Build your website
Building your web site is just that. Creating the web page that a visitor sees when they type your domain name into their browser.
This is one of those things you can be totally in control of. It might seem difficult at first but after you get into it, there's no turning back. HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the programming code that all web sites are built upon and it's not that hard to learn.
Here is an excellent web site that offers an HTML primer for free. If you go through the primer you will be writing your own basic web site in no time. But if you don't want to learn HTML, you don't have to. There are several programs out there that you can use that are called WYSIWYG editors, pronounced "wizzywig" that mean (What you see is what you get). You create your web site in the WYSIWYG editor and it converts your site to the HTML format for you.
How do you do it?Two of the most common and powerful WYSIWYG editors are:
Coffee Cup
And my favorite, Dreamweaver. At first they might seem a little
overwhelming but once you get the hang of them they're quite easy. They're
not free however.
They both also include templates for you to use for that professional look and quick design. There are some free editors out there but some are very confusing. You're better off concentrating on one common one and learn it inside and out. Neither of the two mentioned above are going away anytime soon. That means that there will always be support for them. That's a big plus.
There are lots of books and you can find tons of information about them online.
Here are some books on DreamweaverThe on line forums have tons and tons of information, training and tips. The Dreamweaver forum is at: http://forums.adobe.com/community/dreamweaver
Coffee cup forums can be found at http://www.coffeecup.com/forums
You could pay someone else to create your web site for you. But you already came this far. Why not finish the job yourself? You'll be so pleased with your accomplishment. It's really fun when you want to change something or add something to your site and you can do it yourself right now. Not wait for somebody else to do it for you.
There are alot of places that offer free templates for you to use. Most of them, however, require a link back to their site.
Here are a few places to get templates:
Photoshop Web Templates - Click here for easy-to-use, affordable web templates!
Here are some DO's and DON'TS to keep in mind when designing your web site.
DO Know your target audience. Design with your visitors in mind.
DO use short sentences. Short to the point sentences are easier to read rather that long ones that go the whole way across the page.
DO use correct spelling. Use spelling checker but don't rely completely on it. Get someone else to proofread for you.
DO use titles on Pages. This is not the title that shows on the page, it's in the PAGE PROPERTIES. Be descriptive. Search engines will not index correctly without titles.
DO get to the point. Your visitor wants to know immediately what they can find on your site.
DO use small pages. People want to read small pieces of info and decide what info they want to read next.
DO use in text links. Placing your links in text allows your user to naturally click on your links.
DO update your pages. Check your pages regularly and update them if necessary.
DO Show last updated on date. Provide the date of the last update if you change any of your pages.
DO use text dates. So the world can understand. April 2 rather than 4-2.
DO ask for feedback. Good or bad. You can learn a lot from your visitors.
DO check your links often. Check your links frequently to make sure they're alive. Not only those, check to make sure that the expected page comes up.
DO supply a link to home. Have a link to home on every page.
DO put navigation at the top and the bottom. Navigational links at the top and the bottom of your page eliminate the user having to scroll back to the top when they are done reading.
DO Create a what's new page. Return visitors are interested in the new additions to your site.
DO Use a consistent look and feel. If all the pages are similar, your visitors won't have problems navigating around your different pages.
DO Limit images. Most people want to read. A lot of images also make your page load time longer. Provide thumbnails for large images
DO Watch fonts. Use a nice font that's easy to read. Don't use a lot of different fonts.
DO Provide a visual e-mail address. Sometimes mailto won't work if their computer is not set up for it.
DON'T Use dark backgrounds. Dark backgrounds make text less readable.
DON'T Show pages under construction. If it's not ready, don't publish it. It's also a rookie mistake.
DON'T Change links. If other web site's link to you and your links change, they will get 404 errors.
DON'T Create dead end pages. A page that is linked to by other pages but itself links nowhere.
DON'T Use frames. All browsers do not support frames.
DON'T Link images from other sites. Looking up images from other sites takes a lot of time and makes your pages load slower.
DON'T Use blink. A blinking anything sucks. Period.
DON'T Use all capitals. DO NOT USE ALL CAPITALS. IT LOOKS LIKE YOUR YELLING AT ME.
DON'T Use too many types of italic. Text in italic is hard to read on a screen.
DON'T Use small fonts. Small letters are hard to read on a computer screen.
DON'T Use too many fonts. Using all kinds of different fonts on one page looks bad.
DON'T Use too many colors. Too many colors are distracting.
DON'T Use hit counters. One visit to a page with 9 images counts as 10 hits. If it's visited 5 times, that's 50 hits. This is another mistake. They're probably all yours anyway, right? Use the statistics from your web host instead.
DON'T Use a lot of pictures of meaningless awards. Nobody cares…really.
DON'T make Orphaned pages. Orphans are pages that have no link back to where they came from.
DON'T Use extra large borders. They look stupid.
DON'T Make people scroll sideways.
If you follow these guidelines you will have a professional looking web page. Check out webpagesthatsuck if you want to see some examples of bad design. They also offer a lot of tips.
Your almost done. Now it's time for the final step --> FTP your site.