How To Design & Build A Website

Let's be frank: if it's important to you to have a unique, artistic design for your website, then you need to hire a web designer. Website design is a skill beyond our expertise, and we won't attempt to tell you how it should be done ... except for one point:

The one point we would make is a reiteration of what we said on the Website Basics page, namely ...

Your business website is a marketing tool. It is not intended to win awards for artistic merit (if it does, so much the better; but that's not what it's there for) .....

The marketing of your business is what your website is for. You measure its success by how much business it generates for you. More accurately, you measure its success by its effect on your bottom line.

Remember that a web designer will design your site; he will not create the content. That's a marketing task!

With that in mind, let's look at your options if a unique website design is beyond your budget.

1. Use A Web Hosting System

One option we looked at on the Web Hosting page was Site Build It. If you use Site Build It, you won't actually need anything else. Just follow the instructions and you can hardly go wrong.

There's a lot to be said for Site Build It. I have used it myself for one of my sites. There are some restrictions, so make sure you're happy about that. But their service really is a one-stop shop - and amazing value for money.

2. Use A "Modular" Web Hosting System

If you're really serious about using the internet as a marketing tool, I would recommend that you use alternative website creation software rather than the website builders provided by some hosting companies. The software of choice for serious marketers is - without a doubt - XSitePro.

XSitePro is a relatively new piece of software. It is significantly less expensive than the big brand names, and it has been put together specifically for people who are using the web as a marketing tool. Have a look at the demonstration at the XSitePro website, and you'll see how straightforward it is to use.

You can either construct your site from scratch, or you can use a website template (a whole range of templates is provided) & customize it as much or as little as you wish.

It has to be said that website templates are frowned upon by designers, who take great pride - and rightly so - in producing unique designs for their clients; but as a marketing tool, a website template can be every bit as effective as a unique design.

By the way, this site has been built using XSitePro (clicking here will open a new window).

A Word About HTML ....

XSitePro makes it very easy for you to publish your site to the Web without any knowledge of the dreaded HTML (that's the coded language used behind the scenes for writing web pages). However, whatever software you use to create your web site, sooner or later you'll find it very useful to have at least a basic knowledge of html.

Don't panic - you don't need to know any; you'll just find life easier if you do.

There is a free 29-lesson course which you can follow at Writing HTML - or you can download the whole course as a 330-page PDF document here.

But let me repeat: you don't need to know any html. You can build a website perfectly well without knowing any. But if you take the time and trouble to learn just a little, you'll have more control over the appearance of your website .. and you'll be able to add extra tweaks.

"What Should I Put On My Website?"

Now we come to a very important part of the process - covered on the next page: Copywriting