Building Your Website
In order to sell your published e-book online you must have a website. What sort of website is entirely up to you. it depends on what you are trying to achieveIf, for example, all you want to do is to sell one book then a simple one or two page site might be all you need.
On the other hand, if you are writing as an expert in your field you may want to go much further by building a content-rich site and even a paid membership section.
Even if you only intend the simplest form, it's as well to plan in such a way that you can easily expand if you need to, without having to buy yet more software because your current setup can't cope with the extra demands.
Let's look at the options open to you.
- Build from scratch using an html editor
- Use a point and click 'all-in-one' web site builder
- Buy a hosting package that includes a design editor
- Buy a professionally made template which you can edit
With only four main categories the choice would appear to be simple to make. Unfortunately each of those options has literally scores of variations and the quality between them varies enormously.
Surprisingly enough your choice does not so much depend on the type of site you want, but on your web-building skills, the commitment you have to your project and the budget you have available.
What I have done is to set up a web page on this site for each option, where it is dealt with as a separate entity. There I've included details of the software and/or programs I've used and where possible I've given example web pages for you to visit so that you get an idea what each achieves.
The selected items are the filtered results of literally dozens of programs that I've tried and in most cases discarded for one reason or another. What remains is, in my view, the current pick of the crop for affordability, flexibility and professional looking results.
Let me say right now that I have no special skills as far as web design or programming is concerned. If I can use the software, so can you, although you may need to go through a reasonable learning curve to start with.
- Html Editors
You may think you don't need one of the many html editors at all, and you may be right, especially if you use - or intend using - one of the many packages available
- Point and Click
Generally speaking, web design software programs are really templates already prepared for you, into which you put content. Some allow you to extend those capabilities into designing your own templates, while others are so rigid in their design as to be practically useless for professional purposes.
- Templates
Most html editors and all packages come with a few templates which you can edit to a greater or lesser degree.
- Web Design Packages
Let me say straight away that, with one or two exceptions, I am not a big fan of web design packages. On the whole they are not, in my view, good value for money
- CSS Web Design
Easy css (cascading style sheets) may seem something of a contradiction in terms to you, especially if you are a long term html user, but a combination of the right css web design software and a good tutorial can make this child's play.
- Hosting
It's pretty obvious that if you need a website then you need web hosting as well, otherwise your website won't be on the internet and nobody is ever going to see it. So far so good
|
