Wizards are no longer just mythological creatures. Wizards can help you build your own business website.
Wizards are not people when it comes to technology and software. Instead, wizards are step-by-step instructional screens that let non-technical users perform technical functions. Most website builder products have wizards built in to allow easy creation of a website with no programming experience or knowledge.
There are several types of website builder products out there. With the advancement of technology, “wizards” can walk any business person through the steps from what the URL would be to the colors and fonts. Website builder products have templates that are pre-designed screens that can be used, and most website builder tools allow images and documents to be uploaded or linked to the website that is built.
For example, a school supply company may select a template that has apples, pencils, rulers and books in the background or around the border of the web page. At the top of the page would be the business name and a very short description of the business. At the bottom could be the business address, phone, and email information. In the main body of the page there could be a paragraph description of the business and perhaps a note on some products on sale.
Website builder tools have become quite elaborate. With only a few extra clicks, a business person can add additional pages, incorporate a blog site, add an online catalog with shopping, and link to other sites if desired.
The shopping cart technology that is available with website builders can vary greatly. Intuit, for example, provides a website builder that is completely integrated with QuickBooks so that a business person can choose to display their on hand quantity, sale prices, and completely process the transaction while everything is recorded in their accounting, inventory and billing software.
Yahoo! SiteBuilder has a very easy website wizard with hundreds of templates to choose from based on your business needs. All storage is handled in the Yahoo “cloud” so that a business only needs a PC with internet access in order to get started. Yahoo also provides PayPal integration for online shopping from the business website.
In most cases, the business will need to purchase a web hosting plan as well as the website builder software. This allows the provider to store and hold your website so that it is accessible by internet users. Businesses may elect to have more elaborate plans as well to get improved listings on Google, Bing, and other search engines.
Wizards have made the work of creating a website much easier for business people who do not have the money to contract a web designer. For more complicated projects a web designer can be very h