| Designing a website can be a costly venture, or not. | | | | software. Next, let's explore some of the free |
| It all depends on how you go about it and if you | | | | website design tools available online: |
| choose to use free website design tools. | | | | Website Builders: |
| If you choose to hire a website design firm you can | | | | Weebly: This is a company that offers a free |
| expect to pay thousands of dollars. Even when hiring | | | | website builder. The disadvantage to this is that it is |
| a firm there is work for you to do. They will need | | | | hosted on their server, meaning you have less |
| your input, design ideas, content help and your overall | | | | control. |
| knowledge of the business you run or intend to start. | | | | WordPress: WordPress is well known as a blogging |
| Maybe you want to do it yourself to save some | | | | platform but it is also excellent for designing websites. |
| time and learn a new skill. So the first thing you do is | | | | You can get high quality templates for free or paid |
| start researching just how to build a website | | | | to design a website. WordPress comes free with |
| yourself. You find out that there a number of ways | | | | many quality hosts such as Bluehost. |
| to do it: | | | | Photo and Graphics Editors: |
| - Write code: This is very time consuming and it's like | | | | When designing a website you usually need graphics |
| learning a new language. If you want to learn, great, | | | | to some degree. Photoshop is the program most |
| but unless you plan on becoming a coding GEEK this | | | | commonly associated with graphics creation but it is |
| is probably not the option for you. | | | | costly. Here are some other options: |
| - Computer Software: You can buy software | | | | Picnik: This is a great online tool to help you add a |
| programs to install on your computer that allow you | | | | professional touch to any images you want to include |
| to create a website and then upload it or edit it live | | | | on your website, and it's free. |
| when connected to the internet. This is an option but | | | | Gimp: Gimp is a program you will need to download |
| it's not free and there is a learning curve. | | | | to your computer but it does a lot of what |
| - Online Software: There are many software | | | | Photoshop can do, but it's also free. |
| programs online that you can use to build and host a | | | | There are tons of resources you can find online to |
| website. Some are free, some are paid, some are | | | | help you build your website for free. My absolute |
| included with your hosting. | | | | favorite for building websites is WordPress. |
| So let's say you pick option three, using online | | | | |