How to Host and Build a Website
Your website is your online presence; whether you use it for your business or personal interests, the procedure in hosting and building one is the same. Spend some time comparing services before you make your hosting purchase, then take advantage of their free software to get your own website built and published within hours. Keep it simple and streamlined; you can always add more later.
Instructions
Difficulty:
Step 1
Research web-hosting providers. A web-hosting provider is a company which will help you make your website accessible and viewable on the Internet. Many web-hosting companies also provide web design or website-creation services. Popular hosting providers include GoDaddy.com, SiteGround.com, ThePlanet.com, and HostRocket.com.
Step 2
Purchase a hosting plan and a domain name from your chosen hosting provider. The domain name is the web address people type in to get to your website. You'll get a better deal if you buy your domain name and your hosting plan at the same time, from one provider. Usually you will pay for the domain name by the year and you can pay for the hosting plan by the month or the year.
Step 3
Create a site map on paper. This is a written hierarchy of what your site will contain and how the different pages in the site will link to each other.
A sample site map:
I. Main/Home page (basic information and welcome)
1. About
2. Contact
3. Services
a. Business Consulting
b. Financial Planning
4. Products
a. Financial Planning Software
Step 4
Use the free web-based software provided by your hosting service to build your website. Many of these will offer a tutorial which gives you a basic explanation of all the features and how to use them. Once you complete the tutorial, follow the outline you created with your site map. The site-building software will have you choose a design first, and then have you create your main or home page. Add additional pages (About, Contact, etc.) and enter the appropriate information on each one. You'll be able to upload graphics (a photo of your storefront, yourself, your products, a logo) to each page.
Step 5
Allow 24 hours for your website to go live (and be visible on the Internet; many services will have you up and running very quickly after you finish building your site, but it can take longer.
Step 6
Read through every page of your site and test all the links. Make sure you've put in the information you need. If you find any typos or mistakes, you can correct them by opening up the site-building software again, going to the page which contains the mistake, correcting it, and then re-saving the page.
References
Article Written By Annie Mueller
Annie Mueller lives in St. Louis with her husband and their two young children. In between changing diapers and reading stories, she writes about small business, personal growth, books and writing, and anything else that snags her interest.