How to build a website

Find an available domain name

• Register domain
• Make sure your domain is set to auto-renew
• Make sure your contact information is correct

Select a web hosting provider
(there are hundreds to choose from including Yahoo! small business, Godaddy, bluehost and many more)  

• Login to your domain registrar and point your domain at your web host by setting the DNS to the DNS of your web hosting provider (your web host should provide this information)
• Set-up your email client (most web hosts come with email service that you can use with Microsoft Outlook or Mac Mail or any other email program including Blackberrys and iPhones)

Set-up a coming soon page

• Create a very simple html page that says coming soon
• Save it with the name index.html
• Copy index.html to your web hosting account in the directory set-up for your web site (you can do this usually from a web interface at your web hosting provider or using and FTP program)
• Go to your web site in a browser and confirm that you now see your coming soon page

Design your site

• Make a list of some of your favorite web sites in terms of styles, colors, fonts, layout and flow
• Make a list of some sites that are similar to yours in terms of content
• Create a wireframe of your site (a simple list of pages that will make up your site, a brief description of what will be on each page and how those pages will link together, this can be done with pen and paper)
• Create the first page using a web authoring tool such as Dreamweaver.
• Once you have a style and look of your first page that you like, copy that page to make each of the other pages in your site
• Gather any images that you will include in your site. Put them in subdirectories beneath your main html directory and make sure any references in your html to images are relative
• Move the files to your web hosting provider using FTP
• Test your site in multiple browsers (IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome)
• Check all images and links (most common mistakes are image paths and broken links)

Promote your site

• Basic SEO (search engine optimization)
  • There is a lot to SEO but starting with some basic key concepts will help down the road
  • Make a list of key phrases that you think people will type into Google that you want searches to find your site
  • Apply these words appropriately in the content on your site
  • Title all the pages on your site appropriately
  • Name the pages of your site with filenames that use appropriate keywords
  • Don’t try to game Google or other search engines
  • Create a lot of relevant quality unique content on your site
  • Submit your site to directories and search engines
  • Ask other relevant sites to link to your site
  • In general the more high quality, relevant sites that link to yours the better

• Send out a regular email newsletter to everyone you know (use an email service such as constant contact)
• Blog regularly
• Promote your site on social sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Myspace