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What’s the best way to DIY a web site?

This is actually NOT a pretty web site.

Do you have a slammin’ web site you made yourself? We’re working up a post on the best/cheapest way to create that essential online presence known as yourbadself.com and we are hunting down the best plug-and-play templates and content management systems fit for the DIYer of modest skill. Please share your .comquests here, Broketown!

14 Comments

  1. Tim Donnelly

    after years of using the free Google page builder, I finally broke down this year and built one using SquareSpace. It costs $13 a month, which is the cheapest package, and more than enough storage space for me. I could’ve built another free one in wordpress or something, but the professionalism of the squarespace design, along with the functionality, made it worth it in my mind.

  2. Personally, I prefer to code my websites by hand. I just grew up doing it that way.

    However, if a simple web site that declares “I’m here” is all you need – try about.me. It works and it looks good.

    If you need something more than a nice splash page, try WordPress. Whether you host it yourself or on wordpress.org, there are a ton of great templates and resources out there. Even if you have no interest in a blog, WP is a very easy to use CMS with a built in WSYIWYG editor that handles static pages well.

    -neal

  3. Tim Donnelly

    I spent my week in New Orleans working on it, and then maybe about another 10 hours once I got back to BK. The hardest part was getting the damn TypeKit fonts I was using to transfer properly

  4. I cannot recommend Prosite.com enough.

    This goes double if you already have a Behance account. It’ll automatically link up with your account so you can add things to your website. It’s way easier to set up than WordPress, and is way more customizable than Cargo. Plus, nobody else is linked up with the Behance network you already (should) have.

    At $11 bucks a month, it’s a steal too.

  5. If you want something ultra simple and very customizable, I would recommend flavors.me. It’s great for a personal landing page. If you need more than that it’s not your solution.

  6. WordPress puts the FREE in freedom. I’m fussy about aesthetics and I don’t know how to code. WordPress lets me work from my own domain address and easily customize the look of their myriad free templates. Did I mention it’s free?

  7. Why not just buy yourname.com and attach it to a well designed tumblr site? They give you enough control over your theme/code and it’s flexible enough to incorporate a myriad of media and formats, even more it’s pretty indicative of how people use the web.

  8. I’ve been using MS Office Live for Small Business for a long time and recommend it. Have built and maintained several sites using it (artmuseumjournal.com, msbrodysclass.net, arthurkirmss.com and others) – there’s a relatively small learning curve when you start and it’s free.

  9. deirdre

    Cargo Collective is free and a great tool for artists or other people who want a slick, image based site. They have lots of cool templates and the whole thing is easy to figure out.

  10. I used weebly.com. I registered a domain on godaddy.com during a promotion for $1.29 and redirected it to my weebly.com site. which is super easy to do with their instructions. My site isnt complicated or anything, but the preset stuff on weebly makes it super easy to create a website using drag and drop placement of stuff like pictures, google maps, and text.

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