#TomFitzgibbon

I've built 100+ websites at this point and come to one conclusion: unless you can directly/quickly update your website, it's worthless. Paying someone to continually add content and maintain the site is crazy unless you're rich.

So let me introduce you to sites.google.com. This website builder comes from the Google monster and is copy/paste easy to use. Create a gmail for yourself like SueSmithNYC@gmail.com, then browse sites.google.com. You can now make yourself a free website that you can update. It won't have all the bells and whistles but who needs most of that anyway?

Sites automatically works for cellphone, tablet, laptop, desktop and most browsers. No annoying "This is a Free Website" messages. And you can get site analytics. This is big.

You need a place to call home in the internet that you can decorate, change and clean up.

Google Website Setup (Did I Mention it was Free, except for Domain Name Registration?)

1) Set up a gmail account like SueSmithNYC. Take a Gmail tutorial.

Forward email to your real email address or just check your new email account directly.

2) Open up a new tab on your browser and type in sites.google.com and create your homepage and other pages like below. Insert images and text just like in a wordprocessor. Use Google Photos to insert images from your albums. Take a Google Sites and Google Photos tutorial.

Make these pages or your own: home, works, shows, bio, press, contact

3) Buy domain name like SueSmith.nyc from Domain.com or any registrar. This might cost $20/yr.

Forward url at registrar SueSmith.nyc to google site https://sites.google.com/view/SueSmith-NYC.

4) Open up a new tab on your browser and type in docs.google.com. Set up works with a google sheet with columns below, make public and embed in your works page. Take a Google Docs tutorial.

Make these columns or your own: image, name, date, dimensions, materials, where, price, bought by

Pretty up the spreadsheet by changing rows and column size. Insert images directly in cells.

Create another sheet to keep track of your art. You don't have display your pages to the public.

5) In Google Docs add a contact form (no required fields), then embed form in contact page. This will hide your email address while allowing people to contact you.

6) Add Google Analytics to track who lands on your website. https://support.google.com/sites/answer/97459

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