How to Make a Website

CHAPTER 1

What Tool To Use

Wordpress, Squarespace, Weebly, Shopify— it can be overwhelming to decide which tool is right for you. But by the end of this chapter you'll understand the strengths and weaknesses of the most popular tools for building websites.

Website building tools typically fall into three categories:

1. Website Builders — These are visual, drag and drop editors. They're easy to use and the right choice for conventional websites. Similar in complexity to Powerpoint. Examples: Squarespace, Wix.
2. Front End Design Tools — These are meant for designing websites from scratch. They have steeper learning curves and are similar in complexity to Photoshop. Examples: Webflow, Webydo.
3. Content Management Systems (CMS) — Flexible and powerful, these require some understanding of web hosts and possibly database configuration. Examples: Wordpress, Drupal.

To differentiate these tools, I find it helpful to graph them based on flexibility and ease of use:

I recommend most people use a website builder— especially if they're building a conventional website. For example, even though I’m a web developer, I built my band’s website on Squarespace because everything I needed (audio player, photo galleries) was available on Squarespace— there's no point in reinventing the wheel.

I do in-depth reviews of website builders and think Squarespace and Weebly are the two best general-purpose website builders. Wix and Strikingly are good runner-ups. For more, check out my complete list of website builders.

If you're building an ecommerce website, Shopify is the best ecommercewebsite builder. In fact, I did a survey of ecommerce website owners and Shopify had a 97% customer satisfaction rating— the highest among ecommerce website builders.

If you're building a photography website, Format is the best photography website builder. Format focusses exclusively on photography websites and is widely loved by the photography community.

So why might someone not use a website builder? Well there are two downsides to website builders:

1. Inflexible — Website builders are designed to build a conventional website— which means if you want to do something unusual or out of the ordinary, a website builder won't work for you.
2. You can't move your website to a new host — One of the upsides of a website builder is that hosting is included— so you never have to think about it. The downside is that your website needs to stay hosted by the website builders— you can't move it elsewhere. This isn't just website builders being greedy— there are technical reasons for this.

If either of these downsides bother you, I'd suggest taking a look at Wordpress— by far the most popular CMS.

Note: When I'm talking about Wordpress, I am talking about Wordpress.org— not Wordpress.com. Wordpress.com is a separate service that is much more like a website builder.

Wordpress is flexible— you can use it to build just about anything. I’ve even seen Wordpress powering an entire university website.

Wordpress is also movable— if you don't like your web host you can always move to a new host— though this requires some technical expertise.

If you'd like to read more, I’ve written more on the differences between Wordpress and website builders .

If you're feeling stressed out about all of this, I have a suggestion: stop researching and just try a tool for 15 minutes. Any tool will do. Simply trying something will clarify what you’re looking for. Still stuck? Send me an email and I'll see if I can help.

Just remember— there are good websites built with bad tools and bad websites built with good tools. The rest of this guide will explain how to build a good website.

CHAPTER 2

Principles: The Secret To Great Websites

Before we go deep into content and design, I want to share four principles that underly everything I'm going to talk about. Follow these principles and you'll be in good hands:

1. CHOOSE A GOAL FOR YOUR WEBSITE

Goals clarify. Establish a goal and keep referring back to it. Habitually ask yourself, "is this page, image or text helping accomplish the goal?"

2. DON’T MAKE VISITORS THINK

Websites are meant to be used. They should be clear and intuitive. Don't make visitors think in order to use your website.

3. BE HUMAN

Human works on the internet. People will respond to your website if you make it clear there is a real, live human behind it.

4. LESS IS MORE

People don’t read websites, they scan websites. Distill everything down to the essentials. Less is more.

CHAPTER 3

What To Write

"Good writing does not mean fancy writing; it means clean, clear, considerate writing." - David Foster Wallace

Imagine you're having a coffee with a good friend and they ask you to explain your business or organization. How would you talk? What words would you use?

That’s how you should write. In a word— write conversationally.

Write for an audience. Don’t write about yourself. This is a common mistake in writing. What does your audience want? What do they care about? What problem are you solving for them? Write about that.

ABOVE This homepage quickly gets to the point of their audiences problem.

Here's an example of how to write for an audience:

Remember your website is here to accomplish a goal for you. Good writing guides readers towards that goal. Aim to write persuasively but with integrity.

Most Websites Need:
- Hours of Operation
- Holiday Hours
- Directions
- Address 
- Phone Number
- Email

What content do you need on your website? Look at your competitors— but don’t treat them as the final word. Instead always let your audience guide you: What are their worries? What do they need? That’s the content you should put on your website.

Titles are a the critical part of writing for the web. Your title’s job is to capture attention. Put effort into titles— try brainstorming 15-20 titles before choosing one.

Use formatting to break up walls of text. People don’t read websites, they scan websites. So:

• Use headings and subheadings
• Use lists
• Emphasize important points in paragraphs

"Web users are mission-minded. Cramped for attention. What you have to remember is that people don’t go to the web to window shop. They go there to drive 60 miles per hour — and look at billboards."

- Demian Farnworth, Copyblogger

Aim to write short, scannable paragraphs. A good way to do this is to keep one idea per paragraph.

Write quickly.    It seems counter-intuitive, but when you write quickly, you write with emotion and flow. Slow writing is mechanical and lacks humanity. But remember...

... Good writing is rewriting. No one writes a perfect draft on the first try. It’s always easier to improve a rough draft.

Visitors glaze over when they see jargon or technical language. Write plainly and humanly:

Want to read more? This is a good, quick primer on grammar and this is a collection of helpful tips for writing with style.

CHAPTER 4

Photography

Whenever possible, show visitors— don’t tell them. Remember: visitors don’t read websites, they scan websites.

Photos communicate in two common ways:

1. Literal — A person, place or thing.
2. Metaphor — Using a light bulb to signify a good idea.

Use literal photos as much as possible. Metaphor photos are often stale and corny. In fact, this study found that purely decorative photos are often ignored— literal representation works most reliably.

Always give photos room to breathe. White space can go a long way:

Try not to shoehorn photos into the side of a paragraph. This usually feels cramped and doesn't showcase the image:

Try to use the correct dimensions of a photo. Cropping a photo to fit a design usually means the design isn't right or the photo needs to change:

Always upload high resolution photos. This will ensure that you’re photos look great even on high resolution devices.

I'd suggest Stock Up, Pexels, Unsplash and Burst if you need good, free stock photos.

Further Reading — This guide teaches how to shoot a headshot with a headphone and the ecommerce chapter has tips for shooting product photography.

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER

Next offering will be open once again on 31st May 2019