed with my limited experience in the technical arena. I found that some experts in this field will charge a pretty reasonable fee for making a website, considering how much they could offer to build a really cool, functional site.
This option was not very affordable
However, even the lowest fees were a bit steep for my budget at the time, so I decided to go it alone for the time being. If need be, I could always hire someone to touch up my efforts later, as I’m sure their fees for that would be cheaper than making a website from scratch.
Beginner web design
The online resources I found offered plenty of good step-by-step information for making a website, from choosing your domain name and designing your actual pages, to promoting your presence using the right content to draw prospective clients in.
Some of these were aptly referred to as tutorials, because they walked you through the entire process with language that was easy for even the least techno-savvy to understand. Yep, that’s me!
Designing a pleasing web site
Once I got my site up and running, I found additional information on making a website that allowed me to spruce up my pages with lots of fun graphics, including my logo, buttons to view other pages, and pictures to make the entire package as pleasing to the eye as possible. I have to admit that I found the entire process really fun, and not hard to do at all.
However, I am looking forward to bringing in a real webmaster to help me with the finer points of making a website that will give my pages that final, professional touch so that my web traffic generation tactics pay off. Look out web, here I come! Now, start yours while you are still excited!
