How to Build a Website – Part One – Understanding the Basics

There is such a misconception among beginners on how to build a website that I decided to help guide them step by step through each phase. This article is the beginning of the series. Okay, let’s get started, okay?

The biggest mistake beginners make is that they see free software that will teach them how to create a website, but in the end they discover that there are other steps that need to be taken to get that website visible on the internet.

The most important thing to remember from this article is…

There are two things you absolutely must have!

1) A domain name (approximately $10 a year)

2) A hosting account (approximately $8 per month)

So let’s talk about a domain name first. A domain name is the name of your website. For example, it could be your name, johndoe.com, or johndoeplumbingbusiness.com. You must have a domain name in order to view your website on the Internet. There are many places where you can buy a domain name just Google domain names and you will get many options. I personally use GoDaddy.com, they are well known and provide some of the best customer service available.

Tip: Go to GoDaddy and put the domain name you want in the search bar and it will tell you if that name is available and if not what the others are. By the way, if you can, get your name.com if it’s available, they’re running out, and also use the.com instead of .info or .org etc.

The next thing you need is a hosting account. The purpose of the hosting account is that this is the place that stores your website and makes it visible on the internet. Without it, no one will see your website. Again, you can search for web hosting on Google and you will find many options. HostGator is very well known. I use them on some of my websites, you can’t go wrong using them. You can use free hosting sites, but I must warn you, they are annoying. Many have ads on their site, they are limited in what you can do with their site, support is very limited if any.

Learning to create a website is not as difficult as you might think. The hard part comes in learning how to put it correctly on the Internet for millions to see. FYI: Just because you have a website on the internet doesn’t mean no one will see it.