Sure anyone can create a profile page on MySpace, a free blog at blogger, or a sponsored site at Yahoo Geocities, but all of those services in one way or another have their limitations. With web hosting services getting cheaper by the day, there’s no reason why you can’t have it your way, even if you aren’t the most tech savvy person in the world. Anyone with a brain can come up with a reason to build a website; according to Pew Research, 35% of online users are generating content. But can you create a site that interests people, makes money or generates buzz? Try your hand at some of my techniques.

For some people the hardest part about creating a website is developing the concept. Will this website be all about your philosophy of life? Will it be a blog about your dog Sparky? Will it be to put your online resume? Whether you’re just starting or you’ve used other free services in the past, having clear goals in mind in terms of direction and the nature of your website, researching problems and solutions and tracking the evolution of your ideas will help you make effective use of your digital footprint and give you the platform to develop a killer website.

1. Incubate your idea with a “Beta Notebook”

Whether you are inundated by ideas or drowning in an a sea of information overload, a Beta Notebook is the absolute best place to track the progress of your ideas for your killer website. A “Beta Notebook” (a term I made up) is so called because it is constantly in a state of flux. New questions and solutions arise that help you transform and shape your idea until it’s ready to be brought to life. Sure you could use an electronic format, but I find that notebooks provide the most flexibility for their level of inherent convenience. Plus you can draw pretty pictures and diagrams! For each site (or business idea) I am developing I have pages and pages of workflow diagrams, database schemas, logo designs, and a whole slew of other things; of course you can do whatever you want with your notebook so long as you allow your ideas to grow within it. To help you out here are some of the guidelines that make a Beta Notebook:

Sidenote:
Of course you don’t need a full-on notebook to create a blog about your dog– then again a site that you haven’t put much thought into — e.g. doesn’t require a beta notebook, is probably not going to be of much interest to anyone else either.

2. Avoid Identity Crisis with Clear Objectives
Over time your goals relating to your website will inevitably change, and your notebook is going to be evidence of this transition; all the same, you should have core objectives that remain consistent and provide the guiding light to your decision making process. Committing yourself in this way will help you maintain focus while you solidify your developing ideas. Of course, now you’re probably asking yourself ‘How do I come up with those core objectives?’ — and in doing so you have already done the essential step of asking questions. Here are several more you should ask yourself:

Sidenote:
A website with an identity crisis is not one people will likely embrace.

3. Get Your Daily Googles and Del.icio.us Yahoos
Another critical step in creating an awesome website is of course doing your daily googling. Bookmark a number of sites you like and take note of what they’re doing right, as well as what they’re doing wrong. What can you learn from them?

There are numerous ways to learn about websites and the people who create them; as someone who is serious about getting their hands dirty, observing what others have already done affords you the opportunity to pick and choose from the best techniques.

Sidenote:
Sharing your bookmarked and tagged sites with your friends and community at large by using a service like del.icio.us will help paint a clear picture of what people are looking at today!

If you’re using Firefox you can get started now by downloading the del.icio.us bookmark plugin — which is an awesome tool. Of course if you don’t already have Firefox 2 you can download it here:

and THEN get the delicious plugin. You won’t regret it!

Next time I’ll be sharing some ideas on how to pick a good domain name and some of my favorite obscure places to buy and search for domains!

Of course, the best way to stay up to date with this series and to learn new stuff is to subscribe to our news feed! And if you don’t have a place to keep track of news, emails and all your favorite content, you should check out PageFlakes!

Always,
Juan