By Liliana Elena Gonzalez
@LilianaElena
Do you have your OWN website? Having professional presence on the Web increases the opportunities for getting new customers and reduces marketing costs.
Having a website is like having a house or an office. Depending on your activities, you will decide the type of it. Let me tell you it’s easier than you think – all you need is directions that you follow and you will soon be online.
But how much it will cost? For $10 - $20/month you can have a working website (Imagine: YourOwnWebsite.com), available to anyone in the world with internet access. That’s a trip to your favorite fast food joint. (Yes, you can afford it!)
There are 3 basic components required to building a personal, custom website.
- A domain name
- A hosting account
- Content written in a notepad, word or similar
To fully understand these terms, think on the web as the mortar and brick world:
You live in a home (or have an office) that is built on a certain piece of land (that you rent or buy). That piece of land has a specific address.
Your website (a collection of individual web pages) sits on a hosting account that you rent. That hosting account is found at a specific address – called a domain name.
Your Home/office = Your Website
Your Street Address = Your domain name
Your plot of land = Your hosting account
Your physical house/office = Your web content
Therefore the 3 step process to any website:
STEP 1: Choose your address
STEP 2: Build the house or office you want
STEP 3: Rent some space on a computer connected to the internet
Let’s explain each step:
STEP 1: Choose your address (a domain name)
With the internet you can choose what you want your address to be (your domain name). What are you selling? What would make a cool name? Understand that after over 25 years of domain registration – a lot of good names have been taken. So get creative, and be unique but understandable. An easy place to start with is your full name for a family/personal site or your product name for a business site. Make a list of about 10 possibilities that you like in this format www.yourdesiredname.com Move to the next step.
STEP 2: Build the house or office you want
There is one thing that is really important and that ONLY you can do! That is come up with the content and the idea. Think about what you have to offer and what problem it solves for your visitors and prepare your content so as to answer that problem. E.g. If you are a real estate broker/agent , you can answer your clients questions through your blog and direct traffic to your listings page. Write simply, write short, write clearly. As time goes on, remember to keep your site fresh. Keep the content updated and relevant to your ideal visitors.
Now, before jumping on the next step, you need to decide what kind of site do you need. There are several options in templates and wizards to help you build exactly what you want (no special skills required):
Wordpress blog: easy to install application
WebsiteTonight: Professionally designed Web page templates.
SmartSpace: easy-to-build Web site, blog, photo album and social page
Quick Shopping Cart: create and publish a stand-alone Internet store
Quick Blogcast: your own blog, podcast—or both—anytime
STEP 3: Rent some space on a computer connected to the internet (A hosting account)
Go to Dominiador store (feel free to look into others, but don’t waste your time searching for the cheapest, remember: you pay for what you get), and type your first domain name choice. You will be informed if that name is available or not. Keep trying out your names in order of your preference until you find on that is available.
While in the process, the program will give you the chance to select your hosting account. Select your hosting to match your activity (see choices at STEP 2), when you finish the process, the hosting company will instruct you on how to access you account.
The goal of this article was to give you easy steps of how to get a website for yourself. Naturally you can learn more about each step (stay tunned for more posts in this blog), but now you can start the journey. Create your list of domain names, decide what type of site you want and build your content and purchase a hosting account (including the domain name you want).
A journey of a million miles starts with one step – so go to step 1 and start. (Don’t worry – this is not a long journey – but it’s exciting!).
@LilianaElena
Do you have your OWN website? Having professional presence on the Web increases the opportunities for getting new customers and reduces marketing costs.
Having a website is like having a house or an office. Depending on your activities, you will decide the type of it. Let me tell you it’s easier than you think – all you need is directions that you follow and you will soon be online.
But how much it will cost? For $10 - $20/month you can have a working website (Imagine: YourOwnWebsite.com), available to anyone in the world with internet access. That’s a trip to your favorite fast food joint. (Yes, you can afford it!)
There are 3 basic components required to building a personal, custom website.
- A domain name
- A hosting account
- Content written in a notepad, word or similar
To fully understand these terms, think on the web as the mortar and brick world:
You live in a home (or have an office) that is built on a certain piece of land (that you rent or buy). That piece of land has a specific address.
Your website (a collection of individual web pages) sits on a hosting account that you rent. That hosting account is found at a specific address – called a domain name.
Your Home/office = Your Website
Your Street Address = Your domain name
Your plot of land = Your hosting account
Your physical house/office = Your web content
Therefore the 3 step process to any website:
STEP 1: Choose your address
STEP 2: Build the house or office you want
STEP 3: Rent some space on a computer connected to the internet
Let’s explain each step:
STEP 1: Choose your address (a domain name)
With the internet you can choose what you want your address to be (your domain name). What are you selling? What would make a cool name? Understand that after over 25 years of domain registration – a lot of good names have been taken. So get creative, and be unique but understandable. An easy place to start with is your full name for a family/personal site or your product name for a business site. Make a list of about 10 possibilities that you like in this format www.yourdesiredname.com Move to the next step.
STEP 2: Build the house or office you want
There is one thing that is really important and that ONLY you can do! That is come up with the content and the idea. Think about what you have to offer and what problem it solves for your visitors and prepare your content so as to answer that problem. E.g. If you are a real estate broker/agent , you can answer your clients questions through your blog and direct traffic to your listings page. Write simply, write short, write clearly. As time goes on, remember to keep your site fresh. Keep the content updated and relevant to your ideal visitors.
Now, before jumping on the next step, you need to decide what kind of site do you need. There are several options in templates and wizards to help you build exactly what you want (no special skills required):
Wordpress blog: easy to install application
WebsiteTonight: Professionally designed Web page templates.
SmartSpace: easy-to-build Web site, blog, photo album and social page
Quick Shopping Cart: create and publish a stand-alone Internet store
Quick Blogcast: your own blog, podcast—or both—anytime
STEP 3: Rent some space on a computer connected to the internet (A hosting account)
Go to Dominiador store (feel free to look into others, but don’t waste your time searching for the cheapest, remember: you pay for what you get), and type your first domain name choice. You will be informed if that name is available or not. Keep trying out your names in order of your preference until you find on that is available.
While in the process, the program will give you the chance to select your hosting account. Select your hosting to match your activity (see choices at STEP 2), when you finish the process, the hosting company will instruct you on how to access you account.
The goal of this article was to give you easy steps of how to get a website for yourself. Naturally you can learn more about each step (stay tunned for more posts in this blog), but now you can start the journey. Create your list of domain names, decide what type of site you want and build your content and purchase a hosting account (including the domain name you want).
A journey of a million miles starts with one step – so go to step 1 and start. (Don’t worry – this is not a long journey – but it’s exciting!).
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