How to Design a Website

If you have any type of business, chances are you need a website. Even if you are not buying or selling a product or a service, there are all kinds of reasons you may want a website of your own – a place to talk about current events, a site dedication to movies you like, you want to show off your pet, whatever. Most of you probably want a site that sells something though, so we’re going to help you get one.

The design of your site has a lot to do with how successful your online business ventures are. Overwhelmingly consumers want a couple things from a website, in this order: 1. Easy to use, 2. A site that is clear and concise. Pretty simple, and that’s the point. There are a lot of blogs and articles about how to create an effective site, so let’s just start with the “how”.

HTML

Unless you are a computer programmer you will not need to know that much. Knowing some basics can be helpful though, even if you use a website builder (which you probably will). Some basics are:

<h1>Large heading</h1>

<h2>Medium heading</h2>

<h3>Small heading</h3>

<p>You begin a paragraph this way, then end it this way.</p>

<a href=”http://www.this-would-be-some-website-address”>These are the actual words you click on to go to that website</a>

<img src=”this-is-an-image-saved-on-your-computer-and-as-you-can-see-you-determine-the-size.jpg” width=”104″ height=”142″ /> Copying and pasting the name is recommended, because the can get long just like that sentence. Left click the image saved than hit “properties” and it will be there

Other tags are <b></b> for bold text <i></i> for italic text and <u></u> to underline something. You begin every piece of html with <> and end it with </>, that is how computers know to go on to the next thing.

CSS Basics

CSS is another language you may use, like HTML. This is a bit more complex and not completely necessary. The primary advantage is that it allows you to separate your HTML content—which is a determining factor in your web ranking—from the style of your site. While too complex to go into here, there are many advantages to using this style, more control over content and images without damage to SEO factors and more. Simply Google “CSS Basics” and you will find a cornucopia of sources.

Free Website Builders

A website builder is basically a program that takes care of the HTML and other coding for you and also hosts your site address. Usually will choose a general template, then can insert text, graphics, links and other available items as you see fit. The trade of is, these free builders will post ads of their choice on your site. This is great for personal websites but not for a business. Some popular free website builders are:

Google Sites

Windows Live Spaces

Wix

Google Knol

Jimdo

AngelFire

Edicy

Squidoo

Yola

Tripod

There are many more, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

Commercial Website Builders

These are the same as the free ones, except you pay. Often however they will have more and better options, and more importantly there are no ads. Dreamweaver is one of the more popular commercial builders, however there are many others.

WordPress

WordPress is technically a blogging platform, whereby similar to a website builder, you can build a blog with little or no knowledge of HTML or any coding (though there are some areas where this knowledge will allow you more freedom of design). It is the single most popular blogging platform, and has been downloaded over 30 million times since its introduction in 2003. WordPress is a great tool for any business that wants a blog, and the platform allows enough freedom that many choose to build their website based on this platform. It is free initially but some of the more advanced options come with a fee.