I’m astonished that some of my earliest efforts at building a site have become so vague in my memory. My sub-conscience must be trying to forget them. Do you think?
But I’m in a mood to review my past efforts and see how far I’ve come.
My very first efforts were with a program called Composer that came with my Netscape browser. It was limited in what I could do with it, but it got me started and convinced me that I could learn to build a site. My first few pages were like a posted resume to introduce myself and my goals to the world. I tried out all kinds of possibilities as I discovered places online where I could download and insert pretty left borders, pulsating red hearts, and many pretty fonts. It was like discovering a new craft skill.
Then I learned that HyperMart was offering free accounts that were the most like paid domain hosting. I went for that, and because I was also subscribing to all kinds of ezines, and learning tips from other web designers, I built a more complicated site called A Journal of God’s Provision. It had a mint green textured background, with very dark green text, and it offered articles about my growing knowledge of doing business online (in my case on a shoestring so short I couldn’t tie it around my finger). I published my first ezine, a weekly Digest of my daily online journal (way before blogs came into being). I had a section where I offered my translation services from German Gothic script to English, and another one that gave peeks into my novel that I hoped to publish.
I loved building web sites, so whenever I came across another site that offered free web space, I would sign up and start another one. There was one on Crosswinds that I called Friendship Garden and it featured my poetry, another one on Netscape was called Bouquet of Enterprises, and that’s where I plastered all my affiliate banners until I learned that was a big mistake.
I tried another poetry site on HostingHelps to show off entries in a contest I had run in Jounal-Digest and have discovered it is still up, although I’m not allowed to login any more. (http://www.hostinghelps.com/RoseBouquet/index.html).
But then in 2000 I won a contest and won a year’s free hosting, including the registration of a domain name. It was worth over $400! I was thrilled. I got to figure out the administrative cPanel, and worked hard to design a professional site about my novel. I pictured it with many different areas like a huge sprawling park.
I had that hosting package for just about six months when the ABC Hosting company went under. Fortunately, they allowed me to get access to my domain registration myself, and to find another hosting service, where I had to pay, but I got professional treatment. The Lord seemed to come up with the money to signup for another year, every year just before my birthday. I believe it was something like $179/year.
This site, Ruthes-SecretRoses.com had some general pages around the main index page, and then sub-folder areas like one for my novel’s sales pages, the Author’s Arbour, where I put pages that are more about myself as an author and a person. My photo stories go in that area, and pages about being a writer. The Sharing Library area has a stash of articles I’ve written and also a large number of book reviews.
The Journal-Digest morphed into the RoseBouquet and it has always had it’s own section on my site, with back issues and articles and profiles of my friends (which I compared to roses). I did a total renovation of that area last year, and now the blog has it’s own sub-domain and the RoseBouquet section is where I put my articles about friendship, one of the themes of my novel.
My affiliate pages were in the Resources section until I got another domain site for my Bouquet of Enterprises. Now I feature my business ideas and plans on that site, and the Resources section on Ruthes-SecretRoses.com has become quite neglected. Currently I’m re-vamping it as a new section for gift ideas and other books I publish.
When I found a much cheaper hosting service for a friend, I decided to put my sites there, and also built a genealogy site. I discovered that domain registration at GoDaddy was under $10/year, and the hosting at Revolution was also under $10/year. It was getting much more affordable to have a circus of sites up.
I started building sites for friends, and have really enjoyed that.
About a year and a half ago, I decided that I could manage a re-seller package. With 5 GB of hosting space, I can put up as many sites as I like, or rent out space, as long as I pay the basic monthly fee. That’s when I took on creating of some sites for missions and ministries which could not afford to hire someone else to do all that.
It has all happened fairly gradually, but my journals are still full of God’s provision and guidance. I am still learning all the time, but I know enough to consider myself a professional and to charge for my services now.
Here are the main lessons I’ve learned;
A free site is like a sandbox - a great place to learn basic skills
To look professional you need a domain name, and good hosting service
Some free hosts may hijack your web pages
It pays to shop around for domain registration and hosting services - they are not all equal
A web site is not built with bricks or one-ton rocks - you CAN re-do and improve it - re-work it when necessary.
There is a lot of room for creativity, but some things are consistent for a professional and technically smart site - learn them.
I’ve shared this review in hopes it helps you when you consider taking on site-building. But you will be happy to know that you don’t have to have a seven or eight year history zig-zagging through this learning maze. SiteBuildIt! will have your web business up and running in just a few months. If you invest the time and bring your own motivation and creativity, you cannot help but succeed within a year. Or less!
Do you need more proof? Right here, Proof!