Getting Started
Web Hosting Basics
As a quick start, there are three main things you need to get a website up and going:
A Domain Name
A Web Design
Web Hosting
The Domain Name
The domain name is your online address - as long as you keep renewing it, no one else can claim it. There are many domain name registrars out there and they all offer basically the same service. Two of our favorites are Dotster.com
and www.GoDaddy.com
Web Design
You will need a web design so that people can navigate your website. There are some different options you can choose for obtaining a web design.
1) Get a Webpage Made for You - The simplest and most expensive option. By contacting either a professional or a company, you can have your entire webpage built for you with no work on your part. If you do decide to have a website designed be sute to check the designers portfolio. Always try to do your homework and pick someone who is established and who won't run away with your money and give you nothing in return.
2) You can buy pre-made websites on ebay or a number of other places. This is where you must exercise due diligence. Many sellers will make false claims as to the profitibility of the sites and they like to throw around the word "established" a lot. The hard truth is that no brand new website is going to make you rich anytime soon. Also beware of those who sell "cookie cutter" sites. Many web designers will sell the same exact, or very similar website over and over again. Ask if the design is unique, and if it will be resold again. That being said, buying a website on ebay is a great way to get started and to learn the business. Many sellers will host the site for you for a period of time, sometimes for free. This will allow you ample opportunity to "play around" with the website, and the file manager to learn how the site functions and how to make changes to it's configuration. Once you are comfortable with how a website works, you can learn to upload websites yourself on your own hosting.
3) Designing a website yourself learning HTML is not that hard. For those just starting out, the easiest way to create a webpage is to use Microsoft FrontPage. Designed to be very easy to use, you can quickly whip up a web site design. Furthermore, many hosts support FrontPage Extensions. These are add-ons that let you update your site and add functionality right though FrontPage! For those wanting even more control over the process, programs such as Macromedia Dreamweaver or Arachnophilia provide more flexibility and power. These programs let you directly modify the HTML of your webpage, giving you control over every aspect of your site. One thing to remember is that most of these programs, be it FrontPage or Dreamweaver, come with pre-made templates. You can simply load these up, edit in your content, and a generic website is ready for you.
4) Using a template is sort of compromise between #2 and #3. With this option, you buy a ready-made design, and then proceed to fill it up with content yourself. No changes will be made to the design for you - you must do it yourself or hire someone else to. If you decide to buy a ready made template we recommend Template Monster.
Web Hosting
There is no one "type" of web hosting. The most popular are shared hosting, dedicated, and colocated. Unless you have extremely demanding needs or have your own server, shared hosting will suffice. Shared hosting itself is synonymous with 'web hosting' - it just means that your site is hosted on a server with other websites.
The steps usually needed when getting a web host:
Select a Web Host - The purpose of this site, to review the most popular and allow you to select the one that is right for you.
Sign up - Once you have decided on one, you must actually sign-up with the host you are going to use! Most hosts accept credit cards, and many also accept PayPal and check/money orders.
Change Nameservers - To make sure that people are actually going to your site, you must change the nameservers of your domain to that of the web host you signed up with. This is done so that when someone enters yourdomain.com they will end up at your site. This may take up to 72 hours to be fully functional.
Upload Your Site - Again, there are many ways to do this, but the most popular is FTP (File Transfer Protocol). To use FTP, you need an FTP client like Cute FTP or WS_FTP.
And that's it! - Your site is now online for everyone to see!