Free Content Systems

A free content system is something like a blog or a lens, etc. Free content systems are great for those who want a website, but don’t need one at their own domain and don’t mind being limited by the structure and functionality provided by the service. Basically its a free web presence without all the options and branding that goes with purchasing either a website building service like EasySiteBuild, or hiring a web designer to do a full custom website.

Using a free content system is best for those who don’t have a ton of money and who also don’t need a totally personalized, consistent, and independent presence on the web. Basically the disadvantage of a free content system is that your website will be hosted at something like mywebsite.blogger.com, and if blogger.com decides to change the way they do something, or remove a feature, etc, then your tough out of luck. Furthermore, you are much more limited in what you can do with one of the free content systems. Finally, using one of the free content systems for your business or personal website definitely looks less professional, and if that is important to you, then taking a step up and getting your own domain name is really going to make a huge difference.

On the other hand, free content systems are free.

Some examples of free blog sites are wordpress.com, blogger.com, and tumblr.com. Some examples of free lens/hub sites are squidoo.com, and hubpages.com. Finally, a public myspace account also qualifies as a free content system, although it is not nearly as good as the other examples I have listed here. Within the blogs, my favorite is wordpress.com – its fast, easy to use, and allows a surprising amount of customization. Between squidoo and hubpages, I personally prefer squidoo, although they are both pretty good. For a web presence, a myspace page is not particularly good, and doesn’t work as well as the other options here.

Using a html web editor

For most people who are new to webpages and want to establish a web presence that will serve them well at the present and into the future, using a html web editor like EasySiteBuild is going to be the best way to go. You get many of the advantages of both using a free content system and a custom designed website with your own domain name.

Compared to a free content system (like a wordpress blog), using a html web editor shares the advantages that it doesn’t cost much money, that you can get started on it immediately and begin building your web presence, and that you have complete control over it. A html web editor does not share the disadvantages of a free content system that you can’t necessarily do just what you want (ie. you are limited by the structure of the content system), and that it doesn’t allow the permanence and professionalism that your own domain and customized website allow.

Compared to a full custom website made by a professional web designer, a html web editor shares the advantages that it allows you to have a permanent, professional domain and website that can grow and change with you or your business. A html web editor does not share the disadvantages of a custom designed website that it is expensive, takes a fair bit of time to implement, and can be difficult to find a trustworthy and competent web designer that can do what you want and has good style.

So, basically, a html web editor has many of the advantages of both a free content system and a professional custom website, while avoiding many of the disadvantages.

Ok, so the next question then, is how does it actually work. Well, with an web based html editor, your webpage is edited by you through whats called a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, which in operation is similar to Microsoft Word or similar programs. There are a number of different WYSIWYG editors out there, but most simply will allow you to lay out a webpage and then it will spit out the html files that you must then deal with. If you choose to go with a WYSIWYG editor that just gives you the html files, then you must sign up a web domain and buy hosting (usually $7-$15/month), and then get the domain pointed at the hosting. Then, you must set up the hosting so that it is ready to receive the html files, and then using an ftp program you will have to upload the html files into the right directory along with all the images they link. Even for someone with some tech savvy, this is a process that is fraught with potential pitfalls. For example, finding a trustworthy web hosting company can be even harder than finding a competent web designer, and interfacing with the web hosting you purchase can be quite difficult, especially for those with less computer experience.

This is where a service like EasySiteBuild comes in. For a price that is approximately the same as standard web hosting, you get both the hosting service, and the html web editor software in one package, set up and ready to go. For another $9 you also get your own domain name registered. The beauty of this system is that the html web editor doesn’t give you files that you then have to figure out what to do with – it just takes the results of your work and loads them directly onto your web server so that they are ready to go. No hassles, no headache. Sometimes a little vertical integration can be a great thing – why do two separate and disconnected steps (make the html files with one program, and then interface with the web hosting with a different program), when you can do it all in one step?

As a professional web designer myself, I really care about giving people what they need, and personally I have spent a lot of time talking to potential clients about webpages they want to make, only to find out that their budget isn’t going to come close to covering the expense of getting a custom website designed for them. This ends up wasting a lot of time – both my time since they don’t end up contracting me for the webpage, and their time and mental effort imagining what they would want and need. In so many cases, I wish those potential clients would have just laid their budget out at the onset and I could have steered them towards an html web editor like EasySiteBuild, which for them would have been the perfect solution. So if this is you, don’t waste your own time and energy, or the time and energy of a professional web designer by stepping down that path only to turn around later – just go straight for the html web editor. You won’t be disappointed.

Custom website design

The most expensive option accessible to most website beginners is to hire a web designer (like me) to do a full custom website. While this option will produce the most advanced and customized website that you can tweak until its just absolutely perfect, its also going to cost you quite a bit of money for that extra little bit of function. What you will need if you decide to go this route is to buy web hosting (usually in the range of $7-$15 per month), plus a domain name (another $15 per year), photos and images, and a competent web designer. Finding trustworthy, reliable web hosting can be quite difficult, although if you do decide to venture that direction, take a look at the web hosting review website that I run and maintain.

Additionally, finding a competent web designer can be quite a headache. Having worked on updating a number of websites that I myself did not make, I have gotten the opportunity to look into what is really making those websites go, and I am often surprised at how badly they are built and how likely they are to have a problem (often the reason why the website owner came to me in the first place – something was broken). Then, its always fascinating to find out how much the designer charged to make the website, which again can be quite surprising…

Since the average web user doesn’t have much knowledge of how to make a website, contracting a web designer can be a bit of a leap of faith – you throw down a bunch of money without really knowing the quality of what your getting. And especially since a website can easily cost in the thousands of dollars, contracting for a custom website can sometimes feel like buying a car over the phone without seeing it, test driving it, or reading reviews of it.

The final piece of the puzzle is getting images and photographs. The web designer is not usually also a graphic artist or photographer, so you usually will have to either provide a logo and photos yourself, or hire other people to procure these for you. If you have a limited budget (and who doesn’t?) then it probably makes a lot more sense to pay for a good logo and make sure you have excellent photos and then use a service like EasySiteBuild to create the page yourself. Great graphics and photos are much more important than snazzy layout when it really gets down to it.

All that said, if you are need an extremely professional website that does X, Y, and Z perfectly and functions just this way and looks just that way, and if throwing down several thousand dollars to get what you want doesn’t phase you, then by all means go find a web designer whom you like and trust.  Take a good look at their gallery of previous work to make sure you like their style and that they can do what you need.  And remember, if it doesn’t seem to be going the way you wanted, tell the web designer to stop, and go over with him/her what exactly you would like differently.  Much of the hassle and headache of working with a custom web designer can be removed by good communication – communicating what exactly your expectations are, what exactly you want the site to do, and what exactly you want it to look like.  From personal experience I can tell you that it is much much better