I am useless at that stuff but can't afford to pay someone to do it for me. What would make it easier for me to do? It is for my business so would need to be a 10-page website and look professional.
2006-10-12 05:02:06 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Internet
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Unfortunately the first stap of overthinking your website is often missed. A domain-name is very important but if you want a good service you first need to know what technical demands you've got. And to know your technical demands, you have to consider your site thoroughly.
A site idea is how you want your site to be. Consider the groups you target (make a short demographic description including computer skills) for each group. Ask yourself what they want from your site. Next ask yourself what you want from your site: entertain, get them to go to a shop and buy your book or even have an online bookshop. This is very important for how your site is going to be, so take enough time to consider all this.
Once you know how you want your site to be, you start thinking about content. Shortly write the main pages down in keywords: home, about us, downloads etc.
Having an insight in your content it's time to make up your navigation. Always think of how navigation would be the most logical to you. Ask some friends to check it. They can tell you what is unclear and could be better.
So, you've got your idea and content based on your goals and target groups. Here comes te designing process. No need to call a designer yet, just go to globally designing it yourself: how would you like to be your site, from a graphical view. Should the site be a graveyard with the gravestones as navigation or do you prefer a very mysterious site. It depends on your product and information. Check some sites of other companies to get an idea and discuss your own idea's again with friends (preferebly those who share your interest) as a focus-group. A creative site stays in the mind, so be creative without losing your goals.
Afer you've done all this, it is time to find a designer. You've prepared yourself, so you can tell him what you want. Ask him/her for an opinion of your thoughts. Maybe your designer comes up with some points you didn't think about. On base of what you want you designer can tell you what technical demands there are for your site. Most designers can also tell you where you should register or offer hosting themselves.
It's time for the designer to design and for you to write the actual texts (or if you're very lucky that's up to a copywriter). Biggest hint here: people read poorly on the internet. Write down what you want to tell and make a summarized text out of this. No complicated grammar constructions; try to keep the number of words down to 7 per sentence and use as less sentences as possible (be reasonable here though). Note that this is a general pointer. An article from a magazine is something very different ofcourse.
Some other general pointers:
* Don't go online to hasty. If you do, you'll encounter big problems or your site needs rebuilds every 2 months.
* Nothing as irritating as an 'under construction' message.
* Look into the future: how do you expect your site to grow.
* Forbid your designer to use flash. It's fancy, but not everyone has got it. Only use it if it's /really/ needed for your site.
* Make sure your site is readable to everyone.
* Don't forget to tell search engines where to find you
* Update your site on a regular base and make sure never to have got really outdated information on your site.
Luckily my answer to your second question is shorter: there's no need to get your designer to update your site, you can do this yourself if you learn some basic html-codes. I would suggest you ask your designer to make a combination mysql/php-site for you, which is easy maintainable. For big changes on your site a designer is needed though.
2006-10-12 05:06:27 · answer #1 · answered by lee.sheehan 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Go on a basic web design course using Dreamweaver software. Most adult colleges offer this at a reasonable price. I am doing a 10-week evening course in web design for £187 though you could probably make a very basic site after one or two lessons.
you can buy Dreamweaver for about £150 and download a free 4-week trial version.
If you live in London I recommend the City Lit (www.citylit.ac.uk) the course has covered everything to make a professional website.
Good Luck
2006-10-12 05:10:56 · answer #2 · answered by Rosie 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are many programs and templates that will allow you to build a website that looks professional. For example you can use the templates in Dreamweaver to build an entire site with very little knowledge at all. The problem is of course that while they will look fairly professional they will not look original as these templates have been used many times on many websites.
2006-10-12 05:13:42 · answer #3 · answered by Interested Dude 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
your best bet is to buy your own domain name, and create it yourself, download a lot of free web design software and practice I found out that the best way to create your web site is to learn yourself, you are the best web designer as you know your content and your clients more that anybody else.
the easiest way to start is to use Microsoft frontpage it already has a wizard and templates to use and you can put your own patterns if you like
2006-10-12 05:09:50 · answer #4 · answered by john n 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
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2014-03-17 20:20:55 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋