Make Your Own Web Site

The first thing you need to do is to register a domain name. What's a domain name? See the www.squidoo.com in your browser's address box above? That's Squidoo's domain name. Mine is www.webbriefcase.net. A domain name is the online equivalent of a business name.

These days, you can get a domain name for as little as $8.88 a year. Getting your own domain name is one of the most important investment you'll ever make for your web site.

Now that you have a domain name, you need to find some web space to put your completed web site on. What you need is a good web host.

What's a web host?

A web host is a company that will give you the space you need on the internet to host your web site. This space is actually a section of a server that's permanently connected to the internet. How big of a section you get depends on the account you sign up for.

The hardest decision to make here is who do you open an account with? There are SOOOOOOO many web hosts out there. Where do you begin?

I don't want to put any pressure on you but, from experience, it is essential that you do enough homework and start off on the right foot with the right web host. The bigger your site grows, the harder it is to switch web hosts.

Click here for some tips on what to look for in a web host.

No webmaster is complete without his set of tools. There are many tools you can use to build your site but your webmaster Swiss knife will consist of three main ones.

Web building tool

This is the father of all tools. Your web building tool is responsible for forming the main building blocks of your site. It can be a desktop software. It can also be an online application or even a script.

And unless you're very good at HTML coding, you'll need to look for a tool that will help you set up your site without having to mess around with any code.

Web graphics tool

A web graphics software is the next tool you will want to get a hold of. Not so much to create a graphic but more to customize one. Don't get me wrong. You can create web graphics if you want to. But you'll need to take a proper course before you can create professional graphics.

It's much easier to just purchase ready made web graphics on the net or grab a grab a free one and tweak it to fit your 'design'.

FTP tool

FTP is just a method of moving your files from your computer to your server and vice versa. Most web design softwares have a built-in FTP feature. So, you may not even need an FTP software. But just in case you need one, there are many FTP softwares out there to choose from.

Before you start adding meat, i.e. content, to your site, you first have to deal with the skin, the outer shell, the look and feel.

Though not the main substance, the look and feel of your site will determine whether or not your visitors will choose to stay and check out your content, or leave. If your site looks amateurish, they will most likely choose to leave.

So, it's important that your site looks professional.

But how do you create a professional look when you're clueless as to what a good design looks like?

Fortunately, the answer is simple.

Use a web site template that was created by the professionals. This way, you get the superior web design quality without the hard work.

There are thousands of web site templates out there at our disposal. Just go to Google.com and type in "web site template" and you'll see just how many web site templates are out there.

When choosing a template, just make sure that you can use it with your web building tool.

Once you've found the perfect template, you can use it as it is or customize it a bit. I recommend the later but just a bit. When I say a bit, I mean slap your own logo into the template.

Now, all that's left to do is to add some meat to your site. A web site is really nothing without any content. So, your final step is to add content to it. Content that will help you achieve your purpose.

That's it really. The five simple steps.

Probably not quite what you expected. It may seem simplistic but if you follow these steps each time you want to make your own web site, you'll find it much easier to get the job done.

The 5 Steps above are only the foundation to the bigger picture of web building. It's more like the bird's eye view. Each step gets into quite a bit more detail. And the details differ depending on what kind of site you're thinking of building.