How to Make a Website for Giving Advice for Free

Design your own online advice column.

If your friends and family often compliment you on your great advice, or perhaps if you dream of one day running an advice column, one way to get started is to make a website for giving advice. Several website hosts online offer free registration and domain names for anyone who is interested in creating a fully functional, interactive website. You can make your own website with plenty of template options for free, while helping people in the process.

Instructions

1. Find a website host you feel most comfortable with. The most popular blog hosts include Wordpress, Blogger and Tumblr, while other website hosts include Weebly, Yola and WebStarts. Register with one of these hosts' homepages by entering your email address and creating a username and password.

2. Enter a title and domain name for your website in the form, which may be (but do not have to be) the same thing. The title will be displayed in the header, such as "Just Ask Leila," while the domain will be your URL address, such as "www.askleila.webhost.com."

3. Find a template. All of the above listed website hosts offer a wide variety of free templates. Choose one that has one or two columns--ideally with a simple design that reflects your personality. Individuals looking for advice will want to get a sense of who you are before they ask you for help, and your website should show them exactly that.

4. Create an "About Me" page with a personal biography that focuses on your experience with advice, along with a friendly headshot. Create a "Contact" or "Ask Me" page with a contact form that makes it easy for readers to ask you for advice. A contact form is preferable to publishing your email address, which leaves you open to spam.

5. Create a new post. If you already have a letter or problem from a reader, paste it into the post, then type in your advice. Consider choosing a different color font for your answer so it's clear to readers which part of the post was written by you. If you do not have a letter or problem, invent one for your first post simply so readers can get a sense of the quality and style of your advice.

6. Enter tags and a category for each post, which will appear in the sidebar and will help readers navigate through different pages once you have dozens of posts published. Category ideas include "relationship advice," "family advice," "job advice" and "school advice."

References

• WordPress
• Blogger
• Tumblr
• Weebly
• Yola

Resources

• WebStarts