Introduction
Perhaps you are an artist, make handmade crafts, or a small business owner, and want to have a presence on the internet without the high costs of doing so.
But how to do this? Well, this blog post will get you started in three easy steps using the Website Builder software, hosted by my recommended hosting provider, One.com.
Please note that this blog post is only about creating a simple website using One.com’s Website Builder software. One.com also support and host WordPress websites, and the creation of those is more complex, far beyond the scope of these instructions.
Create a website using Website Builder software
The Benefits …
- Easily create a beautiful website using the drag-and-drop Website Builder. No coding is necessary.
- Free website Domain Name and reduced website hosting fees for the first year.
- Free email address associated with your domain name, e.g. your-name@your-website.com
- Easily link your website to your Social Media accounts to help promote your new website.
- Free 14 day trial of the One.com Website Builder before you commit to using One.com. This means you can test the Website Builder to make sure you are happy with the software features.
The Three steps to create your website.
1. Register your website Domain Name with a hosting provider.
2. Choose a template for your preferred layout.
3. Use the Website Builder to add your text and photographs.
Step 1 – Domain Name and Hosting
The first thing to do is choose your Domain Name, e.g. www.my-website.com.
The domain name needs to be unique and does not infringe upon some other brand name. If you are an artist, for example, then you could use your own name, or suffix it with ‘art’, ‘painter’ or ‘studio’. In my opinion, the domain name needs to say who you are and what you do. There are many options available, for example…
- myname
- mynameart or myname-art
- mynamepainter or myname-painter
- mynamestudio or myname-studio
The text that follows the Domain Name, i.e. ‘.com’, ‘.co.uk’ is called the Top Level Domain (TLD). There are many TLDs to choose from. The more specialised TLDs have a higher registration fee.
Note that when writing your domain name on printed material (e.g. Business Cards), you can write it with the first letter of each word capitalised to make it more readable. For example, MyNameArt.com . The name would be resolved to all lowercase by the internet processes.
When you have chosen a name, head over to ONE.COM to see if the name is available, and not already in use by someone else. Note, there are other Domain Name registration and hosting services, but I have always found that ONE.COM provide an excellent service, and I am happy to recommend them.
Type your desired domain name on the One.com website home page (as indicated below) and click ‘Search Now’ or the blue icon. You’ll see a list of available domain names and the annual cost (although the first year is free).
14 Day Free Trial of the Website Builder
One.com also offer a free 14 day trial of the Website Builder so you can test it to see if it is right for you. If you are unsure whether you could cope with creating a Website, then try the free 14 day trial. From the One.com home page, click the menu option ‘Products’, then ‘Website Builder’ from the drop-down menu. Further down the page you’ll see a button to start your free trial.
Control Panel
At the top of the ONE.COM website home page, you’ll find a link to the Control Panel. Once you have purchased your Domain Name, you’ll use the Control Panel features to build your website. The website can be built with either ONE.COM’s ‘Website Builder’ software, or WordPress using the WordPress 1-Click install. WordPress is quite technical to understand and I would recommend readers who are not technically minded to use the Website Builder software. This guide is intended for use with the Website Builder.Within the Control Panel there is an option to create your own email address, e.g. your-name@your-website.co.uk . This is easy to set up as you basically just need to choose the name you’d like to use. I’d also recommend you enable the Spam filter feature.
Step 2 – Choose a Template for your preferred website layout
This is where you start to get creative!
Once your new Domain Name has been registered with ONE.COM, you will be able to logon to the Control Panel. Click ‘Control Panel’ at the top right-hand corner of the ONE.COM website.
The Control Panel contains all the features that you’ll use to build the website.
Click on the ‘Website Builder’ button and you’ll be invited to choose a website template. This sets the initial layout, colours and fonts.
The templates contain sample text and images, all of which you can replace with your own content. When searching through the list of templates, consider the shapes and sizes of the boxes that make up the page. Is the arrangement of these appealing to you? All boxes can be changed in size, deleted, and new ones inserted, so you don’t need to stick with the template layout as first viewed.
All modern themes these days are responsive to the screen size and orientation. The page layout will automatically adjust and dynamically move sections of the webpage around to fit the screen size. When choosing the theme consider if the majority of your photo images are orientated as portrait or landscape, as this will affect how the image is rendered on a Smart Phone (i.e. when held vertically or horizontally). Images with a square aspect ratio will work well on all screen sizes and orientations, plus any social media accounts you have.
Step 3 – Update the website using the Website Builder
You can now change the template contents and insert your own text and images. This is fun.
Using the Website Builder, you’ll be able to create 5 webpages with the One.com ‘Starter’ package. You’ll need to plan the contents and layout of each page. Sometimes this is best achieved initially using a pencil and a sheet of paper for each page. Draw a large vertical box for the webpage, and a series of boxes representing section columns and rows, containing their section titles.
You’ll need the following pages…
- Home page – This is where visitors first enter your website.
- About page – Describes your business, or yourself as an artist or maker of crafts.
- Products page – This could be a gallery of images, or your online shop.
- Contact page – How people can contact you using the Website Builder contact form.
Alternatively, consider placing all the Contact information in the footer area of each page and using the Contact page for something else.
The One.com support pages have excellent documentation on how to use the Website Builder… Getting started with the Website Builder
Writing the ‘About’ page.
Some people struggle with knowing what to write, especially when talking about themselves in the ‘About’ page. There is a technique that you can use to overcome this problem. Ask a good friend to interview you talking about your chosen speciality. Record the interview on an audio recorder (which you’ll find as an App on your Smart Phone), and use that content as the basis for the text you’ll write. In my opinion, text written in ‘First Person’ is more personable than that written in ‘Third Person’. Your personality will come through and the reader will be able to relate to you better.
Online Shop
If you wish to add an online shop to your website, then you’ll need to add this feature to your account via the Control Panel. It’ll cost a little more, although currently free for the first year. It’ll provide you with a means of selling your products and hopefully pay for itself. The online shop is in addition to the 5-page limit within the Website Builder.
The support documentation for this can be found here… Getting started with an online shop
Alternatively, as a cheaper option, you could ask the customer to write to you via the Contact page if they would like to purchase a product.
Conclusion
This 3-step guide will get you started with building your own website. The Website Builder from ONE.COM is an excellent tool that will help you through the process. After you have published your website, it’ll be time to advertise it on your favourite Social Media and tell all your friends.
Next Tip:
Learn how to market your new website using the resources in the blog post Learn How To Market Your Art.