It used to be that to get a website online was the relm of the professional website designer. Things were complicated and only the most die hard professional could actually figure out all that computer mumbo jumbo , with programming, coding, web design skills, correct syntax of html and on and on and on...
I very pleased to say that things have gotten a whole lot better.
Nowadays if you can afford a few dollars a month hosting there are many automated ways of getting your content online with the minimum of fuss.
(Now you can do it free. But if you intend to go further with your online activities it is always better to set up a hosting account straight away. It bypasses all the problems of not owning your own domain name. With the free options you may find yourself ploughing hours of time into your site only to have it taken away from you for a small, unknown, breach of the hosting companies rules)
A couple of programs you may have heard of include Wordpress and Joomla.
Both of these allow easy entry into the world of online web page creation.
Joomla has a slightly steeper learning curve than wordpress but does offer more complex options for content layout.
But for the most part Wordpress is sufficient and is by no means lacking in layout possibilities.
That's why we shall concentrate on it here.
So in small chunks here's where we answer "How do I make my own website"
1. Get yourself some hosting
- Your host will allocate you some storage space on their servers for all of the files you are going to create when building your site.
- Ensure there's enough bandwidth in with the package you've selected. This simply means that no matter how many people visit your pages the host will not refuse them access to your site.
- Try to future proof your hosting and ensure it has options for allowing you to add more domains as and when you require for no further cost.
- Ensure that the hosting package comes with a simple installation procedure for Wordpress.
2. Get yourself a domain name.
- If you like cooking and are interested in children try and get something like www.kidscooking.com. Try and think of a name for someone who like remote control planes and takes pictures with them. How about ww.rcplanepics.com or picsfromaplane.com. You get the idea.
- Domain names can be bought from the likes of Namecheap.com or GoDaddy.com. They run from about $8-$9 for a .com
3. Install Wordpress.
- If your host offers cpanel or better yet Simple Scripts then your Wordpress install is only a few clicks away.
- For Simple Scripts login to your account at your hosting company. Click cpanel and then Simple Scripts.
- Choose Wordpress from the list of programs you can install, select the domain you want it on and click install.
- Make a note of the username and password that's given. That's it. How easy was that.
4. Write some blog posts.
- Now it's time to log into your blog. Point your browser to your domain with a little extra on the end. If your domain was the example above www.kidscooking.com then to login you would go to www.kidscooking.com/wp-admin. Replace www.kidscooking.com with your domain name.
- Login with the username and password you wrote down from step 3 above.
- You're now in Wordpress. Click on Posts then click Add New. This will take you to the... you've guessed it, Add New Post screen.
- You can now write away.
Now then wasn't that the easiest thing you've learnt this week.
I tend to use Hostmonster for my sites as they offer all the options I've highlighted above and more - they give you
- unlimited hosting of domains (add to your domains over time as you need)
- unlimited bandwidth (they won't turn away visitors)
- unlimited storage (no limit to the amount of files you can create with your sites)
- Simple Scripts (this is by far the easiest way to install Wordpress)
- They'll even throw in a domain name when you join them for free
And loads more.
All in all a great hosting provider.
I do hope you've enjoyed this short tutorial.
Please don't be put off by the way you remember the internet. It really has come on loads. Things are a lot simpler now. Go ahead and give it a try, then you can say
I Made My Own Website.
