It does not matter what field you work in or specialize; Internet would always be an important part of your personal and professional life. A decade or so ago, setting up a website would have meant that you are planning to launch an e-enterprise or a dot com business. Not anymore. A web presence is not only important but critical to your identity if you want to be taken seriously in the 21st Century.
Why is a website important for you?
A website can open a sea of opportunities for you no matter who you are and what you do. Some of the most important benefits you could enjoy from setting-up a website are briefly described below:
1. Networking – as a professional, a presence on the Web would help you network with your peers and help you advance in your career;
2. Finding employment - if you are a student this would help you be “found” by prospective employers and thus land up better jobs than those who are still following the regular route
3. Easy reference – whether you are a professional, student, academic, businessperson or home maker you could always use the set up website for listing your achievements, dreams, plans and important milestones. This could help your friends, relatives, colleagues, peers, employers and so many more to be able to be up-to-date with your progress in your personal and professional life, without the need to directly contacting you.
4. Excellent means of extra income – your website can become an exceptional vehicle to complement your principal income. There are millions of cases where the part-time “extra income” generated by such websites overtook the main income of the owner of the website. You can earn through your website, even if you do not have a particular business to promote.
5. Be known as a technologically up-to-date person – having a website makes you a person of the 21st Century. It shows without saying it in so many words, that you are somebody who accepts and adapts to change, which is a tremendously positive trait.
DIY website – six easy steps and you are live on the Net
Today, if you want to do it, there is nothing that can stop you from setting up an excellent website with the minimum tools and cost. In most cases, a person who is looking for help to set up his or her own website already has the basic understanding and mastery of computer applications. However, even if you do not, do not fret at all. You would still be able to do a wonderful job, provided you are willing to learn on your feet.
- Domain name – the first thing you need to think about and decide is the name for your website. Choose a name that represents you or your business. It is very important to find the right name as this would often create an indelible impression in the mind of the person who first sees your domain name. Think what aspect of your personality you want to highlight – professional, personal or for business. Accordingly decide on a name that inspires the person who reads your domain name to think of the purpose for which the website was set up.
- Registration of the domain name – once you decided on the name, you would need to register the same with the Web domain registrar or the InterNIC. By doing so, you are branding your website – just like a company needs to be registered before its name is used legally. Anyone can register a domain name. You need not be part of a company to do so; an individual can register a domain name, too.
- Web hosting – now, you have a name for your website and you have it registered. The next step is to find a suitable web host. This is similar to renting an office space in the real world. A web host would place your website on the Net so it can be accessible on the Internet.
- Creating your website – until now, you have got a name and office space. Now you have to “furnish” your office. The easiest way to do this is by using the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, which as the name indicates, is an extremely simple tool to draw and arrange stuff on your site. There are free software programs that would support the use of WYSIWYG editors such as Dreamweaver, Web-o-Rama and KompoZer among others. With a little practice, you could set up an excellent website in no time.
Use of templates – Alternatively, you could use ready made free (or nominally priced) ready made templates which allow you to tweak the designs according to your need.
- Enhance the visibility of your website – now that your website is up and ready, you need to make it attractive and visible enough for people to see it so they can visit. The visibility of a website is one of the most critical aspects you would be required to master. You would need to research and understand the right use of keywords and their placement on the website to make it visible to search engines, which would in turn, pop it up when humans search for anything that is related to your website.
- Test drive the website – the SEO (search engine optimization) is a continuous process that would require constant up-gradation and fine-tuning. Once you have put the basics in place, test your website and see whether it loads and previews the way you envisaged it. For this purpose you could use any available browser such as Explores, Mozilla Firefox or Safari. In case your website does not load the way you wanted it, go back and make the adjustments required.
Helpful online resources:
- http://buildfree.org/quicklinks.html - a wonderful resource of free WYSIWYG html editors
- http://www.bluevoda.com/ - free tools that help you build your own website in 30 minutes flat
- http://buildfree.org/quicklinks.html - free web hosting for your free website; worth a try
- http://howdoimakeafreewebsite.com/builtfree.html - easy to follow instruction on how to make free websites
- http://www.thesitewizard.com/sitepromotion/index.shtml - excellent advice on how to promote your website
- http://www.thesitewizard.com/gettingstarted/dreamweaver1.shtml, http://www.thesitewizard.com/gettingstarted/kompozer-tutorial-1.shtml - tutorials on how to use free html editors
- http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/findhost.shtml - information on how to choose the right web host for your site
- http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/registerdomain.shtml - information on how best to register your domain name
