Is a Website Right for You?

As an amateur person who starts out with wanting to begin to develop a website many people find themselves not knowing where or how to get started with setting up a website.

Starting up a website takes a lot of patience and if you don't know what you're doing, it can also wind up costing you much time and money.

In order to set up a website you need to first determine what the purpose is behind the site. You need to ask yourself some questions, "What purpose will I use this website for?" and "Who is my targeted audience?" Answering those questions will help you to get an idea as to where to start.

After you've determined what the use of the website will be, you should contemplate on a domain name. A domain name is a unique name that is used such as www.yourname.com would be the address that visitors would type in order to access your website. Picking a name isn't always easy, but you can use your name, a nickname, etc. There are many variations to starting a domain and you can pick www.yourname.com, or if that isn't available, you can pick a different domain extension such .net, org, biz, .us. etc. Not every domain name that you desire is available, as registrations have been going on for a long period of time, and most .com extensions are already taken.

After you've determined what your domain name will be, you need to register that name if available. There are a number of domain name registrars and you can do an engine search on the Internet, and most generally, you can get a domain name registered for under $10. My recommendation is that you pay a few extra dollars and register for private registration. Private registration keeps your personal information away from those who do a search on who owns a domain name.

Next, in order for your website to come together, you'll need to select a host for where your website will be placed. A host is a place that allows you to store all your information such as web site design, content, pictures, etc. People who come to your website will type in your domain name and once that is typed in, the domain name will be connected with your host provider where your information is stored. There is a fee to host your website, and you can determine whether you want to pay per month or on an annual basis. Sometimes, you can get lucky and get your domain name registration, and hosting at one place.

As you have acquired the domain name, and host account, you'll need to set up your name servers. This is where you'll type in the name of the servers to direct the domain name to where it is hosted. You can use template style hosting that you can learn how to put together a website with the design all done by generic template, and fill in the information, or else you may want to have a web designer put together the website for you. If you decide to do it yourself understand that it'll be a time consuming project. As with all new projects, be patient in learning something new. The web designer can also take the place of getting a domain name, and hosting for you, particularly if you're not comfortable with the process. The only thing that I'd advise is that you get everything in writing, and make sure that they understand that the domain name belongs to you.

This hopefully gives you a general idea as to how you can go about putting together a website. It is a great hobby, and way to keep in touch with friends and family.