Creating a Personal Website

Creating a personal website is a very simple task, because Website Owners today don`t need to build a website from scratch. You don`t even have to know HTML, Web design or search engine optimization to build a beautiful looking website!

So how can I make it then, you ask?

The answer is: with Online Builders. These are Web Based Tools that let you build, design and publish content without any additional skills. All you need is move your mouse over pre-designed elements of your future website and click on them. Once selected, elements appear immediately in preview mode and you can see your progress in real time as you build.

As easy as Point and Click

I bet all of you use a Text Editor like Microsoft Word or Lotus Notes. Adding Content to your own Website is even easier. You simply type in your text, bold it where necessary, and click on publish. Thats it! No need to write it in HTML editor, upload it or anything! It is instantly online.

No need to hire a Web Designer

I get lots of emails asking for less expensive designer services, because most us are not good in Web Design. How could we be? Designers learn for years to develop a sense for colors, consistent layout and proportions. Even if I would learn for years, I won`t be so good as them, simply because I do not like to it. Period. Thats why I buy Web Design Templates. So Why should you do it? You don`t have to. Good Online Builders have Professionally designed Web Templates integrated in their core. All you need to do is select them.

I would like to expose one Builder that I recommend to any beginner who wants to create a personal website. It is called Website Tonight. As far as I am concerned – this Online Builder is the best you can get! It has been around for quite some time and it is constantly upgraded. Current version is 3.0 and now supports .MOBI domain names, RSS feeds, flash intros and what is most important over 800 Premium Web Templates! They are sorted in categories and I if could find one for me, than you can find one too.

Ok. Lets see what you can achieve by creating a personal Website

Motivations for Creating a Personal Website

Most people use a personal websites because they are the most effective and easiest way to express themselves. If you want to express your opinion, you don`t need to publish a book. You can post your thoughts on your website. And since on Internet news spread very quickly, your voice can be heard by thousands of Internet Users. Especially if you have valuable and unique content.

With your own website you can easily show others your creative work like poems, home made necklaces or present your hobby! It is the cheapest and easiest way in the world to present your talents in front of a big audience.

Do I need a domain Name?

I strongly recommend you get a domain name. Most users register their family name for domain name and this means you become an owner of personal domain name and personal email addresses. You are allowed to open as many email accounts for your family as you wish. It looks like this mark@spencer.com or anything you like. I already mentioned Website Tonight. The reason why it is so popular with beginners is because Web Hosting and Email is included at no extra charge.

If you are a beginner you should take a look at Website Tonight Showcase. Click on Get Started button on center of the screen for Templates to load.

Drawbacks of Free Personal Page Providers

A lot of people ask me if I could somehow help them transfer their current website that they have, to a new, stand alone domain name. Why would they want that, since they have no cost with their current page? The answer is simple, but not so obvious when starting a website.

Free Web Page providers like Blogger or Wet Paint give you an address like this http://yourname.blogger.com and your page is hosted on the same domain name with thousands of other users.

This leads to several disadvantages such as:

• inability to get your personalized email,
• no support,
• your page is filled with advertisements and
• risk of loosing all of your work in case they decide to close the website.

So in many cases it is good to foresee these disadvantages and start on your own domain name. Like I said – get yourself a domain name. It costs only about $10 per year and you will save a lot of time and money in the long run.

So many ideas but so little time…

There is lots of websites on the Internet, good ones and bad ones. So make me happy and create a good one:)

But first, lets see what options do you have when it comes to website types.

Two Website Types

Basically there are two website types. Ones that are created to make money, and others that do not have a goal to make money. These two types can be built with same software, run on same servers, but they are inevitably different. As they would have different type of chromosomes.

Business and Money Making Websites: Main goal is to create profit

Even websites that are created to make money are not the same.

1. One type of Business Website is a presentation of a real world company. Such Website usually consists of company info, contact information and product portfolio.
   
   
   Benefits of such presentation is to make information about your products accessible 24/7. Such companies usually still operate in real world to deliver their goods and services. Example: JSroofing.co.uk.
   Additionally, websites can be e-commerce enabled to sell goods and services electronically.
2. This Brings us to Second type of business websites. They do not necessarily have real world stores, because they sell products and services online. They are fully e-commerce enabled, accept credit cards and other electronic currencies, and ship their products via delivery services like UPS or Fedex.
   
   Benefits of such companies is low costs and almost turn-key business operation. Example: Amazon.com
3. Another business type is a website which does not sell its own products, but rather provides valuable information, which attracts visitors. Such Websites monetize content with advertisement or affiliate commissions. This kind of websites have become extremely popular, because everyone is good at something and can help others achieve what they want.
   
   Benefits of such website is making money while working exactly what you want, independent from regular 9-5 job. There are lots of webmasters that do it for living. Example: problogger.net

Personal, Family and Community Websites

There are lots of non-profit website types.

1. Most popular are personal websites that enable you to express yourself, post your photos from holidays, present your CV for job application or post your thoughts in Blog-like websites which are a revolution in creating websites.
   
   There are special website types connected with all kind of events. Family Websites, Baby Websites, Wedding Websites, Reunion Websites and others. Example: myevent.com
2. Than there are websites that present non-profit organizations like associations, communities, charity, church or any other.

What do all these have in common?

They serve a specific target audience.

For business websites it is essential to receive highly targeted visitors that are interested in products or information websites provide. To achieve that, business website has to be differently structured and planned than a personal website that is intended for sharing photos with your friends.

Personal websites on the other hand are not built for the masses, but rather for a smaller audience of friends, family members or relatives. Their goal is not ranking high in search engines, so they can have a more relaxed structure and style of writing. Learn how to create a personal website the easy way.

 

What is Dreamweaver?

Dreamweaver is one of the best Website Creating Programs. It is used by beginners and professionals and that makes it special. Basic functions are easy to use, but when you need advanced functions you can count on Dreamweaver. It is a WYSIWYG editor which stands for What You See is What You Get. So the page you will be editing right now will look the same in Dreamweawer as in Web browser.

Creating a simple html with text

1. Open Dreaweaver.
2. Click on Create New Html. A blank page opens.
   
3. Enter title of your web page and insert some text into a blank window.
   

Customizing text in Dreamweaver

It is very easy to do it.

1. Select text you want to edit.
2. Clik on function in properties pane you want to apply. If you want to bold text click on B icon.
3. Below is a sample with text in bold, italics, left, right and center oriented text and some blue colored text.
   

Where to get Dreamweaver

I suggest you first get a trial, and if you like it, buy Dreamweaver on Amazon because you will save some money.

Once you know how to create a blank website it is very easy to add some more text and experiment with different HTML tags.

Try these ones if you want to modify text properties

<b>This text is bolded.</b>

<i>This text is in italic.</i>

<u>This text is underlined.</u>

Each tag needs to have a start and an end. After <b> always comes </b>.Easy Huh?

How about creating a paragraph?

No problem.To start a paragraph write a <p> tag and to end it, write </p>. The same as with other tags, parapgraph tag needs to be ended.

Ok, but I want my paragraph to be aligned right.

Here is what to do. To align a text you need to change <p> tag to <p align="right">

To align text to left simply replace the word right to left. To center text, replace the word right with center.

I want a line of text to STAND OUT!

This is why they invented Heading tag, also called Headings. To make your text stand out, surround your text with <h1>your text</h1>. H1 is the biggest, H2 is a bit smaller, H3 is even smaller and so on to H6.

Be carefull with Headings. If there is too much text in it, it may be hard to read.

 

Play around with those and you will learn a lot. Oh, probably you are wondering if there are any other tags?

You bet! There is actually a great site that has a list of all HTML tags with descriptions.

Congratulations! Decision to learn HTML is one of the best investments in your life. The reason I am successful in Internet marketing, has roots in the year 1998, when I discovered HTML and other web languages.

Wanna create your first HTML document?

Start up a Notepad and paste in these lines:

<html>
<head>
<title>My first HTML page</title>
</head>
<body>
Learning HTML is easy! <b>This text is bolded because it is surrounded by b tags </b>
</body>
</html>

Save as firstpage.html

Now double click on firstpage.html and it should open in Web Browser!

How does HTML work?

HTML language uses tags to tell computer what we want to do.

First tag in our example is <html>. It tells browser that this document is written in HTML Language. As you can see at the end there is a </html> tag. This tag e tells browser this is the end of our web page. Everything what is between those tags is our web site.

Next tag is <head> </head>. What is between these tags is not shown in the browser, because it is a special tag used for search engines and browsers.

<title>My first HTML page</title> – Each website needs a title, that is what title tags are for.

<body> </body> – This is body tag. Everything you put between these two tags will be visible in the browser. You can insert text, images, sounds or anything you like.

<b>This text is bold because it is surrounded by b tags</b> – bold tag is one of the tags used for customizing text. If you surround a word or an entire sentence, it will be shown in bold.

Tags, tags, tags

You will see that in HTML everything is about tags. There are lots of tags, but they are very obvious so you don`t have to memorize them to be able to use them. If you want to learn more about HTML go to HTML.net. This is really a great site for HTML beginners. Another one I recommend is W3Schools.

Have fun!

1. Select appropriate page layout

There is not a universal page layout to be used for all websites. Some sites use 2 colums, 3 columns, even 4 for main page layout. It depends on web site type and your needs.Most common wed design is with navigation on left side and text on right.

This is a typical 2 column layout. If you add a column on right you get a 3 column page layout. Right column is often used for secondary navigation, advertisement block or additional information. So it really depends on what elements you want on your site.

 

Layout Design 1	Layout Design 2

 

2. Make a clean and easy to use navigation.

You don`t want your visitors to get lost. So instead of tricky drop down menus or even worse, flash menus use simple text navigation that is good for users and search engines. Several Researches show that Western societies feel more comfortable with navigation on left side.

3. Use standard fonts

People will visit your website with different Web Browsers and different Operating Systems. If you want your site to look the way you build it use standard fonts like Arial, Times new Roman and Verdana.

4. Limit your color palette to 2 or 3 colors.

Great Web Designs are the simplest ones. Choose three colors that look great together and use them consistently across your site. That way you will have a clear and eye friendly web site.

5. Optimize your graphics for fast loading.

No one waits for slow pages to load, they simply click away. Control size of your images, compress them and resize them so they can be downloaded fast!

BONUS WED DESIGN TIP:

If you are in doubt use rule: less is more. Web design and graphics mean nothing if your site is cluttered with garbage. Remember that people search for information, not fancy web sites that load for eternity.

Enjoy making your site!

1. Make logical sections of your page

Users will easier navigate through your site if you organize content in meaningful sections. Don`t just throw everything in one box. Structure your web site content to flow naturally from one idea to another. Make sure you include Site map, About and Contact page.

2. Each section should have a separate page

Whenever I open a website and see that scrollbar on right keeps getting smaller and smaller, i start to roll my eyes. I mean, who has time to scroll down for two minutes. Unless nature of your website needs it, try to avoid it!

What you should do is think of your website as it was a book. Each chapter is a separate unit, but it is connected with on chapter before and after. I try to follow the idea 1 page = 1 idea = 1 keyword. This is good for visitors as well for search engines.

3. Break long text into smaller blocks.

If you have a larger text that needs to be on one page, break it into several paragraphs for better readability. What also works is adding some eye catchers such as Headings, small graphics, or other elements to divide long monotonous text blocks.

4. Keep it simple and readable.

Unless you are writing an science article, try to use common language that your target audience will understand. If people get bored reading one article, why should they read another one. They will go away and probably not come back. So make sure content of your web page is interesting and easy to read.

5. Write web content in text editor

Prepare all your texts in a text editor, before you paste them into your web page. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, it will check your spelling. And secondly, you can check how many words have you written. You should hit at least 200-250 words for each page you put online.

BONUS TIP:

No matter what your website is about, content (text) is still the number 1 factor why people visit web sites. If you really want success than care for your content and care for your visitors. Tell something of real value to your visitors and write it with grace.

Good luck with your site!

Favicon is a small image (16×16 pixels), which is shown in your browsers location bar, next to the URL. The easiest way to create one is to use an icon editing software. Don`t have one? No problem. You can download it for free form our Webmaster Center. You can also use one of the online favicon generators you will find at the bottom of this page.

How do I create a Favicon .ico File ?

1. Create an image that is 16×16 pixels in size. You could also use an image you like and resize it. But remember, the image has to be in proportion (50×50, 100×100) or your favicon will not look good.
2. Save the image as an .ICO file. Name it exactly: "favicon.ico" or it will not work. Upload it to your website s root directory (that`s next to your index.htm file).
3. Add the following lines of code inside the <head> section of your pages.

   <link rel="shortcut icon" xhref="http://example.com/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" />
   <link rel="icon" xhref="http://example.com/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" />
   

4. You re done.

Testing the Favicon

If you are using Internet Explorer and your favicon is not showing up, make sure you clear your browsers cache. You can do it by pressing Ctrl and F5 at the same time.

Favicon Benefits or Why should I use a Favorites Icon?

Have you ever asked yourself why do all the big companies have favicons?

Here are the reasons:

• Favicon or a page icon is a great tool to brand your website. Since many pages still don`t have a favicon, your page will stand out from others!
• Your site will gain a professional and unique look, which can cause more links to your site and that means better rankings in search engines.
• You will save bandwidth since pages without favicons produce 404 File not found error files.

 

Free Online Favicon generators:

No problem if you don`t have an image editor. You can create your icon online. Try some of these great favicon makers.

• 1Favicon – great website with lots of information about favicon.ico and a Tutorial to make your own.
• Favicon Maker
• Dynamic Drive Favicon Generator
• Favicon text generator
• Graphics Guru Favicon Tool

Need a hosting that allows Favicons ?

Web Site Planning

Probably you feel about web site planning like i did. I wanted to jump straight to design, without any plans about my website. But web site planning, as I figured it out later, is too important to be left out. Why you would ask? Here a are the reasons:

• You will save time maintaining your site
• Your site will be easier to use.
• You will get more traffic
• You will feel better.

So lets start at the beginning.

Planning a website is mainly two things: managing your project and managing website design. The first one will make your life easier and the last one will make life of your visitors easier.

Now you are gonna need some tools. I promise they wont be expensive and you will not have to leave comfort of your home to get them. Now get yourself a pencil and some paper.

Why can`t I do it in my word processor? Believe me, the good old pencil is the best tool for planning. Try it!

Now lets get to business!

Web Site Planning Step 1: Site Goals

Why do you want to make a website? Really. Before you start doing anything else answer yourself these questions (write them on a piece of paper):

• What is the purpose of your website?
• Who will visit your website?
• What will they gain?
• What is in it for you?

Work trough these questions until you have a clear idea what you want. It might help if you surf around the web and look for examples. Now you are looking at websites with different eyes. Try to analyze sites you think are great, and see what elements they have that make them so good.

Now that you have these answers write a one sentence summary of your project. If you cant make it in one sentence spend some more time on questions above.

I should be like this:

The aim of my website (Flying Carpets) is to provide great information about carpets to people from United Kingdom and recommend them carpet stores i trust.

…and should include a goal of your website.

 

Continue to Web site planning Part 2

Website Planning Step 2: Website Goals

Second step of Website Planning is Setting Website Goals. This is very important, because now you are going to transform your goals to site content and structure. Our imaginary site is about carpets. And our goal is to provide valuable information about carpets. So next thing we are going to do is to think about what our average visitor would want to know about carpets.

Write it on paper, don’t limit yourself, just write anything that comes to your mind.

Note: If you have no idea, just search the web for your keyword and you will soon be on your way.

Now organize these things into sections. Keep in mind: you are providing valuable and organized information for your visitors. It works best for me if I draw a sketch of what my structure will look like.

Example:

Home
History of carpets
Making carpets
Buying carpets

New carpets
Used carpets
Shipping costs
Best Stores

About us

Website Planning Step 3: Designing page Layout

By now, you should have a clear vision of what you want to achieve (Step 1) and a sketch of your site structure (Step 2).

Now about design: Your main goal is designing the layout, that is how will be the content organized on a page.

The best thing to do is drawing a sketch on paper. Where should you place navigation, main text, links, photos and what colors should you use.

You don`t need to reinvent a wheel, check out some designs you like, and use what you want to make your own.

One of my mistakes (since i am not a web designer) was to fall into endless hours of editing graphics or design in graphics programs. I could never make it look the way i wanted to…argh. 🙂 If you are not a designer get someone do it for you or use a template. It is much cheaper and will save you lots of time and nerves.

Note: A consistent design will ensure great user experience and will make your site look more professional.

Conslusion:

Here are three steps of Website Planning:

1. Set your website goals and follow them
2. Convert these goals into structure and content
3. Make a consistent page layout

Plan your work and work your plan and you will be on your way to success. If you ever get in doubts follow rule »less is more« and try to think what your visitors would want. Because they are the most important part of your website.