Q&A: Building Your Own Website
written by Kristy Howard
Two frequent questions I receive are, "Did you design your own website?"
and "Who do you use for your web host?"
The answer to the first question is, yes, I do design and edit all the format and pages of Homemaker's Cottage. The good news is, it is much easier than you may think. Actually, it's much easier than I used to think!
Which brings us to the second question- whom do I use for a web host?
I was very blessed to stumble upon a company called Homestead in my quest for an efficient, user-friendly, and inexpensive web host. You see, I had two very teeny problems when setting up a website:
I did not know how to use html.
I had very limited financial resources.
A year later, I still am very html-challenged, although I have picked up a few of the basics along the way. With Homestead's easy-to-use designing program, this has not posed a problem at all. In fact, you do not need to know any html at all to begin building a website with Homestead. (Of course, if you are familiar with it, you will definitely have an added advantage.)
I am able to design, edit and publish any changes I wish to, completely on my own. I have found it necessary to contact Homestead's customer service only once in the past 12 months since setting up Homemaker's Cottage- the problem was fixed and I was off the phone within 10 minutes!
My second obstacle- limited finances- was remedied with Homestead's inexpensive packages. They offer three monthly rates, starting at $9.95 and going up to $49.95. Very reasonable compared to the other hosts I had initially looked into!
If you feel the urge to begin your own website- whether it be just a personal hobby or a full blown home business endeavor or anything in between- I definitely encourage you to give the matter lots of prayer, research your options thoroughly, and learn all you can from others who have succeeded in the area you're striving toward.
If all lights appear to be green, then go for it! Realize that starting and running a successful, efficient website demands a lot of time, patience and effort... don't give up if the going gets rough! Learn from your mistakes (you will make at least a few!) and keep working at it. You can succeed if you make up your mind to persevere.
Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions. I am definitely still in the learning process but will be more than happy to share what I have learned along the way!
