“How to Make a Website: Part 1″ is the first in a multi-part series on how to make a website. This post will cover the important initial steps in creating a website: how to come up with an idea for a website and how to choose a name for a website. These websites won’t build themselves, and if you don’t build them someone else will, so let’s get going and learn how to make a website.
Come up with an Idea for a Website
The first step in creating a website is deciding what your website will be about. This is the most important and probably the most difficult part in the process. Because the idea is what will determine your goal in creating your website, this step will define the rest of your progress.
One idea is to start a blog. Blogging is becoming more and more popular, and it has become relatively simple to create a blog. If you are going this route, you will just need to decide what to blog about.
Another way to think of an idea is to try to make an improvement on something that already exists. Google was not the first index of the internet, but they took what was already out there and made it better. Similarly, Facebook was not the first social networking website. The creators of Facebook just made improvements on the social networking sites that were already in existence.
There are a ton of other examples. Just be as creative as you can and think about what you might be able to accomplish.
Choose a Name for your Website
After you have decided on the idea of your website, the next step will be to choose a name. You will need to choose both a domain name and a site name. The domain name is the address where visitors can find your site. For example, the domain name for this site is “sleeandtopher.com.” The site name is what you and your visitors will call your site. Following the same example, the site name for this site is “Tech Adventures with SLee and Topher.”
Often these two names will be the same. For instance, the site name for the most popular search engine in the world is “Google.” The domain name for this search engine is, of course, “google.com.” The same is true for Facebook, Groupon, and any other number of popular websites. Having the same name is very useful for marketing your brand, a concept that I will elaborate on in later posts.
However, sometimes it is not feasible to have the same name for both the domain and the site. Many blogs will have a domain name that is different than the site name. Because of creative expression, choosing the same name for both would create a very long and easily forgettable domain name. It would be difficult and impractical for every visitor of this site to remember a domain name like “techadventureswithsleeandtopher.com.” It is too long and unwieldy.
How to Register Your Domain Name
Once you decide on the site name and domain name that you want, you will need to register your domain name. Many times you can register your domain name with the company you want to host your website with (more on this in later posts), but you can also register your domain name with one company and host it with another.
The most important point is that you have to choose a domain name that is unique. If the name you want is already registered, you will have to either wait until the current registration expires, buy it from the current owner, or pick a different name. Often picking another name is the best course of action.
To help you check if the domain name you want is available or not, I am including here a domain name checker hosted by 1&1; they have registered many domains for me and are also the host for many of my sites.
Next Steps…
Thank you for reading Part 1 of “How to Make a Website.” More posts in this series will be coming soon.
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