Now, in this blog post, I won’t go into the coding knowledge required or even deep dive into what you will need to know about hosting. It is a basic list of knowledge you will require to understand the complexities of designing, building and running a website and why perhaps, you may need some help along the way.

So, you want a website and have decided not to go to a web agency or freelancer to help you achieve your dreams and ambitions in this digital age. Instead, you have chosen to be a do it yourselfer, an entrepreneur that can get to grips with any technology and understand it in a heartbeat.

First things first

Domain Registration

Do you want a unique Domain, do you even know what a domain is? How do you register one and how do you keep it safe and eventually attach it to your website?

Which Platform?

Should you happen to be a control freak – you know who you are. You will need to know about this sort of stuff.

If you are an avid YouTube viewer or social media person, you will not have escaped the adverts for Wix, Shopify, WordPress and a multitude of other website solutions that say, we are easy to use, easy to implement and really cost effective. If you are selling a product or service, do you really need a full-blown website, will click funnels do it for you or a simple landing page with a stripe or paypal payment form.

If you have been using Google or Bing (huh?) Duck Duck Go and even Yahoo (again, Huh?) to search for a hosting solution you will again have come across literally thousands of adverts and posts about which type of hosting to use. Hosting is big business and relies on cheap go to solutions that can be upgraded, once you choose a host, it’s a devil of a thing to move to another (unless you know what you are doing, which of course, you do, right) Just one company EIG owns over 100 web hosting companies, Domain registrars, and email marketing companies.

GoDaddy (often criticised for things that don’t cover hosting – shooting elephants and the like) are an incredibly large hosting company with millions upon millions of websites hosted on their servers. Whilst searching, you will find a massive amount of affiliate based websites recommending hosts, – this is common and frankly, like most recommendation posts, simply a way to get you to purchase via an affiliate link. You won’t find any on this page even though we are a member of some affiliates. You will also find a plethora of posts recommending themes, plugins and the like – this is our favourite blog post of that type.

Security

The web is a security nightmare, there are bad players out there just as in normal day to day life, we all have to put up with the joy riders, the trolls (people who have nothing better to do than criticise everything and everyone), The burglars and the scammers (con person’s).

In short, the web is full of people wanting to make a quick buck from your ignorance of how the web works and, as the website owner, you are responsible for any data breaches or negative actions taken against your users if they land on your website and their data is shared due to your site not being locked down to avoid data breaches. SSL Certificates are a requirement not an option by the way 

Maintenance

You will need to know how to fix errors, add content, perform (literally daily) software and security updates or, at the very least, have someone in place that can do this for you and, I know it is a stretch, you will need to budget for this either in time, or dare I say it – Money. Needless to say, I do have a solution and it works very well – you can see what we do over at Site Fixer just so you know what I am talking about here.

Marketing

How will you market the site, do you have a budget, do you know how to use the advertising mediums of Google Adwords, Bing, Social Media like Twitter and Facebook, do you want an Instagram channel or even a TIK TOK or join Linkedin to promote your business.

What is the etiquette, does etiquette even exist on the web? Or are you just going to launch your site and hope for the best? Will you need to use a video platform to promote you or your product or service, which one, Vimeo, YouTube, Wistia?
The choice is literally endless and can have you running around in circles.

Now, you have seen some of the issues I have posed – here is what you really need to do and don’t do.

DO Find a designer that you can work with

DO Find a developer that you can work with (often not the Designer)

DON’T waste time, money and effort trying to do it all yourself (by all, I mean ANY of the design, development, marketing etc)

DO Spend your time on making your story fit with your ideas

DON’T just develop products or services that you ‘think’ will work

DO use your skills to provide the service or product

Above all, do not panic!

Building a business is hard, it requires determination, cash, effort, more cash and more effort than you will ever think is possible. Please don’t let misleading adverts on building websites snare you. After years of building successful businesses both online and offline, I know what it takes. I am never one to tell you that this is going to be easy. Building and continuing a successful business is always going to be hard work, it needs dedication, a can do attitude and above all, investment in your time and money – when it works, its beautiful.

Always look at what you want to sell, the products and services you want to promote and concentrate on developing a business for the long term. Soon enough you will be inundated with Business related issues like Accounts, Bookkeeping, finance, tax and everything else that goes into running a business, online or offline.

Let others do all the work that you are not qualified to do – it really is as simple as that. Above all, build trust with the people you work with and ensure that you listen as hard to them as you would expect them to listen to you, your desires your dreams and your ambition!

What you do now, is completely up to you, you can disappear down a rabbit hole of research and disappointment or let me guide you through the web.

If you would like a one on one to go through developing your business, I am available on Tuesdays and Thursdays for one-on-one coaching and advice. I charge for my time just as you should, and my advice is and will always come with a financial commitment. Initially, I charge one hour coaching at £125.00 plus UK VAT. Below are a couple of people that liked working with me.