Whether your goal is to create an online business or simply to create a web presence that you can use to present your talents to the world, it’s not uncommon for people to decide that they would like to set up a website of their own. While it takes considerable talent and skill to build a site with a high degree of functionality, it actually is not all that difficult to create your own web page. The process can be as simple or as complex, as you would like it to be. To create a basic site, here are the basic steps that you will need to take.
Get a Domain Name
A domain name is an address that people type into the top of their web browser to visit your site. To obtain a domain name, you will need to purchase one from a company that provides them. In most cases, you will pay a yearly fee to own a domain name. While this might sound like bad news, the annual fee is typically meager, in most cases less than ten dollars.
When you are buying a domain name, that is all that you are doing. You are only buying the name, not a website. There are additional services and work that you will need to have to move forward.
There are several different places that you can purchase a domain name from. Obviously, you will want to shop around a bit to ensure that you are getting the best deal. We have been using HostOtter.com for several domain names, and they have been phenomenal; we couldn’t ask for more. You will also want to make sure that you choose a good name for your site. Ideally, it will be relevant to the content of your site. Your name choice will depend on the type of site you hope to create. If you aim for repeat customers or users, choose something brandable. If you are mainly hoping to catch search engine traffic, make sure that your target keywords are prominent in the name.
Get Web Hosting
To set up a website, it will also need to be hosted. A hosting company owns the servers, which makes it possible for people to view your site online without crashing your computer. Anyone with internet access will access your site once it is placed on the host’s servers. Think of buying the domain as registering your trademark and setting up hosting like buying office space.
Again, you will want to shop around to make sure that you are choosing the best host. Unlike with domain names, price is not the only issue in this case. You will need to make sure that the host provides enough bandwidth and won’t be charged ridiculous fees if you exceed the bandwidth. You will also want to do your research and make sure that they are reliable. No host can guarantee that the site will never go down, but the good ones will compensate you financially if it does.
Design Your Web Page
Obviously, this is the part of the process that decides just how long and complex the process is. You could technically simply write a text document, upload it to your hosting account, and put it on your front page. It would be the blandest web page ever created, but it would work. Microsoft Word actually allows you to create web pages with hyperlinks and images that can be saved as an HTML document and used as a website. However, this isn’t necessarily the most professional way to go about it.
If you plan to update your site periodically, you will likely want to install free blogging software such as WordPress. Many of the professional blogs that you find on the internet are powered by similar software. Free themes can be plugged into this software to give it a unique appearance. The code that runs the blog is open source and can be freely edited if you learn how.
Pay software such as Dreamweaver also allows you to create a fully customized site without any programming language knowledge. There is a user-friendly website creator called Website Tonight, and you can get a free version with each domain you register at HostOtter.com. Some web hosts will provide you with software to build a site as part of their package.
Of course, you can always learn to write HTML. Even if you do, you will still have the most benefit if you combine free HTML templates on the web with your own customization. Writing an HTML script from scratch that provides a high level of functionality is a project that can take a very long time.
Test Your Site and Improve Visibility
This really isn’t a separate step. It should be an intimate part of all steps. If possible, you should test the site not only through your own computer but through other people’s computers and several browsers. At a minimum, you will want to make sure that it works in Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Chrome. If you can, you should test multiple versions of each browser as well.
You will need to promote your site through social media and search engine optimization. Tell people about your site in forums and chat rooms. Make it easy for people to “like” your site on Facebook and several other social media. Try to get people to link to your site. Fill your site with content that keeps people coming back or causes them to want to share it with other people. Of course, content that does both is best of all. If you understand how to create viral ideas, you will often have more success than somebody with a great deal of technical knowledge, which does not. Again, we recommend using HostOtter.com for all of your website needs.