Have you ever thought about the first time you went on the internet and tried to create a website? If you’ve been online for over 10 years now, it was probably quite the process. Before WordPress or other drag-and-drop site Builders were everywhere, you would need to actually create your website with HTML and know how to upload files one by one through the use of FTP.
Today it’s a completely different story. Anyone attempting to create a site of their own today for the first time will never really appreciate the manual and hard work that went into creating a site. On the flip side, this is actually good for everyone, as there is no longer a need to have any technical or design skills to go live with a site or even your own online business.
In this article we are going to look at three different resources and methods for creating an online presence without ever needing to hire a programmer, designer, or even touching a line of code.
With more than a billion active websites currently online, the process of creating a site or blog of your own is now easier than ever.
Pick a Domain Name that Well Represents Your Brand
One of the most immediate things you will need to do before going live with your site, is to register a domain name. While this might seem simple enough, it can be very time consuming the first time around. The reason for this, is that so many domain names are already registered, so you might need to get a bit creative until you find the perfect one for your site.
Domain names can be registered from various locations — such as a domain registrar, resellers, or even through your current web hosting provider. Often times you will find domain names come at a discounted price or even free if you purchase them alongside a hosting package. Other site hosting solutions might also include free email, domain privacy, multi-year discounts and more.
All of this is easy enough, but again, you need to find an available domain name that you can register. To help with this process, you can use a simple domain search tool and start searching around to see what might be available. As seen in the example below, many domain registrars will also provide alternatives for when your selected domain name is already taken.
Should you keep coming across domain names that are already taken, you might want to consider a few of the recommendations and best practices below.
- Try to secure your personal name as a domain name
- Stay away from using numbers and hyphens
- Make sure your domain name is easy to spell
- Include your site’s niche focus as a keyword
- Stick with a .com, .net, or .org TLD
By following these simple steps, you will be much better off and likely have a domain name that you will love and keep for the lifetime of your site.
Create a Trusted Brand with a Free Logo Design Maker
Just like it used to cost thousands of dollars to hire a site designer to create a website, the same is also true with graphic designers. If you were to hire a local design company, you would likely have to pay hundreds of dollars for them to create a simple logo design and maybe even print it on some stationary for you. It makes you even wonder how some of them are still in business.
Thanks to the power of the internet and freelance marketplaces, it’s much more cost effective to hire a freelance graphic designer. What’s even more exciting, is that there are online software sites where you can have a professional logo design created for just a few dollars, or even for free if you know where to look.
Source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MFQHIAQ7cw
Before creating your next logo design, make sure you have an idea of what you want to create. If it’s more custom and professional in design, it’s something you might need to outsource to a professional design team. The option is also there to try and create something on your own, then tell a designer what areas you would like improved or customized to your liking. If you do go with a professional design team and end up spending some money on your logo design, it might also be worth getting a patent or trademark on it as well.
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I recommend you check out this list of free logo makers and see which is the best for you. Some of them will provide you with a completely free logo design, while others will allow you to create a design for free but then charge a small fee to actually get it in your desired digital format. Either way, it sure beats paying a local designer a few hundred bucks for the same quality work!
Discover How to Rank in Google with Free SEO Methods
Starting a website and creating a brand of your own are actually two of the easiest things to do. The hard work comes in after you go live with your site. If you want to compete with other big name brands and sites on the internet, you will need to understand how SEO works.
In short, if you want to rank at the top of Google for various keywords you are going to need high quality backlinks from other websites and blogs within your niche. It also helps to have a solid social media following and getting other people to share your content. However, keep the obvious in mind — the more resourceful and valuable the content you create on your site, the more likely it will be that someone picks it up and links to your site. This will also prove extremely useful when doing any type of content marketing outreach.
To learn more about this process, it would be best for you to check out this high-quality resource for bloggers on how to optimize and rank content. It will provide you with the most basic elements of search engine optimization and show you how to create better content for your site while also focusing on site structure and building new backlinks in the process.
How to Create a Successful Website or Blog in 2018
As you can see, there are plenty of elements to consider when starting a new website or blog. One of the most important things you can do is spend some time on reading up on what your best options are, then making a decision and moving forward.
With more than a billion active sites on the internet today, it’s not about getting yourself or your brand online. It’s extremely important that you focus your efforts on creating something amazing, that provides value to an audience, and that also has an effective means for you to promote and share to the masses. Without the necessary promotion, your site will quickly get lost in the mix.
Too many people spend too much time on the decision process and never actually get started. It’s never been easier to go live with a website or your own blog, so why not get started today?
Zac Johnson is an entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in the world of online marketing and branding. Learn more, through his blog at ZacJohnson.com.
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