Puppies are the Beatles of social media—everyone goes crazy
for them. So, naturally, when my own brown, fluffy bundle of joy arrived a few
weeks ago, the first thing I did was flood my Instagram, Facebook and Twitter feeds
with photos. But moments after my pup’s face appeared in those feeds, he
vanished as fast as Thin Mints in the office kitchen. Social media’s ephemeral
nature means everyone is just waiting for what’s next—his first haircut
(like!); his trip to the vet (like!). But the story of Browser—yes, I named my
puppy Browser, as in Web browser—lacks real continuity.
Social media fails all of us in this way, and its
shortcomings are equally relevant for your small business, sports team,
upcoming wedding or family reunion and even your résumé. Not Facebook, not
Twitter, not even LinkedIn provide the personal and permanent digital homes you
seek.
I tested four online build-your-own-website tools and was
stunned—seriously, stunned—at how easy it is to make something impressive.
Within just an hour of using each of them, I was able to create pages that look
straight out of Silicon Valley, and their huge, beautiful photos and bold text
render well on computers, phones and tablets alike. Weebly and Squarespace were
my favorite services. Though different, each made me feel like I was hiring the
best graphic designer, software engineer and webmaster to manage my site.
Pick a Platform
It’s a testament to the times that the hardest part of
building your website today isn’t figuring out what the heck an HTML applet or
CSS template is, but deciding which service you want to do all that hard work
for you. By my count, at least a dozen companies are offering all-in-one
website-hosting and building services. I narrowed down my testing to four of
the most highly recommended ones—Wix, Weebly, Jimdo and Squarespace.
All of the options I tested give you WYSIWYG (pronounced
whizzy-wig, that’s nerdspeak for “what you see is what you get”)
website-building tools. You customize and edit your site right through an
interface that looks like the site itself. Once you’ve arranged things the way
you like, you hit publish, and boom, it’s there for everyone to see.
After building very basic sites with each service, I
determined that Weebly and Squarespace were the best options. Both were easy to
use, and believe me, these were no 1995 GeoCities throwbacks, but modern,
highly customizable pages. Wix and Jimdo were also easy, but they simply didn’t
provide the same high-quality tools and templates.
If You Build It…
I decided to use Squarespace to build
BrowserInYourBrowser.com. I picked a template called “Shift,” which attracted
me with full-width photos and a depth effect that causes images to move subtly
as you scroll down the page. Once you’ve chosen a template (on either Weebly or
Squarespace), you start customizing. Though the tools are easy, the hard part
is channeling your inner Don Draper and deciding on the site’s design and
creative direction.
After figuring out exactly what pages and elements I wanted
my puppy’s site to have, I collected all the photos and videos of Browser in
one place, began uploading them and moving things around. Both services have
helpful photo-editing tools, complete with fun filters.
Both services let you view the mobile website right through
their Web apps. They also have iOS and Android apps for updating a site’s blog
on the go, and checking in on the site’s traffic and other metrics. Whether you
decide you want the services to surface your site on search engines is up to
you. If you do allow the site to be searchable, you can add optimization tags.
I included terms like “puppy website” and “Joanna Stern’s dog” for mine.
It’s Alive!
When your site is ready for the world, it’s time to make it
live. At this point, you transfer a domain name you own, or you can buy a new
one. What used to be a hoop-jumping process is now much easier. Within 10
minutes, I bought BrowserInYourBrowser.com and it was live for all to visit.
Both Weebly and Squarespace sell domains directly. They
don’t offer the best prices, but the convenience of instantly being able to set
your newly made site live from the service seemed worth the extra cash. Weebly is cheaper. The same basic package
costs $50 a year. There’s even a free option for people who don’t want a custom
domain name—instead you get an address like “joannastern.weebly.com.” Both
services have pricier business plans, which include SSL security for
storefronts and taking online payments.
Sure, my site costs more than the sum total of all my
social-media accounts, but it’s a lot more permanent and I’m in the driver’s
seat. If I want to change a photo or text, or even change out the entire
design—I’m just a click or two away. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go
share the link to my beautiful, new website on Facebook and Twitter.
Click
here to access the full article on The Wall Street Journal.