If I had a business and wanted a cheap and easy web site – this is what I’d do…

1. I’d buy a domain name through Go Daddy (www.godaddy.com). A domain name is about $9/year and Go Daddy offers lots of features.
2. I’d start a blog on WordPress (www.wordpress.com). You don’t need to know html. You can customize the pages quite a bit, adding your logo and choosing from many features.
3. I’d point the domain name to the blog. You can do this on WordPress. It will cost $10.

Here’s a web site that’s built through a blog: http://mnruralpartners.wordpress.com  (We haven’t added the custom domain name yet.) As you can see, it looks like a web site – because really a blog is a kind of web site.

Here’s what I like about a blog as a web site

1. Blogs are cheap
2. Blogs do well with search engines
3. Blogs are easy to maintain without knowing html or having special software
4. Blogs let you add other Web 2.0 tools easily such as video or PPT slides uploaded to SlideShare
5. You can easily set up a feature where visitors can sign up to get alters when you update your site – through an RSS feed or email.

What’s not to like? I wrote a Byte on how to start a blog last winter: https://byteoftheweek.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/starting-a-new-blog/. Sometimes I set up blogs for clients; it’s cheaper than having me set up a web site. Then they update the site themselves. Sometimes I set up blogs and I update them too – but that’s a different story. Today I’m talk about a cheap DIY solution.