How do you Create your Own Website?

Creating your own website can be useful for a number of purposes. Whether it’s to share your expertise on a particular topic, start an online business, foster a community, or just maintain an online journal of your activities, having a website will allow you to make your content accessible from any connected computer.  It can also theoretically allow you to have a larger audience for your ideas than you would ever have otherwise. If you have useful ideas or observations to share, you may be able to share them with as many as a few dozen people throughout the day, if you are lucky. With a website, you can share them with hundreds or even thousand.

1. Get Your Domain Name

The first thing you need to do before anything else is to get yourself a domain name. This is the name you want to give to your website. For example, the domain name of the website you’re reading is “howdoyou.tech”. To get a domain name, you have to pay an annual fee to a registrar for the right to use that name. Getting a name does not get you a website or anything like that. It’s just a name. It’s sort of like registering a business name in the brick-and-mortar world; having that business name does not mean that you also have the shop premises to go with it.

2. Choose a Web Host and Sign Up for an Account

A web host is basically a company that has many computers connected to the Internet. When you place your web pages on their computers, everyone in the world will be able to connect to it and view them. You will need to sign up for an account with a web host so that your website has a home. If getting a domain name is analogous to getting a business name in the brick-and-mortar world, getting a web hosting account is comparable to renting office or shop premises for your business.
After you sign up for a web hosting account, you will need to point your domain name to that location.

3. Designing your Web Pages

Once you have settled your domain name and web host, the next step is to design the web site itself. There are major four ways which will you can design your website.

• Website Builders

Website builders are pre-designed software that provide tools for designing and constructing websites. Like everything in life, the free ones have limited functionality but the paid ones come with advanced features and options.
These proprietary online website builders are best for non-technical people, involving little or no programming . There are various popular website builder such as wix.com, squarespace.com, weebly.com and wordpress.com etc.

• WordPress.ORG (Content Management System)

WordPress.org is open source content management software that anyone can use to create SEO friendly, responsive online store, blog, business and portfolio website. You can use free and premium themes and plugins to create and customize any website. This is one the best methods to create website.

• HTML/CSS and Programming Language

Almost all the websites on the web are created and designed by using HTML/CSS and programming languages such as php, java, jquery, python etc. Even the website builder application, wordpress.com, wordpress.org, wix.com, google.com, facebook.com and amazon.com all these websites are created by using HTML, CSS and various programming languages. The use of programming languages is based on the level of functionality that anyone requires in the website.

• Hire a Website Designer

The 4th method to create a website is by hiring a website designer or website designing company ( https://www.howdoyoutech.com.ng/web-design/). When you hire website designer or company to build your website, they will also most likely use HTML/CSS/Programming language or WordPress or Website Builder etc.

4. Publishing Your Website

Publishing your website is a matter of getting the pages you created in step 4 up to the hosting provider you set up in step 1.You can do this with either the proprietary tools that come with your hosting service or with a standard FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software. Knowing which you can use depends upon your hosting provider, but most providers should have support for standard FTP. Contact that hosting provider if you are not sure what they do.

5. Promoting Your Website

One of the most desirable ways to promote your website is through search engine optimization or SEO. This is because it allows your site to be found by people who are looking for the information, services, or products that your site provides.

You will want to build your web content so that it is appealing to search engines. Additionally, you will want to ensure your site as a whole conforms to search engine best practices. 

Other ways to promote your site include word of mouth, using email marketing, social media, paid search marketing (SEM), and all the traditional forms of advertising. 

6. Maintaining Your Website

Maintenance can be the most tedious part of website design, but in order to keep your site going well and looking good, it needs regular attention and maintenance.

It’s important to test your site as you’re building it, and then again after it’s been live for a while. New devices come on the market all the time and browsers are always updating with new standards and features, so regular testing will ensure your site continues to perform as expected for those different devices and browsers.

In addition to regular testing, you should produce new content on a regular basis. Do not simply aim for “more” content, but strive to create content that is unique, timely, and relevant to the audience you aim to attract. You can also maintain your website by hiring a website designing and maintenance company (https://www.howdoyoutech.com.ng/website-maintenance).

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