For companies, associations, and most other organizations, having their own website is as natural as having a business card. Anyone who cannot be found on the Internet is practically "non-existent" for many people, including potential customers.
Putting an own website online is becoming increasingly popular - whether it is a private website, the Internet presence of an association, or the homepage of a medium-sized company: with a little patience, anyone with good computer skills and a little familiarity with Microsoft Word or Facebook can put their website online in no time.
To program a website, you need the following prerequisites, among others:
- You have good computer skills
- Good knowledge of English (programming languages are almost mostly English)
- You know the 10-finger-system. It is not a requirement, but it helps if you can type fast.
However, programming skills or knowledge of HTML, CSS, or JavaScript - as acquired by full-time web designers in their studies or through years of "learning on the job" - are no longer a prerequisite for designing professional homepages and store systems.
Nowadays you don't necessarily have to be a programmer to design your own state-of-the-art professional web presences and put them on the web: content management systems like Joomla, WordPress, or Drupal promise professional websites without deep HTML knowledge and with no or minimal costs. Most people come across these systems when they search the Internet for how to design a website without being able to write programming code.
Before you start programming a website, you should think about a domain name that represents your brand. This is a crucial step, as it can give your business instant credibility. With so many already existing websites, you'll have to be creative to find a name that hasn’t already been registered by someone else. A domain check is a great way to find out whether a domain is still available.
It is also important to think about whether you need a simple or complex website. On a simple one-page site, all relevant information such as "About us", "Products", "Services", and "Directions" are on a single page. Complex websites consist of more sub-pages, are more technically advanced, and usually require database connectivity. Complex websites can include features such as slide shows, newsletter functions, blogs, or forums.