A website I built myself using SelfAssemblySites
Are you fed up with the high costs of web design, and the seeming complexity of it all? Me too.
The Frustration
When I started my Art business several years ago, like most people, I hired a web designer to build my site for me. It was a good site, if a little expensive, and I was quite happy with it. A few months later, I needed some simple but important changes made – sold paintings removed, new paintings added. My web designer was a good guy but he was too busy, so I had to wait. When the changes were made, I was charged $120 an hour, several people told me that was a very fair rate for a guy of his quality, that they pay way more. He was a quality designer, that’s what you pay. But at that cost it doesn’t make you feel like you want to be continually improving your site .
I felt I had no control over my site, instead of enhancing and reflecting my business it felt separate to me, it was a frustration and a burden. If you’re feeling that same frustration, trust me, I feel your pain.
The Revelation
Years later I met Alastair McDermott. One morning at his kitchen table, with only a pen and paper, he talked me through how to build a great site for myself using professional tools – I recorded this conversation on my Flip video camera. I went away and to my amazement I built my sites, which turned out great (you can see one example here on this page).
It was the most remarkable sensation. Hands thrust into the air, that surge of pure elation. One day something is totally alien to you and the next you’ve surprised yourself by actually building something. Real proof that you can do it, not just a thought or intention. Sure it’s a simple and basic site to begin with but it’s professional quality and most of all it’s yours. It’s a strong starting point to build on. The feeling that you built it, you didn’t think you could, but you did is remarkable. You followed the simple instructions and you created your first website. A wonderful feeling of accomplishment, that strikingly positive feeling that you are competent in a whole new area. You’ve achieved something significant and can build on that to even greater things.
It was just so easy, I told some friends about it and they asked for the videos. So I went back to Alastair and we decided to create SelfAssemblySites, with high quality videos and walkthroughs for every aspect of building and running a site.
The Vision
In the modern world, if you can can create your own website, or design a site, it can be a catalyst and a launch pad for so many ideas and ambitions that otherwise wouldn’t be possible to explore due to the cost. Sure you can use facebook, or one of the simple site-in-a-box options, but they’re not real solutions, they’re far too narrow in scope. Being able to build real sites with pro tools, makes you free to run with your ideas. Not only that but able to build your own websites saves you a load of money, and allows you to put all those limited resources toward more important areas.
I wanted to help people turn their websites from passive and costly, frustrating experiences to a very affordable, active, positive and constructive accelerant to their success and hopefully your success. I want to put you in control like I had been, so you can grow your websites as you grow your business or projects.
If you want to learn how to build or manage your own high quality website, then join us today – you’re only two minutes away from hundreds of videos and our private members forum – I hope to see you there.
Just think, in under 2 hours, you could have your first site live!
- Alistair McBride.
N.B. Don’t forget to sign up for our FREE 7 Day Website Planner video training course
(Click here to read the full GeektGear.com Review)
Video Tour of Members Area – Hit Play Button To Start Video
Here’s a sample of some of the content and resources you gain immediate access to the moment you join:
Private Community Forums
Access our private member’s only community where you can request site reviews, get constructive feedback on your site and learn from your people just like you. Best of all, you can ask questions in 1 to 1 Consultations with our experts worth $100s and all this in a friendly, safe environment.
Training Guides
Our simple, step-by-step training guides walk you through every stage of website planning and setup from how to choose & buy a domain name, plan what pages you need, find or create images, video and content for your site, how to update your site regularly, promote your site, and more.
SAS QuickStart
Get your first site done by dinner.
- Build a simple, professional website quickly, easily & effectively
- Less than 1 hour of required video viewing, in small steps
- Get your site online in 2-4 hours
- No previous technical experience needed
If you are motivated and focused, you can get a small but professional site up and running within 2 hours by following along with these videos. Think how good that will feel!
SAS Website Planner
In less than 1 hour, this Guide walks you through all aspects of planning your new website from creating a site blueprint, analysing your competitors, gathering content, to choosing a design and ensuring you have the essential elements of your site worked out saving you lots of time and delay. It can also help you layout a rough road map for developing your site in an ongoing basis.
SAS Website Builder
This Guide shows you how to build a professional quality website with no previous technical or design experience. We recommend allowing 20+ hours to get a professional level site fully set-up.
SAS Website Manager
This Guide is designed for those who already have a site but want to learn to maintain it themselves. This Guide contains all the necessary elements for you to update, grow and enhance your WordPress site once it is up and running.
SAS Website Marketing
Excel at promoting and rapidly grow traffic to your website using Internet marketing and real-world methods such as SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Social Media including Facebook, Twitter and more, and Pay Per Click in addition to traditional media advertising.
Hard to believe? Let me tell you why we do this:
- we want our training content to be user-driven – if there’s something YOU need, chances are someone else out there needs it too
- we don’t always have access to the particular hosting company control panel or software that you might be using, so if we need to record doing something, hey, we may as well just do what you need done, right?
- it makes our service more awesome to our members, which is always a good thing!
(Click here to see a screenshot of the actual community forum discussion thread)
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is membership?
We currently have 3 options, the longer you sign up for, the cheaper it is:
- Annual Platinum Membership is $497 Special Discount – Limited Numbers: $447 per year – 6 Months FREE
- Quarterly Platinum Membership is $297 Special Discount – Limited Numbers: $147 for 3 months
- Monthly Platinum Membership is $197 per month
Not from USA? No problem – you can see our pricing in alternative currencies by changing the currency option at the bottom of this page!
Can I really can learn to build a website worth $5000 without any previous technical or design knowledge? Seriously?
Yes, but we understand why you might be a bit sceptical. It’s not all easy – if you want to build something valuable you will still need to put in some hours – but it is possible. In fact, that’s why we setup SelfAssemblySites in the first place because it’s far more straight forward than most realise!
With the growth of professional themes, tens of thousands of plugins, vast stock photography and graphics sites, and Content Management Systems (CMS’) that are getting easier and easier to use, it really is possible for folks with very little technical or design experience to create something amazing. We have hundreds of videos showing you how to take advantage of these factors.
If you were to write a project spec for a website containing half the number of the things we teach you to do, it would cost over $5000. We give you all that with your membership.
You can build a simple website very quickly, or spend more time on it and build something more powerful - whatever suits your requirements!
Of course you might not want huge amounts of functionality – maybe you just need a simple, effective site (that a professional might charge $1000 for) – we’ll show you how to build something like that too. We hope that the massive savings most people will achieve compared to these costs will make signing up for SelfAssemblySites an easy decision!
Can I just learn how to maintain and update an existing site?
Yes, a significant number of our members already had sites when they joined us, and use SAS so they can improve and update their websites rapidly, without having to waste time and money getting their web company to do it.
You waste time, in having to explain clearly what you want done and then the delay in seeing the result appear, which if the company is busy can take several weeks. How much is that time worth to you?
Most web companies charge between $70-$180 per hour for updates, so even one month on SAS can be a very wise investment, allowing to update your site yourself. We put them in control!
For the price of one update to your site, you could learn to make as many changes to your site as you wish, makes clear economic sense.
What type of computer do I need to use SelfAssemblySites? Do I need anything else, what are the requirements?
You don’t need a lot to get started using SelfAssemblySites. Apart from 2-4 hours of your time to get a basic site setup, here are the other technical requirements:
Computer: You need a computer with an internet connection and sound, so that you can watch video. Broadband is preferable, but we have our videos in various sizes to suit slower connections. If you can watch any YouTube video, e.g. the video on this page, then you’re ready to get started. You can use Windows, MacOS, Linux and most other operating systems. You can even use a smartphone like iPhone, Androids, Blackberry.
Credit Card: Almost all software, etc, that we recommend is free, so there are very few extra costs. The only things you will need to purchase, if you don’t have them already, are a) domain name (around $9) and b) website hosting (from $7 per month). We recommend several suppliers for different needs but you are free to choose any you like.[Note: You pay the Hosting Company not SelfAssemblySites. No matter where you get a website you still have to pay a hosting fee].
Notepad & pen: It’s not all about the hi-tech! You will find that a pen and paper will be useful, particularly in the early planning stages.
Why does SelfAssemblySites teach WordPress as the primary system?
Why we choose WordPress
It’s simply the best system out there at the moment. It’s very, very user friendly for non-technical users, and it is continually improving and expanding on a regular basis.
More professional developers are now using WordPress as their primary CMS than any other system and this is being reflected in the statistics: WordPress is now used by more websites than all the other CMS’s (Content Management Systems) put together. This scale means that there are thousands of free and premium themes – design templates, tens of thousands of plugins available (like apps for your android or iPhone), and millions of web designers and developers familiar with the system. See this image for more information.
Isn’t WordPress just for blogs?
No, but lots of people think it is because it did start out a blogging platform years ago. However, it has since expanded in scope exponentially and now outperforms all other options in its class and is widely accepted to be the most powerful and user friendly CMS.
Note: it’s easy to mix up the confusingly named WordPress.ORG CMS with WordPress.COM which is a hosted blogging solution from the same company. We show you how to use the powerful WordPress.ORG CMS.
What happens if I don’t renew my account?
You can cancel at any time. We’d love you to stay, and any feedback you could give as to why you’re not renewing is always hugely appreciated so that we can improve our service. You can renew later – former members are always welcomed back with open arms.
What are the Community Forums for?
They are private members-only forums are where members can post questions, post sites for review and ask for feedback. Some discussions can be just peer to peer, between members just like you, others involve input from us on technical, business or other subjects. We encourage requests from members for us to cover new topics and, as mentioned above, we like to shoot new videos based on members questions.
This is where members can avail of 1 to 1 Consultations with our Experts worth $100s for no extra cost than membership!
What is the 7 Day Website Planner eCourse?
It’s just what it says: a 100% free course for 7 days, delivered via email once per day giving new perspectives on websites and web business. The course includes actionable tasks. When completed you’ll have a website blueprint: which pages you need, a feel for design and layout, what content you’ll need and much more. The Planner will save you lots of time and delays when creating your site.
Members can enjoy the Planner Course at their own pace. Non-Members can enjoy it through 1 email a day for 7 days format.
So you don’t have to sign up to SelfAssemblySites to get the 7 Day Free Course – just fill in this simple form and we’ll deliver the first training video to your inbox immediately!
Are there different levels of membership?
Yes, due to the different needs of our members we have 3 different levels. Click here to Learn about Silver, Gold and Platinum Membership.
Can you recommend graphic designers/programmers/hosting companies?
Yes, in the members area we recommend a number of different types of suppliers and we have several training modules showing what to look out for when outsourcing.
I’m a cynic. This sounds too good to be true, what’s the catch?
There’s no catch, we show you how to build impressive, professional websites and when you have questions we do our very best to answer them as clearly and effectively as possible.
Why not simply try a month’s membership – we have a no quibble 60 day 100% money back guarantee – if you don’t like it for any reason, we’ll give you your money back!
Detailed Comparison of All Major Website Building Options
We’ve created an extensive comparison of all of the major options you can choose when building a website. We list almost every possible method that results in you getting a website, and list the pro’s and con’s of each as we seem them and how they compare to SelfAssemblySites. Click here to view the comparison table.
Origins of SelfAssemblySites
We came up with SelfAssemblySites when Alistair wanted to build a couple of websites. He had a bad experience with his previous web developer and he asked me to build his sites for him.
When he came to me, I figured it would be more effective to use video to talk him through how to build a website, rather than build several sites for him. It was quicker for me, and then he’d be able to do more himself – like the old cliche “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day, teach him to fish, feed him for life”.
We recorded some videos for him and it worked really well – he was able to build some great sites. Then some other friends of his said they’d love to learn the same, and the SelfAssemblySites idea was born – we decided to build a site to teach people how to build good websites.
How about a discount coupon? :-)
As a special thank you for reading all the way to the bottom of the page, here’s a 5% discount coupon: E39E8166F
Enter it at the bottom of the signup page – I recommend you copy and paste in!
Ah, but you want a BIGGER discount coupon? :-)
Ok, I can do that. What you need to do is go to our Facebook Page and hit that there Like button – that’ll show you a different code :-)
Pricing in Alternative Currencies
- Annual Membership is $497 Special Discount – Limited Numbers: $447 per year – 6 Months FREE
- Quarterly Membership is $197 Special Discount – Limited Numbers: $147 for 3 months – 1 Month FREE
- Monthly Membership is $197 per month