Transformation is my focus word this year. One thing I have longed to transform, but has felt daunting is redoing my website. I designed, built and continue to maintain my original website. It is hard to believe I launched it in 2006. Technology has continued to reinvent itself since then. Although my website is current with content, its software, look and ease of use is showing its age.
How does one begin to tackle such an overwhelming project? Many people, probably more sane than I, would opt to hire someone else to do the work. I knew this wasn’t the right route for me. Anyone who knows me knows I like to be control. 🙂 That isn’t the sole reason, though. I believe a website should be current. Therefore, I want to be able to maintain it in real time.
The cost of a website can quickly add up. Anyone with their own site knows the annual costs of securing a domain name, paying a server and keeping software/plug in contracts up to date. Now, if you add in tech support to design and maintain the site, that adds both front end and continued cost.
It was important to me to have a sense of how I wanted my site to look. Why have a site in the first place? I think of my site as a portfolio. It is a way to share my art with others and if they have questions and comments, the site should be an easy way to reach out to me.
Would you believe I have spent several years dithering, researching, choosing this or that, and educating myself about this topic? Sad, but true. I decided on WordPress, primarily because it has done well for years, there are no software costs, and I can have a blog and site that use the same tools behind the scenes.
I’m not done yet. I have a few giant steps to take during the transition phase to reach complete transformation, but I finally have a site I can build on, maintain, has few ongoing costs and has a clean look which focuses on the art. My next step is to switch the landing page (where the viewer is directed when launching the URL for my site) from my blog to the site itself. The images in this piece are screen shots from my site. The link below each image will take you to the page they come from.
What do you think makes a good site and why?
I am linking up with Nina Marie’s Off the Wall Fridays.
