Website-creation-and-hosting may seem intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. Whether you're looking for a site to tell the world about your business, or just a personal page to keep track of your hobbies, setting up your own site for fun or business can be easy and painless.
The first and most important part of website-creation-and-hosting is content. You'll want to have an idea of what you want to have on your site. While this may seem obvious, many people get started on their sites without a good plan.
Make a mental map of what content you'll need for your website and what you can leave out. If you have trouble keeping track of it all, you can even draw out a map.
Once you know what you want to put on your site and where you want to put it, the next step is to find website hosting companies. What kind of hosting you'll need will depend on your site.
If you have a low traffic, personal site, there are free website creation and hosting websites available. They will give you a certain amount of space, bandwidth and free email in exchange for displaying ads on your webpage. However, if you exceed that bandwidth, your site could be down for a day or so.
Businesses and people who are expecting a lot of traffic, or who don't want to deal with ugly ads on their webpage, should look into paid website-creation-and-hosting. It's best to shop around and make sure that the hosting you get suits your needs.
If you're new to webpages, you can get features that will help you set up and manage your page, though this might cost a little more.
If you're going to register a domain, the time to do it is when you get your webspace. Pick a short, easy to remember keyword. This will help you make sure that you can direct people to your website easily. Your web host will probably have provisions for registering your domain name. Having a domain name is about $20 a year in most cases, though high-demand names can be more. Make sure that you renew your domain every year, or someone could steal it away from you!
The last aspect of setting up website-creation-and-hosting is the actual coding. If you know HTML, you can create your page straight into a text document. However, most people use website hosting programs to have better control over their pages.
If you don't have any experience with HTML, you can still set up a page. A number of hosts allow you to use templates and wizards to set up a simple page. Of course, for a really professional business page, you should always talk to a professional designer.
J.O. Moen is author and advisor of the wildly popular information site - |
