How do I Start a Website?

There are 1,500,000 global Google searches for the term “How do I start a website”. For the majority who are non technical the idea of starting to build a website can be a daunting process.

This need not be the case and in this blog I will set out the options that are now available to the non technical and those wishing to use their websites as a technical growth opportunity.

Your website must be professional looking, easy to navigate, include 99% internet availability and have fast page load rates. It should also be easy to add content, low maintenance and inexpensive.

How Can I Get a Website for Free? —> Your Free Website

There are website choices that will provide all this. Without going into the technical choices, my personal choice for this area of the market is Webstarts.  Webstarts cuts out all the up front work involved with starting a website, all that is necessary is to select the website theme of your choice.

Expect to pay $200 per year for website ownership which includes a $10 domain name. This is a small price to pay for creating a personal global presence. This website and hosting cost around that amount per year and we currently get many thousands of visitors from more than 50 countries.

 

Other Website Ownership Options:

 

It’s possible to start a website with hosting for the cost of a domain name.  My choice for a free hosting service is ViralHosts.com. This hosting service has a free membership option which includes a cPanel back office and support for WordPress hosted sites.

WordPress is the website publishing platform of choice for many personal and small business site owners.

The WordPress.org website includes an easy to follow 5 minute host site install process. Help may be needed to forward the domain to the host servers.  However there is general online assistance available. My WordPress Transfer and GoDaddy Hosting Review   also has details on this.

Once installed your WordPress site back office is accessed by an Admin Login. The back office is user friendly with many free WordPress Themes that can be uploaded from the dashboard menu and editing options are designed to be fairly friendly for less technical users.

There are many user WordPress plugins available for a wide selection of add on features.  A useful WordPress content editing plug in is Dean’s FCKEditor For WordPress.  This blogs resource page includes information on other useful plugins.

Custom WordPress themes are worth paying a small fee for because they usually include more installed content, user friendly features and can save time and expense.  My blog includes two paid theme options, StudioPress and eligantThemes.

Visit my blog and product page for details.

• Mark’s elegant WordPress Website Theme Review
• Mark’s WordPress Website Themes –  Includes a selection of live theme examples

For niche websites a sniper domain name is best. A sniper domain is a name that uses the niche category context keywords to provide an advantage for gaining a high search engine ranking.

If this blog were a niche site how-do-i-start-a-website.com would be it’s sniper domain.  Apart from not using a sniper domain this page is optimized for search engine ranking and visitor traffic.

You can use the Google online Keyword tool to find the best low competition context keyword for your website and check for its availability with www.namechecklist.com.

 

Summary:

 

There are so many choices available for starting a website that the simplest way to get going is to just “jump in” and get started.   Spending too much time with analysis can result in inaction.

WordPress website themes are designed to be search engine friendly with search engine optimization (SEO) plugins.

“Content is king” and visitors will find your site if your content provides the solutions that they are looking for.

When you start a website you become an owner of internet real estate where you are in control of and own your content.  Website ownership is becoming a prerequisite for small businesses and professionals.

See my blog about:  Creating a Successful Website Brand and Web Presence 

Don’t think about starting a website, just do it!  Go to Webstarts and get started today.

Please add your comments below if you have any questions, or need assistance.

Good luck and best wishes,
 

Mark.