Building a Quality Website for $5 a Month
Building a Quality Website for $5 a Month
Many people think that owning and running your own
website is a big task – something that requires you to give
lots of time and energy. Well, that's what the big companies would
like you to think, because that's what makes them the most money.
The truth is that running your own website can be
a very affordable and stress-free affair. With the help of tips
you'll read in this article, you too can run your own website for
only around $5 per month. Brown-bag one lunch per month and you've
easily paid for it, it's that simple.
There are three things that any web master must have to run a website.
A domain name (your address, something such as www.mywebsite.com),
web hosting (this the physical place where your information will
be held), and, of course, a layout with content to place on your
website.
Most hosting companies now-a-days offer a free domain name to customers
as an incentive to sign up, so choose your host wisely and you can
kill two birds with one stone. This not only saves you money on
buying a domain name, since you're getting it free, but also saves
you the hassle of dealing with another sign up, since the host handles
all of the technical aspects of setting everything up.
When picking out your host, you'll want to make sure you have plenty
of space to store your files. It is wise to make sure that you have
at least a few hundred megabytes (MB) of storage space to ensure
you won't run out of room to grow. You'll also want to make sure
you have at least a few gigabytes (GB) of data-transfer per month,
otherwise you could have a "cap" on how many visitors
you can have per month.
To choose a good host, you can check out an independent hosting
review site - this will allow you to make an informed decision,
avoid getting ripped off, and make sure you get the highest bang-for-your-buck
possible.
It's also much easier to use a legitimate review site than to go
out and pick a host by yourself. Do be careful when picking out
a review website though, as many of them are biased/paid off/operate
off of commissions.
Always avoid "free website" places. They cover your site
with ads, and as a rule are unreliable and slow.
Once you have your hosting bought and picked out, you'll have your
own website! It's that simple. Of course, at this point it will
be empty, but it is a blank canvas for you to create your website.
To start with, you'll need a design. If you have experience in
computer graphics and design, and are creative enough, you can create
your own design. However, if you weren't born an expert at creating
websites, not to fear. You can use a premade template that you like,
and add your content to that.
A simple Google search will uncover literally thousands of free
and low-cost templates that you can add your content to and call
your own site. You can use a program such as Microsoft's Frontpage
to edit the template without programming any code.
And that's it! At this point, all you have to do is write content
to add to your site, and call it a day! It really is that easy.
About the Author Ryan Bauer is a large-scale
webmaster who runs a Web
Hosting Reviews website and writes how-to articles for advanced
computer users and webmasters.
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