How to create a website?
In this article I will try to explain how you can easily create a website. Let's say that you already know what your website is going to be about. Now follow these steps.
Step 1: Find a hosting
A hosting is a company that offers you some space on its server. Basically, it all depends on how much money you have or how much money you can afford to spend on your website. If you don't have a lot of money or you don't want to pay the fees every month, you should use a free web hosting.
Here is a short list of free web hosting providers:
I have to also add that they provide you with a website creator or an WYSIWYG editor, making it easy to create a website or blog and not requiring you to know html or how to build a website on a CMS.
On the other hand, you can create a website on a premium hosting. The prices start from as low as $0.3 per month (or even cheaper) and go up to over $10 per month. They can offer you either 25MB of space, which is hardly enough for a small personal website, or up to 150GB (=150,000MB) and more web space for big websites.
Here is a short list of trusted premium hosting providers:
Here is a short list of free web hosting providers:
- Weebly.com (as you can see, this website in hosted by Weebly.com. This free hosting provider allows you to edit templates, add you own domain name and has other useful features).
- Blogspot.com (a popular blog hosting owned by Google, a lot of free templates and a good amount of web space)
- Webs.com (previously knows as Freewebs.com, not as good as Weebly.com)
- Ucoz.com (a popular Russian free hosting provider with a website builder and a lot of other features, available fully in English as well)
I have to also add that they provide you with a website creator or an WYSIWYG editor, making it easy to create a website or blog and not requiring you to know html or how to build a website on a CMS.
On the other hand, you can create a website on a premium hosting. The prices start from as low as $0.3 per month (or even cheaper) and go up to over $10 per month. They can offer you either 25MB of space, which is hardly enough for a small personal website, or up to 150GB (=150,000MB) and more web space for big websites.
Here is a short list of trusted premium hosting providers:
- GoDaddy.com (prices from $4.99 per month for 10GB of web space)
- Hostia.ru (prices from $1 per month)
- SteadyHost.ru (prices from $0.3 per month)
- Hosting24.com
Step 2. Register a domain name
A domain name is the address of your website. If you have a free hosting then you probably already have a domain name like mywebsite.freehosting.com as well. But if you want a more serious domain name, like mywebsite.com, mywebsite.info or mywebsite.co.uk and so on, you will have to pay for it. Most premium hosting providers offer you to register a domain name like the ones above, but they often do it for a higher price. Nothing prevents you from registering a domain name yourself or using the services of domain name registrars.
It is better to register a ccTLD (domains that end with .co.uk, .de, .us, .fr, .ru and so on) on your own. For example, a .fi domain registered by a hosting provider will cost you $80 per year, while on your own it will cost you only $12 per year.
Choose the domain you want to register (a ccTLD or gTLD such as .com, .net, .org and so on) and find a domain name registrar. This may take some time, but if you want to save money, it is worth it. If you have enough money, don't bother searching and ask your hosting provider to do it for you.
Generally, prices for second-level domains start from $1.99 per year (special offers) and can go up to $100 per year and more (exotic domains).
Read more about domain names on Wikipedia.
It is better to register a ccTLD (domains that end with .co.uk, .de, .us, .fr, .ru and so on) on your own. For example, a .fi domain registered by a hosting provider will cost you $80 per year, while on your own it will cost you only $12 per year.
Choose the domain you want to register (a ccTLD or gTLD such as .com, .net, .org and so on) and find a domain name registrar. This may take some time, but if you want to save money, it is worth it. If you have enough money, don't bother searching and ask your hosting provider to do it for you.
Generally, prices for second-level domains start from $1.99 per year (special offers) and can go up to $100 per year and more (exotic domains).
Read more about domain names on Wikipedia.
Step 3. Create you website and add it to search engines
This is the most difficult step. Start uploading information to your website and make it useful for visitors. If you want to create a website on a CMS (this requires a premium hosting with php support), I suggest you choose one of the following:
Finally, promote your website. Add it to search engines or advertise it. Share it with friends, post it on message boards.
Good luck!
If you have questions, don't hesitate to contact me.
- Wordpress (lots of blogs use this CMS)
- PHP-Fusion (one of my favourite content management systems, it's easy to install and to control)
- Joomla (another very popular CMS)
Finally, promote your website. Add it to search engines or advertise it. Share it with friends, post it on message boards.
Good luck!
If you have questions, don't hesitate to contact me.