Everyone wants to tell you what you need in order to have a great website. No matter what you know, there’ll always be someone telling you that it’s not enough. “Learn these 10 things before you even think of making your website”, sounds familiar?
The longer you go without creating your website, the more time and money you’re losing. The truth is that you do need a site, and more knowledge is always a good thing. There’s nothing wrong with doing a little learning on your own so that you get some new skills. You don’t, however, need to master coding or understand how every server works, before you can get a website. You can always go in after you’ve gained more skills and improve your site.
We’ve compiled a list of ten things everyone tells you that you need to know before making your website. But you really don’t!
Knowledge of Hardware Requirements
When you’re in the process of choosing a web hosting service, you read a lot about various things that they offer. A lot of the hardware seems like gibberish, and for someone just looking into web hosting for the first time, it is. The trick here? Don’t ask about their hardware, ask about their output. How much can their servers handle? How much of your site can be graphics intensive before you start to deal with lag? Focus on that and you don’t need to know anything about the make and model of their machines.
An Amazing Computer at Home
Owning a website doesn’t need you to get a whole new computing rig. If your old computer is working fine and you’ve got good internet service, you should be able to work on your website. Updating, tweaking or adjusting your website is same on an old system as is on a new one. Investing in a website doesn’t mean you first have to invest in a revamped computer.
A Clear Idea of What You Want When You Start
There are some things that you need to know, obviously. You should know why you need a website: is it to share your opinions or expertise, offer business services, or set up an online store. You should have those details in print before you even start working on things like how to choose a web hosting service.
What you don’t need is the details. You don’t need to know where the graphics bars are going to go, or what the exact text is going to be. You only need to know the purpose of your website and perhaps one key feature you really want, like a graphics slideshow. From there you can build on it based on what your company provides.
Knowledge of Colors
Just like you don’t need to know how exactly your webpage is going to be, you don’t have to spend weeks checking hex codes for the perfect colors. Yes, there’s an extensive color theory that plays into developing sites, but you don’t have to use it yet. At the very least, there are templates that will provide good color palettes. Beyond that, finding the right colors are a web designer’s job, if you want to hire one.
Knowledge of Coding
Coding is a very useful skill to have, but not something that’s worth delaying your site. Coding will help you tweak the site that you already have, add widgets, and perform some basic functions. It’s always nice to understand how your site works. However, there are so many languages and things that you could learn that frankly, people use lack of coding knowledge as an excuse. You can always learn it as you go; that shouldn’t be your excuse not to make the arrangements and get the site you want. You can refine it later.
An Extensive Reputation Online
Most people feel like they don’t need a website unless they already have a huge online presence. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Getting your site up and running and into searchable indexes are among the first things you do in order to establish web presence. Even if you’re lighting up social media, how are people supposed to learn more about you and/or your business or products? A website is there for all the times you’re not on Twitter at 3am, trying to explain to someone how your brand works in 140 characters.
A Huge Social Media Campaign
On the flip side, you don’t need to have a huge social media campaign mapped out and plotted before you set up your site. Once you have a site to link to and content to build from you’ll find that it’s easy to just send out three or four messages a day. As the hits on your site’s counter rises it will get easier to gain followers.
To Be Able to Tell a Middleman from Origin Point Provider
There are pros and cons of dealing with middlemen in the web hosting game. If you’re researching on how to choose a web hosting provider, you’ll find articles that either encourage or discourage you from a middleman. While they might be more expensive, they can also help spread out the costs of some premium services. The best bet when you’re first setting out is to find the provider that gives you the best deal for the most service. From there you can worry about whether they’re original or a middleman.
A Focused Business Plan
Some people feel like launching the site is the last thing a business should do. This isn’t true. While you should have a clear idea what the site is for and what it’s going to do there’s nothing wrong with getting the site out of the way early. The only thing that you really need to set up the site is the start up cash. If you have that, set up the site and start using it to drum up social media buzz while you hammer out the finals details on the rest of it.
A Lot of Money
Is having a site expensive? Is having a business expensive in general is the real question, and the answer is “somewhat.” A site is the lifeblood of a company in this Internet age, but it doesn’t have to be the major bulk of your budget. You don’t need buckets of cash to have a great site, though there is a correlation. You either have to be willing to put in some elbow grease yourself, or you should be able to pay someone else to do it. Either way, you don’t absolutely need stacks of cash. Going with a cheaper option for now, just to have your site out there is a good call while you build up your business.