Building Websites as a Marketer

Many wouldn't consider coding as one of the essential skill sets of a marketer, but having some technical coding knowledge is extremely valuable. You certainly don't have to be an expert coder, but understanding the basics so that you can understand the possibilities and limitations of your development team will make you a great team player. Even better if you have the ability to build your own website or landing page!

Don't Know Where to Start?

As you probably already know, coding is extremely complicated, and people spend there lives learning coding languages, so where do you start? A great resource to help you learn to code at any skill level is Codeacademy. Codeacademy is a website that teaches coding. It offers coding lessons in different programming languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You can also learn how to build websites and apps. The website has interactive coding exercises that help you practice what you have learned. There is also a community where you can ask questions and get help from other coders. Codeacademy is a great resource for learning how to code. I personally recommend HTML if you are interested in learning to code for websites.

Codeacademy starts with the basics, explaining what HTML is, and provides step-by-step lessons. In the Introduction to HTML, you will learn basic HTML coding and create a mock website article. At the end of the guide, you will have a website that looks something like this:

That may not be the prettiest "website" but this is something created only using lines of text!

Don't Want to Start?

Ok maybe you think my "Brown Bear" website from Codeacademy is ugly and coding is just too scary for you. Although I would strongly recommend learning some code, it is definitely possible to create a website with 0 coding knowledge.

Squarespace:

Squarespace is a web-building platform that lets you easily drag, drop, and edit each element on the screen. If coding isn't your thing, and you don't need advanced functions on your website, then Squarespace is a great option. I was able to build a homepage within minutes of starting!

Starting with WordPress!

Option 3, The best of both worlds:

If you want to build a website that uses drag and drop, AND coding functionality, then WordPress is an excellent option. In my opinion, WordPress is the perfect middle ground between extreme bare-bones HTML coding and the drag and drop of Squarespace. For non-coders, WordPress has thousands of plugins like Elementor that can be used to create your website. If you need further convincing then consider that WordPress is used by 43.2% of all websites on the internet. So understanding the platform will give you a huge advantage when looking for jobs since so many businesses already use it.

Checkout my personal website built with WordPress here