I come across many people who want to escape the dreadful daily 9 to 5 grind and break free of the cubicle plantation better known as their jobs. You’re probably one of these people. Many want to start their own business, while others may only want to make some extra side cash. I tell friends, family, and all kinds of people that they should try starting an online business. I make sure to tell them of successes that I and countless others have had. Most of these people never ask how it’s done. Instead they INSTANTLY assume that online business is too complicated and something for computer nerds only. They don’t believe that they can do it.
I’m here to tell you that YES YOU CAN start and run a successful website. You don’t have to be a computer nerd either. By the time I’m finished, you may be shocked to find that you’re possibly already a computer nerd without realizing it.
THE COMPUTER NERD MYTH
You are somewhat right about computers being complicated. With all of their microchips, processors, software programs, etc., computers are some really complex machines that took a team of highly skilled nerds to build them. You should thank these nerds, because they have done all of the hard work which in turn allows computers to simplify our lives. Their hard work allows us to not even blink whenever we update our Facebook status, or retweet celebrity rants on Twitter. Whenever we shop for new outfits or even pay bills, computer nerds should get at least a little gratitude. You probably still won’t thank the nearest computer nerd for creating a means for you to upload videos on YouTube, and that’s fine, because after all they are nerds, but guess what…you’re a computer nerd too!
Think about it. For people who don’t use computers, smart phones, and tablets such as your older relatives, persons who don’t have access to or can’t afford any of these gadgets, or that homie who was in prison since the mid-90’s, but was recently released, you’re a computer nerd to them. You may not know how to write code and create the next Facebook, but they don’t even know how to log in to Facebook and update their status, upload a picture, or poke someone.
Maybe you’re not truly a computer nerd, but you do have computer and internet skills that allows you to EASILY navigate the web and its various websites, social media networks, forums, blogs and more. The point that I’m trying to make is that you shouldn’t be fearful of starting and running your own money making websites, because you already have a good foundation of knowledge to build on. Keep reading.
YOU KNOW MORE THAN YOU REALIZE ABOUT WEBSITES
Just like Facebook and Twitter allows you to personalize your own pages on their platforms with little to no technical know-how, there are programs such as WordPress that allow you to perform similar actions when it comes to setting up your own websites. Now, I’m not trying to imply that you won’t have to learn a few new skills or that it won’t be difficult at times to start and run a website, I’m simply trying to eliminate your fear by showing you that those same skills can be put to use to help you generate that extra money or replace your main income completely.
The same abilities that you use to upload pics and videos on those popular websites can be used with programs like WordPress or Weebly to create your own site. For the things that you currently don’t know, don’t let that hold you back because you can learn it. After all, you didn’t always know how to send tweets and like pages and posts. Those things that may truly to be too big of a task for you can always be outsourced.
IF I CAN DO IT, SO CAN YOU
I used to run a hip hop website for rappers in my local area on the Ning platform which comes prebuilt by their expert programmers. I could have never built a site that complex based on the small amount of coding that I know. To customize the site and make it uniquely my own, I only simply used one of their premade templates and uploaded my images in place of theirs. Nothing fancy, just clicked upload and selected a file from my computer. From there, I simply added content such as blogs which includes text, pics, videos, and links. These are all things that I do on Facebook.
I know no more coding than I did before I launched this site back in 2011, but my site received decent traffic and generated revenue in a number of ways.
HOW TO LAUNCH YOUR OWN WEBSITE
Hopefully I have convinced you that it is not rocket science to create your own website, now I’ll show you how to get started right now and launch your very own website. I’ll assume that you already have a killer idea of what your site will be about.
- First you’ll need to register a domain name. The domain is the name of your website. This is how people will find your site on the web. I recommend that you use GoDaddy for registering a domain. They are very affordable and extremely easy to use.
- Second, you’ll need hosting. Hosting is where your website resides on the internet so that visitors can find it. You create your website on your computer and then upload it to your hosting company’s server for them to store it and make it possible for people to visit your site. BlueHost is who I use.
- Thirdly, you’ll need to upload your website to your host so that people can view it. There are all kinds of site building programs for beginners. The platform that is the most versatile and very easy for beginners is WordPress. This is a blogging platform used by top websites, including this one. Although its original design is for personal blogging, there are many successful sites running on this platform that are not blogs in the traditional sense. All of your Facebook and Twitter skills that we discussed earlier can be utilized with WordPress. Bluehost allows you to easily install WordPress, and at that point you’ll be able to get started immediately with adding content with pictures, videos, text, links, and more. It’s not required, but to stand out, you’ll want to bypass the standard themes and give your site a custom look by selecting advanced themes such as those by WooThemes and ElegantThemes.
Those three steps are what are needed to start a website. It’s truly that simple to get started. However, to achieve moneymaking success, it will take a little more than just creating a site. You will need to provide valuable content, market and promote to targeted audiences, and so much more. All of that is for another post, but this one is aimed at helping you get over your fears of not being computer savvy enough to take the leap and launch your own money making website. I have faith that you can do it, now have faith in yourself.
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