So you think you’re ready to launch your first website? Well, you’re not alone, an average of three million new websites appear on the internet every day! Websites exist for a variety of reasons such as personal websites for your hobbies, family, children, wedding, and new family additions. Many businesses throughout the world have a web presence to promote their products and services to a global audience.

What ever your reason for deciding that you need your very first website, there are several different aspects that you should understand. The first thing you need before you can publish a website is a domain name. A domain name is what defines your website from all of the other websites on the internet. The name you choose is up to you, however, you will want to keep in mind some key aspects before you run out and choose the first name you think of. If you are operating a business website, you will probably want to include the name or abbreviation of your business title.

Things to remember about domains is to keep it as short as possible, people have a hard time remembering long drawn out web addresses, and choose an extension that is easy to remember.

Some popular domain names you’ll probably recognize are:

Google.com
MSN.com
AOL.com

The next thing you’ll need is web hosting. There are many different types of hosting. You can find free, ad based hosting such as Yahoo! Or Angelfire. You can also obtain premium ad-free hosting from thousands of different companies around the world, also known as shared web hosting. Lastly you could opt for virtual or dedicated hosting.

For your first website shared hosting is fine. It’s relatively inexpensive, reliable hosting can be had for under $10/month.

Another choice you have is whether to create a static website, built of HTML or some other coding language, or a blog, which is becoming extremely popular on the web today. A static website offers more control over content and design, whereas a blog is much easier for the beginner and requires little coding knowledge. Each have their own advantages and disadvantages it is important that you decide which works best for your specific situation.

Today, Search Engines seem to favor blog software, over static sites. This is because blogs tend to be updated more frequently then other types of sites –search engines love fresh content!

If you choose to go the static website route, you’ll need to either learn how to code in HTML or obtain a web authoring software tool. There are many web authoring tools available that are easy to use and will help you create a decent website reasonably quickly. Software programs like Dreamweaver or FrontPage, offer intuitive design platforms, which include things like WYSIWYG functionality, plus you have the ability, if the host allows it, to upload directly from those programs.

In conclusion, to get your first website online, you’ll need to first, get a domain name, then get web hosting and finally decide on what platform of website you’ll create.

Posted by David Olsen - Owner/Editor

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