When you first start thinking about building a website, you'll need to know there are several options available -
- You can hire a designer to build the website for you
- You can learn HTML and build your website by hand coding
- You can buy website templates and modify them to suit your needs
- You can use an HTML editor
Hiring a Website Designer
This is probably the easiest choice for getting your website built, since someone else will be doing the actual building. It's also the most expensive way to go. Having your website built can vary considerably in price, depending upon the complexity of your website and the experience level of the designer you choose.
Sometimes, you can find local help from young people just getting started. They're willing to work for a low price because they enjoy building websites and they're interested in gaining more experience. Under these circumstances, you should expect to pay perhaps $100 or so for a fairly small website. Some high schools and colleges offer classes in web design, so check them out to see if they can recommend a budding designer that can help you.
If you'd rather hire a professional, expect to pay considerably more. A professionally designed website, depending upon complexity, can cost from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars.
If you want to have an experienced designer build your website, but you don't have the budget to hire a professional, there are alternatives. You could post your project on one of the online freelance sites and take bids. I have done this with projects before and I was able to get good quality work done at very reasonable prices. You can try www.elance.com or www.rentacoder.com to get started. This method will probably cost less than half of what you'd pay a commercial website designer.
Learning HTML
Although HTML isn't terribly complicated, it may take some time before you're comfortable enough with it to build anything more than the most simple websites. In order to take full advantage of the available technology, many websites incorporate Javascript, PHP, databases, Flash presentations, etc. If you're an absolute beginner, it may take you a while to come up to speed with all this.
Unless you just feel compelled to learn HTML, Javascript and all that, I don't recommend that you code your website yourself. As a beginner, it will take you a lot of time to 'get it all right', and you may be better off finding a faster method of getting your website online. If your intention is to make money with your website, you'll want to get it producing an income sooner, rather than later.
If you want to learn how to code HTML yourself, there are plenty of learning resources available. Just go to Google and search for 'HTML tutorial'.
Website Templates
Using a website template falls somewhere between coding HTML yourself and hiring it done. A template is a ready made webpage that has all the basic code to be displayed on the web. Generally, all you do is add your content. In most cases, you'll open the template file using a plain text editor, such as Windows Notepad, then paste in your own content.
Templates are available in a wide variety of styles and layouts. They vary quite a bit in complexity and appearance, so prices vary considerably. In most cases, a decent template will cost from about $15 to over $100. By searching, you can also find free templates. When looking for free templates, be prepared to look at a great many of them before you find one that suits your taste.
HTML editors
There are many HTML editors available, such as Microsoft Frontpage, Dreamweaver and others. Be prepared to pay $200 to $400 for a good, high quality professional editor.
The major advantage of an HTML editor is that you can build webpages without having extensive knowledge of the underlying HTML code. These editors work sort of like Microsoft Word - they give you 'point and click' capability. These editors have many built in features and a lot of power, so you'll probably have a steep learning curve when you first get started.
As an alternative, you can find is the free HTML editors. The free editors are good for building fairly simple websites, but they lack some of the more sophisticated features present within the higher priced editors. However the free editors are a good choice for getting started. And due to their simplicity, it won't take you as long to become productive.
You can download a free HTML editor at pagebreeze.com You can also search for 'free HTML editor' at Google to find other choices.
Related Articles
- Building Your BrandBuilding Your Brand After countless hours, days, even months, your website is up and completed and ready to go live, but before you can start raking in sales, youll first have to accomplish the feat of bui...
- SEO And The Outsourcing Of Inbound Link BuildingWhats better, spending your time to build links yourself, or paying another business to do that for you? This article offers a convincing answer.
- Search Engine Optimization - Choosing Search Engine Friendly Web HostingBuilding traffic from free search engines for a new web site is very difficult, since there are too competitive. Beside, the site that have been indexed earlier may have been building link popularity that make them owning high PR (page rank) that contributes in search engine placement. If it does so...
- How to Get Good Ranks in the Search Engines?There are a few points you need to focus on if you want to get good ranks in the search engine.
- Top Five Tips for Successful Link BuildingBuilding links to your site can sometime be quite an undertaking. It
- Link Building, One Of The Best Ways To Achieve Top 10 PlacementIn any website promotion campaign, link building is an essential part, not just for attracting visitors, but for increasing your search engine rankings. However, you dont just want any links.
- Building Quality Links to Your Web SiteIf you want to boost your search engine rankings, search engine optimization is one technique you can use to drive targeted traffic to your site and turn your clicks into cash.
- Building Consumer Confidence Builds SalesMany small online business owners have yet to understand the sheer power that comes from building consumer confidence. They struggle with sales month after month, but still, when someone tells them their site design needs help, they get offended. I spent a lot of time building my own site!...
- Seo Company Made Evident and EasyIn a web related or online business the search engine optimization (SEO) company is again one of the basic or primary areas of importance. To be very precise but open in understanding the search engine optimization Company understands link building and its relationship to search engine optimization....
- A Quality Web Hosting? Only If They Have These 6 ThingsA good web hosting means a good foundation to your websites no matter you are building an internet business or building a personal website.
