Web Design

Although writing is my biggest cash crop, one of my passions is Web design. I’m no graphic artist or programmer, but I have designed some great looking websites for clients with relatively modest needs. The design cost is usually under $1,000, and you pay the hosting fee separately to Bluehost or whichever hosting service you use.

I typically use the same services and tools for all the sites I design:

• Bluehost for hosting the sites, which costs $7.95 per month for one year or $6.95/month for two or three years. This includes one free domain registration, a savings of $10. While you’re at it, you can set up one or more email addresses on your domain, such as sally@yourdomain.com, which is included in the price.
• WordPress blogging platform, which is free. You can install WordPress directly from the Bluehost control panel, which make it very easy to get it up and running. Even though WordPress is a blogging platform, it’s also a great tool for creating multi-page websites with or without a blogging component. (See my tutorial “Creating a Static Web Page with Thesis and WordPress.”) This enables my clients to update their own content and tweak the design without having to pay me extra. If you’re not sure whether you want your site to include a blog, you can always add the blog later… it’s as simple as inserting a page!
• Thesis – A WordPress theme that greatly simplifies the process of giving the site a unique appearance and optimizing the site for search engines. Thesis costs $87 and is well worth the price. Customizing a site with Thesis isn’t quite as easy as the company’s marketing makes it sound at first, but it’s easier than any other alternative I’ve found.
• Banner Fans is a free online banner creator. If my client requests a graphic header, I use this program to create it and then customize the Thesis theme to load it into the website design. You can create some really cool effects with this tool.
• Numerous free WordPress plugins, including Askimet, Avatars, Google XML Sitemaps, WP Super Cache, Simple Trackback Violation, Secure and Accessible PHP Contact Form, Peter’s Custom Anti-Spam, and Multi-Level Navigation Plugin (which I used to create the menu bar at the top of my website/blog).

I wrote a series on how to create a combination website/blog yourself, using Bluehost, WordPress, and Thesis. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, check it out. Start with “Make a Website, Starting with Bluehost.” If you’d rather hire me to get the site up and running and then show you how to edit the content and tweak the design yourself, please contact me.