Creating an Effective Web Site
Often times it is hard to figure out where to start in creating an effective website. There many questions such as where to host your new site, or what type of layout should you use?
The first step is to determine the audience you are trying to reach. The next step, before creating wire frames and mock ups, is determining your budget. The last step is to consider who is going to build it or if you are going to build it yourself. In this article we will be looking at the free route. These days it is very easy to build your website with ZERO programming experience. So, don't be bashful, roll up your sleeves, and keep reading.
I am attempting to build a personal portfolio site highlighting me, and I have already determined the layout by searching other portfolio sites that are interesting to me. Since I will be doing all the design work, using a free website builder, and taking advantage of there free web hosting, budget will not be concern currently.
Now that I have a better sense of the direction I want to go in I can start sketching out my layout on a or choose a template from the web site builder. Often times when a web designer meets with a client they will sketch out the layout on something as simple as a napkin. You would be surprised how often this happens! The rough sketch will be a guideline for the website and lead to creating the wire frames for each page. Wire frames are just the outline of your website's layout and controls, such as the navigation, images, header, footer, and links. (see the example below)
One way I think of designing a website is like oil painting, because just like when painting with oils, you will have multiple layers until you reach the final product. Also, like a painting, the most important thing to remember is to have a solid foundation to build upon. You will make your life harder if you try and correct your foundation at the end stages of creating your website. Work smarter not harder! When you are creating the wire frames of each page, they should be pretty close to the actual layout you will end up using.
My web site will have eight pages. The pages will include a splash page, home, about, art, music, web design, contact, and a blog. I hope to accomplish a website that will give an insight to who I am and what I do, and of course I want it to be interesting visually and easy to navigate.
The last step is to find a place to host your site. There are a few options that are initially free, but as you continue to add certain functionalities, like eCommerce, you could end up paying a monthly fee. However, for a basic site like I am building I shouldn't have any issues with cost.
Often times with the free hosting you might have advertisements on your site, or you may be limited to how many pages you can host, but if you use any of the sites that I researched below, you won't have to worry about ads unless you add them. I choose Weebly.com for my site but the others are just as good. Below are three sites that I have researched.
Weebly.com
Weebly is awesome because it is 100% free and it's interface is simple and quick to use. You basically just drag and drop your content and you can upload photos with just a few clicks. Weebly has a ton of different template options, and they are always improving on their templates. Weebly also has eCommerce built into their site, which is great if you are selling anything, and the basic option is free!
Wix.com
Wix is also template based, with as they say, "100s of Designer-Made Templates". Wix is also drag and drop like the others and Wix has an option that will allow you to use one-paged templates, that allow you to publish your site quickly and add subsequent pages later. Wix also offers protected pages that will allow you to designate who can access those pages. This is a cool feature if you need security for any reason.
Webs.com
Webs is template based with professionally designed themes and it's also easy to use. Plus like the others it allows you to drag and drop content to your liking. You don't need to know any programming language you just need to be creative. Lastly, they also show you how to market your site and use Search Engine Optimization.
As you can see you really can't go wrong with any of these site builders, and the truth is they are all really similar. Maybe in the end the deciding factor for you will be the templates that differ from site to site. I suggest doing some research and see what works for your needs, as I have only scratched the surface as to what these sites offer. In the end it's left up to you and your creative juices! Good luck!
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