HOW TO MAKE A WEBSITE Without having to learn code, for FREE
STEP 1: Choose Your Website Platform
Before you start thinking about colour schemes, domain name
and web hosting, you’ve got to decide what platform you’re going to build your
website with.
Back in 2004 when I got started with web development, most
sites were built using
- HTML (code)
- CSS (code)
- PHP (code)
These took a lot of time to learn and were tricky to master
(still are).
I don’t recommend learning coding from scratch as it could
take months, if not years to fully master.
And even then, you’re probably still not satisfied with the
end result of your website. Adding content through HTML and PHP pages would be
time wasting and really complicated process.
In 2017, most people and organizations use content
management systems (CMS) to build and manage their websites. I’m recommending
it, too.
What is ‘Content Management System’? Is it FREE?
Most popular and well-known CMS (website platforms) are
free.
To put simply, a content management system (or website
building platform) is a user-friendly platform for building websites and
managing your website content, instead of using a bunch of loose HTML, CSS and
PHP pages.
CMS is good choice for many different types for websites, as
organizations and individuals can:
- Copy/paste content into a page and then just update when changes need to be made. (i.e. like copying from Microsoft Word)
- Don’t need to hire someone to fill a web maintenance role. (nobody likes to spend money)
- There’s no need to buy expensive software to build out pages.
- Using CMS is all very simple and user-friendly.
What CMS/Website Platform should I use?
According to recent statistics, three most popular website
building platforms in 2017 are..
- WordPress (FREE, 50.07%)
- Drupal (FREE, 17.07%)
- Joomla (FREE, 6.44%)
As you can see from the graph, over 50% of the top 10
million websites are using WordPress.
If you want more details, I’ve put together a pretty
comprehensive comparison between WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. If for some
reason you don’t want to build your site with WordPress, check out my Drupal,
Joomla and HTML5 tutorial as well. They are all FREE to use.
In most cases, however, Drupal and Joomla are too robust and
difficult for an average internet users, hence the reason, I suggest sticking
with WordPress.
So keep reading the guide.
Why I recommend using WordPress?
Because at this point there are no better/easier ways to
build a website… But more importantly:
1. WordPress is FREE
WordPress doesn’t cost a dime to download or install (though
it’s being updated each month), and there’s a huge community who help/guide
people for free.
2. WordPress is VERY flexible
If you know how to use Microsoft Word, you already know how
add your own content. WordPress can be expanded with free plugins to handle
just about any site you can imagine. There’s more than 2000 free themes to
choose from.
3. No need to learn HTML, CSS and PHP from scratch (can take
6+ months)
Since WordPress acts as a “website editor”, you don’t need
to learn all the coding skills just to add
one single image or line of text.
4. There’s huge developer network
Vast majority of web designers and developers use WordPress.
This means you can get help quite quickly.
5. WordPress is great for small and large sites
From websites to online stores, WordPress can handle just about any kind of
website. WordPress is also used by eBay, Mozilla, Reuters, CNN, Google Ventures
and even NASA.
For beginners, I suggest sticking to WordPress.
It’s the easiest platform I’ve ever worked with, but it’s
flexible enough to suit everyone from small business owners, and freelancers to
creative artists and bloggers.
