How to Make a Website
Deciding on actually what to use to make a website with can be a difficult process itself. First, before you even start you need to choose a publishing platform.
You have a number of publishing platform options, both free and paid. The PURPOSE of your website and your current EXPERIENCE of site building and HTML will help decide what platform you will use.
You can:
1. Make it with a Free website builder/host (Easiest)
2. Make it totally from scratch (Advanced)
3. Make it with a Content Management System (Intermediate)
4. Make it with an All-in-One website builder (Easy)
How to make a Website -
Free Website Builder/Hosts
I need to caution you here. Because you need to know what is the PURPOSE for your website. If it is just a personal blog to let the family and friends know what you are doing, then this is a perfect option for you. How to Make a Website with Blogger.com However, if you want to build an actual business, then please do not use a free website builder.
If you want to be perceived as professional, authoritative, and have “weight” in the search engine rankings, then a free website is NOT an option.
How to Make a Website -
HTML editors
Only those who are advanced in making websites will build a website from scratch. Many of these folks will use Adobe Dreamweaver, the premier website designing software to build their sites.
If you want to take a Web Development course at your local community college or want to begin teaching yourself HTML and CSS, then you have a longer learning curve ahead if you choose this method. I’m not against it, I use Dreamweaver, I’m just saying making a site from scratch is too time consuming.
This is not recommended for beginners. The learning curve is sharp and long; the labor you spend learning is not worth the $$ savings. Your better off going with a Content Management System(CMS) like WordPress or an All-in-One website builder to get your site up a little quicker.
Making your site from scratch you’ll need to purchase:
- A domain name
- Hosting
- Website Development software (Dreamweaver, Coffee cup, etc, or a free editor)
How to Make a Website -
Content Management Systems
A web content management (WCM) [1] systems for short is just a fancy name for a program or system that allows you to create, submit, and manage content on your website without requiring technical knowledge of any web programming languages such as HTML.
WordPress is THE ideal open source CMS. It is the largest CMS by usage, by plugins availability, by expandability. It was designed with bloggers in mind, but now has become the premier open-source system for making local business sites, money sites, and blogs. WordPress is the most used, most liked, most feature rich, and growing.
You also need to purchase a domain name and a place to host your website. Plus, you have to be rather technical savvy in order to get over the often major hurdles of initial set-up, plugin installations, hosting setup, and general maintenance. If you can get past those technical sticking points and the “net noise” your ready to build yourself a business.
The main and BIGGEST hurdle for beginners in using a CMS such as WordPress to make their first site, is the initial set up.
If you wanted to skip this headache in the process you could hire a web developer who could do in 20 minutes, what would take you 2-3 days to figure out. I personally use and recommend oDesk. It’s my favorite outsourcing website and I use it frequently. Find a five star contractor and have him knock it out for you quickly in less than an hour. Plus, they can do it for easily less than $20 (maybe even under $10). Where it would take you one whole day to figure it out, a contractor can do it for you in five minutes, plus you can keep ready to do other small tasks for you in the future.
To make a website via WordPress you need to purchase:
- A domain name
- Hosting
- Possibly a contractor to upload the CMS
How to Make a Website -
All-in-One Website Builders
An All-in-One website builder has many advantages. As the name implies, an all-in-one site builder will likely have almost every tool you’ll need.
The current best of breed, all in one builder currently is owned by: Sitesell.com. Their flagship product, SiteBuildIt!, now renamed SBI! harness the power of web 2.0. Their emphasis is on building real, successful businesses. The program is affordable at $299 per year, the step-by-step education is excellent, and the forums are unmatched in other business owners “paying it forward”.
My favorite is SiteBuildIt.com (SBI). Site Build It is great for beginners who are wanting to learn how to build a website. SBI educates you thoroughly in how to go about planning your site, picking your domain name, choosing your keywords, writing to sell, and getting the sale. How to Make a Website – SBI
SBI! includes your domain name and hosting, and a powerful keyword tool. SBI is a great middle of the road proven performer. There are cheaper options, and much more expensive options.
To make a website via an All-in-One builder you need to purchase:
- Yearly subscription to the builder
How to Make a Website
That Gets Traffic, Builds Trust, and Converts Visitors into Leads & Sales
Once you decide on what platform to publish your website, there are other very important factors you must address:
- Getting traffic to your website
- Building trust
- Converting your visitors into sales or leads
How to Make a Website – That gets traffic
If you want a traffic, you need to know how to build a website that:
- Is well organized
- Has high quality content
- Is search engine friendly
How to Make a Website – That builds trust
If you want to make a website that builds trust, you need:
- Keep it “real” and provide value
- Social Proof
- To provide value to the visitor
How to Make a Website – The converts visitors into customers
If you want to know how to build a website that makes money, you need:
- To pre-sell your visitors
How to Make a Website – Checklist
- Briefly skim each considered publishing platform’s training materials
- Choose your Publishing Platform
- Chose your Niche and Site Concept
- Research Profitable mini-topics, within the site
- Research ways to potentially monetize the website
- Finish refining the site concept
- Determine your Valuable Preselling Proposition and Unique Selling Proposition
- Pick your Domain name
- Pick your Hosting provider
- Create a site blueprint
- Build your home page
- Build Tier 2 pages and supporting Tier 3 pages
- Create relationships; site blog, email newsletter
- Build back links
