How to Build A Website For Dummies
I first decided that I wanted to know how to build a website for my gardening business about 12 months ago. I wanted a beautiful website that was user-friendly, one that would attract visitors to read further about gardening.
I was also starting to think about my future income and how to earn an income online. As much as I love my work, running my own garden maintenance company is hard, physical work.
People often ask me for advice and tips about gardening issues, clients obviously and also on social media. So I thought, why not have my own website?
Gardening I know about, plants, bulbs, seeds are my forte and getting my hands dirty in rich earth. I prefer to be outdoors than in.
Computers and IT are completely foreign to me, how am I going to manage to find time to learn how to build a website?
I worried also that I didn’t have the necessary funds to buy the professional services offered by website building companies. Going this route can cost thousands of £££ depending on what you require in terms of how the website is going to work for you and your business. So this option was out the window straight away.
I do not have any technical experience or knowledge in terms of what is required to create a website for free so I set about doing some further, extensive research.
I was looking for ways of how to create a website for dummies. (me being the dummy!)
I soon realised that I would have to learn how to build a website for free.
That’s quite a daunting prospect and for a long time I put it off, using all sorts of excuses.
I can’t do this.
I don’t know how.
Where do I even start?
I don’t have time…
How To Build A Website For Dummies
My research led me to several companies advertising their website building programmes.
GoDaddy was one I looked at. I even went so far as setting up an account, buying a domain and email.
Then promptly came to a sliding halt, for me, a complete beginner, I found that the online tutorials were not detailed enough, everything went right over my head.
I also found that the fees for renewal of domains etc after the first year were too expensive for me to be able to justify.
Vistaprint was another,
I use Vistaprint for all my business stationery and calendars and have always been extremely happy with their service and products.
But once again, for a website, it was too expensive with little help in building a website yourself.
Then I came across Wealthy Affiliate, a good friend of mine pointed me in their direction.
I have to say I did the research on Wealthy Affiliate but still was not convinced that it was the right choice for a novice with no technical experience, an IT dummy like me.
I mean what the heck is affiliate marketing?
“affiliate marketing”
noun
- a marketing arrangement by which an online retailer pays commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated from its referrals.
Several months on and I took another look at Wealthy Affiliate, I’m happy that I did.
I came to the realisation that not only could they teach me how to build a website for free but that I could create a professional and profitable website.
I joined the free membership and I have never looked back.
My free membership with Wealthy Affiliate gave me access to free training modules to get me started, I followed this training to the letter…my website was up and running in a few days.
Yes! That’s right, just a few days.
You get two free websites on the Wealthy Affiliate domain hosting site which is siterubix.
Your website is built using WordPress. The training modules take you step by step in your own time, showing you how to create a website on WordPress.
Each module is broken down into easy, bite-size pieces which include videos and written information followed by a feedback and question section, which for the most part I found easy to follow and implement. Anything that I didn’t understand I just did the training module again until it sunk in.
What is a Niche?
First of all, I had to learn what is niche marketing. This was all gobbledegook to me, a completely new language… I learnt also how to choose a niche… basically a niche is what your website is about.
There are millions of niches to choose from of course, the advice is to choose something you’re passionate about, that you want to share with others.
My niche is gardening, which is highly competitive, I could narrow it down to hundreds more topics within gardening. The possibilities are endless.
Perennial plants
Perennial plants for shade
Perennial plants for summer
Evergreen shrubs
Spring bulbs
….and so on
Music can be narrowed down to:
Instruments
Recording equipment
Digital music
Vinyl records
Etc
Any Hobby is a Niche
Quilt making
Baking
Art
Fishing
Sports
Etc
How To Monetise Your Website
I learnt also how to monetise my website with Amazon, Google and ads from affiliates connected to my niche.
The great thing with this sort of marketing is that I don’t have to have an online shop, or payments on my website, or any headaches connected to selling…
I am simply driving the retail sales to other garden supply sites that advertise on my website. Simple.
I was so impressed by the training, feedback and support from other members that within a week I had upgraded my account to Premium membership.
This can be paid monthly, six monthly or yearly and is unbelievable value for your money.
With Premium Membership Comes Premium Support.
As well as the outstanding training, chat room support, questions answered, feedback and your own profile and blog within the WealthyAffiliate platform, you also get Top drawer domains IE .com domains and up to 50 free websites and further training courses including live Webinars
I have found it all to be second to none.
In less than three months I have gone from knowing zero, zip, nada about websites to owning my own profitable online marketing business.
Several friends on social media who know 100% more than me about IT have been complimentary about my website… that gives me encouragement and a really great “feel good” feeling.
You Too Can Build Your Own Website
If you have ever remotely thought about how to create a website then please do take a further look.
This whole process has been an extremely steep learning curve for me but If I can build a profitable website then so can you.
As with gardening and growing plants, I have planted the seeds of my online business, paid attention, nurtured and cared for them. Now I can watch them grow and flourish into a beautiful, strong and healthy income. So can you.
All I ask as a small courtesy, that when you have done your own research and further reading, then please do come back to my website when you decide to sign up for the free membership to give Wealthy Affiliate a try and click on any of the links in this review or on my homepage. I will be with you every step of the way to help and advise you.
Thank you.
Please share this review with your friends and family and on social media…they would like to learn too about this online opportunity.
Start your free membership here and begin building your online business now.
My experience goes in the same direction as yours. First tried everything.
To come to the conclusion that Wealthy Affiliate is the best quality deal for people
like us who have no IT knowledge at the base.
I am still at the start of the course, but share your opinion that the premium version is a high-quality service with many instructional videos that are all made on the same pattern, which speeds up the learning process.
Do you think there are niches in gardening?
hello Jacob,
I do believe Wealthy Affiliate is the best way forwards for me.
The step by step training is easy to follow and implement.
Yes I do think there are hundreds of niches within gardening, I have identified some that I will pursue at a later date
Best Wishes
Louise
I am a pharmacist by profession and like you, I am noob when it comes to computers and websites. But I am a very determined guy wanting to have my own online business! Maybe I should try Wealthy Affiliate too like you did. If a person like you who don’t have an IT background but still was able to create a website like this, then why can’t I?
If ever I start my own website, the niche that I am planning to focus on is about medicines. Is it allowed by the law? To publish articles about medicines or pharmaceuticals?
Hello,
Thank you kindly for your comments.
Wealthy affiliate is indeed a top rated platform for teaching you how to build an online business and website.
As to your question regarding the legalities of writing about medicine, I’m afraid I would definitely have to research further.
If you are a qualified practitioner then I would think so, but also you can back up any of your articles with external links to other websites.
Best Wishes
Louise
Awesome post. For an absolute beginner it is necessary to have website in the most affordable cost. All other platform requires fairly good amount of money without any guidance or assistance to move ahead. Wealthy Affiliate indeed is one stop place where we can literally learn everything regarding creating and developing website, at free of cost.
Affiliate Marketing is a booming industry, wealthy affiliate is the best training platform for that too. Your audience will greatly benefit from this content of creating website and monetizing it in your niche.
Thanks a lot for sharing this article.
Hello,
I appreciate your comments,
This is certainly a very good and helpful platform for learning about building websites and online marketing.
I wish you well
Louise
Hi LOUISE.
Thank you for sharing your personal experience in affiliate marketing. As I am new to this field I am also unknown to many terms and works in affiliate marketing. Your post helped me to learn why should I chose affiliate marketing and how I work here and also how can I make my own website and earn more. You have given a description of the niche that was so much informative.
I will share your post to others so that they can know about how to make own website.
Thank you so much.
Hello Monalisha,
Thankyou for your comments,
It’s great to know that you are working towards achieving success with your website and online business.
Best Wishes
Louise
I am also in the same shoe. I have aiming to create website since late last year but unable to figure which is the best way to go. I wasted money in buying wrong domain names and others. A friend gisted me about creating a dummy website on Wealthy Affiliate and I was whao, could this be possible. I found it amazing when I implement her advice and right now, am working toward making it big with my website. I faced a lot of challenges while trying to figure out correct niche for my website. It took me ages before I discovered I love doing well.
Hi Stella, thank you for reading and commenting on my review.
I wish you every success with you online endeavours.
Louise
I love the fact that you have been able to put together your passion and the online marketing idea. This is brilliant, how many people can truly say they are working at something they love and believe in? Wealthy Affiliate has given you this opportunity and I was lucky enough to have a very similar experience to yours and have never looked back at my previous work. It was thank you to the WA platform that I am becoming what I always wanted to be and it is nice to see other people like yourself have the same success.
Hello Barbara,
I truly want to let people know that they can build a profitable website from scratch.
I could only do the review my way, by linking it to my gardening interest, by explaining how I came to owning my own website that is earning an income for me.
Thank you for your interest
Louise
I think this is a very good website, I love the way it is laid out and worded.
Yes Wealthy affiliate does make it easy to build a website.
They have lessons to teach you how to build it and to teach you how to do things for in the future.
They teach you how to become wealthy and stay wealthy.
Hello Melody,
Thank you for your comments,
I am grateful that you like my site.
I hope for all of us to become wealthy and stay that way.
Best Wishes to you..reach for your dreams.
Hi Louise, thanks for a great post and I love the name you gave it. I came across Wealthy Affiliate by chance but like yourself I was a complete dummy when it came to creating a website. I had absolutely no idea where to even start and had never tried anywhere else.
I was pleasantly surprised to see just how easy it was to create a website within Wealthy Affiliate. Well done to your friends for pointing you towards this great platform. Your post is very thorough and you have a lot of good information within the post.
If I had not already been a member and had come across your post, I would certainly have been interested in checking out your links to see what Wealthy Affiliate is all about.
Thank you so much Cheryl,
It’s encouraging to know that you and others would find my review useful and informative .
I hesitated over the title as I didn’t want to offend anyone , but I really am a complete novice, so hopefully the title will draw people in to learn how they too can build a website with little prior knowledge.
All the Best
Louise
Very Impressive story about how you got started. I was a ‘dummy’ too about building a website when I became involved a few months ago. In fact, some of the questions that you asked yourself I remember doing the same thing. I am certain that others searching online for ways to earn income are asking the same questions. The steps that you give about how you got started are laid out very simply, that even a child can follow.
I also like the way that you tied in the explanation of Affiliate marketing with your Niche of Gardening. It is really easy to understand Affiliate marketing when you tie it in with the planting of seeds. And the period of time that it takes them to germinate, sprout and grow into a productive flower or fruit-bearing plant.
Sonny
Hello Sonny
Thank you for your comments, I appreciate your time.
Linking the review with my gardening niche was the best way I could think of writing this review.
I also want to encourage anyone who is thinking of starting an online business that it can easily be achieved.
Step by step points are what I value most within the Wealthy Affiliate training.
Best Wishes
Louise
Making money online is a new thing for me, and I’ve heard a website is what we need to do it. I’m a dummy myself when building a website. Thank you for explaining the basic gist of building a website. Regarding the niche, I have several interest. Should I just make a website comprised of all things that I like, or make a separate website for each interest?
Hello,
Thank you for your interest and comments.
There is a lot to learn I agree.
I would start with one website with one interest. You need to take it step by step. A website with multiple interests would be confusing.
All the Best
Louise