[Blog] How to Simply Create a Website

By: Melissa Parks

Don’t tell my husband. I’ve spent $1,008 on nothing. Nothing. 

That’s what $14 a month for five years adds up to. No one would call me thrifty, but even I know that’s some real dinero. (I could have bought a fancy pair of shoes.)
 
For five years exactly I’ve had a Squarespace account—for a monthly fee of $14. For five years I’ve said, “This is the year I’m creating a website!” For five years, when I hit Megillicutti.com, I was greeted (or shamed) by a page that said, “Coming Soon!”
 
More like, “Coming later. Much later.”
 
I guess six is my lucky number. Year six, Megillicutti.com is going live.
 
Creating a Website When You’re Tech-Challenged
 
Websites are overwhelming when you’re not a techy person. 
 
One of my tech-savvy friends set up my account and cheerfully and believably said, “It’s so easy! You can do the rest on your own.”
 
On my own I went—down a rabbit hole of image carousels, template settings, and site styles.       
 
I’d fiddle around with a page and get even more tangled up. So, I’d sign off. “Tomorrow I’ll give it another try.” Tomorrow always turned into next year.
 
Tonight, Tonight
 
Last weekend I was in a January slump. Snow. Cold. Gloom. It all dulled my outlook on life.  
 
A flash on inspiration hit me: I should work on my website this winter—there’s nothing better to do. I should start blogging to formulate ideas around the book I want to write. It would be good for me.
 
Sunday afternoon, I texted my tech-nimble niece and asked her if she could help. 
 
I’d pay her. I just needed some handholding. And some advice on a template, because the one I picked five years ago was too much.
 
When we Zoomed a few hours later, she had picked out a new template better suited to what I needed. And within 30 minutes, she had set up my home page and secondary pages. 
 
“Tonight, tonight—the world is full of light,” I felt like singing.
 
A Small Website Is Better than No Website
 
I bet many of you can identify with my website woes. 
 
If you’re a writer, you’ve likely heard by now that you need a website. 
 
But you’re a writer. You want to write. You don’t want to spend time developing a website.
 
I hear you.
 
I also have some hopeful advice for you: setting up your website doesn’t have to be big deal. In fact, the bigger deal you make it, the bigger pain it will become. 
 
Here’s what I learned over the past week about how to simply create a website when you’re overwhelmed.
 
Ask for help. You likely have a niece, a son, or a friend for whom tech stuff is easy.  
 
You may have to ply them with some cash, but it’s worth the investment. If I’d asked somebody for help five years ago—and paid for that help—I’d be out some money. 
 
But I wouldn’t be paying for nothing, like I have been for the past five years.
 
The best part, when I paid attention to how my niece navigated the backend, I learned some basic tasks, like how to upload images and copy.
 
While I’m not flying solo quite yet, I can do enough on my own to keep moving forward.
 
Ask, “What’s Essential?” When I started my website five years ago, I had too many ideas. 
 
My navigation bar was long. My pages deep and encyclopedic.
 
I didn’t even understand what I wanted to accomplish on each page. I had a “Meet-Up” page, a “Portfolio” page, a “Pretty Images” page, a “Blog” page and on and on and on.
 
I needed to simplify. I asked myself, “What are the essentials?”
 
I needed to tell people who I was, share the writing I’ve published, and also create a place to continue writing. I only needed three pages: About, Portfolio, Blog.
 
If you’re overwhelmed by creating a website, ask yourself the same question: What’s essential?
 
Start there. Complexity can come in the months and years to come.
 
Set a Goal. I’m not a goal setter. So it’s unsurprising I recoiled when my niece asked, “What’s your goal for completion? We should have an end date.”
 
But the question was a healthy smack in the face: the reason I don’t have a website after five years is because I never verbalized a goal. 
 
It was always a wishy-washy, “Maybe this year I’ll do my website.”
 
I ambitiously said we should be done in a month. By the end of February.
 
And less than one week later, I’m relieved to report that the Homepage, About page, and Portfolio page are close to done. 
 
I just need three posts to seed my blog. It’s time to buckle up and write.
 
Then I’m done. A half a decade later. As they say, better late than never.