How to Build a Website Without Any Technical Skills Using SITE123

The days of websites with nothing but a homepage and an “About” page are over. Here I present one of the features you can use to put together great pages.

And if you want to go way beyond what most people would expect from a website building tool, stick to this article because the magic is just about to begin.

Great. What Is It?

SITE123 is a tool that helps people put together websites without much effort. Designers and programmers can simply use it to hack the hard part of making a website and put it all together within a few minutes. 

There are many features that take quite some time for developing and many of them are ready to be used on SITE123.

The layouts are easy to edit and you can finish building a basic website very quickly, including everything that a good website needs to have.

Yeah, Right…

If you are a programmer, you would be probably thinking: “Well, this is just another tool for normal people to build simple websites”. And you are absolutely right. This is another tool for normal people to build websites, but not just simple ones.

The interface gives you readymade layouts that look very nice and are totally up to date in terms of design and art. There you will not find weird-looking templates like those WordPress ones that seem to have just come out of the 2000s but this time out of a monkey’s stomach.

Yes, we are all sick of seeing that. And “we” includes normal people as well – the dude or chic sitting on the other side of the screen that is also reading this. Of course, we have to remember sometimes that the world is made of regular people and not just us, internet freaks.

So after all, this could actually be eye drops for our eyes and we might never have to bump into those creepy looking websites again. Ok, that was too much. The journey will probably be a lot harder than that. But let’s hope for the best! We all want a cleaner and fresh looking web. And these kinds of tools will help a lot along the way, for sure

If you read up to here and are ready to continue taking part in the internet cleaning revolution, here we go…

Thank A Revolutionary

Since I started the article by addressing the developers’ topics, let me address everyone else now. Dear readers, it is time to appreciate the beauty of the internet and how it came to be what it is today. Make sure you understand what a web developer does and appreciate their work.

They have made our lives a lot easier by helping build the web as we know it today. They are truly part of a solid revolution: The Fourth Industrial Revolution, as Klaus Schwab, formally described in his latest book that was published this year. If you are interested in learning more about what web developers do, this is the place.

Know What’s Behind the Scenes

Although we are not going to use any codes or technical skills, it is very informative to quickly go through what is behind the scenes when it comes to websites. If you are an expert or just someone in a “give me the gold” mood, skip to the next topic.

To simplify, let’s picture the internet as a big tree. In this scenario, the trunk would be the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) and the branches would be the URLs (uniform resource locator).

To complete the basic system, the sap would be the HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). Everything on top of that would be the leaves, fruits, etc. But this is already too much information, so let’s keep it for another article.

PS: Experts reading this, please don’t think this is grotesque. Just remember how annoying it is when someone tries to explain hard concepts to you using technical language…

Understand What Your Part Is

A few technical terms covered, let’s get to business since we won’t be touching any HTML. The only thing you will need to do is prepare your content (images, copywriting, product pictures, website briefing, etc) and then organize it and present it clearly through a nice looking website, by using SITE123 tools.

Besides that, the part that everyone on the internet takes, including me, you and all the designers and developers, is the user part. In the end, we are all users sharing experiences, providing services for each other, buying and selling, and so on… At that point, we are all equal.

So put yourself on your future users’ shoes and think about what you would like to find when you visited a website like the one you are going to build. That will put you miles ahead of the competition in terms of user experience.

Time To Taking Action

How about start by brainstorming all the key aspects of the website? Throw in some “About” page drafts and so on.

Then it is just a matter of putting everything together in an understandable way and you have the basic copywriting you need for your website. Add some whipped cream on top, I mean, interesting content, and you are good to go.

Get Some Images Going

Now, get your images ready. Include everything that a good website needs: a decent logo, a nice image to be used as banner or images in case of a sliding banner, and whatever you would like/need to add to your website – videos, product images, special offer banners, etc.

If you already have everything set, awesome! If not, take a look at these 10 tips to learn Photoshop skills. Even if you are experienced in this software, go ahead and take a look at the tips as they will work as reminders for better-looking design and image editing.

Ready, Set, Go

It is time to put it all together. With everything on hand, create an account on SITE123 and go through the basic steps of choosing a website category according to your business or idea, and entering some information.

After that, the system takes you to the website builder. When you get there, this is what you will see:

Notice the menu on the right and quickly browse through it to get a sense of where to find each tool. Start by opening the Homepage tab and setting it as you need. There are a few options, including videos, redirect buttons, images and so on.

Time To Getting Serious

Then, click on Design to set your basic layout, colors, styles, fonts, options, etc. Here is where you will find tools like subscription boxes and social network icons.

Now that everything is looking good, you can proceed and add all the pages you need on your website. On the Pages tab, there are promo pages, galleries, stores, blogs, and even music. And believe me, there’s more.

Final Touches

Alright, time to wrap it all up and give that special sparkle that a successful website needs. By clicking on Settings, you will see where to enable terms, privacy, and cookie consent, among other options.

Also, in Settings, you can find some plugins to enrich your website and assist with many tools including analytics and marketing.

Special attention here for the SEO option. Make sure you fill everything accordingly. And if you have not checked the SEO settings of each page separately, go back to Pages now and click on the small settings icon on each page module.

All steps were done, it’s time to put the website up and running. For that, just click on the Publish button and it will be live instantly.

Considerations And Cons

The fact that this website builder is very easy to use is obvious. However, there are some things to consider:

• It may lack deeper resources such as user registration and management
• Although enough for many people, the stores are too simple for some professionals
• Like pretty much everything else, you have to pay to have access to more features

Summary

All in all, SITE123 is a nice tool for building simple websites, especially for beginners and users without much experience or time to dedicate.

With decent tools and a straightforward interface, it delivers what is promised. Now let’s see what you think. Share your experience. After giving it a try, is it a good tool?

This article is contributed by Victor Oliveira, Born in the internet era and digital nomad for over 5 years. Privileged to have provided services through the online world to many companies and institutions, including Bloomberg, Harvard, and MIT.