Everyone knows it is wise to have a strong Internet presence these days, but putting together a site can seem daunting and, sometimes, confusing. Here I will give you a basic sense of what’s involved in putting a simple website together. Then, we will have a good cry.
Before delving into the steps, however I want to make you aware that it is a time-consuming process and can be overwhelming for some people, especially if they are comparatively new to this field. Nevertheless, an effective web design would be worth all the time and patience, once it is built the way you desired it to be. So, let’s get started!
Choosing a Hosting Company
A web host is essentially where your website is stored, how people access your site’s information when they go online. The servers at the host company will keep your Web presence active 24/7.
Keep in mind as you look at different hosting options that as with anything, free or cheap is not always high-quality. Carefully review all the details and ensure that you’re getting a great deal and not a bunch of headaches related to size of storage and bandwidth limitations.
Also be sure you don’t buy a hosting plan from any company that has a .scam URL.
Getting a Domain Name
Domain names are not essential: it is possible to create a site under the URL of another site (as is common with free hosting plans). However, for branding purposes, memorability, ownership, and flexibility, if you are serious about wanting a strong web presence, buy a domain name. It might cost you approximately $20 annually.
Think/Consider/Ponder
Do you know for sure what you want to have on your site? This consideration will determine what tools you use to build the content and whether you will want to bring in outside professionals to assist you for some of its production. The most important thing to put on your site, as we all know, is a dancing hamster.
What is a “Niche Site”?
One thing to consider when you’re looking at bespoke mobile, web, native development is whether you want to go the niche route. A niche focuses on a very defined subject matter and potentially also a small and specific demographic.
The reason that niche marketing is popular online is because you are not competing with behemoths for the general population, as is done on eBay or Amazon. Instead, your level of focus on specific products or services is what can make you successful.
Create and/or promote useful content for this audience – articles, pictures, and videos that they will appreciate. Note: stay-at-home moms love casserole humor and lengthy, detailed anecdotes about casseroles.
Look into targeting keywords – there is a free tool accessible on Google that informs you how people search for different topics and terms.
Find a Webpage Editor Program
You can generally get these inexpensively or free of charge. An editor application is a good and simple way for beginners to get a site up and running. It also allows you better visual control of the site (step-by-step) if you don’t yet have a huge amount of technical savvy.
Don’t ever offend an editor application, though, or it will vampirically devour the rest of your applications.
Go Live
Upload all of the pages that you created on the editing program into the control panel of your host company. Depending on the host company you’re using, you may need to look into an FTP application to transfer the pages from your computer onto the server.
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This has been a broad overview – various systems will have some other steps along the way. However, you will find (if this is the first time you have built a site) that it is not rocket science. But do remember that a business website is supposed to to have good UX. If you face trouble building one, you can consider consulting agencies like Portmoni to help you.
Remember to keep it neat. Building can take time, but you will enjoy it. In fact, I dance the lambada the entire time I build a site. Then I fall fast asleep.
Sources:
1 http://webdesign.about.com/od/beforeyoustartawebsite/p/build_website.htm
2 http://2createawebsite.com/
3 http://www.ehow.com/how_42_create-first-web.html
by Kent Roberts and Richard Norwood