Where to start when you want to build a website.
Let’s try to break this down into simple steps regardless of what platform you may be using. There are plenty of great tutorial videos out there to get you going, this is more a primer for all the ideation and planning. Now let’s get organized!
Simplicity.
Start simply, you can always make things more detailed later, but for our start—let’s keep it basic.
The first steps.
1) Make a folder on your desktop named “Website”, this is where you’re going to put everything for your site.
2) Get all the photos you'd like on the website as digital files (not too big!) in a folder on your named "Website Photos", this and everything else will go in your “Website” folder, if you have multiple photos of the same piece, make folders for them and put that in the "Website Photos” folder.
3) Put all the info for those pics (title, price, any info you want to include) in a word doc in a separate folder named "Website Photo info", notice a theme developing here?
4) Figure out what you want to call the site www.___________.com, come up with several, I mean a lot! Try to keep it under 15 letters if you can, make a word document of this list, put it in your folder.
5) Get your statement, bio, or CV typed up into a word doc, put that in a folder on your computer named "bio". Try to have several statements or “pull quotes” you can sprinkle around the site—have a good amount of options here—people love stories.
6) Anything else you’d like to sell or share do the same, make separate folders for each (Books, Remedios, hats, poems, etc). I know it sounds tedious, but it will help loads—especially if someone helps you later—title folders appropriately.
The important thing is having all the info in one place, so you can easily find files and copy and paste text. It's easier for you because you know where everything is, and it's a good way to make sure you didn't miss anything once your site is fleshing out.
Also, if anyone needs to help you in the future, they’ll think you’re a genius for being so organized!
Look at a ton of websites!
Write down a list of a dozen artists you really admire who are working in your field of creativity. Once you have the list, now go and look at their websites. You’ll begin to see what you like and what you find frustrating. One of my favorite artists has all of their work on the front page, you just keeps scrolling and scrolling. I find it annoying when I’m looking for a particular work, but I will admit I see something new every time I visit the site. Find out how you want someone to mosey through your site, what will they see first?
What’s in a name?
You will need 2 things, a domain (the URL or website name, e.g. dixonarts.org), and a web building platform to host your website. Some vendors offer both, the domain you will need to pay for, the web-building platform can be free.
“The front page”
This is what sets the tone, some people prefer to have their best image here, something that will load quickly. Then you can click to enter or scroll down.
Personally, I like to limit options initially to three things, my first love was reading and it always worked for those folks writing the folk tales. You may chose four, or two, or maybe keep all of the choices in the navigation bar or menu.
Get out your sketchbook and pencil and make 5 quick drawings of how this page might look, try to make each one different, pick your favorite.
Think of what content may be on here, are you going to use video?
Need fancier text/fonts, layouts, and media options, try Squarespace.
Do you want a webstore, or will you use Paypal, stripe, venmo, or shopify? Perhaps you simply want a ‘store’ more than a ‘website’, then Shopify or Etsy is what you’re looking for, Godaddy is another free option.
People love Wix, Weebly, and Wordpress—be sure to shop around before you commit.
Find the platform that fits your needs and budget, play to it’s strengths.
Discover your template.
Once you’ve chosen a platform, all of them will offer a series of templates to start from. The majority will allow you customize things to an extent. First it’s more important to get everything on the page, once you get the hang of things, you may find yourself starting from scratch the next page you build. Trust me, it gets easier, and it can even become fun!
Watch those tutorials, they can be extremely helpful!
I hope this is helpful to you, once you get the hang of it, you can get your website finished the same day. Please feel free to send in any tips or tricks you may have. We hope to expand and improve on these skillshares every year! Let us know if you have questions you can’t answer with google, we might be able to help you. Be well!
—Brian Barreto