Should You Build Your Website Yourself?
ByThese days, pretty much everyone needs a website. Whether you are an online store, a service based consultant, or any professional person: you need a website.
But the question is: Should You Build it Yourself, Or Should You Outsource it to a Webmaster?
Now I recommend using WordPress as the software that runs your website. It works if you are doing a blog, or a regular website. It’s easy to access from any computer, and the search engines love it!
So here are the steps to building a website that you need to get your site online:
- Installing the WordPress software on Your own Web Hosting
- Selecting a Design and Layout for your Website
- Adding Your Initial Content (your web pages) to Your Website
- Updating Your Website with Fresh Content (more web pages)
- Maintaining Your Website with software updates
I recommend that you learn to do these things yourself, so that you have total control of your business and website and so that you are not at the mercy of anyone else. However, the most important part of running your website yourself is adding your content to your site and updating your website with fresh content.
1) If you have the right hosting company I use www.BlueHostNow.com (my affiliate link) as my hosting company. I love them. They are very helpful, and I can get a WordPress website installed in 5 minutes.
2) The web designs I use for my WordPress websites come from www.iThemes.com (my affiliate link) and my favorite “Theme” is the Flexx Theme. You can find that at www.FlexxQueen.com (my affiliate link). That is the theme I use for this blog, and for my Christina’s Resources website: www.ChristinasResources.com
3) Adding your content, is just something you need to cut and paste into your WordPress website. That is the creative part of building your site. Use your intuition and common sense (plus a little bit of keyword research), when building your webpages. Does it look good to you? Does your pages make sense?
4) To update your site with fresh content, just means to add more pages and blog posts. Easy enough.
5) Updating your WordPress software consists of clicking a few buttons each time there is an update. (we do this together in my classes)
So if you are interested in taking control of your online business, I can help you in my Website Creation Workshop! It’s an 8 module online course where I take you through the process of building your website yourself (without the need for a webmaster). It’s an interactive class, and we have a lot of fun in it. Just take a look at some of the testimonials and example case study websites from my students)
The next Website Creation Workshop will begin in March! Watch your email for updates. (if you are not on the email list, you can sign up in the yellow box on the right sidebar)
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Hi Christina!
Again a good contribution. For a free blog wordpress offers – see wordpress.com. I use this free service. It is of course not so confortable, but for now it is enough.
Sincerely
Ersin Söbütay
Ersin,
I do not recommend wordpress.com for several reasons. One is that you don’t have total control, wordpress.com does. And they are very restrictive in their terms of service.
See this post where I talk about wordpress.com and wordpress.org
http://www.websitecreationworkshop.com/blog/videos/julia-wordpress-rant/
Hi Christina! Nice to meet you! I just did my Gravatar picture so I hope this works! Thanks for your great help, and I’m looking forward to the Website Creation Workshop!
Sharyn
Student on webinar commenting test
Hello Christina,
Considering taking your course. I want to launch (ASAP) my new monetized social niche online community promoted via teleseminars (Alex M. student) and social media.
Will your course cover?
1. iThemes Builder (I own it) and design.
2. WishListMember.
3. 1ShoppingCart.
4. Socal media integration.
5. Do you do custom work? Where can I find your rates, etc?
Many thanks, Randy
Randall,
My course will cover iThemes themes. I’ll cover the Flexx theme extensively, and I’ll cover builder if students ask about it in the Q&A calls.
I am probably going to be covering wishlist, as I will use that for the membership area. 1Shoppingcart training is of course offered as a bonus, and I will teach a module on making money with your website. Yes, I cover social media integration. No, I do not do custom work. I’m a teacher/coach/mentor not a service provider.
Details on the course will come sometime in the beginning of March!
Hope you can join us in the Website Creation Workshop!
Thank you Christina! Hopefully the Q&A will be helpful to others. I love the fact that we are in the game with all the same people… Alex, Cory, Stu, etc.
Final question… are there any service providers and/or students that could get me launched now and know your teaching while I wait for WCW in March?
Randall,
Yes, go to http://www.christinahillshelpdesk.com and select the submit a ticket, then select the website creation workshop, and request the list of providers
You already got part 1 of your site done, so you are not far away from it all.
See you in March!
One more thing, I will be doing free training to get people prepped for the course. Watch your email for that.
Awesome support… thank you Christina!
To others who may see these posts… I have been following Christina for awhile because her students succeed!
The goals for my website are very simple: just to provide information to my clients as a follow up, or addition, to direct marketing. I have a shiatsu practice. Later I might want to experiment selling my services on line and much later to sell a line of goods. Would you recommend your workshop for me? It seems from some of the questions, such as Randal’s above, that this is going to be way over my head, and full of information I might not need? Sincerely,
Daniel
Daniel,
I have a variety of students who take my class. Some folks are more advanced than others, but each person learns from each other. Randal is just at a different point in his biz than you are.
This class starts newbies out from the beginning. And then the materials are there for when you are ready for more advanced stuff. Get on my email list, for when I send out notices for free teleseminars.
Definitely this workshop is for you Daniel! Can’t tell you how many hours I spent “floundering” to discover Christina has everything in one place.
~Randy
Thanks Christina, I’ll keep an eye out for your teleseminars. When you can please send out the exact time of the workshop in March and cost details, so I can plan; and thanks to Randy for the encouragement.
Daniel
Christina,
What is your opinion on using SBI instead of WordPress?
Any advantages or disadvantages you know of?
Thanks,
Bert
Bert,
are you referring to Site Build It?
I have not used it personally, but I generally don’t like those third part applications that lock you into a format.
WordPress has all the market momentum right now
Christina,
Yes Site Build It. I do feel the same way and appreciate your reply.
Bert
I agree with this. But if you’re really not technical at all, then it can be very time-consuming and frustrating (in particular designing your own unique theme, say for WordPress).
Even if you do go with a web designer, WordPress is a good choice as there are a lot of things you can do / learn on your own with this platform without having to ask a web designer to help you with it.
Edmond,
As i put in the post here, there are different stages of creating a website. I do NOT teach people how to design their own theme. That’s for web designers. I teach people how to use free or low cost themes ($20-$100) to develop their own look. You can get a very professional look and feel (theme) for a low cost.
I do have students who take my class and use a combo of a web person setting it up initially, then the student puts in all the content and manages it themselves.
I like to teach people to NOT have to depend upon a webmaster, and to be able to do it themselves.
I assume iThemes Builder qualifies under your teaching people how to use free or low cost themes?
Hope you cover it. After much research, it appeared to be the next level up from Flexx.
And… Rebecca at your support desk was awesome in getting people you trained to help me.
~Randy
Randall,
So glad you liked my support team. They are the best!
Yes, the ithemes builder theme (http://www.ithemesqueen.com is my link) is one level up from flexx.
I teach people how to use flexx in my workshop, and will be doing that a lot in the next Workshop that starts in March.
And if students want to use Builder, I will answer their questions about Builder on the Q&A days. I have Builder, but have not yet used it.
I can’t wait!
hi Christina, curious to know how you get from Flexxqueen.com to http://ithemes.com/purchase/flexx-theme-wordpress-blog-themes/.
usually there is an affiliate code associated w a graphic or a text link. looks like you have a different setup. how is this setup done?
Udaysree,
http://www.flexxqueen.com uses URL forwarding. Call your hosting company to ask them how to do it.
yes, there is an affiliate code in there
thanks, Christina, do you think this is more effective than using a graphic or text link?
Udaysree,
you use a graphic when a person is already on your website.
you use URL forwarding when you want to tell people (in person or on a teleseminar) where to go.
With a URL the person can remember it, and come back later.
With a graphic, they have to be on your website to click.
I use both!
Christiana,
Great information as usual. I love your stuff and your teaching style.
I personally love hostgator and use them for all my wordpress accounts. I love their reseller accounts because they let me set up as many sites as I want.
Good luck with your course.
Bill,
Hostgator is another good web hosting company. They are similar to http://www.BlueHostNow.com
I have not used hostgator, but have friends who do.
and yes, Blue Host lets you have as many sites as you want under one account
I use Hostgator for my non-Wordpress sites. They provide great support. Yaro Starak uses them as do some of the other big names. I think Bluehost are far better for WordPress sites though – that is really their niche.
Blue host is excellent when it comes to WordPress! I use them for all my blogs and wordpress websites
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Where can I read the ful blurb on this course Christina ?
Thankx
Gillian,
the registration page is not yet available yet, but you can go here to get some of the facts on the next workshop
http://www.websitecreationworkshop.com/blog/next-workshop/
Hi Christiana,
I’m still very new in this blogging arena. If we were to compare between blogspot and wordpress (of coz for a newbie like me), which one would you recommend…
I recommend the self hosted wordpress of course!
My next workshop is starting in March
Hi Christina,
Can you use the flex theme to build one page, one column sales pages and opt in pages
with video and/or audio?
Art,
yes you can do that with flexx! I don’t have an example for you to see with that, but I’ll create one for you to see
I have built my site (www.createdlife.com) using WordPress and the Tarski theme. Personally, I love that one. I concur with your advice to find a way to host WordPress yourself rather than using WordPress.com since WP.com doesn’t allow plugins, javascript or lots of other goodies that the self-hosted version does.
I’d love feedback on how I did building my site myself. I’m still tweaking it, but right now I’m pretty happy. It’s been a long process as I’ve learned about creating sites, and boy, have I made some wild mistakes along the way, but as I’m learning, the site just grows right along with me.
I’m hoping you’ll be doing some articles on setting up a members only area using WP. Oh, and I use GoDaddy as a host.
DeBorah,
Not to hi-jack Christina’s comments (she is the best) but I wanted to just say that your Created Life site is fantastic. I love the layout.
Abi
Abi,
you are so sweet
Thank you so much. Coming from you that means a lot.
I now have over 100 of my own WordPress.org sites and about 10 customer sites (all various niches).
I used to follow everyone but as you know this gets old fast. Now I follow a select few and you are definitely on that list.
Best,
Abi
Abi,
Wow, that is great!
DeBorah,
Glad you jumped on the WordPress train.
Yes, I am considering doing some paid trainings on having a membership site with WordPress.
When that is released, I’ll send email to the list.
Hi Christina,
What incredible timing! Last week I started writing out a plan for completely re-doing my old Frontpage websites (I have three in desperate need of an overhaul) in WordPress.
I’d love to take your workshop…purchased some of your other 1shoppingcart products and they were amazingly helpful to me.
But, I have a couple of questions…
I have already decided on and purchased the Thesis theme with the EasyThesis Skin on top of it. If I am using a different theme than what you are recommending and teaching, will it just confuse me? Or, will the workshop still be relevant to me?
My second question is this…for one of my sites, I already have a well-established web presence with a HUGE amount of traffic from incoming links and Google. I am very concerned about doing anything to hurt this, so I’ve been experimenting in WordPress to customize the page URLs so that the site structure remains the same. On the pages generating traffic from Google, I also intend to do my best not to change the content that much. I have better-than-average technical skills, but they are all self-taught and I’m never sure if I am doing things the best way. If I was working on this while I took your workshop, is this something you could advise me on?
Thanks!
Michelle
Michelle,
You can use Thesis as your theme ( my link for that is http://www.ThesisQueen.com )
It is an advanced theme, so depending upon your skill level, it may be hard for you, or it may be easy. I don’t really consider it a beginner theme.
The theme that I’m going to teach people on this the Flexx Theme (http://www.FlexxQueen.com )
I’m using that for this website.
However, students can choose whatever theme they want, and they can come to the workshop days and I’ll help them with it.
On your second question, that can be time consuming to do and I am not an SEO expert.
There is a file you can put on your hosting (the .htaccess file) that will remap all of you old pages to new ones. This might be a case where I’d hire an SEO expert to advise you on this, as I don’t want to give out wrong information.
It’s not hard to do, just one has to be meticulous about it.
I’ll have the same challenge when I move
http://www.shoppingcartqueen.com over to wordpress
Thanks Christina!
So to recap, I could take your workshop and complete my redesign, but before I actually replace my old site, I should consult with an SEO expert to make sure everything was as it should be. That is good advice. Thanks!
I never fail to learn from you. I look forward to hearing more about your workshop. I wish it was next week rather than next month.
Christina… Good basic information webinar. I will refer others to you. I’m posting just to see if I have a Gravitar photo. …Howard
Howard,
Nice photo!
Just trying my new gravatar.
Thanks Christina
Trying out my new Gravatar, courtesy of today’s webinar. Had been using my company logo, but thought I’d try a personal photo, since it seems to be what people like best.
Thanks for a great class!
…and trying out my other one.
Thanks
Christine,
The pace you teach your class is wonderful. For people like myself that are more advance, it still helps to revisit things from time to time.
Thank you much,
Danette Moss
http://www.LADConciergeGroup.com
http://www.DanetteMoss.com
Wow, I always learn SO much from you, Christina! Thank you.
Just finishing up the Free Webinar you’re doing today, and I wanted to drop a line and say hello. It’s wonderful to see you again.
I’ll echo what Lauren Slade says, the course has been an absolute blessing and given me control of my website and my business life. Thank you so much for this.
Cheers!
Was on your webinar call today. It was great and at a pace that I could keep up. Good job.
When I went on Gravatar.com and tried to sign in The username I was using was taken. Is that the name that shows up when you post something? I tried to use my name and received a notice that it was not available.
Pat,
just pick a different username.
the username does not show up
only your picture will show up publicly when you comment on blogs
Thanks, I got it to work okay. Your class was great.
Can’t wait for the big event. Pat
I just got off the webinar and went into my admin panel and saw all of these great comments with great Gavatars!
Was fun with you all on the call