CREATE A WEBSITE WITHOUT SOFTWARE
Trying to run a new consumer-orientated business in this highly competitive world without a website would be like trying to run a business without a listing in the Yellow Pages, only far worse. I'd say it comes close to trying to run a consumer-orientated business without a Yellow Pages ad, no telephones, no mailing address and no advertising anywhere to promote your business. An Internet website in many ways rolls all of these basic methods of communication into one very-necessary window of access through which your potential customers can see. The bottom line is that today, most any business and especially any NEW business that offers consumer products and services really needs to have some kind of online presence to become a successful venture.
Once you've made the decision to create a website, the next question is how does one go about doing it? As with anything as complex as the Internet, there are many solutions that come with varying degrees of cost, lengths of time to be invested in such a venture and requirements of expertise. Until recently, you had two choices. You could either hire a company or individual to develop one for you, or you could do it yourself. The former could literally cost you hundreds, even thousands of dollars. The latter could literally cost hundreds, even thousands of hours of learning how to program in HTML. And you're still faced with the expense of having to buy special development software such as Macromedia's Dreamweaver or Microsoft FrontPage, plus finding and paying for a service to host your website. And while there are a number of applications out there that you can purchase which will let you create a website without having to know HTML programming, I'd like to tell you about another alternative that lets you create, design and publish an original website for your business without having to buy any software.
Ironically enough, the product that helps you develop a website is in itself a website. SpinSite is a service you access using an ordinary web browser. After logging on to your account's development page, you begin to create and design each web page, deciding where to place graphics and text. The company calls SpinSite a "web page designer" and not a series of website templates. The system lets you chose from a large selection of themes to get you on the way. But you can modify, add and delete just about anything you want.
You can literally paint the screen as you add columns, rows, text, images and links. Threaded newsgroups and special web pages such as a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) pages and discussion forum pages are literally a few clicks away from creation. Many other important elements can be created such as requiring users to log in so they can contribute to your site in specific ways such as being required to log in before being able to post a public message. And as time passes and you become more proficient, SpinSite even allows you to go under the hood so that you can tweak and enhance your website using HTML. And since you don't need any development software, you can literally change or edit your website from any computer with Internet access and a browser.
A more recent addition to SpinSite is the ability to create an online store with inventory management that is integrated with PayPal's shopping cart. Currently, SpinSite does not offer a facility to accept credit cards.
After you create your website, SpinSite offers two performance packages. The Express package includes 3 months of hosting your website, Instant Setup that lets you go online in a few minutes, 2 email accounts, 25 megabytes of document and image storage space and 5 web pages for $49. The Platinum package ups the storage to 50 megabytes, 5 email accounts, 50 website pages and adds several other features for $99. Check their website for more details.
I'm not saying that SpinSite is right for everyone. But it does offer another alternative to creating and hosting a website. Having a server-based setup like the one offered by SpinSite offers a number of advantages over the more traditional methods of website creation and collaboration.
www.spinsite.com |
