Create Your First Website

The following is a quick reference for new/soon to beCoupled with the design of your site you will at least
webmasters, the information contained in this article iswant to learn the basics of graphic design, the worst
simply what has worked for me in the past, allthing you can do is buy a brandable domain and throw
webmasters will develop their own unique ways ofa generic logo that can be found on 96 other sites on
going about their daily business.it, this will greatly reduce your ability to stand out from
1. Web hostingthe crowd, after all if you see 96 signs with the same
This will be your second hardest decision when itlogo but different company names how are you going
comes to launching your website, when first startingto remember the 33rd company?
out it is ok to settle for free hosting, many free hostsIf you absolutely do not want to learn graphic design
will also give you a free sub domain, more about that inyou can have a logo or layout designed for you at a
#2 Domain Names.relatively cheap price, just make sure it is 100% original
If you do settle for a free host you must ensure this isand you have all .psd files etc before finalizing the
only temporary, for the most part free hosts havetransaction.
terrible uptime and are littered with mandatory banners4. Content is King
and or pop ups/unders, this is not a good way toAsk any webmaster, they will all agree, content is king,
develop a recurring customer base, and if there are 9this is the absolute best way to have your site noticed
banners and pop ups on your site you better beand stand out from the crowd. One well written,
getting paid for them.keyword rich article pertaining to the content of your
In order to choose the correct paid host you have tosite will get you more visitors and a higher search
figure out what your site will need to run, is it anengine ranking then one hundred plain product pages.
ecommerce site? do you need php/mysql? 35Now, I recommend you write your content yourself,
databases etc. You are the only person that will bewhether it is the actual content that brings your site
able to decide the requirements for your site.together or an article you've written about your sites
If you are unsure as to exactly what your site needstopic, it is best to write this yourself. The reason for
there are many sites out there that have databasesthis is if you don't actually know everything about your
full of web hosts and web host packages/prices."widget" this is a good way to learn about it, also
2. Domain Namepeople will respect the article more and it gives you a
In order to run any website you will need a domainfeeling of self satisfaction when you finish a nine page
name, no one will ever find you without one, chancesarticle.
are atthis stage no one will find you anyway.If you have trouble writing long articles or putting
There are a few different ways we can go abouttogether a correct sentence you are not left out in the
obtaining a domain name, if you know exactly whatcold, there are many sites out there that have other
you want and have some funds to purchase yourwebmasters as well as freelance writers dying to
.com go ahead and take that plunge, but if your not sowrite an article specifically for your niche, I at one point
sure you have found that perfect name, or if you don'ta few years ago had 6 articles written for me for $7
even know what kind of domain you would like, feeleach, not to bad when you think about the amount of
free to settlefor a sub domain.traffic you may get from these articles being on your
Now in the eyes of a lot of well establishedsite. Googlefreelance writers or contract writers and
webmasters a sub domain from a free host or freeyou will most likely come up with some decent results.
domain company is a not a good way to go, I got that5. Marketing
a lot when I was starting out, lets face it, with a subI don't care what your site is about, there comes a
domain no one will ever take you seriously is not verytime when you will have to promote it, if you are just
professionalor memorable, but it's a starting point nonestarting out chances are you have a very limited
the less.budget, so some tips on how to get visitors to your
Basically what we are trying to do with a sub domainsite for cheap. Forums are a great way to establish a
is get your site on the net, that's all, get it live so youfollowing online, join some forums that relate to the
can view it, make changes, fix bugs etc, we don't wantcategory of your website, spend some time each day
to launch a site that is not user friendly or just plainposting and getting to know the other forum members,
ugly.be sure to keep an updated signature (assuming the
Now after you have your site up at your free subforum allows signatures) so that anyone reading your
domain from your free host we have got to startpost can also view your current project, but don't
looking at a real .com you will not get anywhere in thisexpect results right away it often takes months to
business without one. So search around the internet aactually see the users coming from these forums, but
bit, find a good registrar, at the time of this writingbe patient and develop a rapport with them, you never
moniker.com, and all seem to be decent sites, the latterknow you may even meet a future business partner.
a little pricier than the former but they all have theirAnother way to start instant traffic is to purchase an
own pros and cons.ad campaign on a site related to yours, this may be a
Now, this decision may be the biggest decision of yourlittle difficult, some sites prices are very high, the best
current project, do you go with a keyword rich domainway to get the most for your money is to purchase
or take the road less traveled and snatch up alinks or banners on an up and coming site, if you
brandable domain? Now you may not know exactlyattempt to purchase banner space on the top site in
what I'm talking about when I say brandable, if yourthe business it could easily cost you $200 a week, by
really new to the game you might not even knowbuying from the up and comer you will receive a few
keyword rich so I'll try to put it in layman's terms forless visits, but it will cost alot less too.
you.If the site you are trying to develop is for a product, for
A keyword rich domain is using the most highly soughtthe sake of an example we will say candy apples.
after keyword for your site/product etc in your domainAnother great way to promote it is in your local area,
name, if I was creating a site on DVD players mytake a day and visit all the local businesses have
domains would possibly be something like thissamples for the staff, ask the craft stores if they
dvdplayers.com, portabledvdplayer.com, etc, a greatwouldn't mind handing some business cards out for
tool for this is the Overture Keyword Selector foundyou, if you're lucky and you have a decent product
here, google it.they may let you sell from there store front, I have
If we want to take our domain the other way andheard of this happening manytimes and people just
make it brandable much like Google, Yahoo, eBay etc,don't realize how powerful local business' can be.
there really is no "How To" guide, for me caffeine and6. Update, Update, Update
advil seems help, if you are planning on taking this routeThis is exactly how it sounds, no visitor wants to come
I've been told using other languages is good, bewareto a site that has the same article or look on the
the the actual meaning of the term in another languagehomepage for six months, they will simply become
though, the urban legend of the Chevy Nova in Latinbored with it and find a different site promoting the
America comes to mind, Google brandable domainssame product. In order to survive online you must
see what you can find.update your pages.
3. Web Site DesignIf you have a content site, write an article a week, its
If you already know how to code in HTML, PHP etcnot hard, but it gives you 52 articles a year, that's a
then you are well on your way and can probably skipgood starting point and will encourage people to link to
this step, if not you have quite a way to go. If youyour site.
want to create a website it is imperative to learn howIf it is an e commerce site, update the home page with
to code, you don't want to pay between $500 andspecials, have contests, anything to keep the visitor
$5000 to create a website on a whim then continue tointerested and coming back for more, a content
pay someone every time your site needs updating.(pardon the pun) visitor is a return visitor.
Take a look around the net for some tutorialsSo now you should now what direction you're going
regarding HTML in order to establish the base of youronline. Just remember, take your time, don't throw up a
site, I'm not going to lie, there will be alot of reading andsloppy site, and never ever give up, the internet is
very long nights involved in learning web design, but itprobably one of the hardest places to make a living,
will reward you with unlimited possibilities when itbut the feeling of euphoria you get when you know
comes to creating personal web sites or onlineyou can, tops any other high you can experience.
communities etc.