Seth Shoultes
How I Started in Website Design
What is a website? This is a question that I have heard all too often. I was introduced to the internet around 1991. My family was in poverty. My dad was unemployed and going to school to learn about computers. I had used computers in school to play ‘Oregon Trail’ and to make some basic graphics, using letters and numbers(ACII art). Other than that I had no idea what internet was or what it did nor did I care. The only thing I knew about the internet at the time was that you needed to have a computer and a modem with a good baud or bald rating or whatever.
Now fast forward to the present day, 17 years later. My parents have upgraded to a quasi-poverty level(as usual). My dad is still unemployed, and spends most of his waking hours on the internet or building and fixing computers for friends and family. I live in another state, and use the internet daily. I maintain 40+ websites, and work a full time job(maintaining a single 1600+ page website). In my spare time I design websites and consult on search engine optimization for new and upcoming businesses.
When I started out building websites(seven plus years ago), I had no idea what HTML was nor what it meant to use it to build a website. I had a PC and knew how to use the internet. So I went to the local bookstore and picked up a book called ‘HTML in Easy Steps’. I read through this book and about halfway through I was lost. My job at the time was too demanding. My wife was always complaining that I was on the computer too much, and kept making references to my unemployed dad. I then quickly lost interest in building websites.
After losing interest in web design, I worked in construction non-stop for about a year and a half. You know, the day to day routine of getting up everyday and hating my job. Then one day it hit me(or should I say I hit her), A lady driving a 4,000 pound GMC Yukon(while talking on a cell phone), pulled out across traffic and stopped in my lane of traffic.
I ended up not being able to walk and in dire need of a back surgery after the accident. So… for six months leading up to my back surgery, I sat in my computer room and played around on the internet. Sometimes I sat for hours reading about web design, studying HTML on other websites. I then found this wonderful program called ‘Dreamweaver’. This program is what I was looking for all along. I could make a website in a matter of hours(compared to several days). It was great! I was on top of the world, even though I could barely walk. I would spend hours making some of the worst looking websites I have ever seen.
Some of these first websites I made, looked like a Hunter S. Thompson story, gone horribly wrong. These first few websites were no more than colorful mosaics of words and backgrounds, and disappearing, floating, flying, and zooming craziness. One look at my first website and you would have thought you were had been kidnapped by Willy Wonka and Dr. Seuss, and taken off to some far out land, in a rainbow of ugliness.
So you ask, what happened? Well, my wife sells scrap booking supplies and she needed a new marketing strategy for her business. So I offered to design her first website. After coaxing her for about a month, she finally gave in! On one condition. She was NOT having any of this Willy Wonka Craziness on her website!
So I sat and listened to what she wanted, took some notes, and went to work. To this day her first website was one of the hardest websites I have ever created. Talk about picky(for good reason). Everything had to be perfect! It’s supposed to represent HER, of course. After about a month of brainstorming and hurt feelings, it finally came together. It was great! I had just had a crash course in CUSTOMER RELATIONS and beutiful web design. I wanted more! I had made one website that WAS NOT a jumbled up mess of text and images.
So I started advertising my services to everyone. Every where I went, I would let people know that I can design YOU a WEBSITE. Most people looked at me like I was an idiot, and acted like THEY HAD KNOWN how to build WEBSITES for years. After a couple of months of this, someone who thought I wasn’t a complete idiot, hired me to design a website. I was amazed. So I went work, and designed another good looking website. It was GREAT! I was in web design heaven for a while.
Then the day came. I was up for my back surgery. I went through with it. Afterwards, I could not sit at a ninety degree angle for six weeks. Which meant I could not sit at a computer! Until my back was completely healed! After six weeks or so I was able to work again, so I went back to work. I had been playing around with some web designs for a while. Not really doing much with it. Then one day(long ago), I was talking to a coworker about how I design websites in my spare time. I was telling him how I wished I could just stay home and build websites all day.
Then he asked me, “What is a website? Is that where people sell cars?”
This guy didn’t know what a website is? I was dumbfounded. I thought everyone knew what a website was. This guy is an electrician, he had taken some college courses recently. So I explained to him as best I could, about the internet and websites, etc. Then the very next day, I was talking to an owner of a local construction company. I told him that he should get a website for his business, and that the internet was a great place to market his company. Again, I was asked “what is a website”. It was then that I realized how young the internet really is. There are people that do not know any thing about the internet or websites. What I came to realize is that most people know what the internet is. And know how to use it. Most of these internet savvy people, DO NOT KNOW(or WANT to KNOW), about how to build or market a website.
So, what is a website? A place to sell your car?
In my honest opinion(IMHO), a website is a great marketing opportunity for your business. No matter how big or small your business may be. It is a place to go and blow off some steam in a blog. It is a place to catch up on the latest events from around the world. It is a place to relax, check movie listings, find a date, and soo MUCH MORE. Best of all, it is a place that I designed(some where in CyberSpace), for the rest of the world to see.
Be sure to visit my website Smart Website Solutions.
