Outline for Starting Your First Website

There are many reasons to create your own website. Before starting out, you need to carefully consider exactly what you want your website to do for you. Do you want it to be a platform to promote a business? Are you thinking of starting a website just for fun? Think very carefully about your subject and purpose. A lot of vital decisions are going to be made based upon those considerations as you will soon learn.

Your first step for implementing your website is to find the appropriate web host for you. There are many web hosts out there that offer different options. Some companies offer free web hosting but those packages come with advertisements. If you do not want your host's advertisements on your site, then you would want to choose a package that you pay for.

Your other consideration in choosing a web host is the extent of your HTML knowledge. If you are not familiar with HTML, then you would want to pick a host that has easy editing options. These days, it is easy to find packages that require little to no HTML experience. You can also choose to have your site built for you.

After you have chosen a web host, you will need to consider a domain name. It is not necessary to have your own domain name however I highly recommend it. Your domain name is www.yourname.com. The place where "yourname" is will be your domain name. This could be the name of your business or another key factor of what you want your website to promote. This is another decision to consider very carefully. Your domain name helps with your site's recognition factor.

At this point, you should be ready to start adding information to your site. Here are some things to keep in mind:

1)Keywords: these are the words that will attract users and search engines to your site. Your keywords should be words that best describe the theme of your site. You should settle on one keyword and then expand on it by using several words. (example: cook, cook shrimp, secret recipe to cook shrimp) Obviously your keyword "cook" should be somewhere in your title. You will also want to include it in any headlines. Try to make your keywords as unique as possible without being too abstract.

2)Content: try to make your content as original and useful as possible. Search engines love original content. The more original your content is, the better. Don't fill your website with too many ads or too much copied work. Write as much of your own content as you can that includes your keywords. However, don't overdo your keyword to the point of excess.

3)Advertisements: you can place affiliate ads on your site and earn a little money. Google Adsense is a very popular way to go. You can search for affiliate programs that offer a wide range of advertisers. You should pick advertisers that pertain to the subject of your website without giving yourself direct competition. Be careful not to "junk up" your site with too many ads. It is very unappealing and the search engines might penalize your site for it and affect your rankings. A few well placed and subtle ads are the way to go.

Now that you have your website built, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Sorry, it is not that easy! You have only just begun. Now you have to think about search engine optimization and site promotion.