Websites and the internet are ubiquitous throughout our lives. They offer the power to share your thoughts, your work, your business and can allow you to connect with individuals from around the world. Websites have never been as powerful or as easy to set up, either, meaning that anyone can start their own blog or website with relative ease. That being said, there are many misconceptions and misinformation about websites that you should know before you launch your own website.
You will never be found
There are over 1.8 billion websites on the Internet today, most of which are dead. The majority of these websites are also relatively new. At the start of 2016, for instance, there were less than one billion websites, and, less than a year later, that number skyrockets up to 1.7 billion. Divide that number up with the number of internet users, and each website would only get about 2 to 3 users each. These numbers, however, aren’t quite accurate. Many of the websites up now are dead, or otherwise inactive, putting the number of active websites at a much lower number.
To put that into perspective, only an approximate 200 million websites are currently active and over 4 billion internet users. While that may be a lot, it still gives everyone wanting to try to make something of themselves online a chance. You can grow your audience and build up a network and even a business with a website with enough passion and patience. If you are active, meaning you post consistently enough, you can improve your standing on Google’s search engine result pages with ease. However, remember quality always comes first.
Misconceptions about starting a website
Websites can be as expensive or as cheap as you want them to be. Yet to understand where your expenses go, you need to understand the different options available to you.
There are website builders like WordPress.com, Squarespace, Wix, and even Blogger that will allow you to start your own website for free. The problem here, however, is that to upgrade your account to get a custom domain name, but this can be rectified once you pay a small fee.
The first step you need to do after you opt for a third-party web host is to choose a CMS. Content Management Systems are the structure behind-the-scenes that you will use in order to publish and manage the content on your blog. Many options of CMS are free to use, including the popular WordPress.
You must be aware, however, that there is a difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. WordPress.com is a company that uses the free, open-source software WordPress at its core, but is really a web host just like any other. In fact, whenever you see paid options involving WordPress, it is usually because companies are providing more value and customization options (plugins, for example) to the CMS for people to use. For many people, they ask the question “why is WordPress free?” The answer is simple. WordPress is an open-source program that no one owns. This allows companies to build a website and sell their services in a cost-effective measure, however, WordPress is usually used for blogging.
Knowing that, choosing your CMS should come easier. Once you have your CMS, it is time to choose a theme. Themes range in prices, and there’s a price and option to suit every budget. The more powerful you want your website, the more you should expect to pay for your theme. That being said, most themes are under the $100 mark, meaning even the most expensive option is still affordable for many serious bloggers-to-be.
Websites need coding
Websites do need coding, but you don’t need to know the language of coding for your website to be a success. There are plugins, themes, and tutorials to help you get your website up and running. If you do need coding, it is typically for simple HTML commands that you can find with a quick search.
Never let your misconceptions about how hard it is to start a website get you down. There are nearly 2 billion of them out there simply because they are easy to create, meaning the competition is a lot less when you consider the amount of inactive accounts. You don’t need to own your own server space or know coding, you just need the patience, passion, and commitment to make your vision come true.
