Website Guide

A guide to site building for the novice by a novice.
Building a web site may seem impossible. You may think you'll have to hire a web designer and pay hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars to have a site created. And then what about maintenance and updates? Well, you could do it yourself if you have the time, ambition and most of all the desire to do so. A strong desire will overcome most of the hurdles.
Easy, But Not
Many will tell you it's easy and anyone can do it. Let me say it's not easy and many will not be able to do it, but it can be done if you have the desire to learn. I have not used any sitebuilder that did not have a learning curve and some are steeper than others. For instance, I was quite good at using the site builder that this site is built with but that was a year ago. After having a year away, when I came back to it, it was just like starting from scratch, I had to relearn everything, which was extremely frustrating to say the least. I had forgotten everything.
Who Needs a Web Site?
You may be asking who really needs a web site? Certainly all businesses definitely need a web site and I do mean all. I'll get back to this point a little later. Many groups or organizations could benefit from having their own site maintained by one of its members. Churches, clubs and associations as well. Think of it this way, if you have a group of people that need a common meeting place to keep informed of upcoming events, meetings or any other activities, then you really need a web site. Of course, most small organizations don't have the financial means to hire a web designer and that"s why a group member would have to take the initiative to learn and build a site. Hopefully the information here will help to give some insight into that task.
Paid or Free Host?
There are many free sites and free web hosts that won't require a penny to build a site but these are not recommended by the experts for various reasons. The biggest reason being is if they shut down you'll be left out in the cold having to rebuild your site somewhere else. I personally use some of the free sites but I don't use them for my main sites. This site your reading now is on a private domain and hosted on a paid for web host. Domains can be purchased for $10-$15 dollars depending on which registrar you use and hosting can be had for as little as $24 dollars per year. OK, your web host could shut down but you'd have a site backup that you could move to another host and if you go with a major player in the domain industry you should be notified in plenty of time if they were to go out of business and you could move your website elsewhere. There certainly are no guarantees which route you choose but owning everything yourself gives you a better chance of redundancy.
Business Owners
Now, back to you business owners. I've actually heard an owner say, "I don't need a web site, everyone knows who we are". Really? Seriously? Everyone knows who you are? Maybe everyone in your immediate area knows you but what about people from out of town, travelers, people from other countries, do you seriously think they know who you are? With smart phones in most everyone's pocket, a web site is needed now more than ever, especially for the tiniest of businesses that offer unique goods and services.
Basic Guide
This is a very broad subject and I won't be able to cover everything but I should be able to touch on most of the important issues regarding the novice building their own web site. I've done hundreds of hours of research, so if nothing else this site should save you countless hours of time. So, read on and good luck!