HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE In 5 easy steps

Overview ◦ Decide on the Website’s Purpose ◦ Sketch a Rough Draft ◦ Create Content ◦ Code and Assemble Assets ◦ Upload to Web Host How to build a Website2

Website’s Purpose How to build a Website3 Ask yourself, what do I want this website to communicate / present / sell ? Who do you want to visit your site? After you take a moment to visualize, now comes the more practical questions. Ask yourself: Do I have the skill set to put it together myself or should I hire help? How much time am I willing to invest in creating, coordinating, updating it? How much money am I willing to invest in: maintaining my domain and Web Host? to create content or have it created? acquire copyright permissions? pay for professional coding and backend databases?

Sketch a Rough Draft How to build a Website4 Sketch the overall look of the websites home page and one or two sub pages. Navigation is an important feature so be certain its easy to use, understand and works. List out how you want your file directory to look. On small sites, folders for css, scripts, images, and videos is sufficient.

Create Content How to build a Website5 Content consists of text, images, sound, video, flash games, etc… Text can be written directly onto webpages or imported Images can be created in any paint or draw program Remember: Copyright laws apply on the internet. Be sure to get the proper permissions. Sound can be created in any audio program. See copyright note above. Video can be shot on your phone, camera, or digital video camera. Like movie studios, you need a permit to shoot in certain areas for certain reasons. Do your research. See copyright note above. Flash and other interactive elements have their place. Be sure these elements work with the browsers you wish to use. At this point, it is more important that you create compelling content than fancy coding. People go to the mall to see what’s new and shop not to admire the escalators. Keep that in mind when building your website.

Code and Assemble Assets How to build a Website6 Websites are built using a mixture of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and various query languages. Certain languages require a little extra work to function across different browsers. Fancy coding cannot make up for poor content. Keep code clean and easy to read. Use plenty of white space. If you decide to add advanced coding to your site (like SQL or jQuery) be sure it works. If you decided to go with a prebuilt website (like ebay or amazon) be sure to read the fine print on costs and fees. Get familiar with the how-to section Understanding how to update data en masse is also handy for big jobs

Upload to Web Host How to build a Website7 The Web Host will have instructions on how to upload your data to their server. Usually there are two methods: one at a time or ftp. Be sure you understand how to do both. Once your site is uploaded, take time to QA your website. Read the text to check for spelling errors. Go through the navigation and check that all the links are properly set. Test interactive elements (like flash or video) to verify they playback as expected. Open website in 3 or 4 browsers (IE, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari) to see how it looks. Open website on a Windows, Android, and Apple phone to see how it looks. When your satisfied with the results, tell your friends about it. Note: Content on websites should be updated at least every month. Stale content is the worst. The entire website’s look should be updated every 6 months to a year.

Summary How to build a Website8 Keep it simple and let it grow from there. Believe in yourself and keep a sense of humor. And last but not least, do your research before paying for a consultant. fin