How Do I Make My Own Website?

Having your own website on the Internet will allow you to make your mark on cyberspace. You can use your website to communicate information with friends and family, to sell products, or to share your thoughts, ideas or opinions with the world. However, in order to do this, you need to know how do I make my own website.

First, you need to think about what type of website you want to make and you need to think about your level of technical skill.

One of the simplest ways to make your own website is to use a blogging program such as WordPress. A blog is a special type of website wherein you are able to update the website without knowing any programming languages or HTML code. You just use the easy-to-use menus that allow you to "Create new posts" and you can enter a text post, with pictures and other graphics, with a few clicks of the button. If you just want a website to update friends and family or to share your opinion with the world, a blog is a great way to do it. You can get a free blog account from Blogger.com by simply choosing your blog name and beginning to write.

If you want to make a website that is not just a blog, however, the process is a bit more involved and there are a few more steps to take.

Getting a Domain Name

In order to make a website, you have to buy the address for that website. The domain name or web address is the address that people will type in when they want to go to your website. For example, the domain name for this site is www.yourdictionary.com. The "www" indicates that the site is on the world wide web. The .com is the "top level domain name" that indicates the site is a commercial site. Other "top level domains" include .edu (for education), .org (for non-profits), .gov (for government entities) and .net (another commercial top level domain that is an alternative to .com).

You can choose the name you want, and as long as it is not already taken, you can register that name. There are a number of services online that will allow you to register domain names for a few dollars per year. For example, Go Daddy.com often allows you to register a domain name for under $10.00 depending on their current deal.

Getting Web Hosting

Once you have a domain name, you need to find space online to park your website. In other words, there needs to be a web hosting server somewhere that holds all the data that your website contains. There are numerous web hosting services out there, so you can pick one that matches your price range. Make sure you find out how much space you get- in other words, how large your website can be and whether the web host's server can stand up to a lot of traffic in case you get a lot of visitors.

When you buy web hosting, you will usually be given a user name and password and/or instructions on how to upload your files. Some web hosting sites will allow you to create your website using tools on their site, while other web hosting sites have easy ways of uploading your files. Still others require you to use an FTP, or file transfer protocol, program which means you will need to enter the user name, password, domain name and other identifying name into the FTP program you download and use that program to connect and upload to the site.

Designing Your Website

The last step is to actually create a website you are going to put up. You can do this by hand using a text edit program if you know HTML code. HTML code is the code that is used to write web pages so they can display on all browsers. For example, the HTML code to center text is the word "center" with less than and greater than angle brackets (< and >) on both sides of the word. To end the centered text, you would need to type "center" with less than and greater than angle brackets on both sides of the word.

HTML is a complex computer language and you will need to learn all the codes (called "tags") if you want to design your website by hand.

You can also use programs such as Dreamweaver, or free web design tools, which allow you to design your website visually and which then generate the HTML tags from the design you have done using their interface.

Upload the new website you have designed to your web hosting software, and you should have a brand new website at your domain name, ready to share with the world.