I wanted to start by talking about the actual pain in the ass it is creating a website.
No one leads with these little caveats in their cute little “How to Create a Website in 3 easy steps”.
Yet, don’t get me wrong. They do a great job of explaining the beginning steps to set them up. My personal favorite was reading Tom Frank’s rendition, which I followed like a good Christian follows the Bible. Along the way, I did stumble into a few others (here’s another), and there are definitely good little jewels within them.
I’m just disappointed that none of them go beyond saying, “It shows your commitment.” And there’s not a little disclaimer saying, “BEWARE: There is tons of sh*t that will go over your head!).
So, here I am to tell you the shit no one talks about when telling you how to create a website.
#1: There are little things you have to design when creating a website (or if you have a healthy amount of savings, you could give yourself a healthy amount of saved time and hire someone else)
I’m talking about things like the site icon (that cute little NAG you see on your tab), the site logo (my nice little Nicholette A. Guy at the top), and in my case, the site banner I created (on my home page). There are probably other little knick-knacks missing, but these were the most time extensive for me when I was creating my website.
The Icon
This actually started as a drawing. I remember going to a coffee-shop and sitting there hunched over my giant sketchbook scribbling on the pages trying to come up with an image that could represent me.
This changed a lot. My recommendation to you is to find a way to do it on the computer. The crisper and clearer you can make the image, the more legitimate you look. I used paints new 3D paint feature on my computer. After playing around with something long enough and experimenting, I’m sure you’ll produce at least something that you like.
The Logo
At first, I didn’t think the logo was important, but it is a part of almost every website. (My favorite on the list there is #5, she has created such a beautiful and clear site.)
You absolutely need something that shouts to anyone from any of your pages, who you are and maybe even what you do.
Some of the sites from the link above have something I would consider a fatal flaw: there isn’t a face right off the bat. Now some of those sites are just great no matter what, but having a face on your opening page creates a human connection. Which we’re all lacking and we all need.
Just think about how important it is to add a face to a name. I don’t know about you, but if someone talks about someone I completely forget about them. BUT if someone SHOWS me a person, I have a lot better chance remembering at least their face. Remember this when you are creating your website.
I created the logo last and spent the least amount of time on it. After I finished it, I was so ready to launch my site that I didn’t spend too long on the nitty-gritty details.
The Banner
I’m not sure if every theme has the option of creating a banner or if it is just my specific theme, but this seemed key for making a homepage attractive. I wanted to make sure people knew who I was and why I was here. And you should too.
But I’ll be honest. That sh*t was pretty stressful because I had no recent pictures and wasn’t too sure about where and when to take some. So, one day in downtown Charlotte, Pat (the boyfriend) and I saw this giant mural in the parking lot we park in for document reviewing. At the end of the day, we decided to get a picture, but now there were a bunch of cars parked in front of it. Noticing my disappointment, Pat pulled up, got out of the car and told me to get on top of his car.
After some mild attempts to tell him that I couldn’t just get on top of his car, I did. I felt absolutely ridiculous. There were tons of people walking around and I felt like such a weirdo on top of a car for a picture.
Do you know what I noticed when I was up there though? No one gave any effs about it. No one really even gave me the time of day.
So, if you’re feeling mildly inspired and there are roadblocks in your path, you climb on top of that car and you go get that picture. Because at the end of the day, no one cares… Okay, some people care, like the folks on your Instagram, but they only care because they’re like, “Oh sweet pic, I wish I had somewhere to take such an awesome picture” or something like that.
Without a doubt, when creating a website, you should follow your creative soul and show yourself on your site.
#2: One acronym for you: SEO
This one is a pain in the absolute A. S. S. Keyword searches. Keyword phrases. Cornerstone content. Keyword Strategies. Google Trends. Answer the public. Landing pages. Search intent. Long-tail keywords. Focus keyphrase. And much, much more. These are all incredibly important for creating a website.
If you have no idea what any of those things are, apart from maybe Google Trends, welcome to the club. Discovering SEO sooner in the process might make things a bit easier.
SEO isn’t a brief topic that you can mildly explore. No. This is where real success in creating your website happens. The real wizard behind the curtain (and not the glowing green one with all the mysticness, the one that makes you say, “This is it?”).
It truly does take all the mystery out of Google, which has definitely been a floating head for me.
Yet, knowing these things makes it feel like it really is possible for your site to get out there and be successful and seen. And it is a continuous process that you definitely need to be aware of.
By the way, for those fellow noobs out there, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.
The best resources I found matched up with my plug-in: Yoast SEO. If you have a different plug-in for your SEO then I would check their stuff out because there’s usually tips and tricks to the plug-ins.
#3: A note when you do make it to your first post after creating most of your website
This is my very first post. I created it in Google Drive and decided I wanted to link Google Drive and WordPress. After attempting to embed a file here with the free version, I discovered that I have to pay for that feature and it is not included in the free version.
Unless you want to cop out some money, you’re better off copying and pasting. And I say this with your best interest in mind and to save you more of that precious resource: time. So that you can instead focus on other parts of creating your website.
To be continued, because the struggle is always constant…
Epilogue
Websites are not for the faint of heart or for those looking to half-ass their way to the top. Although I haven’t reaped any benefits of having a website–besides a wonderful creative outlet–I still think it’s worth creating a website. There are tons of skills to be learned and developed. Technology is a big part of our lives now and I can’t really see that ever going away.
Have you been creating a website and run into something none of the cute step-by-steppers really talk about? Feel free to either share in the comments or shoot me a message and I’ll add it to the list!
From your fellow website noob.