So you certainly need some help in creating the ideal look. But before you spend hundreds of dollars hiring a designer, do check out some other options.
One popular option is to use a free content management system. When you buy web hosting, your hosting provider will usually provide you with tons of free software and scripts. These are not poor quality scripts. They are open source scripts, which means that anyone can use them for free. A popular choice would be Wordpress.
Wordpress is a blogging platform. But it can be modified to become a useful website CMS. If you are thinking of starting a blog, then you don't even need to do any modifications. All you need is the right theme.
Wordpress allows you to install as many themes as you like. As long as a theme is installed, you can choose the theme from the admin control panel. It's just point and click, and the entire look and feel of the website can be changed instantly.
When choosing a proper theme, it's always better to choose one that fits your niche. For instance, if you are starting a gambling website, then you may wish to download gambling themes. These templates come with appropriate graphics and you don't even need to lift a finger to create the design yourself. Everything has been done for you. If there are one or two elements that you are unhappy with, you can always fire up your favorite image editing software and make some simple modifications. That's still faster than having to create a brand new design from scratch.
A CMS is very useful if you have the intention of growing the website from day one. It helps you to manage the content, and keeps everything well organized. If there are any changes to the designs, you can do so just by choosing another theme, or by modifying the existing template.
However, some webmasters just want to setup a simple website with a few pages of content. In this case, a CMS may be an overkill and unnecessary. A simple HTML template may be all that is required to get the job done.
Having a HTML template means that the overall design will adopt a more consistent look. Whenever you want to post a new page, just use the existing template, replace the contents, and save the file as a new web page. Then upload the page to the server using an FTP software.
Note that there are more steps needed to publish an HTML page if you use a HTML template instead of a CMS. If you are using a CMS, all you need to do is to login to your admin account and post a new web page. No FTP software and no uploading is required.
Whether you use a Wordpress CMS or not, templates are always useful. Check out some free ones to save yourself some money.
|