So you have decided to make your way to the World Wide Web not as a surfer, but as an entrepreneur – good for you!
Done correctly, it won’t be long before you are able to generate income from your website.
But first, you need to know how to build your own website, so let’s get busy!
We’ll start by assuming you already have your domain name.
Step #1 – Hosting
Hosting involves where you website pages reside. In order for others to see the website you build on your computer, it must be hosted somewhere.
There are many different web hosts. Some are free, others offer standard hosting, and still others offer dedicated or virtual hosting.
Many head towards the free hosting, which can have a number of drawbacks including space, bandwidth, and even your site’s ability to become ranked.
Make sure you read the fine print and know what you are and are not getting.
Step #2 – Decide What Your Website Will Look Like
Once you have your domain and your hosting, you need to decide what type of website you will build. Is it a site designed to provide information, news, sell products and/or services, etc?
Remember content is key in the world of search engines so think about how you build a site that promotes your focus and provide rich content.
There are tons of web edit services that can offer you WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). It makes building your website like using a word processor.
Step #3 – Publish Your Website
Great, you’ve built your site and now you need to publish it. Publishing it is simply a matter of uploading the pages you have created to your web host service.
FTP is the common method to upload. Sometimes you have to download FTP software, while other times the web host has streamlined everything so there’s no need to download anything.
These are things to consider when you are choosing your web host services.
Step #4 – Promote Your Website
“If you build it they will come.” Nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to a website.
You are going to have make sure your site is search engine optimized (SEO).
You need to build content that focuses on relevant keywords so that your site gets ranked and placed well, which will bring targeted traffic to your site.
Step #5 – Maintain Your Website
You can’t just put your website up and forget about it. You need to bring new content in on a regular basis, test to ensure your site is running properly on all browsers, and in general keep your website fresh.
That’s it in a nutshell – just 5 easy steps to building your own website and starting your online business.
