You bet you can! And we are here to help. The purpose of this site is to provide you with the tools and techniques you need to learn how to build your own website – one that matches your personal vision.
Different webmasters have different aspirations. Some are selling a product or service, some are seeking to monetize their site, and others see a website as a platform to exchange information and opinions. Whatever the reason, you want to end up with an effective website that has literate content and an attractive design. Let’s examine these goals a little more closely.
Content
Nowhere is competent execution more important than in presenting well-written content to your readers. To state is simply: you cannot establish trust with your readership if your material is littered with poor grammar, misspellings and improper English. Perhaps it’s a form of snobbery, but there is a definite bias in our country against poorly written material. No amount of sincere pleading will overcome this bias, so it must be accepted and dealt with. Luckily, professional content writers are not expensive. They can give your site the sophistication and polish that at least admits the possibility of establishing a trusting relationship with your readers. Check our Content Page for more pointers on using content to your advantage.
Trust
Clearing the content hurdle allows you to vie for the trust of visitors to your website. But how do you actually gain that trust. Through a concept known as the value proposition: readers are giving you their time and attention, so you have to give something valuable back. The choice is up to you, and is to a certain extent informed by the intent of your website. If you are selling a product or service, not only must you honestly describe its quality features, but it’s a good idea to offer your readers a special deal. Promotions such as discounts, extras, and even the occasional freebee give readers some sense of control in their dealings with you. Idea oriented websites might offer discounts on particularly salient books that you’d like your visitors to read. News and information sights can offer free newsletters and access to interesting videos. Your imagination is your only limit.
Traffic
The best intentions and most perfect website don’t count for much if no one sees it. You must drive traffic to your site, and unless you’re rich, you don’t want to depend on advertising to do it. An effective way to increase traffic is through search engine optimization (SEO), a set of techniques that can raise the PageRank of your site and move your search results to the front of the pack. Search results on pages one or two are crucial to success, as most people look no further than these two pages. SEO is sometimes portrayed as a difficult, almost mystical black art, impossible for the average Joe to master. Not true! See our SEO Page to find out more on increasing your website’s traffic.
We hope you are as enthusiastic about web development as we are. As you look through our site, we know you will benefit from the dozens of ideas we present for building free websites. We’d love your feedback – please fill out the Contact Form if you’d like to share your ideas with us.
