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Yes, you can build your own website…

websites May 04, 2023

When I began blogging over a decade ago, I dropped all my ideas on a Typepad. The URL wasn’t pretty; I posted my thoughts at typepad.com/blog/AndrewEJenkins or something convoluted like that. The URL grew exponentially longer for each blog post. The site wasn’t attractive. In fact, it was hideous. However, it did provide a place for me to post content. At that point, that’s all I wanted— space to share my ideas.

About a year later, I was (rightly) told I needed a site with my own name as the URL. So, I moved to Wordpress.

And then the cost piled up

The change required a learning curve, for sure, but everything was pretty straightforward. With enough time and focus, I could do just about anything… until I tried to make my site “do” anything other than hold blog posts and static images, that is.

As I added more features, I discovered my “free” site wasn’t very functional, so I upgraded… at the cost of $30 / month…

In order to sell books, host online courses, capture email addresses, and then send emails, I needed numerous other plugins and add-ons. I was forced to find additional third-party applications and band-aid them to my site.

Easy enough, I thought.

At the time, InfusionSoft was one of the only options available for sending email broadcasts (they were— and still are— a good CRM), so I registered for a new account. It cost me $299– every month.

Then came the issue of capturing new email addresses. Though InfusionSoft allowed me to enter addresses I collected from events through my admin panel, I still needed a way to grab the contact info of new visitors to the site. I found Optin Monster, a software company which generates both pop-ups and static forms that can be embedded throughout the site, a viable option. The cost… just $20 / month.

But then you've got to collect money

Then I needed a tool to actually collect money from people, that is, I needed an online cash register. At the time, Verisign and Authorize.net were the two “go to” options. I jumped through the numerous hoops required to provide my qualifications to them, walked through the cumbersome application process, and then utilized their services. It took a few weeks to figure out. Then, when done, I paid anywhere from $80–$150 / month to do this, depending on how many transactions occurred.

When I decided to podcast, I created a Libsyn account. Though numerous options exist online, this most easily— in my mind— pushed content to all the places I wanted it to go (see chapter 16 for more about podcasting). Though not expensive, the $15 / month fee was yet another expense I didn’t want— but needed— to incur.

Those were good companies, but I found a better solution

Don’t worry about the names of those vendors. Most of them are still in business— and are all reputable. Today, I don’t use any of them for my personal websites, however. Rather, I found a solution that allowed me to transition from the approximately $500 I invested each month to run my online business to paying online a fraction of that.

Furthermore, the new solution didn’t require the band-aid approach which routinely broke. Whenever one of the previous tech companies updated their software, it generally created an issue for every other piece in my “technology stack,” immediately rendering them each obsolete until I updated every single one.

All that to say this: the technology game has changed. The tech works better, it’s cheaper, and it’s easier to navigate than ever before. You don’t need to know HTML or coding; in fact, if you're relying on it you’ve most likely found yourself stuck in the mud.

(Learn more about the specific tools I use here.)

Regardless…

In the Amplify material, we reframe the common perspective about books. The book isn’t the goal, the end— it’s the beginning. In like fashion, we want to look at websites from a new vantage point, as well. Namely, we don’t want to send people away from our site; we want to invite people to it.

(For more on this, see the link at the podcast below.)