Everybody knows that a business needs a website for its growth and customer interface. However, building a website can be a difficult as well as time consuming process if you do it yourself. Simple website builders do not give you access to modern functionality and can be difficult to maintain. Paying a website designer to build a complete custom website can be very expensive and you need to pay every time you want a simple change.

Drupal is a powerful, free system that anyone can use in order to create their own website. With such a powerful tool at your fingertips there is no longer any need to pay professionals to design a site when you can do the same job yourself absolutely free.

This book is your step-by-step guide to building your business website in Drupal, complete with a blog, events calendar, catalogue of products and services, and more.

In this book, we will build a complete website for a fictional client from scratch. We start at the beginning by downloading and installing Drupal, progress to creating and editing pages, and then we explore the most popular modules for Drupal. All functionality is presented in a clear step-by-step format which is easy to follow as you build your own site.

This book will explore several modules that will allow you to do everything from adding calendars and events to integrating content from Flickr and YouTube. Each chapter adds some features to your website and brings you closer to your customers.

At the end of the book, you should be able to build a site on your own or have the confidence and knowledge to hire a professional to develop a site for you which meets your business needs. You will get connected to your customers and find ways to make more money.

Approach

This book takes a step-by-step approach to building a complete website using Drupal and enhancing it to include modern technology used by cutting-edge companies. All instructions are written in such a way that they make sense to readers of any technical level.

An example restaurant website is set up and each chapter adds some exciting and powerful feature to this website. Though the book talks about the restaurant, these features can be used in any small/medium size business.

This book is designed primarily for business owners who want to create a new website for their company or upgrade a company website to be easier to maintain and have advanced capabilities.

Whether you know Drupal or not, this book will be your guide to a powerful website.

What you will learn from this book?

* Create a user-friendly, professional looking, and branded site with clear navigation
* Incorporate a blog or `latest news' page to keep your customers informed about new products, announce special offers, post news about your company, and share information that will attract prospective customers to you
* Build a product catalogue with categories, product images, and custom information
* Add e-commerce features so customers can order and buy products online
* Use a built-in "events calendar" for upcoming special events and occasions
* Build a community by integrating with user-generated content on Flickr and YouTube
* Use Google Maps to make it easy for customers to find you -- display a professional map on your "where to find us" page
* Essential maintenance tasks: upgrading Drupal, keeping backups, and optimizing performance