Is creating a website still a difficult, frustrating, long-winded task? Or has it become easier since the beginning years when websites were created by manually “coding” pages using an HTML editor.
If you are confused by some of the terminology or are completely scared of the idea of building a website, that is OK. I will explain exactly what I am talking about within this post and also outline some of the favorite ways people are learning how to make their own websites.
First off, what exactly is a website?
A website is a collection of web pages that is maintained by a single person or organization. In most cases a website has a distinct TLD, top level domain as does this site you are on… such as www.craftycontent.com. Everything this site, such as this page, is considered to be part of my website.
So, a bunch of pages meld together to make a website.
Making your own website is no longer a difficult task. Over the years new technologies have been introduced, new development platforms have been put into place so that the average person can easily create a website. However, before you create a website, you should understand the purpose of your site as this will determine what type of site you should create.
Types of Websites
(1) Personal website
Express yourself! No longer is it tough to throw together a personal web page.
Personal websites are the fastest growing type of websites…and this is represented by the millions of personal pages that are created daily.These could be personal picture sites, wedding sites, or just “for fun” sites. It can be anything really.
If you are looking to create a personal site, there are many free hosted solutions that offer a range of templates and built in WYSIWYG editors.
These are usually “freemium” services. If you are not familiar with this term, it means that you get to use a limited “free” service, but if you want to upgrade to a paid service, you are required to pay. Some of these services include the likes of Yola.com, Weebly.com, Homestead.com and Wix.com.
(2) Personal Journal/Blog
Maybe you are interested in creating a journal about your golf game, maybe you want to create a blog on your family history, or maybe you just want to create a personally branded travel blog where you can let the world see your day-to-day activities via your web log. These are some of the most commonly used sites used for creating free blogs/journals:
The use of free blogs and journals are typically not intended for something that is more commercial or intended to be a profit bearing website. The reason for this is because these free blogging services usually refrain from allowing affiliate links, on site purchasing, and they are on their respective domains (ex. yourblog.blogger.com versus yourblog.com), and they limit your control…such as the ability to test and incorporate more sophisticated marketing agendas. We will discuss the hybrid solution later that discusses creating your own blog/site for the purpose of profit.
(3) Company and Store Websites (Full Control)
For advanced users that want full control, a more elaborate website builder will be required. Since the beginning of the Internet dawn, the most popular website creation suite has been that produced by Adobe, with their bread and butter website editor, Dreamweaver. These services are used by web development companies and programmatically apt website designers, but should not be used if you are new to building sites.
They allow you to get into the nitty gritty of the code and build your sites from the ground up. A lot of unnecessary work unless you are creating a hugely sophisticated, enterprise style website that requires a build from the ground up. Me myself, I prefer to work from an existing foundation, but whatever your websites purpose is, you should choose accordingly.
Looking for a free HTML editor? Here is a goodie:
(4) Hyrbrid Website w/ Training
There are also companies out there that understand that many people that want to create a website, don’t know exactly what to do with a website or how to rank their site. Fair enough. I know when I started building a website I had no idea about SEO, HTML, FTP, Affiliate Marketing, PPC, CPM, PPV, etc….those terms were all like another language to me. That is why there are services out there now that offer a website creation solution (teaching you how to make yur own website) as well as offering training on “what to do with your website”.
This could include:
- Selling products online
- Writing content for your website/blog
- Proper techniques for getting your blog ranked
- Ways to get a following on your site
- Advanced techniques for utilizing site technology to your advantage
- Obtaining and monetizing your site traffic
- Learning about a variety of marketing techniques.
There is currently one hybrid website service that is noteworthy and offers a combination of both website tools, hosting, and applied training. If you plan on doing something with your site, including financial gains, this is the solution.
Making Your Choice
If you have no programming knowledge and just want a fun and free site you can play around with, you should definitely seek either the “free website” or the “personal journal” solution.
If you have no programming knowledge, but want to create a business online and learn “what to do with your own site”, you should choose a hybrid solution. These offer you the ability to host your own domains, an important aspect to business.It will allow you to focus more on your content. Content is what intrigues people, is what gets people talking about your site, and will allow you to create ongoing relationships with your visitors and/or customers.
And finally, if you are creating an enterprise site, a site with a large commercial storefront, or need something very specific to represent your company brand, then you will want to go the HTML editor route, or alternately seek out a company that is in the business of developing such sites.
That in a nut shell explains the best methods you should use for creating your own website.
I hope this blog post came in handy and if you have any feedback, I would love to hear it.