Can you update and change your own website?  Do you even have a website?

Never fear!  It has never been easier or cheaper to have your own website. Over the next few weeks we will be discussing the do-it-yourself options out there so you can decide what works best for you. 

If you can't update your own website, you will always be at the mercy of a web developer who may or may not have the time to make the urgent changes you need right away.  While that may be okay for some people, I'm betting it is not an ideal situation for most of you.

Today's topic is SquareSpace, which is the website platform I use.  SquareSpace is more than just a website builder; it allows you to manage your content easily, host communities, easily add a blog, and includes hosting.  I spent about 2 hours building my initial website and then tweaked it a bit over the next several weeks.  This is in comparison to my old website, which required that I learn CSS and spend dozens of hours building and revising (and even losing a couple of times!). 

Take the free tour here. 

A few tips I have learned about SquareSpace:

• Design your website structure on paper first with plain old boxes and connecting lines.  When you start building your website, start from the bottom and work your way up.  That way all the pages are in place for you to add links as you go and you won't have to go back through every page adding them when you are done.
• Make a section of hidden pages in your architecture to include the pages that will not be shown on your navigation bar, such as download pages or thank-you pages.  This makes it easy for you to keep them all straight.  You will end up with many more pages than you think you will.
  
• If you decide to customize a template, make a copy of it first. That way if you make mistakes you cannot undo you can always go back to the basic template.
  
• Because the functionality works so well, you can spend the extra time and money on a copywriter and/or logo designer to make your message more compelling.
• Be sure to use Domain Mapping, which is a fancy way of saying you will be using your own domain name.  If not, your website address will remain something like www.betsytalbot.squarespace.com.  It is very easy to change it to www.betsytalbot.com if you already have the domain name.
  
• Don't worry too much about the design until you get your basic pages built.  Then you can fine-tune to get the look you want.  Remember, done is better than perfect.
  

SquareSpace has a great tutorial and online help as you go, and the best thing is the 30-day free trial.  Yes, you heard me.  With your 30-day free trial you can test it out to see if you like it before paying the incredibly reasonable monthly fee. 

Have you tried SquareSpace?  Let me know in the comments and share your website link.

Next up, Microsoft Office Live.  Stay tuned.

"The Internet is just a world passing around notes in a classroom."

~ Jon Stewart