| Many small business owners and individuals view a | | | | your domain. This adds professionalism - instead of |
| website presence as a necessity in today's modern | | | | being you can be |
| world. However, it can be a little overwhelming for | | | | 3. Create the actual website. A website is comprised |
| those who are new to the online game. Going from | | | | of html pages, images and content. But don't worry, |
| knowing you need a website to actually obtaining and | | | | you don't need to know any code at all; there are |
| managing one isn't complicated. You just need to | | | | applications for that. Popular programs for creating |
| follow some important steps. We'll explain web | | | | web pages include website building applications like |
| hosting and lay out the steps you need to take to | | | | Adobe Dreamweaver, Microsoft Expressions, or |
| get your website up and running. | | | | Apple's iWeb. Additionally, nearly all web hosting |
| What do I need to create a website? | | | | companies have step-by-step online website builders. |
| | | | If you don't feel like creating the website yourself, |
| 1. Sign up for web hosting. Most people know that if | | | | there are a myriad of companies and professionals |
| they want to buy shoes they'll go to or But how | | | | out there that will do it for you. Web design and |
| does that website actually get online? The majority | | | | development is an industry in itself. Just like most |
| of websites use a service called a web host. This | | | | things in life, a recommendation from a friend or |
| service will "host" the web pages that you create, on | | | | colleague will go a long way towards choosing your |
| its servers and take care of all the technical issues | | | | web designer/developer. Do a little investigation |
| involved with running a server. This will let you | | | | before hiring someone. Ask to see samples of their |
| concentrate on creating the look, feel and content of | | | | work and get referrals from past clients. |
| your site. Choosing service t can be a bit | | | | 4. Upload website files. If you created your website |
| overwhelming, especially if you don't have a lot of | | | | using a site builder, your files should already be online, |
| experience. It pays to research this by checking out | | | | and you're ready for business. If you'd prefer to use |
| online web hosting reviews. Reviews indicate which | | | | a service that offers this feature, take a look a web |
| services are for beginners and which are for more | | | | hosting reviews during your web host selection |
| advanced users. They also go into detail about the | | | | process. If you created your site using an application |
| features and functionality of each company. | | | | on your computer, you'll have to upload the files. It's |
| 2. Choose a domain name.To think of it in simple | | | | very easy. Each service has a slightly different way |
| terms, a domain name appears like this online: A | | | | of doing this using their interface, but they all use |
| domain name can be your name, the name of your | | | | FTP. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and it is |
| company, something relevant to your website's | | | | the way files get from your computer to your web |
| content or none of the above. It can be almost | | | | host. You'll need to consult the service you've chosen |
| anything, as long as someone else doesn't own it | | | | on how their online interface works, but it's usually a |
| already. Buying and registering a domain name grants | | | | fairly straight-forward process. If you've ever |
| you the exclusive rights to a domain for a given | | | | uploaded a photo or text document to a website, |
| period of time. Once you register for the domain it's | | | | you pretty much know everything you need to get |
| yours for that time period and no one else can use | | | | started. |
| your domain. Owning a domain provides the added | | | | That's it! You now have a live website you can direct |
| bonus of being able to have an email address from | | | | colleagues, family, friends and potential customers to. |