I'm trying to build a site. Can I get some advice?

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   Victoriaaaposted 13 years ago

   I'm trying to build a website but I'm not sure where to start. I want to design my own website logo and background digitally. Is there any software that would allow me to do this? Also, is there any software that I need to make and save webpages on? I'm starting a small business and I want to put my own hard work into my site instead of hiring someone else to create it. Any advice on building  a site will be very helpful!!

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      cooljazzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Victoria,
      
      Before buying any software or products you need to establish why you want to create a website?  what sort of website or/and blog  you want.
      
      on interent or on forum you will  find heaps of information but most of it is Rubbish.  as some of memeber have suggested you go for Word press or blog its completely free. or you can buy dreamwaeaver(bit expensive) or coffee cup. both are good. 
      you need to make choose.
      
      if you need any help try forums and online communities.

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      bileygurposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I would recommend to you to look at Wordpress and have some ready made templates.   Of course if you know absolutely nothing you are better of spending few bucks and by the service.

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      bubblechairposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Victoria,
      First congrats on taking the plunge and starting your own business. Based on the info you have given here, it sounds like an ecommerce website builder would be the best option. Since you want to do most of the work yourself, this option will allow you to design the website and product catalog to sell anything online.
      
      The website builder also includes special tools which help with search engine optimization and promotion. Domain name registration and hosting are part of the package. You will need this if you are new to internet marketing. Many more tools are included.
      
      May I suggest scheduling a no-cost, no-obligation demo of the standard features included with the package? What's your budget?
      
      <self-promotion snipped>
      
      Please let me know if I can help - I am an entrepreneur also!

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      contentposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Starting with Wordpress is an easy way to get your site up and running, especially if you are hosting your website on a server with cpanel because on those servers, you can install wordpress with a few clicks, which is really nice. 
      
      If you are interested in ecommerce, then get yourself familiar with what is required.  This is a free course that tells you everything you need to know about ecommerce, it's pretty thorough.
      ecommerce training

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   Bill Manningposted 13 years ago

   Please take my advice and install wordpress on your own host, with your own domain. Then you can choose from thousands of themes and change them to look any way you want.
   
   You can make a full, solid website with pages and a blog, plus galleries, shopping store, whatever you want. Wordpress is very SE friendly and easy to learn.
   
   At least as easy as any full web making software is. I own dreamweaver and never touch it thanks to wordpress.

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      Garrett Mickleyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Bill, I couldn't have said it better myself.

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      vmarkerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Totally agreed... WordPress is the best way to go!

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      ksmith88posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      The idea of using WordPress is great if you are looking to use a blog, which I assume is what you want.  On the other hand, if you want something a little more sophisticated (like an online community or displaying more advanced scripts) I would use Joomla or Drupal.
      
      I guess we would need to know what your business was to give you more advice.

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         thisisoliposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Even when building an online community I prefer wordpress over CMS such as Joomla and Drupal. Ii have tested both and found them slow, unweildy, and a nightmare to code.
         
         Wordpress is a great base, and it is very easy to extend it and attach other systems.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I agree with Thisisoli, even if you want something more "sophisticated", I'd recommend Wordpress.  It's easier to understand than Joomla or Drupal.
         
         You can use Artisteer to do your own unique design. I wrote a Hub about it. The Home and Academic edition is only $49.95 and it will do everything you need for Wordpress.

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      kirstenblogposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I must say that WP seems the way to go, using pages posts instead of blog posts makes web pages easy to create. Fine tuning is a bit more tricky, the theme's are nice and I just gotta figure out how to control the elements more now. By the way this forum is of interest as I have my first site up as of last night and am doing much of what you are talking about here
      
      WP does seem the way to go even with the difficulty of figuring everything else out. I am really happy with how easy it was to add a link this facility with the theme I am using, so anyone who likes something can go ahead a tweet it to followers or on FB or other social networking sites, similar to HP and it was almost totally click, copy then paste in that order

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   saleheensblogposted 13 years ago

   ok,i personally preffer you to follow this hubber.he has some great experience and published hubs that will really help you
   <link snipped>

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   saleheensblogposted 13 years ago

   This hub will greatly help you
   <link snipped>

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   Richard Craigposted 13 years ago

   For Graphics, if you don't have Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, I'd recommend Inkscape and Gimp.  They're free to download and completely legit.

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   thisisoliposted 13 years ago

   I would definitely use Wordpress on your own host.
   
   Image wise, you can get some pretty cheap designer services to sort you out, or do what I did and form a partnership with someone so you can trade your skills for their design services.

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   Cordaleposted 13 years ago

   I would follow the advise of the people who have posted on this topic because I was going to say the exact same. Wordpress simply cant be beat for the type of business you talk about opening.
   
   Good luck and give me the link when you open it up so I can check it out!

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   sunforgedposted 13 years ago

   Lol, Wordpress has long been past being used for "blogs" its a fully functional CMS with an amazing support community that believes in open source innovation.
   
   Wp is def the most friendly to a new user especially considering how this question was phrased.

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      WizardOfOzposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Good point.  I have looked at Drupal and Joomla as well and they are definitely not a starting point.  Joomla is ugly in my opinion.  Drupal, I am still interested in but for beginnings, WP is great.  Maybe I will stick with it anyway. 
      
      Huge support and document base with WP.

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   SEOshortcutsposted 13 years ago

   Wordpress.
   
   If you want to have a facebook type of site - there's a theme for that.
   
   If you want to have an ecommerce store - there's tons of themes.
   
   If you want to have an interactive community with everyone having private loging - themes for that.
   
   If the theme doesn't work - oh, you have coders for hire or you have a bajillion plugins.
   
   Want to design a header?  Someone mentioned it: GIMP or online use Pixlr.
   
   An easy route is to get a premium theme that has the bells and whistles you want. 
   
   Artisteer is the most open-ended designer for WP...
   
   A bit pricey but worth it IF you plan on designing many sites.
   
   If you only have ONE site - Thematic.
   
   Or Socrates.
   
   Or Flexsqueeze if you're going e-commerce, etc...
   
   Or free!  I'm NOT a coder, but have nearly 100 sites: all on WP. 
   
   If you only have a handful of sites, it really was meant for people like you and me.

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      Dave Barnettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      How about...GROUND ZERO!!! YukYukYuk.

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    opensourcevarsityposted 13 years ago

    If you are new to creating websites then perhaps its best to try out a content management system for starters. 
    
    WordPress in an excellent CMS. There are those who may say its a pure Blogging engine but believe me its not.
    
    Complete E-Commerce based websites can be created using WordPress with a shopping cart and payment gateway integration.
    
    Its a mature framework with a ton of easy to use plugins to that extend the core frameworks functionality.
    
    Learning WordPress is as easy as falling off a log.  Each little success when you are experimenting with WordPress will add to your confidence until you will marvel at what you've achieved.
    
    There are other CMS as well like Joomla and Magneto but none of them are are easy to learn and use as WordPress.
    
    The icing on the cake is that WordPress is free to use.  Its Plugins are free to use and there are a ton of excellent WordPress Forums with helpful people willing to give you a hand if the going ever gets too tough to handle.

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    C.Scrizzleposted 13 years ago

    I built my first website with Yahoo Sitebuilder and have stuck with it.  It's very easy to use.  I tried Frontpage and Dreamweaver but my sites didn't look the way I wanted them to.  I don't don't know HTML or any fancy coding.  I'm sure some of the other advice given by the other readers would work too depending on what you intend to with your site.

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    clintonbposted 13 years ago

    For something basic I'd go with wordpress to set something simple up. I wouldn't think that you would need any programs to buy though. Unless you want to make something very complex etc.
    Wordpress is like a built in content management system, and google loves to crawl sites made with wordpress.

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    digitalbayerposted 13 years ago

    I would suggest you to use wordpress...easy to create a blog , customize,design and promote.

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    china manposted 13 years ago

    I am looking at Wordpress now and it does not appear to have the facilities metnioned here in the free part - maybe I have to buy before I get the extras people are talking about - or is it that I just can't find them ?

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       Bill Manningposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Wordpress is completely free. There are several different components to WP; themes, plugins and 3rd party scripts.
       
       Check out the plugins for WP here:
       http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/
       
       You can find polls, galleries, all kinds of stuff in there.

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          Bill Manningposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Oh, on a side note it also depends on if you download WP and use it on your own paid hosting, or if you try a free one on the WP site. Using your own hosting and downloading it gives you many more options, all free.

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    Publisher1posted 13 years ago

    Hi, Victoria.
    Currently i have my brand new hub, where i'm talking about how to advertise your site etc. If you are interested check. Good luck.

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    psycheskinnerposted 13 years ago

    Wordpress and Blogger do pretty much the same thing.  I use both but prefer blogger as it is easier to monetise if you are not self-hosting.

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       Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       If you are not self-hosting, you can't monetize Wordpress at all.
       
       There are two different versions of Wordpress - Wordpress.com, which is a blogging platform like Blogger, and you're not allowed to monetize it.  Then there's Wordpress.org, which provides free software you can use to create your own website - for that you'll need your own domain name and hosting.
       
       All the recommendations on this thread are for Wordpress.org.

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    khmohsinposted 13 years ago

    There is nothing better than wordpress if you want to start.

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    adibintoroposted 13 years ago

    Wordpress is the best way to start your web, very easy to install and very customable. Wordpress also have friendly SEO

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