Building This Site
Silicon Valley Business Catalyst

If you wish to build your own website and want to know how I created this site, below is a list of tools and resources I used. 

Everything I implemented on my website was FREE except that I chose to purchase my own domain name (gracehm.com).

Updated March 2012
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Website Builder

This site was constructed using Yola, a company that provides a free website builder and hosting services.  Yola lets you make great-looking sites with webages that work beautifully together.  They do it without imposing banner ads or throwing up pop-up ad windows everywhere.  Best of all, it easy for anyone to build outstanding websites.

If you need assistance, Yola is there to help.  Just go to Yola Support. 

Site Style
I originally chose Redplanet as the style for my site.  It has a horizontal navigation menu so I have more room for content.  I switched to CleanSlate when it became available because I needed more content above the fold.  Redplanet has too much white space at the top of the page, which pushed my content down.

Redplanet                               CleanSlate
                   

Widgets

A widget allows you to add content to your page without having to write any code yourself. Below are some widgets I used.

SlideShare Slide Presentation

I uploaded my presentation to SlideShare then embedded the code into my site.  The downside to using SlideShare is that they do not support slide show mode (no animations or slide transitions) so that the play button is of very little use.

YouTube Video

I chose YouTube over Google Video because of how it looked on my site after I embedded it.  After recording the video with my webcam, I uploaded it onto YouTube.  Make sure the Privacy Setting is set to share.

ShareThis Content Sharing Tool

This tool makes your content easier to share and bookmark without having your visitors leave your site. You can also see what content is being shared with tracking and analytics.  This is much easier than providing multiple links to a myriad of services.

Twitter Updates

Twitter offers widgets to display your updates, to let visitors to your site know what you're up to at the moment.  You can choose to add a flash widget or an html widget.  I'm using a flash version.

Alltop News Updates

Alltop collects the headlines of the latest stories from the best sites and blogs that cover a topic.  You can select a topic and place the widget on your site.

FormAssembly Contact Form

I generated my contact form using the FormAssembly online from builder.  I started with a template and changed from there.  Whenever someone completes a form, I have it setup so that I automatically receive an email notification.

JS-Kit Comments & Ratings

Adding interactivity to the online experience as easy with JS-Kit.  I integrated Ratings with Comments which lets visitors rate and comment on items, services, etc.

FreeFind Site Search

I chose this search over Google Search.  This search engine worked immediately for me.  With Google Search, results for my site didn't come up.  It was likely because the site hadn't been crawled yet by Google.  I also like the fact that I receive reports that track visitors' searches.

Snap Shots

Snap Shots gives a site more interactive experience.  It provides readers a preview of external links without having to leave the site.

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Buttons

I've added buttons to various parts of my website.  Some are animated and some have mouseover capabilities.  A widget allows you to add content to your page without having to write any code yourself.  Below are some widgets I used.

Twitter Button by Siah Design

Adding an animated Twitter button was very easy.  I just downloaded the graphics and the link from Siah Design's site.

LinkedIn Button

I just used one of LinkedIn's standard buttons for my website.

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Blog Tools

I chose not to use some of the standard blog tools provided.  Below are the added widgets I used.

RSS

Because I wanted to know how many people were subscribing to my blog, I chose not to use the default RSS widget.  Instead, I am using FeedBurner, which also allows me to analyze the traffic.  To find steps on how to implement FeedBurner click here.

Email Subscription

I provide an email subscription option through FeedBurner.

I used ShareThis to make it easier for site visitors to share and bookmark without having to leave my site.  I chose not to use FeedFlare with my FeedBurner acount since ShareThis offers more choices and flexibility.

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Additional Resources

Below is a list of other resources for free tools.

Yola Code Site

This site is a good resource for flash banners, navigation menus, and buttons.

This site is a good resource for flash banners, navigation menus, and buttons.

foresite

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