It isn’t as hard as it looks, you know
If you’re trying to learn how to develop a website of your own, and if you’re not quite sure how the whole Internet-World Wide Web-Online thing works, it’s possible that you feel a little overwhelmed. This New York Times story about how a couple of 10-year-olds managed to build a commercial website for a business owner and turn down a $2000 design fee, should get you to believing as you should, that it’s not really hard. Ten-year-olds don’t understand jargon. They can barely read. If they know backwards and forwards, how to develop a website, it’s because there’s an easy way. There’s a way to just do it. And that’s what this website does – it helps you just do it.
You really should think back about how remarkably futuristic the very possibility would seem to someone in the 90s that you could expect to learn one day how to develop a website in a couple of hours and be online in no time with a hosting service with rock-solid reliability. The thought of how you’re living the future today should really get you feeling strong enough to take up putting a website out as a personal challenge. Back in the day, people were surprised every day by something new that websites could do. They would explain “There’s a website for that!” the way people say “There’s an app for that!” these days. Websites came up that allowed you to send email and look at your bank account.
According to LG back then, ordering groceries on an Internet-connected refrigerator was a killer app. Websites of every description let you buy and sell stuff at auctions, read customer reviews and complaints about products, and hey, thanks to websites like GeoCities and Tripod, you could actually have 15MB of space for a website (or a page, at least) that was all yours for free. It made people feel very powerful to have the ability to put word out about who they were, and what their causes were.
The personal website
Most people still haven’t quite figured out what exactly all the power in a personal website is to be used for. Some would say that lots of small businesses haven’t really figured websites out either. But businesses do at least know that their website is supposed to promote business for them. What does a personal website promote? It promotes the brand in You, of course. Today, no person applying for a job in the engineering field, in communications or in the arts would ever want to show up with just a resume that was typed out on Microsoft Word. They had better have a great LinkedIn network to point to. And of course, a great personal resume website would be mandatory.
When a recruiter finds a resume interesting enough, additional information on a website to go to – videos, examples of one’s work – should really help promote that resume. There are other reasons to learn how to develop a website to make your voice heard, as well. A website can be a great personal billboard. Put your thoughts down honestly, and you are likely to find like-minded friends in a way that’s different from Facebook. Do it the right way on a paid website hosting service, and you stand to make money off your investment as well.
The business website
Anyone launching a tiny startup business out of their garage has many reasons to want to learn how to develop a website of their own as well. To begin with, no one understands the exciting new spark of an idea that launches your business as well as you do – the person who has the desire for success. Ever worked next to a professional when you’ve been a layperson yourself? Suffice it to say that professionals – doctors, lawyers, accountants – tend to be a lot more respectful when they believe they are speaking to someone who knows what they are talking about. Getting a website idea across to a designer always works better when you speak out of a bit of first-hand knowledge. The designer will take you seriously then.
When you learn how a business website works, for instance, you’re no longer going to be wowed by flashiness, complexity, or style. Because you’ve been backstage and you’ve seen the smoke and the mirrors. With the irrelevant stuff no longer distracting you, you should be able to focus on what your website is really supposed to promote — customer satisfaction.
Spending time on learning how to develop a website from scratch on your own could actually help you save some money today when you need it. And when you move up in your world one day, that designer-built website you get then could be ten times better for your experience.