One thing I have really been enjoying doing lately is creating websites. A few years ago, I briefed an agency to create the Birds Eye website from scratch. The project took forever and cost an absolute fortune – the main cost stemming from the fact that the website needed to connect to a lotus notes content management system. Big mistake! That’s old technology.
Since then, I have been under the mistaken impression that it costs big bucks and time to create a website. I also thought special skills, such as html, would be required. I now know better. Websites can be created at such a small cost. The bigger issue with website creation is generating content. This is where you find you will spend the most time.
In any case, I have dabbled with a number of software programs including Coffee Cup ($49), Web Creator 4 Pro ($119.95), Artisteer ($49.95), and NVU (free). I have learned that creating websites is not all the difficult. I’ve also dabbled in using Blogger which is like WordPress on training wheels and Joomla. WordPress, however, has been my favourite method of website creation.
This website has been created using the downloaded version of WordPress and whilst it doesn’t look too pretty right now, it will look much better once I have finished with it. I am using a paid theme called Thesis which gives me more flexibility to design the site how I want it. Now WordPress does take a bit of a learning curve but once you know where to look for things, you will be a WordPress Master.
Why is WordPress so good:
- It’s free – the only cost is registering a domain name and setting up a hosting account if you use the downloadable version
- There are hundreds of themes to choose from – this means you can change the look and feel of your website in literally a few pushes of the button
- There are hundreds of applications (called plugins) that you can use to make your website more functional
- You can search engine optimise your website so it can be found easily in search engines
- You don’t really need to know HTML
The only limitations with WordPress is the fact that many of the themes are not very flexible. You may may to spend some time trying different themes until you find one that you are happy with. The other alternative is to create your own theme. This is easy to do if you purchase a program like Artisteer or if you buy a more flexible paid WordPress theme such as Thesis. I have used a number of different themes – my favourite paid WordPress theme is Thesis and this is what I am using on this website (currently a work in progress). This is really because it suits my needs better as it is more flexible in that I can customise my site to look exactly how I want to. Be warned though that this also is a bit of a learning curve as the design interface is a bit different to what you might have gotton used in WordPress. The other option, it using a software program Artisteer. What I love about it is the fact that everything is so easy to use – this was one of the first programs I used as an absolute newbie and I maintain it has been the easiest program to use. You can literally design a fantastic looking website in minutes and then export it straight to WordPress. The software also has images included so you won’t have to spend a fortune on hiring a photographer or buying images from a photo stock image library.
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