Creative Business: Websites
Part 1 in a series introducing writers and artists to the business side of creating.
When I stepped foot on my college campus for the first time (25 years ago!), I was enrolled as a business major. That first semester I dutifully took Intro to Business, Accounting I, and Marketing. I enjoyed learning about business and advertising (and nearly failed Accounting), but I realized it wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life. I flipped through the course catalog and looked up three majors that sounded intriguing. Every single class in the course list for Art looked fun, which sealed my decision to switch majors.
A few years (and so much fun and hard work) later, I graduated with a B.A. in Art and a concentration in graphic design. As part of my graduation requirements, I had to create a portfolio—a physical portfolio, with pristinely mounted design projects on perfectly cut black mat board. I took this big box of work to job interviews to show my competency.
We also had to design portfolio websites, which was a new thing at the time.
I’ve had mine ever since.
My website originally housed design projects I hoped to snag freelance work with. Eventually I began writing and illustrating picture books, and it turned into an illustration portfolio. Now I’ve got little blurbs about all of the novels I’ve written, among other things.
Basically, I’ve been around the block a time or two.
Although I’m no tech expert, I am a pro at explaining things in a clear and concise way, which is why I wanted to start this series: to give creatives a basic understanding of the tech side of a small business.
Before we jump into some terms, let’s look at a few reasons creatives (that’s you!) might want a website:
Authors want potential readers to find their books.
Illustrators want art directors to find their portfolios in order to hire them.
Writers seeking publication want agents or publishers to see their commitment to marketing themselves and their work.
Craftspeople want to showcase and/or sell their goods.
Instructors want an avenue for organizations to book their services.
To have control over where their stuff lives online, instead of relying on social media.
To legitimize their business and show professionalism.
To make money.
What else? Any other ideas?
Knowing why you need a website is step 1.
Your purpose will determine your decisions as you set up your site.
In order to create a website, you need three things: a domain name, a hosting service, and a design service. Although not required as part of the website design and setup process, you probably want an email address, so we’ll add that to the list. Let’s break them down:
Domain Names
A domain name (or just domain for short) is your address. It’s the url people type into the search bar to get to your site. The domain I’ve carried for decades is heidimrogers.com. You type that in, and you go straight to my site.
Think long and hard about your domain before you register it.
You have to register a domain name and pay for it annually. They’re usually $20-25 per year. But a domain is just an address. To build a site at that address, you need…
Web Hosting
Web hosting is your rental space. Like your apartment on the internet. In order to have a website, you have to pay a hosting company to store your site on their servers for the people of the world wide web to access whenever they want.
Web hosting companies usually have introductory offers. Be sure that the company you go with has a reasonable regular price.
The cost of web hosting varies greatly, depending on your needs. (Let’s chat about web design next month.) It can be billed monthly, or you can save money by paying a year (or more) at a time. Expect to pay at least $100 per year, if not much more.
Web hosts usually offer additional services,1 such as…
Design Service
The design service you use to make your website is like the architect and contractor designing and building your apartment. It’s how you get your information across (yes, let’s definitely talk about this next month) and what makes your site yours.
You can hire a designer to do the work for you, but there are many services out there that make designing a website accessible for the inexperienced. While you’re looking at web hosts, you may want to consider if they offer design services or user-friendly interfaces to design your own site.
Planning out your website with notes and sketches is a good idea to do before jumping into purchasing a web hosting plan. Knowing what you want to use your site for will determine which host is the best value.
While you’re brainstorming for your website, consider other business tools you might want to use. Some of those tools may require…
Email Hosting
Email hosting, like web hosting, is paying a company to supply the server storage for an email address. If I’m going to continue with my metaphors, I’d say it’s like renting a garage for your custom car baby.
Your email address will be something@yoursitename.com.
You might use a gmail address for most stuff, but there are times you need a professional address for business purposes.2
There you have it! The three (or four) things you need to get a website up and running. I hope having the terms and basic understanding of the pieces helps you feel empowered to take the next steps in your small creative business.
Browse and read the other parts of the Creative Business series here.
If you found this before I’ve written the whole series, subscribe so you don’t miss the next topic!
May we find joy and fulfillment in the process of making things.
Love, Heidi
I used to have website and domain hosting through the same company, until I recently found out I was paying for web hosting TWICE! I thought I was using Adobe Portfolio to design my site, but hosting it through another company, when in actuality, Adobe Portfolio was also serving as my web host. I was horrified that I had wasted so much money. Now I have my domain and email hosting through one company, and my design service and web hosting through another.
For example, in order to send this newsletter, I had to sign up with an email address that was specifically not a gmail address.
Great article with lots of good beginning business information. An additional reason to have a website is for legitimacy. When I apply to teach somewhere, it allows the organizers to find me and see that I'm really who I say I am. Or when I'm looking for an author for a writing event, I will always look at their website and that will help me determine if I'll reach out or not.