Step by Step to Your Own Website
A lot of people these days are interested in getting their own place on the World Wide Web. Whether it’s a personal site like a blog, or a business site, they all need to have a decent plan before they get started.
A few years ago I started designing and creating websites myself. I started just to show off to others, but I noticed it wasn't as easy I thought it was. I mean, it is easy to get a site online; you just buy a template, pay a coder, and pay some one to insert content and advertise for you then you're done. But if you want to do things yourself, that's where it gets tricky.
After a few sites, I managed to find a certain pattern in the process of creating and managing my websites.
1. I always start with an idea for subject and content. Believe me - never create a website about something you hate and know nothing about. Instead create a website about something you know a lot about and like to tell other people about. What also works is writing about a subject you would like to know more on, after doing your own research. Newbie’s can explain information to other newbie’s easier then pros explaining information to newbie’s.
2. Then I think of a design to go with it, to reflect its idea. Like if your subject is Boats, then don't go with a flaming red design. Sure it could do it, but I would prefer for a blue, water-like design to reflect its subject.
3. If the design is done, you need to get it coded. Some create their designs while they code, but I prefer to use a graphical program to first create the whole design, just the way I want it to be. Then I slice it all (contact me if you want to read an article about that) and save it for the web. I usually have a small group of coders I trust to code my designs and they send it back to me when it's coded.
4. Well then everything is almost done you would think. You got a design coded and everything. But the answer is NO. You are just starting. Sure you have a site and all, but you do not have hosting or a domain name. In order to get your site up and running, you will need something called hosting. It's like when you buy a house it needs to be on ground. Well the hosting is the ground here, and your website is the house. Without hosting, your site is almost useless. These days you can choose between free hosts, which in my opinion aren't great, but if you want to start and try out, I'd suggest you work with a free host first. And then there is paid hosting, you pay for a certain amount of server space and bandwidth and sometimes extra features.
5. Now if you have chosen to go for a free host, then please skip this step, because you probably won't be able to use it. A domain is needed for people to find your website. For example if you website is called BoatFish, then you could make the domain www.boatfish.com or www.boatfish.net, whatever you choose for. There are quite a large number of extensions you can go for. But I always suggest you go for a .com domain name. People tend to look for them more often than for a .net or any other extension.
6. the most important part of your website is your content. People stay or come back to your website because you have good content, or leave if you don’t. So please write up some good content for your site before launching it; this can cost you a lot of visitors. I can't show you how to submit content, or what kind of content you should be submitting, this is something you should look into yourself.
7. Now you got everything you need to get your site online. And still you are not done at all. You can site around and wait for people to come to your website, but not many will. That's why advertising will be your best bet to go for. You can link exchange and/or go for SEO. Search Engine Optimization is a great way to get many hits towards your website. I do not have any websites that haven't been optimized for search engines, because I know seo'ing brings in many visitors, and customers. SEO means Search Engine Optimization, which means that it will try to rank you as high as possible at search engines. If some one searches for a keyword regarding your website they will see your site and click on it. This is seriously a great way to get many, many visitors.
8. Now your site is done and you can keep submitting content to your site, to keep visitors coming back. Good luck! And let me know if this helped you in any way.