If you were asked to make your own website, I am certain that the first thought springing to your mind would be: “this is going to be time-consuming and difficult”. However, you couldn’t be more wrong! Even if you are a complete technophobe and have a real fear of computers, I can assure you that you can do so. Many developers want you to believe that creating a simple website should be left to the professionals. Well, they have to say this in order to get your hard-earned money.
A common myth – You need to learn a computer language to make your own website
Wrong again! Only a few years back you would probably have had to learn a computer language like HTML and get familiarized to CSS, but nowadays thanks to WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) software this is no longer a necessity. This type of software actually writes all the coding for you. All you need to do is focus on designing your page and not worry at all about the technical stuff. Free software like Kompozer or WordPress, are technophobe-friendly and a pleasure to use. If you’ve used Microsoft Word before you will have no problems using these.
So you see, you don’t even need to be interested in technology to make your own website.
Designing your website
That’s where the fun really starts and the creative juices can start flowing. First you need to assess why you want a website? Do you want to share pictures with your family and friends, or perhaps you are looking to create a platform for people sharing your interests or you might even want to sell your products online.
Once you have a definite idea of the topic of your site, you can start thinking about layouts, colors, background and pictures. It might help you visualize your site better if you draw your webpage on a piece of paper first.
Domain Name
Don’t worry. A domain name is simply the name that you will be calling your website and should be related to its topic. So if you are planning on discussing golfing accessories on your site, a good name would be golfingaccessories.com. The full URL will appear in a browser as: http://www.goflingaccessories.com. You can get a domain name from an online registrar.
Web Hosting Services
Once you’ve got your domain name and have created your first web page, your website will need to be connected to the internet for the world to see. To do that you will need to use the services of a web host.
That’s it – that’s all there is to it. You now have all the information you need to start building your first website.
