How to Build a Website and Get a Domain Name
The Internet has grown exponentially since its humble beginnings back in the 1970's. It's an amazing tool that allows you to reach hundreds of millions of people across the globe. The beauty of it is that you don't really need much to start. Just a few bucks a domain name, a web host and some ideas to put on your site.
Instructions
Difficulty:
Step 1
Buy a domain name. You can buy one from any number of domain registrars. A few that you can consider are GoDaddy.com, Name.com, or NameCheap.com. They all charge about the same price for domains, which as of 2010 ranges between .99-$8.99 per year, depending on what type of domain that you purchase, .info, .com, .org, or .net.
Step 2
Get web hosting. This where you will put the files for your website. A few that you might consider are GoDaddy.com, SiteGround.com and Hostgator.com. All of these hosting companies charge between $6-$10 per month as of 2010 for unlimited websites.
Step 3
Get a web design software. Two of the easiest tools for designing websites are FrontPage and XsitePro. These have a WYSIWIG interface (what you see is what you get). In other words it's a lot like using a program like Microsoft Word. These programs as of 2010 cost between $100 to $200. Another option is to build a blog using something like WordPress. The advantage this has is that it is much easier to update as you won't have to constantly upload files every time that you want to make a change. You simply go into the administration side, type in your content and hit save and it goes live immediately.
Step 4
Get an image software. If you plan on using a lot of images on your website you will need a program that will allow you to create and change the images. For creating headers, the graphics that go at the top of the page you can get a free program like X-Header (see resources below). For manipulating images on the page you can get a free program like Gimp or if you want something more sophisticated PhotoShop is always and option.
References
Resources
Article Written By Palmer Owyoung
Palmer Owyoung holds a Master of Arts in international business from the University of California at San Diego and a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from the University of California at Santa Barbara and is a trained molecular biologist. He has been a freelance writer since 2006. In addition to writing, he is a full-time Forex trader and Internet marketer.