master your domain
DESCRIPTION
A presentation covering the basics of setting up your own website. I cover some of the basic decisions as well as some tips.TRANSCRIPT
MASTER YOUR DOMAIN
Ara Pehlivanian | Presented Wednesday, November 18, 2009
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ca/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
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Web Workshop
Websites, who needs them?
You do!
Why?
“Like, everyone who’s anyone has a website!”
Seriously though…
A website is a part of your online presence
It establishes or reinforces your professional brand
It shows that you’re serious about the web
It presents your product or service offering
It’s a showcase
A storefront
A brochure
A soapbox
It never sleeps
It breaks the ice
Done right, it can make a great first impression
So the big question is:
What kind of website is right for you?
It’s a matter of picking the right tool for the job
Blog?
Portfolio?
Brochure?
E-Commerce?
All of the above?
Some tips:
It’s about you, not the website
A website is a tool,a means to an end
Keep that end in mind
Start small
Don’t reinvent the wheel
You can probably find it for free
Focus on your strengths
Outsource the rest
Setting up
First question:
Hosting or hosted solution?
Hosting = more control
more complex
Hosted (or 3rd party) = less control
less complex
Examples of hosting providers:DreamHost
Media Temple
Examples of 3rd party solutions: WordPress.com
WebStore by AmazonSquarespace
Let’s create a WordPress.com blog
But I don’t want mysite.wordpress.com!
Registering a domain is easy
Use a tool to make life easier
www.bustaname.com
Costs from $3.95 to $34.99 per year
Once you have it, what do you do with it?
There is no magic in computers
That domain name has to live somewhere
mysite.com=
127.22.10.55DNSServer
WebServer
Domain Name System
Some 3rd parties offer it at a cost
Hosting packages include DNS hosting for account holders
Customizing your site
Before you can customize your site, you need to know how!
Here are some resources:
http://www.opera.com/company/education/curriculum/http://www.w3schools.com/http://www.sitepoint.com/
If you aren’t an artist, it’s OK to admit it
There is help
You can find regular and product specific templates for free and for sale online.
Search Engine Optimization
It’s something you should care about!
If search engines can’t find you, you simply don’t exist!
A lot of SEO comes for free if you build your site correctly
SEO from the horse’s mouth:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/
Attracting Traffic
Blogs should be updated consistently with helpful content
Portfolios should stand out and really make a statement
Commerce sites should be functional and user friendly
