Setting Up a Website
Will Rogers said "Buy land... they're not making any more of it." In a way, the same is true of real estate in cyberspace. So let this be the year you get your own website, whether it be personal or business, grab your dot-com name before someone else gets it first!
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YOU... dot COM!
What could be cooler than having your name or business surrounded by a "www" and a ".com"? Lots of people hesitate to create a website, thinking that it's extremely technical and requires computer programming skills. Everyone has a friend with a Cousin Vinny who'd be happy to set you up for a small fee, but you really can do it yourself! Here are the simple steps:
Register Your Domain Name
For all practical purposes, a "domain name" is simply the part of a website address that follows the "www". To begin, think of several descriptive names for the website. They don't have to be short, but the shorter the name, the easier it will be for people to remember and type. Your first choice may be already taken, but a bit of creativity and persistence will help you find a great domain name that's descriptive and memorable. If you are registering a domain name for a business, it may help your search engine ranking if you include a relevant keyword in the name.
If your site is a personal or commercial site, .COM is the proper extension, although you can go with .NAME or .BIZ if you like. You can also select other domain extensions, such as .NET and .ORG, but generally those are intended for internet service providers and non-profit sites, respectively. You can check on availability and register your domain name by visiting the website of a domain registrar. Network Solutions was the first and only registrar in town for many years, but today there are dozens of registrars to choose from. You'll find that prices range from about $8 up to $35 per year for domain registrations.
Find a Website Host
Once you have purchased your domain name, the next step is to find a website hosting company. Your website host is where you'll upload the files (text, images, forms, etc.) that make up your website. The competition is heavy in this arena, and you can find numerous websites offering comparisons between hosting companies if you poke around with your favorite search engine. Expect to pay around $10 a month for a good quality hosting service. Some charge less, but you generally get what you pay for in terms of quality, availability and reliability.
Note that many website hosts offer domain name search and purchase options as well. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. If you choose to register AND host with the same company, make sure that you are listed as the domain administrator and billing contact, not the hosting company. They should only be listed as the technical contact on the domain. Otherwise, if you are unhappy with their service, you will have a hard time taking your domain to another hosting company.
Just Add Content!
Once you have chosen the domain and hosting company, you can start building the site, or move it over from another host if the site already exists. If you have never built a website before, there are many free resources on the Internet for learning HTML (the computer markup language most often used to build websites), and most large hosting companies offer free website design tools, as well. In addition, software like Microsoft FrontPage makes building a website almost as easy as using a word processor, though you have to make sure your web hosting company supports FrontPage extensions. Here are some links to get you started:
Though there is a certain air of mystery about creating a dot-com website, but the process is more simple than most people think. The real challenge lies in coming up with a good design and then updating the site regularly with original and compelling content.
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Posted by Bob Rankin on January 18, 2006 11:21 PM
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Article information: AskBobRankin -- Setting Up a Website (Posted: January 18, 2006 11:21 PM)
Printed from: http://askbobrankin.com/setting_up_a_website.html
Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved
Most recent comments on "Setting Up a Website"
(See all 12 comments for this article.)Posted by:
Bob Deloyd
20 Jan 2006
I learned my basic html at htmlgoodies.com back in 99. I did a refresher course last year at HP online classes and use notepad, really learned a lot there. I think I'll do another refresher at Lissa Explains it All, seems like kids these day have an upper hand on anything computers. I also checked out coveryourasp.com posted by Gary and found it very interesting and I am going to download it and run it on an old win 98 system I have. Again Mr. Rankin you got my mind thinking and working... Thanks //bob
Posted by:
Rick Tolman
20 Jan 2006
I use .ws for a few reasons: The "ws" can stand for "Web Site", the price is right in there at $10.00, and it doubles as a business, so by shareing it with 10 people who also get it, my $10.00 is paid for. I also like that it is my own domain and email and that templates are available for website creation. ... mostly I like the money it brings me.
Posted by:
christiaan
21 Jan 2006
I would like to know if there is a FREE place where I can post my .ASP pages. Geocities does not allow me to do it.
Posted by:
David
21 Jan 2006
Some nice starter info, Bob. Notepad is a great way to learn HTML.
TextPad will spell check your tags too (I like the older version). Soon you'll find a need for a graphical interface to work in where you can go back and forth from view to code. Nowadays I use the expensive tools like Deamweaver and PhotoShop. But I have heard great things about the free FirstPage http://www.evrsoft.com/ and NVu (mentioned above). And yes, you can save Word documents as a web page but forget it. Word files are full of junk and much too large and clumsy.
Also, be sure to use more current information as the world is moving to "Web Standards" with Style Sheets. They are like HTML but are just about style. (color, fonts, and layout) The cool thing is, you can make one style sheet for your site with all the font styles and colours and spacing, etc. Then all of your pages have a common style and your pages are smaller, faster and fancier. (Bobs site has a style sheet) You can "borrow" them from tutorials, then you just need to adjust the colours to your taste and voila!
But yes, learn HTML first. Then you can publish that book, open a gallery, open a store - fullfill all kinds of dreams on the web. Here's a good teaching tool for budding webmasters:
http://www.webmasterfree.com/teach.html
Posted by:
Joyce
15 Jul 2006
Ok, here comes the idiotic questions... I have a domain with one place, a web hosting with another. I used MS Front Page to upload my poems that have my graphics but I can't seem to get anywhere. I can't figure out how to get my home page where it needs to be, how to link the pages to back, next, home (or even insert buttons for links,) etc. I did have my domain point to my host but I am not sure if they did it. Guess I need step by step instructions but have no idea where to get them. I can't seem to get my MS Outlook Express to work right either... I didn't realize something so easy (according to everyone else) could be so hard. This is making me feel pretty dumb. Help!!! Please!?!
EDITOR'S NOTE: Perhaps the info at LissaExplainsItAll.com would be helpful to get you started...
Posted by:
Chris
16 Mar 2007
Hey y'all. I bought a domain through GoDaddy and it's been just sitting there for over 2 months! Can someone show me how I can simply place a background (of my choosing) on the first page, with "buttons" that'll bring the clicker to other pages, or graphics, or even a directory of files. Is this asking too much? It would be real nice to have a bulletin board thing also, but there's no hurry for that. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Did you explore the resources mentioned in the article: W3 HTML Tutorial, Lissa Explains It All (not just for kids) and Free Website Templates?
Posted by:
pete
17 May 2007
This guide (Headfirst into building a website) may also be useful, note that useability is important in website design. -- http://infoessentials.com/info/1intro
Posted by:
ann
08 Jul 2007
I have a blog at wordpress,can I have a domain name AND keep my blog at wordpress so I can manage/change/upload my stuff through the wordpress layout?
EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, If WP does not provide that service, you can forward your own domain to the WP blog. Check with your registrar or hosting provider for details.
Posted by:
debs
13 Oct 2007
Hi ya. Need your help. Would i be ready if i came up with a budget for say: Domain name, Web site hosting, Design of websiteitself (to include, autoresponder like Aweber, ezine stuf, sound e.g. audacity stuff), SEO: ( to include, blogging, ezines/audio material, maybe a budget for adsense i guess.....what do you reckon......for a small start up firm)
Is there anything else I should plan for in my budgeting and planning.
EDITOR'S NOTE: How about content generation, ongoing moderation (if you have user generated comments), and occasional programming/server support?
Posted by:
kathleen
28 Feb 2008
where does 'get a dns' fit in all this?
EDITOR'S NOTE: DNS refers to your Domain Name Server, which will be supplied by your web hosting company. You'll update your domain registration info with the DNS server address(es).