New Site Design: HTML or Blog?

February 6, 2009

By now you have no doubt been around the web, looked at the guys who spent $50k on their site and are wondering how you might make an impact with your small or non existent budget. Well the good news is the web is a great leveler. Imagination doesn’t cost much and with the wealth of open source software to create your web site or bloggin platforms like WordPress it’s possible to get something in place that reflects your style without having to spend to much. There are great resources at the WordPress site on how to get rolling and many web hosts offer one click instals making it even easier.

Web sites are somewhat like women, while looks are important they are not everything. Sure the exterior looks great but if it conceals a multitude of sins you’re in for heartache down the line. What am i saying? Well either use simple HTML and check that it’s standards compliant or use something like WordPress, which for the most part takes care of that for you.

If you can’t code HTML, perhaps WordPress may be the way to go. With a wealth of plugins and themes you can really customize what you are doing. If you just get a host with a good admin area you can take a lot of work out of the “tricky” things like creating your database and attaching it to your WordPress installation. WordPress and its plugins also take care of the tricky stuff like Search Engine optimization providing you with a template to fill in the relevant details. Macbeth Clothing have used this to good effect. You can drop in video easily, broadcast out to Facebook and Twitter and allow people to sign up to receive updates, all for the price of a domain name and a hosting account.

The online documentation is good so you can find resources to take you through every step of the process.

Well back to the initial question how should it look? Well with either HTML or WordPress it can look any way you want it to. But keep it simple, let your designs speak for themselves. I really like Wurm‘s site, simple design, great shots of the clothing, you can get where you need to be fast, buy something and be on your way. Macbeth make great use of WordPress and really have a lot of neat features on their site.

WordPress themes offer you myriad options to choose from and as you learn HTML you can modify a format you like to fit your brand. You can find 413 of the best themes here.

Also don’t be folled just because it’s called a blog it needn’t look like one. Search for wordpress magazine themes and you’ll find a host of blog layouts that more closely resemble conventional web site.

Sure there’s some initial pain involved in learning this stuff but pretty soon you will be your own clothing company VP and web master. The idea that you control your web presence is not one to be dismissed lightly, you can be proactive, update often, switch things up and there’s no charge.

So which was to go? Well the good news is that if you’re not sure you can start with a straight HTML site and add a blog as you progress. The HTML gives you complete control and the blog allows you to broadcast your brand across the web and allow visitors to comment and interact with your brand.

Posted in Web Marketing