Starting A Website/Creating a Website

There are several different kinds of websites. You might want to make a website for your personal biography, a website that contains articles, a blog, or another kind of website for something else. There are also a few different ways to make a website, depending on whether you want to pay money, or use a free hosting service. This page covers the different kinds of websites that can be made.

Starting a free website
If you do not wish to pay for a domain name and for your website to be hosted, there are several free online website editing services such as FreeWebs and Yolasite that allow you to start your own web page. However these websites usually have a large banner at the top of the page containing adds, as well as notices at the bottom of the page saying "this site was made by [insert name of web service here] - get your free website today!" Aside from that, you will mostly not be allowed to have your own domain name; the web service will give your web page a name that looks something like this: www.nameofwebservice.com/yournamehere, or www.yournamehere.nameofwebservice.com. While sites made like this are a no-go zone for businesses and other professional services, they are great for things like your personal biography, your interests, a bunch of links to your favorite sites, a or fan fiction site, etc.

Starting a professional website
If you feel like you want a professional website and have no problem paying up to $50.00 a year, then you should make a professional website. This process has three main steps:


 * 1) Buy your domain name - in this step, you should use an online service such as GoDaddy to reserve a domain name for you. Your domain name will allow you to get youraddress.com
 * 2) Buy your hosting - in this step, you then hire an online hosting service such as BlueHost or DreamHosting to host your website for you. Hosting sites have places where you can edit the code (or use drag and drop editors) to place content up on the domain name that you have reserved.
 * 3) Design your site! - in this step, you actually make your site. Most hosting services have code editing features as well as drag and drop editors that allow you to design your site layout and content. Additionally, you can use programs such as Adobe Dreamweaver to edit your site offline, then publish to your online site.