I’m extremely proud of my website. I did the whole thing myself so that I didn’t have to pay a professional web designer to set it up. I set it up about half way through 2015 because I figured that only having a blog wasn’t good enough.
First of all, I’m not a professional web designer, and I have an intermediate rather than an advanced level of understanding of HTML. I can write content that appeals to the average web content reader, but I can’t design a website on my own.
So how did I do it, without making it look like a horrible mess? Good question. My mother is one of the most web and design savvy people I know. A while ago she introduced me to Weebly, and I was extremely impressed with how user-friendly it is. Not only is it user-friendly, but it also looks nice when I hit the publish button (a majority of the time.) From day one of setting up my website onwards I used a Weebly interface.
A lot of the web design purists that I’ve met seem to hate stuff like Weebly and Wix, but for someone like me, it’s perfect. I’m not a web designer, and I never intend to be, and that’s okay. Web designers that aren’t all that great at writing value people like me, because they can focus on what they do best, and I can take write content for them. One of my long-term goals is to eventually make friends with a web designer, and they can do the design work for my clients, and I can write their content.
I’ve looked at a lot of websites lately so that I can get better at maintaining a website that gets people’s attention. My website is in good shape, and I know how to generate appealing content, so I only want to learn more for self-improvement purposes. I’ve taken SEO and digital marketing workshops at Brainstation’s Toronto headquarters, and I’ve read tons of articles by professional web designers; I’ve also browsed a variety of websites by major companies so that I can see what is, and isn’t typical. Not only has this made my website better, but it’s also made me a better web and blog content writing specialist.
My advice for writers that want to use a Weebly, Wix, or WordPress interface for their website: well…if you’re not also an experienced web designer then do it! The themes are customizable and paying money for a custom domain is worth it. Using an interface such as Weebly or Wix, that has its own, custom domain is a great way to produce a professional looking website, if you don’t have the time or skills to set it up from scratch. Not to mention: a custom domain will help you from an SEO perspective.
My latest changes were inspired by my current favorite web design layout. If you get the chance check it out. The photography is beautiful, and it’s extremely user-friendly. When I browsed their website it inspired me to only use my own photography. Using my own photography helped give people a non-verbal glimpse of who I am, and what I have to offer. It made my personality shine through a lot more while saying more with less.
