The Basics of Coding and Website Creation for a Digital Marketer
Building a website is a crucial thing for a digital marketer to know how to do. To build a website from scratch can be very daunting because coding is not an easy thing to learn. It is very possible though! There are platforms out there like Codecademy that walks you through step-by-step on how to code a website. Coding is not for everyone, so there are also websites out there such as Squarespace and WordPress that provide you with website templates and all you have to do is plug your businesses information in. In this blog, I will be talking about Codecademy, Squarespace, and WordPress.
Codeacademy
Codecademy is an American online interactive platform that offers free coding classes in 12 different programming languages including Python, Java, Go, JavaScript, Ruby, SQL, C++, C#, Swift, and Sass, as well as markup languages HTML and CSS. To learn more about web development I started the "Learn HTML" course.
In the first lesson I learned:
- HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language and is used to create the structure and content of a webpage.
- Most HTML elements contain opening and closing tags with raw text or other HTML tags between them.
- HTML elements can be nested inside other elements. The enclosed element is the child of the enclosing parent element.
- Any visible content should be placed within the opening and closing <body> tags.
- Headings and sub-headings, <h1> to <h6>tags, are used to enlarge text.
- <p>, <span> and <div> tags specify text or blocks.
- The <em> and <strong> tags are used to emphasize text.
- Line breaks are created with the <br> tag.
- Unordered lists (<ul>) are bulleted.
- Ordered lists (<ol>) are numbered
- Images (<img>) and videos (<video>) can be added by linking to an existing source.
This lesson was all about putting your content onto the website and in the next lesson, they show you how to transform it into an HTML document that’s ready to go on the web.
Squarespace
Squarespace provides software as a service for website building and hosting, and allows users to use pre-built website templates and drag-and-drop elements to create and modify webpages.
When you first get to the Squarespace website all you have to do is press "get started". Once you do, you will be prompted to answer a few basic questions about the website you are creating.
Squarespace makes making a website as simple as possible by providing you with several different premade templates.
Once you choose the template that you think will be best for your website Squarespace walks you through a short tutorial on how everything works. When designing your website you can edit pages, create pages, and style pages. Although you are using a template you have full creative control to change anything.
The picture below shows what I was able to accomplish by just spending five minutes on Squarespace creating a personal and CV website. This shows how simple Squarespace is to use because all you have to do is insert your information into the already made template. Even if you do need to make a change to the template such as adding a new page, all you have to do is press the "Pages" button and press the plus sign.
WordPress
WordPress is a free and open-source content management system written in PHP and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database. Features include a plugin architecture and a template system, referred to within WordPress as Themes.
"38% of the web is built on WordPress. More bloggers, small businesses, and Fortune 500 companies use WordPress than all other options combined. Join the millions of people that call WordPress.com home."
WordPress is very simple to navigate and create your own website while using the provided themes. All you have to do is choose a theme that you believe is the best for the website you are building and plug your information in. Below is a picture of some examples of themes you can choose from:
Similarities and Differences
Squarespace and WordPress are very similar sites. One of the main differences is when it comes to customizing your site. WordPress allows users to incorporate themes and WordPress plugins from anywhere, and even create their own. While Squarespace won’t allow users to freely make changes and import themes or other elements from outside the site since all tools and features available to users are created and owned by the Squarespace development team. Another difference is Squarespace is a hosted environment, which means that the site itself exerts tight control over just about every aspect of your website and limits your ability to make changes and import tools. WordPress on the other hand has a self-hosted version that can be downloaded free from WordPress.org and hosted on any platform and with any hosting plan a user chooses. The benefit of this is the host has no claim on website content, and users can add as many pages or posts as they want. Also if the host closes down, you still own your content and control where it appears online.
Codecademy differs from both Squarespace and WordPress because they offer courses on how to use coding to make a website from scratch.
Conclusion
As a digital marketer, one of your major objectives is to help a business have a successful online presence. It is near impossible to have this without a website. All three of these platforms allow you to create a website whether you want to do it from scratch or start from a given template. You can also use all three, you can use the templates Squarespace and WordPress provide and learn how to code the elements you cannot get through those websites by using Codecademy.
A website is the main hub for your customers to navigate your business. It is also important because it helps to establish credibility as a business and potentially turn someone into a paying customer.
What platform are you going to use when building a website?
Digital, Brand + Integrated Marketing | Co-Founder, Campamento Esperanza, Costa Rica
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