Seven Effective Ways to Build Your Own Web Site
Copyright by Herman Drost
Running a business without building a web site, is like a fish swimming in a small pond.
The fish needs a vehicle to reach the ocean. If you are a small business person who wants
to reach millions quickly and easily, building a web site is a necessity. There are many
ways to build a website but I'll just give you an overview of the most popular ones.
1. Web Site Templates - Free and Paid This is a quick and simple way to design
your site without spending a dime. With a free web site template, you can add text and
graphics and host it on a free web host.
Free - these will give you a quick and simple design.
Paid Templates - generally these provide better looking designs.
Pros - quick set-up, saves time on design time.
Cons - lack of uniqueness and flexibility, not custom built to suit your business.
2. ISP Site Builders
Some ISPs provide site building software as part of their package.
Pros - "all-in-one" package, no html required. This may consist of just site building,
or a combination of site building, hosting, search engine submissions and newsletter
management for one monthly fee.
Cons - template pages, page links generically named, pages can't be individually
optimized for search engines.
3. Learn HTML
This will allow you to build your web site from scratch and have total control over
any changes you may wish to make.
Pros - total control, flexibility, inexpensive (you can even use the text editor,
notepad, that comes with your computer).
Cons - steep learning curve to become proficient, takes a lot of time to change hundreds of pages.
4. Use Web Editing Tools
There are two kinds of web site editors.
a) HTML Editors - these will help you with writing and editing your html (i.e.
automating repetitive tags and color coding the different tags used).
b) WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) editors These graphical editors will help
you to design a professional looking web site after a lot of practice. Here are the
two most popular editors. These editors also allow you to see the code as you design
your site. You can also manipulate the code within the editor.
Pros - complete control over the design and maintenance of your website, can write or
edit code as you please, maintain hundreds of pages, many useful features.
Cons - can be expensive, learning curve, some WYSIWYG editors add unnecessary code,
creating bloated web pages.
5. Browser Software Mozilla has always had a basic Web page editor built-in.
Firefox's version of Composer fills a huge gap at the lower end of the market for
WYSIWYG editors and still has something useful for the more experienced designer.
Pros - free, easy to use
Cons - some learning curve needed, lack of features and integration with graphics
software, when compared with other high-end web design editors.
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