Building your First Website

How To Build Your First Website

The one thing that amazes me is how people think about website design. They sit around for years babbling how complex it is and how they don't know how to do it and it is like advanced alien technology. But when they finally get around to building one, they want to start with designs that even advanced webmasters would have trouble building.

Look, when you lean to do math you don't start with calculus. When you start to lean to drive you don't start with a race in the Indianapolis 500. When you got your first job it was not as the CEO of a Fortune 500 Company.

So when you build your first website, don't try to emulate the designs of professionals that have 20 years experience. Because if you do, it will look like you did not know what you were doing.

Here are some basic things to remember when building your first website.

Function is more important than Design
Other people have to look at this thing
You are not a designed so don't get artistic
Text is the only component with value in searches
Website design is complex, avoid advanced tools and features

Function Over Design

The biggest mistake newbie webmasters make is trying to build amazing designs. But the design element of a website is secondary to the actual function of the website.

An ecommerce store is not like a piece of art that hangs on the wall. It is meant to perform a task and not be pretty doing it.

When you build a staff at your business do you hire a bunch of fashion models with no experience or do you hire a bunch of skinny, fat, nerdy looking, frumpy looking people that know what they are doing?

Hopefully you hire people that can do the job and not people that just look good doing it.

As a business owner you know better than to hire the best looking people just because they look good and you should also understand that a website does not have to look good to work.

Of course it should be presentable, not showing up at work in old dirty jeans but in presentable clean cloths that are not offensive to everyone else.

Other People Have to Use It

Just because you like something does not mean other people will like it. In fact, taste is very user specific, so what you think looks great might make someone else puke.

Don't impose your likes, beliefs or opinions on other people. Just because you think having a dog barking when they go to your website does not mean anyone else will.

You think it is cool because you made it and now you feel proud of yourself for doing it. Others are not impressed that you were able to add an annoying sound to the page, in fact they will hate it.

Don't use religious symbols on pages unless you want to offend everyone not sharing the same beliefs. If you don't care that you alienate 90% of the market, then build a website professing your faith, but don't expect too much business from it.

This is not an 5th grade craft project. Just because you like what you did, prod of yourself for accomplishing something does not mean anyone other than your mom will share your enthusiasm.

This is business and people expect more. So don't show off things just because you can, keep to the basics and make it functional.

Don't take my word for it, look at the trends of all the major retailers and commercial websites, they have toned back everything so they don't lose one single customer who does not like the design.

Retailers are switching to plan black and white sites with little of no graphics so there is no chance that anyone will not enjoy their experience on a website.

You are not an Artist

Don't try to get artistic. You don't have 5 years of design school, you don't have a flair for design and trying to be artistic with your website because it wont end well.

You don't want this website to look like a 3rd grader did it and that what happens when people try to add colors and artistic elements.

Remember it is a source of information, just like a book. It is not a piece of art, it is a tool. Keep it industrial like a newspaper and not like a piece of modern art.

Have you every tried to build art? If so what did other people think?

Even if you did, can you translate that art to other mediums?

If you work with clay can you make art from steel? If you work with paint can you build art from concrete?

So even if you think you are an artist it does not me your value swill work with website design.

That is not to say in time it wont. but on your first website, you are just not there yet.

Text Text Text for Search Engines

Search engines do not read art, images or design. So no matter how much you do, how much you spend it wont make one bit of difference when you search engines list your pages.

The only thing they look at is the text on the pages, so beyond that, it is all gravy.

More and more I see the front pages of website with fancy slideshows.

Why? Because it is easy, it does not take any effort and when webmasters build websites they have very little to work with, so they slap up some pictures in a cool automated slide show and everyone things it is great.

Everyone except the search engines. They don't see anything of value on the page and that costs you valuable SEO points.

Newbie webmasters and first time site builders always use images, images and more images to make the site look better, because it is easy. Insert a picture ad a picture is worth 1000 words.

But on websites images are worth 0 words.

It is important to have images to mold the user experience, so products and services, but people still have to find you first ad they do that through searches. They don't search by uploading a picture of a plumber, they type in "I need a plumber", so you need words on the pages for the search engines to match.

I am not saying not to use pictures at all, in fact use as many a you want. But don't forget to explain what they are and have ample amounts of text on each page to satisfy the search engines as well as the people coming to your website.

Avoid Advanced Features

It goes without saying that if you don't know how to do something don't use it. Doing something simple correctly is better than doing something complex incorrectly.

If you watch 2 people in an Olympic diving competition ad one does a perfect simple dive, great. The other does a complex Triple Lindy trying to bounce from one board to another 3 flips and a triple reverse pike but in doing so, the hit the first board and crack their head open.

Now who wins?

The diver that kept it simple.

So it is not a bad thing to keep your website simple. But it is bad to try to make it complex and fail at it.

As you build your website, think simple clean and organized. Don't make it look like a 5th graders collage from art class.

It is your first website, it can be changed as you lean more but for now, it has to work and be appealing to everyone using it. So don't build it while on an acid trip or think that you need to make the pages psychedelic.

Think, plain simple and functional.