Yesterday I received a rather frantic phone call from one of my sisters in need of help. Usually when my family asks me for help it has something to do with one of their pets, but I have to say that I was a bit relieved to hear she needed help with something computer-related (computers are usually a bit more predictable than dogs and cats–but not by much). It seems she wanted to setup a website for her business and simply had no idea where to start.
Sometimes I take it for granted that for me setting up a website seems like such an easy thing to do. However, my poor sister who is otherwise pretty smart (well most of the time) had absolutely no clue how to go about it. She went so far as to say she was willing to hire a company to do the work for her because she knew how busy I was with some of my other projects. “Noooo!” I said, “You can totally do this and I can show you how.” It got me to thinking that I should really document the whole process as I’ve never really shown anyone else how to setup a website before.
These days, you can build your own website without knowing a bit of HTML code or graphic design. Granted, these skills will certainly help, but they aren’t completely necessary. I told her about WordPress and how as long as you know how to use a program like Microsoft Word you can easily create your own website. The first thing I told her to do was to think about what she wanted for her domain name and recommended she read a few articles on the topic. Eventually I’ll probably need to show her how to do FTP and all that jazz but that should be pretty easy. You can easily install WordPress through Fantastico and Cpanel. The only thing you need FTP for is uploading different themes and plugins. However, WordPress is making it even easier for noobs and lazy folks to do some of that straight from the admin panel.
I guess if you’re totally new to the world of websites and blogging all these terms and concepts could seem a bit overwhelming but once you get the hang of it, it’s really quite simple. In fact, I’m really looking forward to showing her how to get it all set up and this should be a good learning opportunity for the both of us. I actually have a domain name I purchased a while ago that I should use to sort of document the process and show other people like my sister how to build their own website. It’ll be fun!
Photo credit: fotologic
Amanda is a wife, toddler mom, PMAD survivor, certified nutrition and running coach, recovering perfectionist, and minimalist-in-training. Her mission in life is to help others get off the pity potty, embrace their own brand of weirdness, and get after their dreams. Proverbs 3:5-6