Creating a Website

A website can be a powerful tool for a small business. That is, if you design a strong website. Some small businesses may thrive through social media alone—with a homepage that is provided by the social media platform—such as Facebook. However, it may prove difficult to create a compelling customer experience on social media platforms since there is limited ability to create a unique webpage that showcases what your business provides. Yes, social media is a free means by which to start promoting certain aspects of your small business to loyal customers, but it may not the best platform for helping new customers understand what services you offer that sets your business apart from the competition.

Advanced Website Design

A website should answer your customers biggest questions, provide the latest updates, as well as establish trust with potential new customers. It is possible to buy a domain name and start coding your website into exactly as you envision. If you are the person who knows code, this would be an exciting project. The library offers resources for check out to learn different programming languages as well as video tutorials through the library’s Lynda.com subscription. For those of you interested in diving deep into computer information technology. Dallas County Community Colleges offer a wide range of degrees and certificates for programming and web services. They also offer continued education courses to stay up-to-date with your programming skills if you do not want to take the courses for college credits.

DIY Website Design for the Non-programmer

For the less technically inclined, website builders are available to assist anyone to create a website quickly and with no coding experience. Website builders vary, depending on which you use, but in general you follow a few basic steps. First, you select a template or theme. Then, edit this prebuilt template by changing features such as colors, fonts, adding pictures. Last, publish the website onto the provider’s platform or if permitted by the website builder export it to a self-hosted custom website. Your newly edited website can be hosted through the website builder as this is included in the package. However, once you register your domain with them and agree to their terms of hosting it may not be possible to export to a self-hosted website later.  

Your website is the location for customers to learn about your brand and what makes your small business unique. Learn about simple techniques you can use to improve your website with your Dallas Public Library Card. Visit the Library’s homepage, click on either the databases or downloadable media tabs at the top of the page. Scroll down until you see the Lynda.com link. After selecting Lynda.com you will be prompted to sign in with your library card and password. By default, your password is the last 4 digits of your library card, use this to sign in the first time. Then you can search for web design or computer programming classes or single videos led by experts to help you better understand ways to create a website your customers will find helpful and inviting.