I was asked the other day by one of Wi-Surf’s customers, how he could go about building a website for his fledgling Golf Society. A two hour conversation ensued which covered everything from the basics of Web Design to the tools and/or services available to anybody or anyone who wants to build a website.
“Why would I want to do that ? I don’t run a business” I hear you ask.
Well, the fact is that the Internet or World Wide Web is made up of millions of websites that are nothing to do with businesses or companies of any sort. Wherever you go on the web, you will find websites that have been built and published by individuals or clubs or groups etc. to give an insight into their personal or group activites and interests.
Whether you simply want to set up a site extolling the virtues of Stamp Collecting, to give a central “meeting point” for family or club members locally or worldwide or just feel that you have something to say and want to be heard, the web really is the place to do it.
So how do you get started ?
Well first off, let me say here and now that this is NOT going to be a training session on website design and development. What I want to do is point you in the right direction to get started. From there on in, it’s up to you.
Ok, now that I’ve got that out of the way, the first thing you need if you are going to build your own website is to take a little time out to read about it and look around at sites others have built to get a solid idea of what you want to achieve and what is involved achieving it.
Building a web site can be, in reality, pretty easy. However, it’s like anything else. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well so take the time to plan it properly. To help, I have given links to some very useful sites in this week’s Surfer’s corner.
However, before you even think of what your site is going to look like etc., you will need to either choose a name for your Domain (i.e www.inspirese.com or www.yourname.com) and register it. This can be done through our own service at Web Services at www.inspirese.com or through one of the many other organisations on the net offering Domain Registration services.
Your own domain will give you, your club/association or business a unique identity and web address. For example, my family has just registered “reed-forrester.com” and will be putting up a password protected site for all the world’s R-F’s to communicate with each other, post photo’s etc. Each family member is going to have their own “mini site” within the main domain and we hope it will encourage us all to communicate better !!! It will also enable the family’s kids to express their “creative” sides as they will be responsible for their own individual sections and we adults expect some keen “competition” there !! (as well as lessons in web design !!).
Also, you will need to choose a “host” for your domain. This is a company, again such as our Wi-Webs, that has a facility with high power computers that you can “store” your website on and where “surfers” can go to to see it. It is important that you pick a good host with high quality facilities as the “experience” of visitors to your site can be adversely affected by substandard hosting technology. There are also other advantages of using a professional host. One such is that many hosting companies will provide you with on-line tools to build and maintain your website and a range of other technologies for your to make it better and more popular (especially important if you intend to use it for business). Take a look at Web Services at www.inspirese.com to get a feel for what is available.
If you don’t want to own Domain, you could use one of the free “Community” website facilities offered by organisations such as MSN or Yahoo (links in Surfer’s Corner) that allow you to easily create some pretty good websites with facilities such us on-line photo albums, calendars, Chat Rooms etc. Many individuals and clubs use these and they are a good place to get started as all the tools and instructions you need to get your “Group” up and running are built into the service. Another option is to use a “Blog” (Web Log), which is like an on-line diary or “muse” you can use to tel the world what you want to without getting into any sort of “programming”. Try www.inspirese.com for a look at our Blog service..
If you are going to take the plunge and build your own site, you really do need to do some planning first and develop a firm idea of what you want it to contain and look like. One of the simplest ways to get started on this is to look at other’s websites by simply running a web search to find examples of the type of site you are looking to design/build (i.e. search for “golf society” and you will get a fair old list of sites to look at).
Once you have the idea/design firmly in mind, you will need a tool or software package to build your website.
Here I strongly advise you to go down the “WYSIWYG” or “What You See Is What You Get” route. This means using a program that doesn’t require you to know how to program, write HTML or many of the other complex tools/languages that are used in professional web building but simply allow you to type in what you want, how you want to see it and publish it to the web.
Essentially, most modern Word Processors (i.e. Microsoft Word) have the capability to build basic web pages built in, and Desktop Publishers (i.e.MS Publisher) are even better. However, I have to say my preferred tool is Microsoft Frontpage. Although it is a paid for program, it really is incredibly to learn and use to both build a very professional looking website and maintain it (have a look at www.inspirese.com for an example).
If you don’t want to pay for one of the more expensive packages such as FrontPage or Dreamweaver (one of the industry standards), there are a range of Freeware (i.e. Free Software) and Shareware packages available to download on the web. I have listed a few of the best sites to go to in Surfer’s Corner.
Essentially, if you are an individual or a club etc., the best thing to do is just get stuck in and not worry about it all too much. Believe me when I say that I personally have built some horrors in my time and know many professional developers who also have. The thing is, until you are brave enough to give it a go, you will never make any mistakes to learn or gain experience from will you !!??
However, if you are a business looking to promote a professional image, I really cannot recommend strongly enough the need for you to get REAL professional advice and assistance. A company website is often the first thing anybody sees of you and it therefore should be as good as possible. You also need to ensure it can be found so quality “Search Engine Optimisation” is a must. If you are in this bracket, take time to find a good company to help you and in my opinion (of course !!), you should start that search with our own Wi-Webs. Give us a call for an informal chat and we will see what we can do for you.
Finally, if you do already have a site or proceed to build one, do email me the address and a short description and I will publish I will publish the best in the “Readers Sites” section of Surfer’s Corner that begins next week.
Peter Reed-Forrester
inspírese (www.inspirese.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment