Building your Website

When you start to think about building a website, you'll need to know there are several options available -

1) You can hire a designer to build the website for you
2) You can learn HTML and build your website by hand coding
3) You can buy website templates and modify them to suit your needs
4) You can use an HTML editor

Hiring a Website Designer -

This is probably the easiest choice for getting your website built, since someone else will be doing the actual building. It's also the most expensive way to go. Having your website built can vary considerably in price, depending upon the complexity of your website and the experience level of the designer you choose.

Sometimes, you can find local help from young people just getting started. They're willing to work for a low price because they enjoy building websites and they're interested in gaining more experience. Under these circumstances, you should expect to pay perhaps $100 or so for a fairly small website. Some high schools and colleges offer classes in web design, so check them out to see if they can recommend a budding designer that can help you.

If you'd rather hire a professional, expect to pay considerably more. A professionally designed website, depending upon complexity, can cost from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars.

If you want to have an experienced designer build your website, but you don't have the budget to hire a professional, there are alternatives. You could post your project on one of the online freelance sites and take bids. I have done this with projects before and I was able to get good quality work done at very reasonable prices. You can try www.elance.com or www.rentacoder.com to get started. This method will probably cost less than half of what you'd pay a commercial website designer.

Learning HTML -

Although HTML isn't terribly complicated, it may take some time before you're comfortable enough with it to build anything more than the most simple websites. In order to take full advantage of the available technology, many websites incorporate Javascript, PHP, databases, Flash presentations, etc. If you're an absolute beginner, it may take you a while to come up to speed with all this.

Unless you just feel compelled to learn HTML, Javascript and all that, I don't recommend that you code your website yourself. As a beginner, it will take you a lot of time to 'get it all right', and you may be better off finding a faster method of getting your website online. If your intention is to make money with your website, you'll want to get it producing an income sooner, rather than later.

If you want to learn how to code HTML yourself, there are plenty of learning resources available. Just go to Google and search for 'HTML tutorial'.

Website Templates -

Using a website template falls somewhere between coding HTML yourself and hiring it done. A template is a ready made webpage that has all the basic code to be displayed on the web. Generally, all you do is add your content. In most cases, you'll open the template file using a plain text editor, such as Windows Notepad, then paste in your own content.

Templates are available in a wide variety of styles and layouts. They vary quite a bit in complexity and appearance, so prices vary considerably. In most cases, a decent template will cost from about $15 to over $100. By searching, you can also find free templates. When looking for free templates, be prepared to look at a great many of them before you find one that suits your taste.

HTML editors -

There are many HTML editors available, such as Microsoft Frontpage, Dreamweaver and others. Be prepared to pay $200 to $400 for a good, high quality professional editor.

The big advantage of an HTML editor is that you can build webpages without having extensive knowledge of the underlying HTML code. These editors work sort of like Microsoft Word - they give you 'point and click' capability. These editors have many built in features and a lot of power, so you'll probably have a steep learning curve when you first get started.

Alternative is, you can find free HTML editors. The free editors are good for building fairly simple websites, but they lack some of the more sophisticated features present within the higher priced editors. However the free editors are a good choice for getting started. And due to their simplicity, it won't take you as long to become productive.

You can download a free HTML editor at pagebreeze.com and you can also search for 'free HTML editor' at Google to find other choices.