I started to build my blog and portfolio about one month ago. So, as you can tell, I’m as much of a beginner as you can POSSIBLY be! Before I bought my domain name and signed up for a webhotel service I had spent at least a couple of months reading everything I could get my hands on about creating websites, finding frameworks, themes, plugins and you name it… Finally I signed up for a webhotel, and seeing my domain name first time, realized that the adventure of creating a place online not only for myself, but for anyone trying to navigate in the big wide world with their artistic talents and dreams, had begun!
So here I was with my new domain and a WordPress account, knowing my choices of what to do next was unlimited! Isn’t that the most scary situation of all, to have unlimited choices?!
Well, sitting down calming myself with a cup of strong, black coffee (I suppose tea could have been more relaxing but I’m a notorious coffee drinker), I soon realized that MY choices were actually not unlimited… Thank God for that!
For a start, I’m a total newbie to this. Buying a framework and coding from scratch was not an option. But wait, there are fantastic website builders for nonprofessionals that will help you design your page in the frontend! That means, instead of having to know html or any other computer language in the backend of the webpage, this software program will translate all the incomprehensible code into plain English in order to easily program anything yourself. Isn’t that just great? BUT of course it doesn’t come for free. It’s not over the top expensive, but here’s my next limit: I’m doing this on a super low budget, not to say NO budget at all. Yes, I know, there are something called web designers too, but unfortunately not on the map I follow for this project!
So here we go, two big limitations to help choosing what to do next! I bet many of you are in the same situation – beginners, or with almost no previous experience, and possibly on a budget too, as many of us don’t have magical pockets. Some of you have families to provide for firstly, and can’t draw much from the budget to meet your personal preferences. Maybe you are a starving artist that quit your day job too early (!) and have to create a portfolio online before you will ever sell a piece of artwork, publish a book or get any commissions. Well, good news! The domain name and the webhotel is the ONLY thing you might have to pay to get started (and there are completely free alternatives as well) and then you will find lots and lots of free customizable themes and plugins for your website. Your two big assets to accomplish the rest, fantasy and creativity, are also for FREE…
So getting started is the easy part… To make it work is something else! To gain some courage of heart and get lots of inspiration I highly recommend the books shown above! Great reads to get valuable tips and wise reflections on why you should be out there, and how to do it! So get one or two of these books, make yourself comfortable in your favourite chair, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the reading. Meanwhile, don’t forget to cherish your limitations. Limitations are the road signs on the rocky road of the artist that saves her from getting insane! And our art springs from our specific circumstances at a particular point in time. That’s what makes it so unique.
