Before you even start to build a website you need to consider carefully what your website is intended for and who are your prospective audience.  Otherwise it will amount to nothing but an expensive online folly with no purpose and no visitors. 

Next think of a structure - do you want just a few concise pages or will it be a more complex website with forms, a catalogue, or pricelists that you can update in real time.  You might require streaming sound, video or possibly a photo gallery?  Will it have any interactive elements such as inquiries or financial transactions involving credit cards? 

Next you want some kind of template with a colour scheme and a logo, if you have one.  Simple is usually best and never ignore a basic fact - the slower a website loads at the customer's terminal, the more likely they are to move on and go elsewhere  so don't presume everyone has broadband or wants to sit around while your favourite flashy animation loads.  Think simple & quick!

There are several ways of creating a website.  The simplest is to use the Sitebuilder facility provided by 4U Hosting.  This provides a selection of pre-designed templates that you can adapt and modify to suit your own purposes.  There are several colour schemes to choose from and you can introduce logos, banners, buttons and even 'flash' intros so in only a few minutes you can have an impressive home page online and working.  However this will not deliver a complex commercial website so its usefulness is limited.

The second option favoured by many professional web designers is to use a software package like Macromedia Dreamweaver, possibly with the added facilities of Macromedia Flash for animations - (Macromedia is now Adobe) - and Adobe Photoshop for the graphics.  These are extremely versatile and comprehensive packages but they are also expensive and not really necessary unless you have a particularly ambitious project in mind, plus the skills or experience to make full use of them.

My recommendation for anyone who isn't a professional web designer is to use Microsoft Frontpage which allows you to design a website using a 'what you see is what you get' interface.  If you need flash animations there are simple packages to help you achieve good results without the expense or complexity of Adobe Flash.  With Frontpage, you don't have to worry about the process of uploading or updating your website.  You simply make the changes and click.  Frontpage does it all for you.

However you choose to create and maintain your website, just remember that regular maintenance is essential and what really matters is your customer's experience.  No amount of clever animation or flashy design will guarantee success.  In fact simple is often best so don't be seduced by clever techniques and effects - don't ever lose sight of what your website is intended to achieve - or overestimate the patience of web surfers.

As for design, if you are competent and can design your website from scratch, then you have an advantage.  However for most people it is helpful to have a basic template upon which they can base their website.  This is a good plan and having decided upon a central theme, all your web pages will be consistent.  You can buy templates and even download them free from the internet but just be sure that they work with all browsers, not just Internet Explorer.

Of course this presumes you will do it all yourself.  However if you let someone else do it for you, make sure that you have access to the web space and all passwords to allow you to deal with your domain registration, web space, and email.  Don't forget to keep a current backup of your website in case the worst happens so you can get back online quickly.

It costs nothing to talk to me and I am always happy to reply to email inquiries so if you're still agonising over your web presence and confused, ask and I'll try to help.  Meanwhile have a look at some of the finer points of web design to help you appreciate what's involved in good web design here!

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Last Updated 06/08/2008