Small Business Owners Must Learn HTML and CSS.
April 17, 2012
Just about every small business owner knows that they have to have a website. What many don’t know, is that they also have to have basic web design skills … yes, even learning the dreaded code behind the pages: HTML and CSS.
Why do you need to know HTML and CSS?
For a few reasons:
- To be able to make small changes to your site, without having to call your web designer every two minutes!
- To be able to judge (to a certain extent) how long it might take to make a change to your website.
- To know what your options are regarding a website.
… Let’s tackle each of these:
MAKING SMALL CHANGES TO YOUR WEBSITE
Websites are in constant need of updates, no question. It could be some new text you want add, corrections, adding a new image or even a new page. Many of these jobs are actually pretty easy to do with even a simple understanding of HTML and CSS.
So rather than having to reach your web designer, waiting for he/she to get back to you, just learn some basic web design and you will save a lot of time, headaches and even some money.
BEING ABLE TO JUDGE THE TIME AND COST OF WEB DESIGN
This is a common complaint I hear from small business owners … they have no idea how to judge what the fair price is … to do a job. This is no fault of their own: often times things that seems simple to do, are hard and sometimes things that seem hard, are actually simple.
Being an old time web-nerd, it never failed to amaze me how often my clients had no idea where the true cost were in a given web design project. In fact, they often thought cheap things were expensive and vice-verse!
Knowing a little HTML and CSS comes with general web design knowledge baked-in: you will have a much better feel about the process (on the whole) which frankly, will keep you from getting ripped off by some less than honest web designers.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR WEB DESIGN OPTIONS
Again, the general web design knowledge that learning basic HTML and CSS will give you, opens your eyes (nerd-eyes) to some of the options that are out there regarding your website.
You will soon discover that in the web world, there are many competing options, each having their advantages and disadvantages. When dealing with web programmers or professional web designers, you will be able to speak their language and ultimately make everyone’s life easier while saving you money.
Your Web Design Learning Options
Yes, I am talking my book and this article may seem a little self-serving; nonetheless it is accurate. So, here are some of the options that we can offer to make learning HTML and CSS fast and easy:
Option #1:
My beginners web design course – for total beginners. By the end of the course, you will have built a simple website by hand. This is a course that you can download or have it mailed to you on DVD.
Option #2:
Our Web Design Video Library. A huge collection (over 1000 videos and growing) that teaches everything from basic HTML, CSS, design concepts, to shopping carts and HTML5. A subscription based system (like Netflix) that cost $8.25/month … with a 1 year subscription.
Option #3:
Our new interactive training system: Killersites University. Yes, we have courses on HTML and CSS but delivered in a game like environment with quizzes, interactive code challenges and scoring.
Thanks for reading,
Stefan Mischook
killersites.com
