So, you’ve decided to launch a website for your business. Or, you want your existing web presence to be more accessible to your audience and your staff. You’d like to have control over the design, the overall feel. It is amazing how many business leaders find themselves in this situation, despite the amazing strides in website content management technology in the last decade.
Systems like WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are well-established, robust and well-supported open source technologies. That means you can install it and use it for free. That empowers business leaders to administer their own website with minimal training and virtually no coding background.
These systems also provide many high-quality website templates that can be used as the foundation of your custom-branded website. This speeds up design time and makes for a quick & easy website launch.
Image from Mashable.com.
Responsive Website Design: websites that are easily viewed on any screen resolution.
Though much consideration has been made by these content management system communities, towards usability, often the best way to launch your DIY (Do-It-Yourself) website is to have a professional handle the initial installation. Most of us wouldn’t attempt to build our own house, though we are quite content to live in it and keeping it well-maintained. You can think of your website the same way.
Consider using a DIY Website Coach. A DIY Website Coach is an established web developer, who has access to all the expertise necessary to get your website up and running and looking great–exactly how you need it to be. Your Coach can help build your site using an open-source technology, so that you know it has a solid support system in place. This ensures your website’s platform won’t be obsolete before its time. Your Coach will add all content and design elements that you want on your site. Your Coach will be there after your website goes live to show you how to access your site for yourself to make simple adjustments to your content, images, and other website features.
And yes, even if you use a Coach to launch your new website, you are still “doing-it-yourself”. This is your content, brand, and message that you are sharing with the world. And you will be the one that is able to access and control that message moving forward. When/if something goes wrong on your site, you’ll always have your DIY Website Coach available to help you get back on track, with the right expertise. Having a DIY Website Coach gives you a great start to a website presence, ensures you are able to do-it-yourself without hesitation, and gives the peace of mind that you’ll have expert service available whenever you need it.
If you are a business leader, taking control of your organization’s online presence is key. If you or your team might benefit from using a DIY Website Coach, please get in touch with us!
Or, if you are located in the Hamilton, Ontario area, see what a DIY Website Coach can do for you in person. Check out our one-of-a-kind website building seminar: Website Building 101 – Using WordPress. It’s happening every Wednesday in September 2013.