By Maria Nemenman
Getting your own website up and running is simpler than you think, and is a powerful way to get word out about yourself or your organization. Earlier in the history of the internet, building a website required finding a professional, with a career in professional web design. But times are changing, and the market of website creation is shifting in favor of the typical online user, who is a consumer and not a producer of computer software. This article will present the basic steps involved in building a website. Sketch a Roadmap Making your first website can feel a little like driving without a map, in a foreign country.
But with a little planning and organization, you will be able to remain focused, and design a beautiful website that gains a lot of attention. Decide early on what information you want to provide to usersMake a sketch of how you envision your website to look, with links pointing from your homepage to other pages. Are you startinga personal blog, an online portfolio or a promotional website for your company? The more effort you spend on your website’s planning, the more exciting and enjoyable the construction of your website will be.
Selecting Your Domain Name A domain name is the websiteaddress used in an online browser, to locate your website. Domain name are also called URLs, and are the words that come after http://. Selecting your domain name will significantly impact the impression you make on your visitors, so choose wisely. You want your domain name to be simple and direct. Make sure it is relevant to your website. It is also recommended that you place keywords in your domain name, or phrases that describe yourself or your industry. Switching domain names further down the road will confuse your visitors, so it’s wise to invest time up front creating a user-friendly name that will put your website on the path to success.
Choose a Hosting Provider Web host service providers make it so that your website can be accessed by anyone, at any time, from anywhere. Many large companies have their own servers, but it is also easy for an individual to have his/her website hosted. There are literally tons of private web hosting services on the web.
Some provide different freebies than others to encourage customers to select them, but the most important factor when choosing a host is its reliability. You want a hosting service with servers that will not crash, and is protected by a firewallWhat’s most important is that the servers won’t crash, leaving your visitors with blank screens when trying to locate your website. Hosting uptime refers to the amount of time a host is accessible, and most hosting providers try to maintain a 99.9% uptimeThere’s nothing more discouraging to a new website visitor than a site with an unavailable server.
Typically, hosting companies will provide free domain name registration and the option to cancel after a month. HTML , Flash Coding and Quick Fixes Traditionally, websites have been created using HTML coding, a language that is relatively simple to learn if one has the time and inclination. However, over the past decade, more and more websites are turning to Flash. Flash provides an immersive experience to website visitors, and is much more engaging than standard HTML .
However, learning Flash is more challenging than HTML, and modifications can be time consuming. There are a few new companies offering ways around this, with website builder software that is easy to use and doesn’t require coding knowledge. Wix.com actually created a free website tool that allows users to build Flash websites that are compatible with search enginesWix produced a fantastically simple platform that lets users with no computer knowledge at all, to create a website using Flash. The company’s own Flash website was built with the platform. The program lets users choose from a wide selection of free templates and customize their own web designwithout entering in any coding at all.
Wix also has its own servers and provides hosting for free user accounts. Gather Competitive Intelligence Knowing your competition allows you to figure out exactly what you can offer that others are not, and it clues you in to what customers are interested in. Benchmarking is a very important part of web creation, and is not only limited to your website’s early stages. Remain aware of what others are doing by continuing to benchmark as your website grows. Go to search engines such as Google or Yahoo!, and conduct searches for keywords or phrases that are relevant to your website. Perform a few searches, with different combinations of keywords and phrases.
You can also search for your competitors by name, and gauge what sort of standards are being set for your niche. Study your competition, and think of ways to offer something better. Using Keywords To Build Traffic To Your Website Getting your site noticed by others is the goal behind this entire operation. Using appropriately placed keywords in your website’s content can ignite your website’s popularity with search engines. Keywords are actually more often phrases than words, and they are what people search for on Google and other search enginesKeywords are words or phrases that a user types into a search engine, to bring up relevant websites.
So how do you pickselect good keywords for your website? Think of what words and phrases are related to your website, that people are likely to use in a search. Although there are several keyword tools that cost money, you can start brainstorming for your website’s keywords before you even create the website itself, with Google’s free keyword tool. Build Your Website for Your Target Market It is much easier to express yourself clearly when you know who you’d like to be listening. Consider your ideal business clientele, or visitor to your website, and think about what they might expect to find when they visit you. What kind of language might they expect to find – a technical, formal or conversational? It’s also worth considering what specific actions you hope your visitors to perform while on your website. Do you want them to purchase products, provide contact information, or subscribe to something? Once you recognize exactly who your target market is, you can customize your website so that it effectively reaches your target market. Final Remarks about Web Design You are now a bit closer to becoming a website builder than you were before. Using these basic tips should help clear up the confusion about how to make a website. Remain focused, plan out your design before getting started, and make a website that will catapult you or your business into online stardom.
About the Author: Maria Nemenman
Create a Website
by WIX.com I have been in the online marketing industry for over two years and love all things related to e-marketing, writing for the web, SEO and SEM. I’ve been working for a large company that specializes in web design, and love how dynamic this field is.
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