Do-it-Yourself Web Design
By Melissa Shea
Recently a client asked me if she should build her web site using a popular web hosting company’s template system. On the surface it sounds like a great idea – they provide a reasonable fee for hosting, many nice, simple designs to choose from and bells and whistles such as blogs and photo albums.
It sounds like a great solution for a new business that needs to save some dough and get a presence on the web. But here is the reality of using a web hosting template verses setting up your own template system.
First of all, if you’re using a web hosting template service, you really don’t “own” your web site. Your web site is dependent upon the hosting company’s content management system – which is the only way you can access your web site and modify the content without knowing html.
Secondly, if you decide you want to change web hosting companies because they have bad customer service – you can’t take your web site with you – it is dependent upon that company’s content management system – so you’re not going to be able to download the files and move them over to a new company. You can probably download the content – but not the template – which includes your design and layout.
And finally – these template systems sound easy to use. The web hosting company is telling you that in their advertising. But – I’ve had three new clients come to me in the last several months telling me they first tried to build the site themselves using the web hosting template system and found it too confusing and gave up. I am professional web developer and I agree – they are confusing and I don’t even like using them!
So how can you get a web site that has a great design, is cheap to start up AND is YOURS TO KEEP????
The best option for getting a basic web site up and running is having a Wordpress template installed on your hosting company server. Now, you’ll still need some professional help if you’re not comfortable with a little back end work – but there are many, many resources on the internet that you can hire for an affordable cost.
Here is what you need to know to create your own template web site:
- Choose a hosting company and register a domain name: It’s best if you can do this at the same time so that you can keep your web site hosting account and your domain name account with the same company. It’s easy to lose track of these accounts and forget to renew – so try to keep them with the same company. If you registered your domain name with a different company, you can actually transfer it to your web hosting company to get it all in the same account. Don’t hesitate to call the web hosting company for help.
- Find a Wordpress template that suits your business: Just type “free wordpress templates” in your browser’s search field and you will have around 15,500,000 choices! Seriously, just click through the first page or two and you’ll find plenty of options and avenues to explore. Once you find the one you want, you can actually just click the download link and save it to your computer – make sure you pay attention to the path where you saved the template so you can find it later. Wordpress has a fantastic interface that allows you to enter content and photos very easily – and of course it comes with a blog!
- Now you have to install it!: Hmmmm, should you try it on your own or should you hire someone to do it for you? Well, if you want to learn a great new skill that you will appreciate knowing for years to come – then give it go – make sure you have time to invest to read, learn, screw up and figure it out! Start here: http://wordpress.org/. Don’t use wordpress.com – that service will host the web site on the Wordpress hosting and not you’re own – you are doing this for full control – so start with the Wordpress.org site for instructions.
- On the other hand: If you’d really like to spend your day doing something you really enjoy and not learning a new trick – hire someone to set the template up for you. Once again – Google a million people – you’ll find plenty of help! Or… you can ask Coffeeshopreneur for help! Yes, that’s right – Coffeeshopreneur offers these services and more for entrepreneurs. You can check out our cheap and easy ways to get this done at www.coffeeshopreneur.com
As a web developer I’ve seen many entrepreneurs embrace the “I can do anything” mentality and attempt to use the template systems as a foundation to build their business and regret it later. Whether it’s the fact that you can’t take the web site with you or it’s just too complicated to figure out the template, frustration is the result in many cases.
Using Wordpress as the basis of your content management system and setting it up with a hosting company that you choose and can change whenever you want is an important step to starting your business. You’d never let someone else control your business – don’t let a web hosting company control your web site.
And remember – Coffeeshopreneur is here to help you with any kind of training you need to become a successful entrepreneur – so if you need help with anything – contact us – if we don’t provide the service we can help you find someone you can trust that does!
This entry was posted on Monday, September 7th, 2009 at and is filed under Web Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Loading ...
Hey blogger, I was browsing the net looking for some information and came accross this site. I was impressed by the information that you have on this blog. It just tells me how well you follow this article. I just bookmarked your article and am going to come back for more. You, blogger, RULE!!!
Good day man, I was browsing the net looking for some info and found this site. I am pleased by the information that I read on this post. It just shows how well you follow this subject. I just bookmarked your page and am going to come back for more. You, blogger, ROCK!!!
Hello, I wanted to stop by your site and see if you have had experience prior to writing this blogpost, it looks great. I just bookmarked this post and will follow the feeds. Great reading.
Hey blogger, I was just browsing the internet looking for some information and found your site. I am pleased by the details that I read on this blog. It just tells me how great you understand the subject. I just bookmarked your article and will come back in the near future. You, blogger, RULE!!!
Hello, I wanted to stop by your site and find out if you have any experience prior to writing this blogpost, it looks amazing. I just bookmarked this post and will follow your feeds. Great reading.
Hey man, I was browsing the net looking for some information and came accross this site. I am pleased by the information that I read on this post. It just tells me how well you follow the subject. I bookmarked this page and am going to come back for more. You, blogger, ROCK!!!
Hello, I just to stop by your site and see if you have had any experience prior to writing this blogpost, it looks great. I just bookmarked this article and will follow your feeds. Great writing.
Hey blogger, I was just browsing the internet looking for some info and found this blog. I am pleased by the details that I read on this blog. It just shows how great you understand the subject. I just bookmarked your page and will come back for more. You, my friend, RULE!!!
Hello, I just to stop by your site and find out if you have any experience prior to writing this blogpost, it looks great. I just bookmarked this post and will follow the feeds. Great reading.
Hi, I just to stop by your site and find out if you have experience prior to writing this blogpost, it looks amazing. I just bookmarked this article and will follow the feeds. Great writing.
Hi, I wanted to stop by your blog and see if you have had any experience prior to writing this blogpost, it looks great. I just bookmarked this post and will follow the feeds. Great reading.
Good day man, I was browsing the net looking for some information and came accross your blog. I was impressed by the details that you have on this blog. It just tells me how well you understand the article. I bookmarked your article and am going to come back for more. You, my friend, RULE!!!
Hey blogger, I was just browsing the internet looking for some info and found this site. I am pleased by the details that I read on this blog. It just shows how well you follow this subject. I bookmarked your article and am going to come back in the near future. You, my friend, ROCK!!!
Hello, I just to stop by your site and see if you have had experience prior to writing this article, it looks amazing. I just bookmarked this post and will follow the feeds. Great reading.
Good day blogger, I was just browsing the internet looking for some info and found this blog. I am pleased by the information that I read on this post. It just shows how well you follow this article. I bookmarked this page and will come back for more. You, my friend, ROCK!!!
Hello, I wanted to stop by your site and see if you have had any experience prior to writing this article, it looks great. I just bookmarked this post and will follow your feeds. Great writing.
Good day man, I was just browsing the net looking for some information and found your site. I am pleased by the details that I read on this post. It just shows how great you understand this subject. I bookmarked your page and am going to come back in the near future. You, my friend, RULE!!!
Hey man, I was browsing the net looking for some information and found this site. I am impressed by the details that you have on this post. It just tells me how well you understand the article. I bookmarked this page and am going to come back for more. You, my friend, RULE!!!
Ciekawy artykul, dodalem twoj blog do ulubionych, teraz bede wpadal tu czesciej
thanks !! very helpful post!
Great info, thanks for useful article. I’m waiting for more
Thank you for a great post
I love your post thank you. Keep up the good work.
Simply because it is my first visit to your website, I want to say hi there! Wonderful site by the way.
Great read. Thanks for the info!
Getting traffic to a blog isn’t easy huh? I remember when I first started. lol I was really BAD! I spent hundreds buying fake traffic from scammers at DP. I tried email scams (where I was scammed, of course). I even hired an Indian seo guru. lolol I’m still learning the art of blog/site traffic, but Jesus I’ve come a long ways. So can you share any secrets on how you increaded your readership? I just posted something about rapid mass traffic (cheap, targeted traffic) that you may want to check out when you can here. Mind me asking how many daily visitors you’re up to man?
Nice blog. I just bookmarked you on my bloglines.
Sent from my Android phone
Some specialists argue that personal loans help a lot of people to live their own way, just because they can feel free to buy needed goods. Furthermore, banks present collateral loan for different persons.
Consider searching online for a great local dentist.
Having agreat dentist these days is very important, I appreciate this article.
Great dentist are great people these days. I trust my clinic for many years and I have actually built a relationship with my dentist. I reccomended him to all of my friends and all have been happy so far. What makes a dentist be successfull? What makes a dentist be a great human?
With the price of dental insurance these days, it is becoming almost prohibitive to pay for a full dental exam.
Intriguing post. I have been searching for some good resources for solar panels and discovered your blog. Planning to bookmark this one!
Good article, a good dentist is hard to find these days. My own cousin is a dentist in Boca Raton Florida and he is still very busy.
Some time before, I needed to buy a building for my organization but I did not earn enough money and couldn’t buy something. Thank goodness my colleague adviced to try to get the loans from creditors. Therefore, I did so and was happy with my secured loan.
When choosing a product to promote as an affiliate you have to do a little market research and use some common sense to know what demographic is going to respond best to your product or service. When you more thoroughly understand why your market buys, you’ll be in a better position to give it to them and make sales. When you understand what your target market wants and why, you will be better able to relate to that market sector and it will show in increased sales.
Carl had to take a trip to Phoenix but he didn’t have a car so I suggested a car rental that will get him a car. Since it was important, he had to do it. It didn’t cost him much though and he got to Phoenix fast. He was grateful of the idea and he thought about purchasing one in the future.
this site is really great.. nice layout
Great information you write it very clean. I¡¯m very lucky to get this details from you fitness & exercise
I’ve been checking your blog for a while now, seems like everyday I learn something new
Thanks