In the earlier days of code websites, and I am only going back around 10 years ago, custom website development required you to learn in detail a figure of programming languages to get the job done and you pretty much had to pay professional developers to build your websites for you. And this could get quite costly. Even today, to build a website of any higher sophistication level, will require you to have significant programming skills.
You will need to know language such as HTML and PHP at the website presentation layer level, languages like JQuery, and SQL if you want to interrelate with databases, database modelling and design to design your databases and database tools themselves to build the databases (such as Access, MYSQL, SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, etc.). And if you want to interface with 3rd party systems such as travel, car rental and booking systems as just one example, then you will need to be learning additional languages like XML. Not to mention the development tools you will need to learn such as Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft Visual Studio. This must give you pause if you are just initial out in a commerce and you are thinking about building a custom website for yourself. It is not easy work.
However, there are opportunity for you to still go the custom website development route these days if the level of complexity in the site you are desire is not too extensive and if it falls within the patterns of website templates available for purchase from any number of vendors today. You still can't go too far off the reservation, but you can now reasonably expect to be able to purchase a "template" website design from a vendor and construct a website of your own without too great a learning curve.
Within these templates, the baseline coding has been done for you. You get the screen already constructed, images previously in place, links between pages built, and links to 3rd party payment services like PayPal already built, etc. You would need to still use a website development tool to finish the construction of your site, but you should be able to figure it all out yourself albeit with a number of frustrating "How do I do this?" moments along the way.
On the other hand, you could take the approach of using a website construction system that shields you from the coding. The most widely known of these systems is WordPress and to be frank, if this is the direction you choose to take, I wouldn't steer you to any other product. WordPress has evolved over time to specifically meet the needs of small business to provide website construction tools to those with limited knowledge of web development.
Through a series of templates (often called Themes) that you can chose from for your base design, coupled with WYSIWYG design tools and feature set plugins, you can build your own website and be in business with it in only a few weeks. Your site will have limitations technically, but the WordPress theme these days are quite visibly appealing and you can make a quality site if your interests lie with just selling some affiliate crop, running your own Blog, promoting a cause or providing an online presence for services you wish to provide. This approach will keep your cost of entry very low and it is a good place for most people to create if budgets are limited. Be aware though that as you grow and your sophistication supplies add to, you may have to move across to a custom solution as it is possible that you will outgrow the capabilities of your WordPress site.
So as you think about building your business, understand the differences in the above approaches and what your business requirements are and then proceed accordingly.
You will need to know language such as HTML and PHP at the website presentation layer level, languages like JQuery, and SQL if you want to interrelate with databases, database modelling and design to design your databases and database tools themselves to build the databases (such as Access, MYSQL, SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, etc.). And if you want to interface with 3rd party systems such as travel, car rental and booking systems as just one example, then you will need to be learning additional languages like XML. Not to mention the development tools you will need to learn such as Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft Visual Studio. This must give you pause if you are just initial out in a commerce and you are thinking about building a custom website for yourself. It is not easy work.
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| Custom Website Development or WordPress |
However, there are opportunity for you to still go the custom website development route these days if the level of complexity in the site you are desire is not too extensive and if it falls within the patterns of website templates available for purchase from any number of vendors today. You still can't go too far off the reservation, but you can now reasonably expect to be able to purchase a "template" website design from a vendor and construct a website of your own without too great a learning curve.
Within these templates, the baseline coding has been done for you. You get the screen already constructed, images previously in place, links between pages built, and links to 3rd party payment services like PayPal already built, etc. You would need to still use a website development tool to finish the construction of your site, but you should be able to figure it all out yourself albeit with a number of frustrating "How do I do this?" moments along the way.
On the other hand, you could take the approach of using a website construction system that shields you from the coding. The most widely known of these systems is WordPress and to be frank, if this is the direction you choose to take, I wouldn't steer you to any other product. WordPress has evolved over time to specifically meet the needs of small business to provide website construction tools to those with limited knowledge of web development.
Through a series of templates (often called Themes) that you can chose from for your base design, coupled with WYSIWYG design tools and feature set plugins, you can build your own website and be in business with it in only a few weeks. Your site will have limitations technically, but the WordPress theme these days are quite visibly appealing and you can make a quality site if your interests lie with just selling some affiliate crop, running your own Blog, promoting a cause or providing an online presence for services you wish to provide. This approach will keep your cost of entry very low and it is a good place for most people to create if budgets are limited. Be aware though that as you grow and your sophistication supplies add to, you may have to move across to a custom solution as it is possible that you will outgrow the capabilities of your WordPress site.
So as you think about building your business, understand the differences in the above approaches and what your business requirements are and then proceed accordingly.
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