There two great resources that I use to help me through the process --- well three great resources, if you include my fiance, Kieran, who's a programmer. =)
- W3Schools.com provides free tutorials of different programing languages, including, HTML, CSS, XML, Javascript, etc.
- OSWD (www.oswd.org) is an open source web design forum that enables you to download free web design templates that were submitted by web designers. Although there are other website builders to use, OSWD, gives you full reign to change the entire template to best suit your creativity. With other web templates, you are confined to their preset sections and options. Since I wanted to apply my programming skills, I prefer using a template from OSWD as a basic foundation for me to customize my own website.
My first website was for my friend, Pahoua, who was starting her own law practice.
Working with Pahoua, I created the design and content that emphasized her skill set and community involvement. I also created an account with Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics) to monitor traffic to her website. Furthermore, my fiance and I put together a lead generation database for her to capture any prospects who submitted an message on her contact page. We hosted the site on A Small Orange (www.asmallorange.com) for $25 a year (4.5GB bandwidth). The entire process costed about $50! Not only was this a DEAL, but it was also a great learning experience for the three of us. By the end of the process, the web design didn't look anything like the original template! So check out my first website creation, www.pclorlaw.com, and tell me what you think.
I'm almost done with another website and will be posting it on my blog soon. Here's a sneak peak of the site!
My next step is to create my own website from scratch, and hopefully it's good enough to be shared in OSWD. =)
No comments:
Post a Comment