Step 4 - Design and Plan the Website

Before you start building your website or web-business, you need to consider and understand the the what you want it to do, so you can choose the right way to build the web site.

In a large company, you would probably hire an "information architect" and other IT professionals to design your web architecture.  But we're keeping it simple and cheap or free, so we'll do it ourselves.

So, what is the goal of your website? That determines what technologies you'll need!

 

Tool needed? Blogs Brochureware Informational or hobby website Selling on eBay Online stores Full fledged store
Free web site editor Good enough Good enough Good enough No Good enough Good enough
Professional web editor Better Better Better No Better Better
FTP program Depends on the host Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Photo / graphics / image editor No Good, but not necessary Good, but not necessary It's helpful Good, but not necessary Good, but not necessary

See this page for both free and paid web editors.