How To Make Your Own Website
Making your own website has never been easier. Almost since the start of the internet, there have been services that allow you to create your own website for free. Nowadays, the ease of use has improved no end. If you can type into a word processor, you have all the skills you need to create your own website.
Here's my favorite link:
Social Websites
These are places where you can build an "about me" page on the web. You can list your hobbies, favorite music, what you've done, where you've been. You can also link to your friends on the network. They all come with tools that make it easy for you to create a feature rich webpage.
- MySpace
- One of the widest used social networks, probably helped by all the press it gets in the various News International media.
- People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.
- Bebo
- This one is popular in Europe. You can register the school or college you're at and see other attendees and alumni.
Blog Websites
A blog is often used as your own online diary. You can tell people what you've been doing today, what your mood is or pretty much anything else you fancy.
- Blogger
- Probably the best known of the blog sites, this is owned by Google. It's easy to get started and there are lots of different templates available to give your Blogger blog it's own unique look and feel.
- WordPress
- Another place to get yourself a free blog. Plenty of themes to choose from and lots of support from one of the largest blogging platforms in the world.
Single Topic Websites
There are some great tools out there that allow you to create your own website on a single topic and provide lots of resources for people to investigate.
- Squidoo
- Squidoo is the site where you're reading this page. They call your website a lens - the concept is that you look through the lens to find the detail about the things you are looking for. There are a wide range of things you can do on a Squidoo lens to make it attractive and useful to your visitors.
- HubPages
- HubPages works in a similar way to Squidoo. It doesn't have as many different add-on modules but it does allow you to put in your Google, eBay and Amazon affiliate ID's to earn money from your Hub.
Free Websites
Some companies give away complete free websites. Sometimes, the catch is that they will display advertising on your site and keep the revenue. Other times, the free website is there in the hope that you will upgrade to a paid version instead. There are usually limits on free websites - the number of pages you can place, the traffic you receive, etc. You also need to check out how reliable the service is. Even though you're not paying money, this area is really buyer beware.
- Geocities
- These are one of the oldest free websites. They are owned by Yahoo, so are likely to be around for some time yet. The basic service has quite a few limitations but these are well explained and if you grow out of the free space, you can upgrade to a paid-for package.
- DotEasy
- If you buy your domain from them, you can opt for free website hosting to be included in the price. The domain prices aren't the cheapest in the world but represent good value, especially as the hosting is free from advertisements.
- Freewebs
- Choose from over 300 templates, add in images, blogs, guest book, etc.
- Tripod from Lycos
- Another firm that have been around for years. The free option is advertising supported but you can upgrade to a paid for package without ads.
Paid for Websites
These are the most flexible and most professional option. With a free account, if you appear to break one of their terms and conditions then it's likely that your account will be removed or suspended. It's much less likely that this will happen when you pay for website hosting. You'll also likely get more bells and whistles to create your website exactly the way you want.
- UCV Host
- Starting at $1 a month, this service works OK so long as you're unlikely to need support. The control panel is by Plesk who are well known but aren't as common as CPanel. If your budget is really tight and only want to host one domain, they are worth a look.
- PowWeb
- Less than $6 a month, you get unlimited domains (a major advantage once you "get the bug" for website building) as well as a healthy monthly bandwidth. They have a script installer that gives you a one-click installation for programs like Wordpress and phpBB. This means you can host your own blogs, forums and other items with the minimum of effort. If you require a database, the package includes 75 MySQL databases so you're unlikely to run short.
- Yahoo
- Web hosting from one of the most trusted names on the internet. You get a domain name included and can upgrade to a higher plan at any time. If you're short of time or inspiration, Yahoo also offer a professional website creation option at extra cost.
- 1&1 Internet and Hosting
- They bill themselves as the world's number 1 web host. Pricing starts at under $4 a month and you can host up to 20 domains for that price. The control panel is 1&1's own, which means that if you are used to CPanel it will take a bit of getting used to. The basic option doesn't include any simple installation routines but the next option up does.
- Site Build It
- If all you want to do is concentrate on your content and let the software take care of everything else, Site Build It has been around for years but keeps up to date with all the latest trends. Many people who use this system report excellent search engine results fast. Tools to do near enough everything you'd ever want to do with a website without getting your hands dirty.
Website creation tools
Website creation can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. These tools are useful for building your website.
- Filezilla FTP
- This is a free FTP program. It's better than any of the paid-for programs I've used. Simply the best way to upload files to your website.
- NVU HTML Editor
- If FrontPage is out of your budget (or you have a built in dislike of all the extra code it adds) then take a look at NVU. It's completely free, well supported and does the job.
- Camstudio
- If you want to add video to your site then you've probably looked at Camtasia. It's a great program apart from the scary price tag. Camstudio is Camtasia's younger brother and does near enough everything you want a screen capture program to do at a tenth the price of Camtasia. The smaller price tag means there's less learning curve as well.
- Wordpress
- If your host doesn't offer one-click install of Wordpress, you can download the latest version here and install it yourself. If you've never installed a script before, don't panic! There are full, step-by-step instructions and there are plenty of people out there who know enough about Wordpress to be able to help you if you need it.
- phpBB
- You've probably got a one-click install of this popular forum software. But if not, here's the place for the latest code.
Outside Help for Website Creation
Sometimes you need more skills than you've currently got. Getting outside help is fine, so long as you know where to look.
- PHP Resource Index
- If you're looking for a script to enhance your website, this should be your first place of call. When I last looked, there were 3,740 complete scripts listed. They're all categorized and quite a few of them have ratings from other users.
- Rentacoder
- Despite the name, Rentacoder isn't just about getting code written. You can outsource graphics, writing as well as programming. You post a project and people from all over the world bid on it. A bit like eBay. Dip your toe in the water first - not every programmer is brilliant - and pay special attention to the written feedback from other people (the star system doesn't tell you much).
Books on Making A Website
NEW PATH TO RICHES: How Your Neighbors are Making a Big Second Income by Writing and Publishing Their Own Money-Making Websites
Amazon Price: $14.36 (as of 01/02/2010) 
Usually ships in 24 hours
76 Powerful Ways to Turn Your Website Into a Money-machine
Amazon Price: (as of 01/02/2010)
Making websites work.(Art Web): An article from: ChildArt
Amazon Price: $5.95 (as of 01/02/2010)
Available for download now
Making Family Websites: Fun & Easy Ways to Share Memories (A Lark Photography Book)
Amazon Price: (as of 01/02/2010)
Reader Website Tips
Have you got any suggestions to help with website creation? Share them here.
If you've found this lens useful, remember to rate it. Thanks!
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- LauraSchofield LauraSchofield Jul 6, 2009 @ 5:06 pm
- I use a variety of premade "sites" like blogger, squidoo (obviously), ehow, hubpages, etc.. I've also built two websites from scratch - I pay for these as I do make enough money from them to justify it (centsible.net and ecounusual.com, although ecounusual is for charitable purposes and is not running yet). I have a lens on how I make a living from home that would make a good companion to your lens here! Feel free to check it out. 5 stars!
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- painispleasure painispleasure Apr 1, 2009 @ 7:39 am
- great writeup, great read. I went one route and bout a premade one. Check out the story at my latest lens www.squidoo.com/myveryownwebsite
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- Nov 5, 2008 @ 7:55 am
- the resource that has been provided here is a great help for me. thanks
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- bekat bekat Jul 17, 2008 @ 4:46 pm
- Let me see, what can I say that you did wrong here...nothing! You cover a lot of ground in a small space. I could learn a thing or two about being brief! Thumbs up to this lens, I've "rolled" you :-)
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- pokiri1212 pokiri1212 Apr 21, 2008 @ 11:18 pm
- get more info at
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by Trevord
Whether you want someone else to host your website or need to get the most from your blog this info should help you out. (more)
