Web Site Building for Non-Techies

So you've been thinking about building a web site about one of your hobbies – something like this one, for example – but you don't know the first thing about computers, other than turning them on and surfing the net? Are you dreaming?

YES.

But is your dream unrealistic?

NO.

Why? How do I know this?

Because I was in your spot two years ago. And today I can proudly say that I built this entire site by myself.

"Hello, My Name is Guylaine, and I'm a Luddite."

You probably think I'm joking when I call myself a non-techie. But hey, I'm a writer, not a computer person. I'd LOVE to be more computer-literate but my mind just doesn't work that way. Over the years I've had to accept this fact. Even my eyes tend to go cross-eyed like a Siamese cat's when I read technical jargon.

So how did I do it? Doesn't web site building take lots of boring skills with annoying acronyms for names, like HTML and CSS and SEO and so on? Don't you need to be accepted into a secret society with a secret handshake and learn gobbly-gook that normal people don't understand? Don't you need a college degree or at least several expensive (and boring) evening courses in computer programming?

Surprisingly -- no. Not if you've got the right tools.

My Story

But let me back up a bit first.

Two years ago I was at the same stage you are, just mulling over the idea of a web site.

I've written for magazines for several years. I used to hang out on a web site for travel writers. A few of the other writers had started their own travel web sites, where they wrote and posted their articles. A few of them were going on and on about how much fun it was, how much creative freedom they had, and how much money they were making through advertising (ok, they weren't revealing the figures, but some of them sounded like they were living on their ad income, and others called it a "profitable sideline" in addition to their usual writing work).

SO I thought… hmm, why not me? I'm a writer. I have a lot of knowledge about my home, Ontario, and many travellers are interested in detailed first-hand information when they're planning their trips.

Trouble was, I had no web design skills. All of the mumbo jumbo techie stuff these writers threw around went right over my head.

Then one day another writer on the site mentioned a company called SiteBuildIt . He said they had tools that simplified the whole process and let even non-techies build a successful site that would pay off in the long run. It wasn't a get-rich-quick program, though, he warned: building a site with them meant you got plenty of help, but you still had to put in many hours of hard work and creative energy. I thought about it, investigated the company's site (especially the pages on travel web site owners), contacted several other people who had used this company to build their sites (who were all very helpful), asked my friends what they thought of it, … and then … and then…..

I sat on the idea for about a year.

I'm not a risk taker. I mulled it over. Could I really do this? Finally, in the fall of 2008, after experimenting with a free blog that wasn't going anywhere (no visitors), I signed up with SiteBuildIt and began creating my web business block-by-block.

You can too.

If you want to see more examples of people who have turned their hobbies into successful web businesses, see here .

Oh, and if you have any questions about building a site this way, please feel free to contact me through my contact page. Thanks!

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