1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 [?mellow guitar music?] 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:11,000 Sometimes you need to create a professional looking website very quickly. 3 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,000 If you're not happy with the traditional way of making websites, 4 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,000 here are a few more options. 5 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,000 Over the past few years, lots of fully-hosted 6 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,000 website services have sprung up. 7 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:25,000 These services offer everything you need to get a website up and running. 8 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:28,000 You can build a website using their tools, 9 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:30,000 host it on their space, and you even get 10 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,000 a customizable domain. 11 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:38,000 Some are free, some cost money, and some are in-between. 12 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:39,000 First up is tumblr. 13 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:42,000 This is a free blogging platform 14 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:49,000 which you can sign up for at tumblr.com, that's tumblr.com. 15 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,000 Once you've signed up, you'll have a website 16 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:53,000 that looks something like this. 17 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,000 Right now this looks pretty plain because there aren't any posts yet, 18 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,000 but we can click on Customize here 19 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,000 in the upper right corner, 20 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:06,000 and we can go ahead and see what posts might look like. 21 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,000 From this customization panel, 22 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:10,000 we can also change our theme. 23 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,000 A lot of premium themes cost a one-time fee 24 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:16,000 but if you go ahead and scroll down here, 25 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,000 you can see that there are lots of free themes available as well. 26 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:22,000 However, you're not confined to these themes, 27 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:25,000 because you know HTML and CSS. 28 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:30,000 That means that you can go ahead and click on this button down here 29 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,000 that says Use Custom HTML. 30 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,000 Now, I don't recommend using this text box here 31 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,000 to create your tumblr HTML, 32 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:43,000 but if you create your site in an external text editor, 33 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:46,000 you can then copy and paste it here. 34 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,000 Tumblr uses a special syntax 35 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,000 which you can read more about in their help documents. 36 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,000 This syntax allows you to do all sorts of things, 37 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:56,000 like create different types of posts, 38 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,000 insert profile pictures, and more. 39 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:03,000 Just to give you an idea of how flexible tumblr is, 40 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,000 take a look at this site, garyvaynerchuk.com. 41 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:11,000 This is the website of wine guru and businessman Gary Vaynerchuk, 42 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,000 and you can see that there's a custom theme, 43 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,000 different types of posts, sidebars, 44 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,000 and there's even all sorts of different pages that you can visit, and more. 45 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:25,000 You'll also notice that he has a custom domain name, 46 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,000 garyvaynerchuk.com 47 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:32,000 instead of the one I had, which was mysurfingsite.tumblr.com. 48 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,000 By default, tumblr will give you a subdomain, 49 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:37,000 but if you've purchased a domain already, 50 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,000 you can point that domain to tumblr 51 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,000 and set up your tumblr blog so that it's associated with that domain. 52 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,000 Again, this is just a quick overview of what's out there, 53 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,000 but you can read all about the details of this 54 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:51,000 in their help documents. 55 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,000 Now, next up is squarespace, 56 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:58,000 which you can go ahead and check out at squarespace.com. 57 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,000 Squarespace is a paid platform, 58 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,000 and there are different monthly plans depending on your needs. 59 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,000 This site doesn't have any free plans, 60 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,000 but there is a free trial available. 61 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,000 Just like tumblr, they give you a free subdomain, 62 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:17,000 which in my case is mysurfingsite.squarespace.com 63 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,000 and when you're logged into the site, 64 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:22,000 you can use this toolbar up at the top here 65 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,000 to customize your site. 66 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:28,000 It's a pretty impressive platform with lots of customization available, 67 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:32,000 so even if you do know a lot about coding up custom websites, 68 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:35,000 it can be a useful platform for throwing together 69 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,000 a professional-looking site quickly. 70 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,000 All of these little widgets on the page here 71 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:45,000 can be edited and can be adjusted in a variety of ways. 72 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:49,000 Like tumblr, you can change your template pretty easily as well 73 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:55,000 and if you're feeling ambitious, you can even add your own custom CSS, 74 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:57,000 which is pretty handy. 75 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:02,000 Next up is a brand new contender called Virb. 76 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:06,000 Virb recently went through a huge overhaul of their offerings, 77 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:10,000 and their new goal is to allow you to create elegant websites easily. 78 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,000 They have become a paid platform, 79 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,000 but they have a free 7-day trial available, 80 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:21,000 and you can check it all out at virb.com. 81 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:25,000 Now, like the other platforms, I can just log in, 82 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:30,000 go to my site, which in this case is mysurfingsite.virb.com, 83 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:35,000 and in the upper right here, I can just go into the build mode. 84 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:40,000 Virb is similar to squarespace in that it's built around the concept of pages, 85 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:42,000 whereas a platform like tumblr 86 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,000 is built on the idea of posts and blogging. 87 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,000 You can create new pages, 88 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,000 you can edit the ones that you already have, 89 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:54,000 you can add a custom domain name, 90 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,000 and you can even edit the CSS. 91 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,000 I think you get the idea. 92 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,000 Next up is WordPress. 93 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,000 This is the last service that I'm going to show you, 94 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:07,000 but it's one of the original contenders in this brave new world 95 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:09,000 of fully hosted website services. 96 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,000 WordPress, which is available at wordpress.com, 97 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,000 is a very popular blogging platform, 98 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:19,000 but there's a couple of different options to be aware of here. 99 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:23,000 This is wordpress.com, which is a fully hosted service, 100 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:27,000 very similar to tumblr and some of the others that I've shown you. 101 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:33,000 Now, this is my wordpress site at mysurfingsite.wordpress.com, 102 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:37,000 and if I just scroll down here and click Log In, 103 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:47,000 I can go ahead and log in to the admin panel here 104 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:49,000 and once you've logged in, 105 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:51,000 you'll be presented with this admin panel. 106 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:54,000 From here, you can customize the HTML and CSS 107 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,000 and do all sorts of things. 108 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,000 Out of all the platforms I've shown you, 109 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:02,000 WordPress is the oldest, and in my opinion, 110 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,000 it's also the most flexible and mature 111 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,000 out of these four platforms that I've presented, 112 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:11,000 but for that reason, it's also the most complex. 113 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:15,000 Earlier I mentioned that there are a few options 114 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:19,000 beyond the free wordpress.com service. 115 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:21,000 If you'd like to purchase more storage space, 116 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:24,000 remove ads, and get more features, 117 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:27,000 they do have some premium offerings available. 118 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:31,000 In addition to that, there's also wordpress.org 119 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,000 rather than wordpress.com. 120 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,000 Now, if you're a more advanced user 121 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,000 with knowledge of PHP and SQL databases, 122 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,000 you can download the source code to wordpress 123 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:45,000 and host it on your own server. 124 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:48,000 This is a free download, but it also requires more time 125 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,000 and more advanced technical knowledge. 126 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:54,000 Those are just a few of the hosted services that are out there. 127 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:57,000 Between these and the traditional way of making websites, 128 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:01,000 you can see that there are a lot of options to explore. 129 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:04,000 [?mellow guitar music?] 130 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:07,000 Think Vitamin Membership - Est. 2010 membership.thinkvitamin.com