The Internet!
Where would we be without this wonderful piece of technology? Still living in the stone ages that's where. The internet to some is a place to just relax; for some it is a useful researching tool, to most others it is an obsession of "recreational" purposes, and then there are those few -- those very few -- that make working with the internet and computers thier lives and also a career. This is what I do; I am a web designer, I do web and graphic designs for websites that other people own as well as my own sites.
Now for the longest time I insisted that my clients let me handle the CSS and layout of their websites so they wouldn't -- no offense --, mess anything up. This didn't sit well with clients but I got the work done and then they trusted my instincts. One reason of why I did this was the fact that I thought if I showed them how to do their own website then they wouldn't need me anymore to manage their sites. But of course this was selfish of me, so what I decided was to do a series of articles and videos showing people how to design, set up, and get their site up and running on the internet. So let's get started with Part 1 which is coming up with an idea for your website.
Coming up with a site idea isn't really the hardest thing that you have to face when creating your site; the hardest part is yet to come. Personal websites as well as serious to enterprise websites need a little planning and just like you were talk in English class you must remember the 5 W's -- Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Who do you want to target with your website? Do you want to target a certain ethnic group, a certain sports fan base, or just your local neighborhood (these are called social networks, we will touch on that subject later), and so on and so on.
What kind of content do you want on your site? What emotions do you want to induce? This is a two prong reality check for some people when they are creating their site because most people don't know what kind of content is going to attract traffic.Now every site have Four basic pages Homepage, About Us/Me (for personal sites), Services, and last Contect. At the very least there must be three of these four pages. The homepage is for introducing the site and thanking visitors for stopping by; it isn't the hard to come up with content for this. If you check out my site
http://www.myadtv.co.cc then you will see what I did with my homepage; it is fairly simple and gets straight to the point.
When do you want this site to appear on the internet? It is only a matter of time before you forget about an idea; the human brain seems to forget an idea after a while, although you may come back to it; some of the components that you will need for your site will be gone so there is no procrastinating and just get on with your site.
Where is for a different article so just hold on for that one.
Why is it that you want to start this site? This is more of a personal question, why is it that you have decided to mark your own little piece of the World Wide Web. Is it to make money? This is an okay reason but if you don't like constantly updating your site you will get bored with it quick, fast and in a hurry, leading your site to fail and potentially investments wasted. Is it to connest with others like you? This is also a wonderful reason and for this you might want to consider a different route than a full content website, but if you are still set on it you must ask yourself a few questions. Is it to gain some kind of intenet fame? This is by far the most far fetched reason that I have come across; yet it is able to happen but mostly through other site do you gain fame and then you can move to a full content website.
Now for those that want a full content website to connect with others like them, you have to ask yourself a few questions. Do I have the time to really and truly manage and constantly update my site? If not, then you may not want to go this route unless you have the money to pay someone to do this for you. Do I have the resources to maintain this site? This is another question that people should really think long and hard about before they start a full content website; having the right software and resorces such as an internet provider and a webhost (another article topic) are crucial to your site even getting on the internet; but again if you have the money to yearly or monthly pay someone to do this for you; be my guest.
So that concludes this article; answer these questions and watch out for my next article in the steps to creating your own website.
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