Do you want to learn how to make a website? I guess you have heard that websites are a good source of growing your business and getting new clients or buyers.
Maybe, you want the website itself to be your main business and generate money through advertisements or selling products online. Do you want to just have your own personal website?
Whatever the case, you have taken a wise decision to have a pie of the exploding online world. Plenty of people are making a living through various ventures through websites.
All that you need is a bit of hard work, some creative thinking and tapping a niche that is unexplored or not fully exploited. If you can find a vacuum or gap which you can fill with your business, you have a 99% chance of success.
Though it may sound like a intimidating task for newbies, creating a website is a pretty simple process. It doesn’t take more than a couple of hours to have your website ready. Once you read this article, you will be equipped with all the information that you need to build your first website.
What do you need to make a website?
For building a website, you just need two things: a domain name (Web address) and web hosting space. Domain name will be the identity of your website and be used to reach it. It costs around $5-10 for a year. You can buy it from any good domain registrar such as Godaddy. (What is a domain name?)
Along with a domain name, you need to have a place to host your website so that it is accessible through the Internet. You can build your website on your computer but it will not be accessible to others as it will not available to others. To make sure that your website is online, you need to place it on a Web server.
Theoretically speaking, you can convert your computer into a Web server by installing a Web server application such as Apache. You will have to keep your computer always connected to the Internet with a static IP address and allow other computers to connect to your server. However, it is not the best solution as it requires a lot of technical knowledge and hardware for having a good web server.
You need to rent some storage space on a Web server from a reputed web hosting company. It will cost around $50-100 depending on the features.
If you don’t have the money, you can get a simple business website for free. Of course, with a basic design and few pages, and only for static websites. Learn about using Google Sites for creating your website.
Now that you have both domain name and web hosting, you need to link your domain to your web space. When you buy a domain, it is pointed to some default page. You need to point it to your web hosting space by changing the “Name Server” for the domain to that provided by your web hosting provider. You will have to log in to your domain management panel and make the change.
If you buy both domain name and web hosting from the same provider in one go, you won’t have to worry about linking your domain to the web server space. Web hosting providers automatically fix it for you. So it is highly recommended that you buy a domain name and web hosting together to avoid the hassle.
Basic HTML Site
Now, your website is ready for the actual content. If your web hosting company provides you free website builder, you can use it to create basic HTML-based websites. If you have already created your website using FrontPage, DreamWeaver or Nvu, you can upload your website to your web hosting space.
Dynamic Websites with CMS
For those looking at creating websites with more sophisticated features or blogging or advanced website management, there are some superb content management systems such as WordPress, Drupal and Joomla to start your website or blog.
One of the most popular CMS is WordPress. In fact, it is the platform that powers millions of websites on the Internet. Though originally created for blogging, you can make a WordPress website for ecommerce, directories, news portals, etc. There are tonnes of WordPress plugins that allow you to modify and enhance the features of WordPress to meet your needs.
Again, any good web hosting company will allow you to install these platforms in a matter of a few clicks.
Now you know it isn’t very difficult to build your website. It isn’t very costly affair either. You can do all by yourself if you can spare a few hours to learn and experiment. It will be a real DIY fun. Maybe, you should try it with your family.