Conceptualize,
Build and Publish a Web site
- What's required to get started
By newsforuse.freehosting.net
All of us knowingly or unknowingly, use a standard decision
making process in our day-to-day lives. The very first step
of this process is to decide whether TO DO or NOT TO DO. If
the choice is TO DO, we think of the various ways and means
of attaining our objective/s, compare their pros & cons
and take a final stand.
This aim of this write up is to make you aware of the resources
that are needed to achieve your TO DO objective. The TO DO
objective is to conceptualize, build and publish your web
site.
If you are convinced of the fact that you do need a web
site, then the next step is to decide what you want from your
web site. Do you want a site that your near and dear ones
can visit from time to time ( I assume you are far away from
them. ) or do you want a site that sells a product, service,
brand or image? Whatever the purpose of your web site, the
absolute essentials to have a site up and running are as below.
The 5 Essentials:
Spare Time - You must have lot of spare time at your disposal.
So if you are a house maker whose kids have grown up, a worker
who has just been shown the pink slip or college student on
vacation then time shouldn't be a problem for you. Those hard
pressed for time can contract the web page design work to
a professional web master or use a Site Creation tool.
HTML Knowledge - HTML is NOT a programming language. Its
basics can be mastered within a month and the learning curve
is not too steep. The fact that anyone can learn HTML and
create Web pages is the reason why the internet is so popular
and has such varied content. Learn the HTML tags and how to
use them. Skip complex topics like frames, style sheets, CGI,
Javascript. I have put up this site using only HTML. You too
can do the same once you learn HTML thoroughly. Buy a good
book on HTML. It will teach HTML and also give links to various
online HTML resource sites.
HTML Page & Site Creation Tools - The main reason for
using these tools is to speed up the process of page / site
creation. However, most of the tools do not produce correct
HTML and editing by hand is necessary. Your HTML book will
provide reviews of these tools and links to their web sites.
If you know HTML and plan to have 5-6 web pages in your site,
a rudimentary editor like Netscape Composer will also suffice.
For managing a site with huge number of pages you will need
to use a Site Creation Tool.
Make provisions for a fast internet connection and a room
where you can work without distractions.
Find an ISP (Internet Service Provider) or IPP (Internet
Presence Provider) i.e. a web hosting company to host your
web site.
Crystallize a Concept:
With the 5 main things taken care of, you should be ready
for Conceptualization. Some of you will already have a concept
or idea for your site, but take a moment and download AffMasters.pdf
from http://aff-masters.sitesell.com/ [Copy & Paste the
url in to your browser and hit enter].
Read page 35 "Day 2 - Brainstorm Your Site Concept".
I am sure that you will appreciate the authors' approach and
find the most suitable concept for your site. This course
also gives a few pointers about things to avoid in a web site.
Make notes and use them as you build your site.
Build your Site:
Once you have arrived at a concept, use your HTML Knowledge,
HTML Page Creation Tools, ready made Templates to build the
web pages. Edit the HTML to make the visual just right. Load
the pages with content. Keep in mind that Content is King.
Keep the page design simple yet elegant. Value content over
flashiness. Don't use too much graphics, if you do the page
will take time to load. Impatient surfers might close their
browsers and move on.
Publish your Site:
To enable surfers to view your web site, you must publish
your pages to a server that is connected to the internet i.e.
a web server. When you publish a page to a web server, you
upload that page on to the web server. You can upload the
pages on the server of an ISP (Internet Service Provider)
or on the server of an IPP (Internet Presence Provider) i.e.
a web hosting company. Usually it is better to use an IPP
because -
- An IPP offers more web space (20 MB free) than an ISP
(5 MB).
- IPPs usually allow CGI on their servers.
- To upload web pages to an ISP server a FTP (File Transfer
Protocol) client is required. Some IPPs (e.g. NetFirms) also
require FTP client to upload files to their servers. However
there are IPPs (e.g. FreeServers) that allow you to upload
your files directly to their servers without FTP. You should
prefer the IPPs that do not require an FTP client because
it is much convenient and quicker to upload your files using
a Site Manager provided by the hosting company.
- Do people really need to have their own domain name?
Well, if you plan to have a business web site having your
own domain name is a MUST. Surfers will place more faith in
a business with its own domain name. Also an url with a domain
name in shorter and easier to recollect. However, getting
and maintaining a domain is expensive. The next best thing
is to get hold of an IPP or free web hosting company that
lets you have your own subdomain name. Web sites that have
their own subdomain can get by the search engines (SEs). Thus
you can submit your web site to the SEs for indexing.
A subdomain name is like: http://username.webhostname.com/.
Do NOT use IPPs that offer you a subdirectory.
A subdirectory is like: http://webhostname.com/username/.
If you do use such IPPs you will not be able to get your site
listed in the top search engines because too many people have
submitted the same domain i.e. http://webhostname.com/.
When you decide on a web hosting company you can Sign Up
for either a FREE or PAID account with that company. For a
PAID account you will be required to pay a one time Setup
fee plus a per month fee. For a FREE account you don't pay
anything but the hosting company will display ads and/or pop
ups on each of your web pages. In case you are on a limited
budget, you can start off with a FREE account and then UPGRADE
to a PAID account asap.
Once you have published your pages, type your site url in
the browser and view the site. Test all url links to ensure
that they are working correctly. If your site sells a concept
or product you must publicize the site so that surfers get
to know about it. Publicizing the site and generating traffic
to it are issues in themselves and would need another article.
For more help on these topics search for ebooks and articles.
Plenty are available.
CREDIT:
http://newsforuse.freehosting.net/
Provides CONTENT of VALUE to Webmasters and Website owners.
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