For non-coders and non-technical persons try Squarespace or The Grid. These are great for getting your online presence up quickly, beautifully and inexpensively. For more hands on do it yourselfers that want more complex business solutions try your hand at the hosted WordPress.com and then move on to the advanced self hosted WordPress.org.
The following outlines options to create your very own online web presence with little to no money and no coding required. I am in no way affiliated with these products and services. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list but my recommendations.
Squarespace
Website: http://squarespace.com/Price: $8 - $26/month (Free 14 day free trail, no credit card required)
Difficulty: easy
With Squarespace you can create a blog, eCommerce store, portfolio very easy with their intuitive and easy to use interface. Its a great option for small businesses. They have beautiful templates, powerful marketing tools and analytics tools to take your online presence to the next level.
You can add your own custom domain for free with an annual account and update your website from their mobile apps. They also have great 24/7 support.
The Grid
Website: https://thegrid.io
Price:96/year ( $8/month for early sign up now)
Difficulty: easy
The Grid is very interesting product. It bills itself as AI (Artificial Intelligence) websites that design themselves. It differentiate itself from other do it yourself website builders like Squarespace above. The following quote taken straight from their website:
This is not another do-it-yourself website builder. The Grid harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to take everything you throw at it - videos, images, text, URLs and more - and automatically shape them into a custom website unique to you. As your needs grow, it evolves with you, effortlessly adapting to your needs. Want to add e-commerce? Social feeds? A different layout? The Grid just takes care of it. This is not a website builder. This is your personal AI web developer. Its first masterpiece is the website you're looking at right now. Its next one could be yours.Check out the video below to be amazed.
For the more hands on (read advanced) do it yourselfers out there, the following two options are for you.
WordPress.com and WordPress.org
WordPress.com
Website: https://wordpress.com/
Price: Free
Difficulty: easy
WordPress.com offers website for free with a domain that would look like yoursitename.wordpress.com. This is called a hosted service as you don't require a web host to store the contents of your website. Its already done out of the box. They have a huge selection of themes to choose from that are relatively easy to customize and add your own branding. The administrative interface is relatively easy to use and learn. The big advantage though is the huge community of novice and experts alike providing a plethora of tutorials, plugins and resources to help you manage your online presence.
The downside to WordPress.com is for any major customization, it is very basic out of the box, requires you to purchase plugins. Depending on the needs of your business this may well cost more than just going with Squarespace or the Grid in the long term. For example to add your own domain name will require you to pay and that in addition to buying your domain name separately.
WordPress.org
Website: https://wordpress.org/
Price: Free
Difficulty: Intermediate to Hard
WordPress.org while free requires more advanced knowledge to get started. You would require a web host and domain name to begin with. This is not difficult to obtain especially if you read my other two articles Web Hosting Guide and Domain Name 101.
Most web hosting providers provide a one click install for WordPress, so installation is easy. It comes with 4 themes out of the box and there is a large free theme and plugin repository that can be accessed from the administrative area. WordPress is very extensible using these plugins but for advanced customization you may require premium plugins. There is great community support WordPress and you are never short of finding a plugin to meet your needs or a professional to help with implementing functionality.
If you require more information on the services above don't hesitate to post in the comments.
If you require more information on the services above don't hesitate to post in the comments.
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