How to Create a Website

Create Your Own Website for Your Home Biz

You'll find some basics on how to create a website in this section, from picking a small business website builder that guarantees your success to developing a niche design that fits to writing content that engages your visitors to mastering search engine optimization.

Once you know that you want or need a website (and really I think most successful online home businesses WILL have a website of some type), then having the right website builder is going to be a key to your success online. You need a website program that builds your business, not just an attractive website.

And, unfortunately, that's a mistake that a lot of people starting out make. They get so caught up in learning how to create a website that looks good or does cool things that they forget what really keeps visitors on a site and how to bring them there in the first place.

But, I am getting ahead of myself... What I want to talk about first is how to figure out the best way to create your website once you know you need one. You could go the free route, I suppose, but that's not any way to create a professional business site that your visitors will see as legitimate and real.

So, in this section of the site, I'll take you through the various steps involved in creating your own website for your home business and getting it up and running on the Internet.

Steps in How to Create a Website

Sequence is important here. First, decide what type of business you're going to build and what niche you'll be targeting. You can't really proceed with a website that makes sense until you know the answers to those 2 questions.

What Type of Website Do You Need?

OK... so you've decided you DO need a website. But what type? Will it be...

• A traditional content type site with lots of pages?
• A one-page sales letter?
• A blog?
• A series of landing pages?
• A minisite?
• ... Or something else?

As you can see, there are many choices. Your business model may dictate in which direction you head. Or you may have a preference on the type of web presence you desire. No worries, though... I'll take you through each of the types of websites listed above and go over the pros and cons of each and which business model each matches up with.

Learn more about the different options for how to create a website

Pick a Webhost and a Website Builder

A webhost is a sort of mega-website — or what is called a web server — that has all the technical hardware and architecture to play host to large numbers of websites and to keep them running, no matter how much traffic they get or what the weather might be. You could host your website on your own home server, theoretically, but webhosting is so inexpensive these days, it's silly not to let the experts do it.

Many webhosts are quite similar, in a lot of ways. both important and unimportant. But some webhosts are a cut above. And some are several cuts below. So, learning how to assess the trustworthiness and features of a webhost is important. You don't want to make a mistake about who will be in control of your online home business presence.

Going hand in hand with web hosting is website building. Many webhosts offer some kind of web-based website builder. Some are better than others. Another option is to use a content management system like Wordpress or Joomla to build your site. Or you could opt for an independent software that resides on your hard drive, like Dreamweaver, Coffee Cup (my favorite) or XsitePro. Or you could even code your pages by hand, if you know how to use HTML and CSS.

Picking the right webhost and website builder kind of go hand in hand, so be sure you read both pages linked below...

Learn how to assess and choose a webhost

Get help choosing the right website builder for your skill level, needs, and preferences

Naming Your Website (Domain)

Once you know what type of website you want and where on the Web it will reside, then you'll be ready to take the first step in making it real... choosing its name. This learning how to create a website is getting exciting, isn't it?!

A website name is technically known as the domain name. A domain name consists of some grouping of words, followed by what is called an extension. An example is homesweetbiz.com (this site's domain name). I chose my own grouping of keywords, "homesweetbiz" to signify what my site is about and to brand my approach to home business. Some people might separate the words in a domain name with dashes, which is perfectly OK too and might help the search engines figure out your topic easier than if the words run together (jury's still out on that one). A domain could also be just one word, but the likelihood of finding a decent and relevant one-word domain name that is still available is pretty low.

The ".com" is my extension, which is also known as a top-level domain. Other top-level domain extensions include ".org", ".net" and ".edu". Other extensions are available too, including ".info", ".biz", ".tv" and others.

So, you can see you'll have lots of choices. How do you know which one is right?

Learn more about choosing a domain name

Designing Your Site

Once you have a name for your site, you'll be ready to start thinking about what your website will look like, or what its design or template will be like. The most important factor in a site's success, is NOT how it looks, despite what you've heard. But looks ARE important in learning how to create a website the right way.

Do you have the artistic and technical skills to create your website design yourself? If not, you'll need to choose a website designer or find a pre-made template somewhere. Again, it's important to know what you're doing. Website design is not just about aesthetics... it's also about usability.

Learn more about how to design a website

Developing a Site Plan

Your site will come together better if you have a plan for its organization. Even a sales-oriented website needs to have auxiliary pages, such as a contact page, an about page, perhaps a site map or search page. You might also need a number of other pages. And content-oriented sites will need a much more complex approach than that.

So, putting together a written site plan is important. If you have a disorganized approach to your site, it'll show. And people won't stay there. And that will defeat your purpose in building the site in the first place.

Find out more about developing your site plan

Creating Your Content

Once your site is designed and planned, you have to actually build it. And even a one-page sales page needs content. So you'll need to have a plan on how and when you'll build that content. And if you'll need help!

Writing for the Web isn't hard and you don't have to be a seasoned writer. But it IS a skill.

Learn more about creating content when you create your own website

Search Engine Optimizing

You can create the greatest website in the world, but if no one can find it, then what's the point? You certainly won't make money unless you have visitors, and isn't that kind of the point of an online home business? So, you have to learn how to court the search engines, namely Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask.

What you do is write your content a certain way that is known as search engine optimization, or SEO for short. Again, this is a skill every online home business person must master, at least if he or she hopes to succeed in making money.

Get some tips on how to make sure you can get tons of free search engine traffic

In Summary...

By now, I hope you're starting to see that knowing how to create a website is just part of the process once you decide to start an online home business. But it's arguably the MOST important part!