I think everyone should have a website; really, I do. Folks have valuable experiences to share with the world, and I’m not sure social media is the best place to share them. The collective experiences and knowledge of the world are at the tap of a screen but organized by AI. Imagine how powerful that will be.
DIY website building is made possible by easy-to-use website building platforms where a beginner can build and push live a new website in less than one hour for free.
In this post, we’ll look at how easy it is to build your website and how you could build one for free in less than one hour. We’ll look at the main players in the DIY web-building business and the pros and cons of using them.
No Code Website Building
I built my first website nearly twenty years ago, an online stationery business. I knew little about building a website, nothing. I just knew it was the future, and I needed to have one. And so I set about employing a web developer.
Web development in those days was full-on hardcore coding which to me looked like gibberish. I have since learned some code, really by osmoses.
Anyhow, my poorly chosen web developer turned into a nightmare, we got about halfway into the project, and he changed the goalposts, demanding more money basically holding the website for ransom. I killed the project and started again, taking more care and employing a development team.
What I would have given for a drag-and-drop no-code DIY website builder. Yep, these are great times we live in. What was once complex and expensive can now be accomplished in less than an hour by a beginner and for free.
We are spoiled for choice; DIY website platforms are so intuitive and come with a huge range of built-in templates, and not only that, they come with a ton of drag-and-drop features like e-commerce, all made possible without any coding knowledge. It really is mind-blowing stuff!
Nuts & Bolts of a Website
I find it helpful to have a broad concept of how something works; when people are trying to explain stuff, I insist they explain it to me like I’m a 3-year-old.
A website structure looks broadly like this:
Domain name – The name and address combo where your site lives on the internet. This is how folks find you on the internet. While you pay for your domain name (www.Mywebsitename.com) you are renting it by the year (Typically $30). If you fail to renew it, somebody else could pay the rent and use it.
Domain name host – Your host domain name provider is where you’ll register and pay for your domain name. The host, in turn, ensures proper name registration records and allows you access to your domain name account, where you can manage your name.
As a domain name owner, you may pay domain name renewal, may transfer your name to another hostname provider, and may point your domain name to where ever you store your website files. (usually, it’s the same host, but not always)
Website files – A website isn’t a website without information. And the information on your website pages is known as files.
Web host provider – Your web host provider, not to be confused with your name host provider (although, often, the same as they offer both services), is where your website files (pages) are stored and where the public access them to read page content.
Web host providers charge a monthly fee to keep your pages live and accessible on the net. Prices range; the more you pay, the faster your site loads which is generally a good thing. Who wants a slow site? Typically web hosting starts somewhere around $10 a month for a basic package.
Website builder platform – The builder platform is connected to your web host provider, and it is the place where you input your website page information. It is also where you style your web pages. The biggest player in the business is WordPress (WP) which is well respected and supported. It is easy to use and comes with a selection of basic design templates. If, however, you want a little more cutting-edge design, you may use an external theme that integrates with your WP builder.
A hardcore web developer doesn’t need to use a website builder such as WP, as they use their own in-house tools to build the web files. They then upload the files to the web host provider directly.
Website theme – A website theme is a highly styled template, it is still customizable, but all the heavy lifting is already done for you. It is a plug-and-play type deal; just add text and pictures, etc.
Themes may be free to use but to own pay or pay annually.
Website Building Options
When deciding to build your website as I see it, we have three options; and a cheating option, they are as follows:
Easy
The easy option is seriously easy. Open one account that combines all of the above steps we just covered. Think about it this way – if the above steps were a jigsaw, then this easy option means the jigsaw is already complete out of the box; we just need to input our page information, click “Publish,” and we’re live.
Medium difficulty
The medium difficulty isn’t actually that difficult at all, and it is, in fact, how most folks build websites. Keeping our jigsaw analogy alive, the medium difficulty means we do need to place the pieces together correctly; that said, it’s only a six-piece jigsaw.
This is the preferred way to build a website, and I’ll cover why I think that is next.
Hard
Learning HTML code to build site functionality and then learning CSS code to style your site. If we are still talking jigsaws, we are starting at the very beginning; we are making the cardboard.
This isn’t practical for most folks unless, of course, you want to build a career in web development, then go for it. While coding generally is challenging, HTML and CSS are two of the easiest.
There is, of course, a cheat option, buy a site fully built and already rolling.
Buy Passive Income Generating Site
If you want to turbocharge your passive income journey, then consider buying a site; check out these ready-made sites for sale. We built them all using the same WordPress platform and principles we used to build multiple websites that generate passive income.
Sum Up
You can build a website yourself. Indeed it has never been easier to do so; gone are the days of knowing how to code to get a website live. There are a ton of platforms that will allow you to build your website and push it live for free. It comes with a few drawbacks, such as advertising which may not suit everyone.
You may also like the following posts:
Is a website a good investment?