What did I get myself into?
A website, that’s what.
It all started back in early February of this year, after months of working on my art and selling my Procreate brushes on Etsy and Gumroad. I decided it was time to get my own website. I mean, that’s the next step…right? I researched as much as I could. At first, I attempted to do the work myself in between doing my art, Procreate brushsets and everything else. However, February soon turned to March and March to April. While I did have some semblance of a design, I was not happy.
February soon turned to March and March to April . While I did have some semblance of a website, I was not happy.
I then endeavored to find a web designer to work with. I found one and though I did like the design they provided me, working with them was a bit of a challenge. When they finally ported it over to my site I found all of my own uploads completely deleted and on top of that, there were several conflicting issues due to some of the templates and plugins they used. Also, customizing anything was extremely difficult as it required mostly coding – which I have no experience with.
Saying I was ready to throw in the towel was an understatement. I had already cut into half my budget, having given the designer a down payment, which I now had to eat. In fairness to them, they did do that portion of the work but it was all for nothing because in the end the template could not be used, not without some extensive changes.
I didn’t give up though and went looking for website templates. I purchased one for under a hundred dollars and off I went throwing caution to the wind (I was good at that). This template saved me. I’ll give details below, but let’s just say that the designer had the best support documentation and I rarely had to look elsewhere for assistance. Yes, I did work on my site until well into the evenings (thank God for coffee). Yes, I did have issues, made mistakes and yelled at the walls a few times – but in the end I got it done. There’s always room for improvement but it’s a work in progress, aye?
If you’re in the beginning stages of building a website, I can make a few suggestions.
• My site is WordPress.org and I host through Bluehost. The costs were the most economical for me and I like that I could add extra support (you do pay for it but it’s pretty good). WordPress.org allows me full control of my site. If you use Bluehost, they can get you set up with a WordPress site directly – as well as a business email.
• My theme is from 17th Avenue Designs. Their templates are more feminine in style (which I like) and the price was right. The best thing about them is their support documentation. As I said, I rarely had to look elsewhere to get help…they pretty much covered everything.
• I recommend researching what websites you like FIRST, then you can visit places like Etsy, Creative Market or Design Cuts to look for compatible themes. WordPress has their own theme section (free and paid) and you can also try purchasing yours there…up to you.
• If you’re going to use a web designer to custom design your site, make sure you have a decent budget – and do that from the start. Don’t do what I did, which was to try doing it myself first (using part of my budget to buy basic themes and extras I didn’t really need) then using a designer with the remaining of my budget (that was less expensive but not as good) and then going back full circle to do it myself. Make the decision from the beginning and go with that – because by time you’re done you may end up spending the same doing it yourself as you would having a web designer do it for you.
• If you are thinking of doing it yourself, you may want to try Shopify or Wix. While I don’t know much about either, I have heard they are easier for beginners though I’m not sure how flexible they are with customization. This may or may not be an issue for you now, but could be as your business (and site) grows. Just some food for thought.
• Gather your content! Whichever way you decide to go you’re going to have to get content together such as copy, images and if you’re selling digital products, you’ll need to have those files uploaded too. In fact, gathering your content could be one of the first things you do as it will help you decide which type of website you need.
• Lastly (because I could go on and on) I would set a schedule that you work on your website. Do what you can during those few hours then put it away and do the other things you need to do. Otherwise, it will completely inundate you which will only frustrate you further. So set a schedule and stick to it, even if the process takes you a few months.
If any of this post summons up some questions for you, feel free to reach out . I’d also love to get your feedback. Things you did or wish you did when setting up your own website. Don’t be shy!
Thanks for reading!
