Guide to Starting Your Own Web Site

Guide to Starting Your Own Web Site

If you have a hobby, business or family in this day and age there is almost no excuse for not having a web site.  Web sites are now for more than just techie geeks and large companies.

As a web developer I have built coutless web sites, but for personal use as well as many coporate clients.  Below are a few links to web companies that I personally go out of my way to do business with, they offer the best proces and features, no matter what size your web project is.

Small Business Owner
Running your own business is often a very tough job, and one of the most difficult tasks you face it in trying to appear as professional and legitimate as possible. In my experience once of the fastest ways to ruin your illusion of size and experience is to do business under a generic email account, like xxx@aol.com, xxx@yahoo.com or xxx@hotmail.com.  There are many ways to buy your own domain (web Address) and get your own email address, with your business name in it.  You should do this right away if you are thinking about getting business cards.

Registering a Web Site Name (Domain)
When you are trying to come up with a name, it helps to use a service like godaddy below to search and see if your domain is available.  If you cannot find the  exact domain you are looking for I recommend going with a domain that is as close to your business name as possible.  While it may end up being long, it will be much easier to spell and give to clients.  Nothing is more frustrating that trying to guess the web address of a company that is using an address that is nothing like their name.

Email Only
I have provided a few links below to find a place to go buy an web domain and set up your email. If your thinking about just setting up an email account for now, and you are not ready to set up a web site, I strongly recommend that you buy a web domain through godaddy.com.  They are very easy to use and offer great prices (around $9 a year).  Some other web domain registraars charge up to $30 for the same service.

Full Fledged Web Site
If you are ready to do both a web site and a personalized email address then you have the option of registering your web domain thoughyour hosting company.  The two hosting companies I have recommended below offer a nice deal of domain registrations.  This simplifies the process, however the down side is if you ever change web hosts you have to go through the process of transfering your domain to another registraar, which while not difficult can be time consuming.  For an small business just starting up that is on a tight budget I would recommend that you let your hosting company handle the registration for you.  If are a larger small business then I would recommend that you register your domain through a dedicated registraar like GoDaddy.

Godaddy provides other services besides registering your domnain, however you will only want to sign up for that.  Do not select any of the other options they offer INCLUDING     Email or hosting.  This will all be handled by your hosting company.

Family Web Site or Hobbyist

One of the best reasons to start up a web site as a family (especially one that lives in different cities or states) OR as a hobbyist is that it provides you with a central place to share pictures, newletters, get together schedules, etc.  While there are many services out there that you can use to do some of these things, few let you do it all in one place and all have limits on usage, like the number of pictures you can share online, or the file size.

Great Free Web Site Software
As hard as it is to believe some of the best software out there to run on your web site, for picture galleries, message boards, etc is free.  The hosting companies I have recommended below both offer quite a few of these ready to use.  This means you can add many increadible features to your web site for free without having to know anything about web programming.  Most of it has been writted in php (a web scripting language) and requires a web server the supports php and mySQL Database server.  Both of the hosting companies I recommend below support these technologies.

Full Features Web Site - with ZERO Code
One of the coolest web site applications out there is Mambo.  Mambo is a full-featured content management system that can be used for everything from simple websites to complex corporate applications.  You can check out some of the web sites made with Mambo.

Mambo Server
http://mamboserver.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=101

Message Board
http://www.phpbb.com

Other Great Scripts
http://php.resourceindex.com/Complete_Scripts/