I Need a Website, Now What?

My next step on my journey was to create this website. I’m tech-savvy, but this was not something I was familiar with. Mistakes were made!

At the time, I was reading books on platform building. One of the first pieces of advice was to buy your name as a domain name as soon as you can. So, in typical Terri fashion, I jumped on GoDaddy and bought my domain without any research at all. I habitually do that, just jumping right in with zero patience or forethought! Learn from my mistakes!!! 🙂

As I attempted to just buy the domain and be done, they were offering hosting services, email services, etc. I just said yes to all, again, without research. I began creating my website by picking one of their templates with the plan to adjust it. Unfortunately, as I tried to make changes, I realized I couldn’t. I could not figure out how to expand text boxes or change some design elements that I wanted to change. Once I chose a template, I was stuck!

I wasted a lot of time, looking around trying to figure out what I was missing. I ended up very frustrated and mad at myself for just jumping in. I’m not saying that GoDaddy is horrible; some of it could be user error, but I didn’t enjoy using it much at all. When I called GoDaddy about a password issue, the tech mentioned that you could change the template. It’s just hidden. So, how would anyone know to ask?

At that point, I finally researched which web design programs were the easiest for beginners. Squarespace and Wix were mentioned the most, with WordPress closely behind. After watching many videos of people’s opinions and some tutorials on each one, I chose Wix to create my website. Since I had purchased my domain and hosting from GoDaddy, I had to redirect the site to Wix. It wasn’t very hard, but just another step.

Wix was much more user-friendly and customizable. There was still a learning curve for me, but in time, I started to figure it out. I’m embarrassed to mention this, but it’s worth it if it helps someone else. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to fix the desktop version to look correct on the mobile version. Try as I might, I still had large white spaces that I could not remove. Finally, after looking in the help section, I found the mobile editor duh!! I could edit the mobile view separately from the desktop view. That was a game-changer! Now, I’m slowly putting it all together, and I hope you like the result!

For someone who is just starting out without a lot of knowledge in the area, here is what I recommend:

• Research which web design program will work best for your type of site (The resounding suggestion for any store website was Shopify).

• Watch tutorials on the service you want to use to see how user-friendly the editor is.

• Once you’ve chosen which service to use, see if you can purchase your domain from them to make it easier on yourself.

• Take your time coming up with your idea, and don’t forget to check the mobile view and editor before publishing!

• If you’re unsure what to include or how to structure it, check out other websites in your category for inspiration.

• Have fun creating your new site! Drop a link below so I can check it out!

What did you learn when creating your website? What are your preferences when it comes to web design and web hosting? Drop a comment below or shoot me an email. I’d love to hear from you!