| tive Ways to Build Your Web Site | | | | editors and still has something useful for the more |
| Herman Drost - 27 October Running a business | | | | experienced designer. |
| without building a web site, is like a fish swimming in a | | | | Pros - free, easy to use |
| small pond. The fish needs a vehicle to reach the | | | | Cons - some learning curve needed, lack of features |
| ocean. If you are a small business person who wants | | | | and integration with graphics software, when |
| to reach millions quickly and easily, building a web site | | | | compared with other high-end web design editors. |
| is a necessity. There are many ways to build a | | | | 6. SiteBuildIt ( This is an all-in-one system of tools to |
| website but Ill just give you an overview of the | | | | build, host and promote your web site. It includes one |
| most popular ones. | | | | year of: |
| Before you begin to build your web site, register a | | | | Domain name registration |
| domain first (read my article "How to choose, | | | | Web Site Hosting |
| register or transfer domain names" This means you | | | | Graphic Tools (LogoCreator and NavBar creator) |
| are serious about your business. | | | | Search Engine Optimization |
| 1.Web Site Templates - Free and Paid | | | | Automatic Search Engine Submission and |
| This is a quick and simple way to design your site | | | | Re-submission |
| without spending a dime. With a free web site | | | | Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Research |
| template, you can add text and graphics and host it | | | | Traffic Stats and Click Analysis |
| on a free web host. | | | | E-zine Subscription and Delivery |
| Free - these will give you a quick and simple design. | | | | Cost: approx $300/year |
| Paid Templates - generally these provide better | | | | Pros - all-in-one solution for creating, promoting and |
| looking designs. | | | | analyzing your web site, no need to learn html, add |
| Pros - quick set-up, saves time on design time. | | | | your own text and graphics. |
| Cons - lack of uniqueness and flexibility, not custom | | | | Cons - use of template generated web pages, lack |
| built to suityour business. | | | | of business uniqueness, limited flexibility over html |
| 2. ISP Site Builders | | | | code, expensive. |
| Some ISPs provide site building software as part of | | | | 7. Professsional Web Site Designer |
| their package i.e. AOL, | | | | If you choose a professional web designer, make |
| Pros - "all-in-one" package, no html required. This may | | | | sure he has the qualifications and at least several |
| consist of just site building (AOL), or a combination of | | | | years experience designing web sites. Take a look at |
| site building, hosting, search engine submissions and | | | | his portfolio to give you some idea of the sites that |
| newsletter management (Bigstep) for one monthly | | | | have already been designed. (Read my article "How |
| fee. | | | | to Choose a Web Site Designer" ( |
| Cons - template pages, page links generically named, | | | | Pros |
| pages cant be individually optimized for search | | | | Working with a specialist in designing and optimizing |
| engines. | | | | websites. |
| 3. Learn HTML | | | | Professional image for your business |
| This will allow you to build your web site from | | | | Years of experience building, optimizing and |
| scratch and have total control over any changes you | | | | promoting web sites. |
| may wish to make. | | | | Saves time - leaves you time to concentrate on |
| Pros - total control, flexibility, inexpensive (you can | | | | building your business while the technical aspects and |
| even use the text editor, notepad, that comes with | | | | maintenance of your web site is taken care of. |
| your computer). | | | | Cons |
| Cons - steep learning curve to become proficient, | | | | Can be expensive |
| takes a lot of time to change hundreds of pages. | | | | You have less control (must work with your |
| 4. Use Web Editing Tools | | | | designer). |
| There are two kinds of web site editors.a) HTML | | | | Recommendations |
| Editors - these will help you with writing and editing | | | | Do-it-yourself |
| your html (i.e. automating repetitive tags and color | | | | If you want to build it yourself and have the time to |
| coding the different tags used). | | | | do it, then learn some html and invest in a |
| Macromedia Homesite ( WYSIWYG | | | | professional web editor. Learning html will enable you |
| (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) editors These | | | | know whats wrong with your site (particularly when |
| graphical editors will help you to design a professional | | | | a web site editor doesnt write proper html or adds |
| looking web site after a lot of practice. Here are the | | | | unnecessary tags). The editor is very helpful if you |
| two most popular editors. These editors also allow | | | | have to maintain a large web site that contains |
| you to see the code as you design your site. You | | | | hundreds of pages. |
| can also manipulate the code within the editor. | | | | If you dont have much time and wish to |
| Dreamweaver MX ( | | | | do-it-yourself without learning html, then download a |
| Frontpage ( | | | | web template. |
| Pros - complete control over the design and | | | | If you dont want to learn html and want an all-in-one |
| maintenance of your website, can write or edit code | | | | solution for building, hosting, promoting and web |
| as you please, maintain hundreds of pages, many | | | | traffic analysis, then SiteBuiltIt is a great way to go. |
| useful features. | | | | Hiring a Professional Web Site Designer |
| Cons - can be expensive, learning curve, some | | | | This will save you a lot of time instead of doing it |
| WYSIWYG editors add unnecessary code, creating | | | | yourself. You can also be assured of having a |
| bloated web pages. | | | | professionally designed web site built to reflect your |
| 5. Browser Software Netscape Composer ( | | | | business. A good web designer will know how to build |
| Netscape has always had a basic Web page editor | | | | a web site that sells, which is the ultimate goal for |
| built-in. Netscape 7s version of Composer fills a huge | | | | your business. |
| gap at the lower end of the market for WYSIWYG | | | | |