Tips for Creating Your Own Personal Website

It's Not as Hard as You Think it is

Creating your own personal website isn’t the difficult, horrific task that it appears to be. In fact, it can actually be fun once you get started! These tips and tricks will help you get your website up and running and help you avoid creating a site that is unreadable or annoying to visitors.

First of all, you need a server (a computer dedicated to hosting websites) or a web host to store your files on. Servers are computers you actually own that are always connected to the internet. Unless you own a small business or are planning on building many different websites, you probably want to look for a web host. These are sites dedicated to providing server space for users on their computers. Yahoo, Tripod, Angelfire, and many other hosts exist. Some, like these three, are free, while others require a small monthly or yearly fee. The free sites generally include some kind of pop up advertisement or banners that appear on all of your pages, so if you don’t want that, you’ll probably want to pay for web space. Before signing up for web hosting, check with your Internet Service Provider.  Some, like AOL or SBC, include web space as part of your service.

Next, you need to pick your program: Microsoft FrontPage, Dreamweaver, Publisher, and dozens of other programs can be used to design your webpages. Some web hosting sites like Yahoo actually offer free web-based programs for you to use. These are good options if you’re not going to be building a massive site or if you have limited funds..

Finally, there’s the option of registering your own domain name. This costs, as well, although sites like godaddy.com offer domain registration for less than ten dollars. Why register a domain? Mainly, for ease of sharing your website. It’s much easier to remember www.johnswebpage.com than it is to remember something like www.webhost.com/users/john. Domains generally have to be renewed every year, and your domain name must be unique.