Hello Andy75~
The first thing you?ll need to do is determine how you?re going to
host your website. Who is going to offer the platform on which you can
place your website? Since budgeting is a particular issue, I suggest
you look over the free web hosts listed in this Answer, ?Free Web Page
Options:? http://www.answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=326604
The main disadvantage to free hosting is that your site will contain
ads; you?re also likely to have limited storage space and bandwidth.
The latter probably won?t matter, unless you plan on having lots of
graphics, video, or sound on your website. Notice, too, that many of
these free hosts will get rid of the ads on your website, and give you
more storage space and bandwidth, if you pay a small monthly fee.
Unless you pay a monthly fee to these hosts, your website address may
be longish and harder to remember. For example, if you get free
hosting with geocities, your address will be something like:
www.geocities.com/mywebsiteA Many of the hosts listed above, however,
will allow you to get your own, personalized web address. (For
example: www.mywebsiteA.com )
However, first you?ll have to check that no one else has the website
address you want. Then, you?ll need to register the website address,
paying a small fee for it. There are numerous places to both check for
and purchase an address; here are just a few:
? Register.com: http://www.register.com/register.cgi
? #1 Domain Names: http://www.1dni.com/
? Register Site: http://registersite.com
? All Who Is: http://www.allwhois.com
Once you have your web address and host, you can start building your
website. The cheapest way to do this is to build it yourself. If you
don?t understand HTML code (the language of all websites), you can
purchase software to help you. Such software is called "what you see
is what you get" (or, "WYSIWYG") because it generates HTML code based
upon a traditional layout of text and illustration that you create.
Probably the best known among these programs is FrontPage. To see a
review of this software, go to ?FrontPage,? CNET:
http://www.cnet.com/software/0-3227860-1204-5600609.html?tag=pdtl-list
Here is a review of some other "WYSIWYG" programs; ?Web Editors,? Multimedian:
http://design.multimedian.com/zwebeditors.html
FrontPage is generally considered the least expensive, yet still
effective program, and costs between $158-170.
If your wallet can?t abide by that, you can also use a site such as
Yahoo! Geocities, which includes a free WYSIWYG editor when you use
them as a host.
Finally, if you want to learn HTML code (which means you can create
your website without any special designing software), check out these
websites:
? ?So You Wanna Make A Webpage? by Joe Barta, PageTutor,
http://www.pagetutor.com/pagetutor/makapage/
? ?Contents Page,? Introduction to HTML,
http://www.cwru.edu/help/introHTML/toc.html
? ?FAQ,? A Beginner?s Guide to HTML,
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html
Before you dig right in and begin designing your website, however,
it?s an excellent idea to browse the web, critiquing other websites.
Which websites do you find easy to navigate--and *why* are they easy
to navigate? Which websites do you like the look of?-and why? Etc.,
etc. Then you may want to look specifically at sites that would be in
competition with yours. What is good about them and how can you make
your site better? What is negative about the sites, and how can you
avoid similar pitfalls?
In closing, here are several websites that offer good general advice
on creating websites:
? Killersites.com
? Websitegear.com
? Webmasteryellowpages.com
And once you have your website up and running, you?ll want to consider
how to get people to come to it. The above sites offer some tips, as
do:
? Great Website Design Tips: http://www.unplug.com/great/tips/tip69.htm
? Promoting A Web Based Business, Google Answers:
http://www.answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=109051
? Announce & Promote Your Website, Tips-Tricks,
http://www.tips-tricks.com/announce.asp
Good luck!
Kriswrite
RESEARCH STRATEGY:
Researcher?s personal knowledge |
Clarification of Answer by
kriswrite-ga
on
14 Apr 2004 15:28 PDT
Hi Andy75~
Unfortunately, if you have a free website with Geocities, you cannot
use your own domain name/address (i.e. www.mywebsiteA.com ) You can,
however, do this with "Geocities Pro," which is $8.95 a month. For
info on this, go to Geocities' info pages:
http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info3 and
http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/learn3/WhatYouGet4_Pro.html
Geocities Pro also offers free registration for your domain name/address.
You are not likely to find a free web host who allows you to use your
own address/domain name. However, as mentioned in my answer, if you
upgrade for a few dollars a month, many such hosts will do as
Geocities does, and allow the use of the domain name. Once you're
signed up with these programs, they should have complete instructions
on how to use your own domain name.
I hope this is clear. If not, please let me know.
Regards,
Kriswrite
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