Creating a Professional Website

[sunzt]

What are some reliable and easy methods of creating a professional website for a small business, where I'm not selling anything on the website?

I was thinking about using either client software (eg: Frontpage) or online solutions (Turnkeystorebuilder.com), but feel free to suggest any other methods. Thanks!

 

[MercenaryForHire]

What's the best way if I don't know much html?

Learn it.

Seriously.

- M4H

 

[sunzt]

I could post a really simple looking website with the html I know now, but it won't look really professional. Besides, I need to get this site done pretty soon so I'm looking for a quick fix right now.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: sunzt
I could post a really simple looking website with the html I know now, but it won't look really professional. Besides, I need to get this site done pretty soon so I'm looking for a quick fix right now.

Ah - so you do know some HTML, you just don't want to build the page from scratch. That's fine. I was more worried that you were from the New School of Web Design, where everyone uses Dreamweaver and never so much as looks at the horrible mess their code becomes.

If you're not selling anything on the storefront itself, you can probably get away with making something up in Dreamweaver/FrontPage, and then cleaning up the code later. And you can always make "version 2" of the site later, assuming that "version 1" isn't so horrible that they sever all ties with you.

- M4H

 

[tfinch2]

Buy a template

 

[MrChad]

I've heard good things about Template Monster. A decent web template will help you get a professional looking site up and running fairly quickly.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

There are free template sites out there as well.

 

[sunzt]

What do you guys think about Joomla?

 

[LanceM]

You still might be putting a hefty amount of work into it if you aren't very experienced.

 

[notfred]

pay someone who knows what he's doing.

 

[DannyLove]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

What's the best way if I don't know much html?

Learn it.

Seriously.

- M4H

gotta agree with the M4H here.

Best way to even begin it is design it on Photoshop. This will give you a better understanding of the tables involved. Learn the html table design at this stage. Its not that far fetched. Soon as you understand how Tables function in HTML, I think you'll grasp HTML with ease. From photoshop, start chopping up the images and use them as background or whatever. I recommend GoLive. Its a great tool to learn from the layout or the HTML code. Either way, if its a simple website, don't hire someone else, do it yourself. That is how I learned. That and its fun!

danny~!