Blogging is fun and things are easy to set up but if you intend on making a living online then I think it’s important to build a few websites to compliment your blog. This is easier said than done, however. The learning curve is pretty steep at first and setting up a website is a lot more time consuming than setting up a Blogger or WordPress account.
If you’re not the least bit technical minded then you’ll probably get very frustrated along the way but if you stick with it you’ll be at an advantage. Sure, you could outsource and having someone else build you a site but your business is the internet and the more you know the better off you’ll be.
I’ve been building websites for 7 years and have so far learned everything I need to know online. I’ve never taken a class, never read a book about HTML, CSS etc. and have never bought any software that promises instant websites. I thought it might be helpful to think back to when I was learning all this fun stuff and offer up some advice on how to get started if you’re looking to build your first website.
- Read online tutorials – I learned HTML way back in the day by reading Web Monkey which is still a great resource to use. Another is W3 Schools because they set the standard for how websites should be coded. I’m still learning CSS and that site has been a great starting point.
- Look at other website’s layouts – Once you have a vague grasp on HTML, find some websites you like and look at their page source. This doesn’t work quite as well as it used to because many sites use CSS for layouts but this is how I learned how to use tables as a layout tool. Travoholic.com was built into the layout of Lonely Planet circa 2004. I copied the code, plugged in my content, added my own images and voila! My own site in a wicked layout that I never could have coded myself. Then I worked backwards and learned little bits at a time. I’m not sure how ethical it is to essentially steal site’s entire layout though so shhhh!
- Trial and error – There’s no way around it, learning by trial and error will suck up some serious amounts of time but it’s what taught me the most. Tweaking a bit of code and then refreshing the page to see what changed has helped me immensely. Always keep backups though because one seemingly small change can throw an entire site out of whack and finding the mistake when you’re not yet totally familiar with HTML is the hugest pain in the ass ever. Trust me.
- Ask questions – I didn’t discover that there were some great webmaster forums out there until a couple of years ago. Had I know about them soon I’m sure I would have had a lot fewer headaches! If I’ve got a question about anything webmaster related I head to Digital Point. I’ve heard that Webmaster World is good too but I don’t like the way their forum is set up. There are loads of experts out there who want to help and I’d be screwed without them.
I’m making over $1000/month now but if you factor in how many thousands of hours I’ve put into my little online empire it probably works out to about $0.14/hour. I’ve been frustrated, stumped and annoyed at times, but overall the learning process has been fun and rewarding.
My site’s aren’t masterpieces by any stretch of the imagination but there’s a great sense of accomplishment that comes from knowing you’ve built something out of nothing. You’ll learn more and more with each new site you build and this knowledge will be a great asset as you push towards building a business online.
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