Homework – Links I recommend for website DIY’ers

Maybe you’re going at developing your website yourself, or perhaps you’re employing just a little help from a professional. Either way, there are many resources online at your disposal, so allow me to share a few links that will help you on your journey.

I can’t emphasize enough the need to read about search engine optimization before beginning work on your site. So check out these links:

What is search engine optimization (SEO)?
Great guide from Google about SEO

Planning

Web development experiences go much more smoothly if proper planning is in place. (And folks, planning saves you money when working with a professional – trust me!) So here are a couple of links that give words of wisdom pertaining to planning your site.

Dreamweaver’s take on site planning
I like this 10-page planning guide

Also, I would recommend searching for “Website Planning Worksheet” online to help you make your ideas more concrete.

WordPress vs. Traditional html/css format

I have recommended building a site in WordPress to many of my clients who will be making frequent content changes to their site and want the capability of making the edits themselves. If you’re trying to make a decision, do a little probing into the pros and cons. Here are some links that may help:

WordPress site vs traditional html/css format (Be sure to read the comments)
Here’s a forum thread discussing the same topic

If you decide to go with WordPress, you’ll need to learn the system. The learning curve is a little steep at first, but these WordPress resources can help:

WordPress codex, forums, and blog
WordPress theme directory
Site for WordPress beginners
Also, I would recommend looking for WordPress video tutorials on YouTube.

Images

There is more to posting your images online than a simple upload. This blog does a pretty decent job of explaining the importance of sizing your images correctly.

Need professional images? Unless you want to hire a photographer, you’ll probably want to look into purchasing stock photography. Here are a couple of the big stock photography sites:

iStockPhoto
Fotolia

Of course, if you want to dig deeper into the web, you can often find open-source photos and vector graphics.
And please, don’t steal images from other sites. Here’s some info about copyright concerns and other legal issues pertaining to your site.

Colors

Stuck on the color scheme for your site? A good rule of thumb is pull colors from your logo or images, but you should also check out Adobe Kuler, a most decidedly awesome site for creating harmonious color combinations.

Type

The web can be a bit limiting from a type-face standpoint, unless you use images or flash to display unique typefaces, which you don’t want to do too much, as search engines can’t see it. (Read the part about Flash and image maps.)

But that doesn’t mean your site needs to be a type travesty.

Here’s a good article to read before selecting your typeface.

And you’ll want to know the web-safe fonts.

Here’s a good guide to attractive web typography.

Looking for links on topics not referenced above? Comment below, so I’ll know what to look for next time.

Julie Beckham is the owner of Level Up, a company that provides graphic design, copywriting, and consulting services for small businesses and nonprofits.

Visit Level Up online

Follow Level Up on Twitter