There is nothing wrong with making your own website if you are
looking to save some money. Be prepared however, for your finished
product to resemble an after school project cutesy, homemade touches
and all. It is pretty hard to make your own website and have it look
professional but, there is an easier way that will leave you with
fewer headaches in the long run.
You must first do some web
research. Click around and find websites that have the look you are
going for. Make some notes and jot down what it is you do and do not
want representing you. You should also start thinking of some keywords
that will help people find you if they were to type them into a search
engine.
After you have a rough idea of what you would like your
site to look like, you should contact a professional who will take care
of all the hassles that come with making a webpage. I recommend
contacting Global Presence in Tucson, Arizona, http://www.saeler.com
they do great work and pay special attention to detail.
Your
website will be created so that you can make changes when and if you
see fit. To do this, you should purchase a web authoring program, and
learn how to properly navigate the system to make revisions on your
site. After the site is up, you only need to know how to do 4 things in
order to keep your site up to date.
1. Be able to add a new page, complete with all of the navigation buttons from previous pages.
2. Have the ability to add text.
3. Be able to add a graphic.
4. Know how to make a hyperlink.
These are 4 easy steps that will be repeated numerous times throughout your website’s existence.
Not
everyone uses the same browser, so your webpage may look very different
from one computer to the next. To get a quick look at how your site may
appear on other browsers, go to http://www.anybrowser.com/. When
choosing a font, use something standard like Times New Roman one that
virtually every computer has. A good resource to help guide you through
all of your website problems is Robin Williams’ (no, not that Robin
Williams) book, The Non Designers Web Book.
*Remember to keep your site simple, so that customers don’t get confused by all the buttons, and click away.
