Just a few decades ago, the everyday internet user wouldn’t dare attempt to build his or her own website. Instead, if someone had the financial means for a website, web designers were the only people who could make sense of the complicated process of building a site and even then, sites were still prone to imperfections and needing frequent maintenance. Today, tech savvy or not, anyone can build a website from scratch without spending the money for a web designer’s expertise.
Choose Your Website Building Platform
Before you get ahead of yourself and become overwhelmed by all the things that go into creating a website, such as color schemes, content and images, you need to select the website building platform you’ll be using. From wordpress.com to sitebuilder.com, there are many website builders to choose from and you should do your research and read reviews to determine which one will best suit your needs and wants.
Don’t forget to consider factors such as extra features and the cost of a website builder. Regardless of your experience with building a website, you’ll want to choose a platform that offers good support and is easy to use. The easier to use, the less time you’ll spend worrying about whether your site is working the way it should.
Your Domain Name
When you build your own website, you’ll need to consider a domain name and a hosting service. Your domain name is your web address and a hosting service connects your site to the internet, in most cases, a web builder site acts as a host for no extra charge. Selecting your own domain name isn’t a “must”, but when you create and purchase your own domain name, it not only looks more professional and it’s yours to keep (just in case you decide to move your website to another website builder, etc.). Depending on where you purchase your domain name from, you can plan on paying less than $20 a year. When you create your domain name, remember that it will reflect your product, service, or yourself. Make it easy to remember, creative, and professional.
Building and Customizing Your Site
After you’ve selected your website builder and your domain name, you get to channel your creativity. Many website builders offer thousands of free templates, which will be the overall design of your site. One of the great things about using a website builder is that you have the opportunity to create your site from scratch without worrying about HTML, CSS, and whether or not it is responsive design (easily navigated on multiple devices). All you need to do is play around with templates, insert text and pictures, and customize as little or as much as you want. When you build your own site, you have the control to modify your site as often as you’d like (which can be helpful if you have a business that is evolving) and do it quickly and easily and you’ll have a better understanding, overall, how your website works.
