How to Put Up Your Own Custom Web Site

By Jim Daniels
Posted Wednesday, September 29, 2004

This tutorial is for folks who do not yet have a web site of their own. It will explain how to put your own custom web site on the web without paying big bucks.

Have you been contemplating having your own web site but keep putting it off for one reason or another? Maybe you're marketing a few affiliate programs and promoting those affiliate URLs. Well, as you learned from the article in the last issue of my BizWeb E-Gazette, your own custom web site is the first step in promoting ANY business online, even those affiliate programs.

Okay, so what are you waiting for?

If you think that setting up a custom web site is expensive, think again. The total cost can be less than a few hundred bucks and some of your time. Once your site is up, the only ongoing costs are monthly web hosting charges, which can be as low as $20 - $40 per month plus yearly domain fees of just $35. Now that's cheap!

Here's a step-by-step tutorial on getting your own custom site up...

1. Lay out your basic design.

Do this step on paper first. Draw out what you want your main entry page, or home page to look like. Keep it simple and uncluttered. Be sure it includes a short description of how your site will help your web site visitors. (These are the folks who you'll be targeting the site to -- take some time and figure out who they are before you start!)

Then, draw out a few more pages to link that home page to. A few examples would be a page that describes your company or yourself, a page that offers free information about your area of expertise, and a page with your best product/ service/opportunity that you plan to promote.

2. Once you have a basic layout of what your site will look like, you need to design it on your computer.

There are many ways to do this. You can go out and buy one of those 800 page books on html, the code used to design web pages, or you can go the easy route. The easy route is to purchase a WYSIWYG (stands for What You See Is What You Get) web design program. There are many programs to choose from in today's market. These programs are the easiest way to design a web site, especially for the first time. Most of these programs cost $100 or less.

Here are a few examples of such programs...

- Microsoft FrontPage: (www.microsoft.com/frontpage/)

I used this program to design my (http://www.bizweb2000.com) site and it is a solid choice for new webmasters.

- Homesite: (http://www2.allaire.com/Products/HomeSite/)

This popular design program is now the choice of many webmasters, as it produces clean html despite its WYSIWYG interface.

Tip: Read this article before proceeding with your home page design.

3. Once your site is laid out on your computer, you'll need to decide on a domain name for your site.

Registering your own domain name means that web surfers will be able to connect to your web site by entering (www.yourname.com). Here are a few tips to help you select your domain name.

a. Avoid using any character that is not a letter or number. Many newbies do not know where to find the "-" or "_" characters, for instance. You want the name to be easy to type.

b. Avoid using the numeral "1" or "0" in your domain name. Many people will confuse these with the small letters "l" and "o". The last thing you want is someone getting frustrated when they are trying to connect to your site.

c. Use a domain name that is easy to remember and has something to do with your business. Once you settle on a name, it's also a good idea to do a trademark search to make sure the name is not already under trademark by another company. The last thing you want is to be forced to switch domain names once you get going full swing.

You can perform a free domain and trademark search at: (http://www.e-gineer.com/e-gineer/domainator/)

Once you have the domain name picked out, your web host should register it for you at no charge. See the next step.

4. Select a company to host your web site.

Okay, your web site is designed and you have a domain name picked out. So why do you have to hire a company to host your site?

Well actually, you 'could' host the pages on your own computer. After all, a hosting company will provide just that to you, a computer. But in order to do it yourself, you would need a 24 hour connection to the web, in the form of a super-fast phone connection known as a T1 or T3. These digital connections cost over a thousand bucks a month. Therefore, hiring a web host who already has multiple T's is a much more cost-effective solution for small businesses.

Your web host will maintain your 24hr connection to the web, making sure surfers can connect to your site at all times. Therefore, it's important to hire the right company. My past experiences with web hosting have been quite eventful (as well as painful). To help you make an informed decision, I've posted a report about selecting a host at...
(http://www.bizweb2000.com/virtual.htm)

5. Transfer your files to your new web hosting company.

This is a step that many newbies have problems with. Basically, you'll be transferring your newly designed web pages from your own computer to the computer at your web hosting company.

Although most WYSIWYG web design programs come with a "web publishing" interface, I've found the few I've tried to be clumsy and slow. Rather than using the web publishing interface in your design program, I suggest downloading an "FTP" (stands for File Transfer Protocol) program from the web. These cost in the $30 range and they make uploading your site to your host, a breeze.

Here are a few simple and effective FTP programs you can use to put your site up:

CuteFTP: (www.cuteftp.com)

This is the program I use to upload web pages to my site. Its simple drag and drop interface simplifies uploading new pages to my web site. And when making changes to existing pages, I just use my mouse to drag and drop the new page to my web host computer and it replaces the old one.

WS_FTP: (www.ipswitch.com)

This is one of the more popular choices among veteran webmasters. Its easy and intuitive interface makes managing your web site a breeze. No wonder it's the world's most popular FTP client for Windows.

Once you've downloaded an FTP program, spend an hour or two getting used to it. You'll be using it a lot as a new webmaster!

That's it! You now have each step laid out in an easy to follow checklist. And remember, your web site is never finished! Effective web sites are sites that get updated on a regular basis.

If you need more help in getting your online business set up, download my e-book at here. The book is completely free and it covers everything from business setup to web marketing strategies used by pros. You can even give the book away as your own!

Happy webmastering!

About the Author
* Article by Jim Daniels of JDD Publishing. Jim's site has helped 1000's of regular folks profit online. Visit (http://bizweb2000.com) for FREE "how-to" cybermarketing assistance, software, manuals, web services and more. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to their Free, weekly BizWeb E-Gazette: mailto:freegazette@bizweb2000.com