Time for a website ClickStart! Simplifying the steps to creating your first website

There’s a blank space on your business card where your website address should be. The problem is, your website doesn’t exist. Or maybe it’s a 2-page site that you’re too embarrassed to show others.

You know you need to get your website up, and you’ve done some research or even bought a book like Building a Web Site for Dummies or The Website Owner’s Manual, but that’s only left you overwhelmed and even more confused than when you started.

I can relate. The problem is that most guides and books are written for technical people, web designers or rocket scientists. They tell you to do audience research, spout terms like usability and content strategy while you, the solitary entrepreneur, are simply figuring out what to put on the home page!

Another problem that you may face after reading these guides are unrealistic expectations. Gosh, you’ve got to worry about SEO and microformats and project management that you’ll never be able to get your site up and running if you don’t have a million dollar budget.

And that’s why your website still doesn’t exist. It’s time for a kick start.

A Fat-free Guide to Creating Your Website

With the problems in mind, The ClickStarter will be publishing a series called Website ClickStart: Simplifying the Steps to Creating Your First Website.

This will be a plain English, no coding, series of articles aimed squarely at entrepreneurs and small business owners. This guide is not going to help you create the best website, it will merely show you how to create a website that is good enough because frankly, that is all you need. Keep that in mind: your website doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to get launched.

Here are the upcoming articles in the series:

1. Meeting Your Audience in the Middle: Website Goals Made Simple
2. How Much Will This Cost? Budgeting for Your Website
3. Home Page Essentials: How to Make a Great First Impression
4. Must-Have Pages for an Effective Website
5. How to Create Compelling Website Content
6. The Top Rookie Mistakes when Creating a Website
7. Design Tips for Non-Designers
8. Technical Requirements to Launch Your Website, Simplified
9. DIY Website Options: What You Need To Know
10. Finding help: How to Hire A Good Web Designer

We’ll publish about 2 actionable, to-the-point articles a week so you should have all the info you need to create your website in about 6 weeks.

Ensuring A Successful Launch

The articles above will get you over the hump and equip you with the knowledge necessary to finally check your website off the to-do list. However knowledge itself will not result in action and that’s what you need to actually get your butt moving!

Therefore at the end of the series I will compile a workbook which you can download and print out so that you can work through the steps systematically and finally get your website launched.

In the meantime, please help other fellow entrepreneurs and small businesses finally launch their website by spreading the word. Share this article on Twitter and Facebook, or email it to your friends!

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The first article in the series is already out, but to make sure that you don’t miss any of them please sign up for our mailing list and we’ll notify you whenever new articles are published.