I've tried to go into as much detail as possible, to minimize the need for switching to other Web pages. Unfortunately, it's unrealistic to provide detailed information on how to create a website, within one page. You'll find quite a few links to other pages providing additional information and useful services. All links within this page are set up to open a new browser window, so that you can open several pages simultaneously and switch between them without losing the context.
The whole process is divided into four sections:
1) Planning
2) Building
I've also added Advanced Options for those who want to know how to create a website with more traditional Web design tools.
1) Planning
If you're going to create a website not only for fun, take the time to think it through thoroughly. The real opportunities on this over-congested Internet lie in the niches. The only successful strategy for newcomers is to select a narrow niche and to fill it with useful content.Some niches, such as "Internet marketing" or "Web hosting", are extremely competitive. Your goal is to find a subject that you really know and like, that would have some appeal for others and that is still not very competitive.
You can estimate the competitiveness of your niche by analyzing related keywords. Create your original list of keywords - write down all the words and phrases that you think are related to your concept and can be used by people when they search for your site. Don't limit yourself to single words. Statistical research has shown that most people search using multiple-word keywords composed of two, or even three, words in order to get more targeted results.
There's a remarkable online tool that will help you find actual related keywords and measure their popularity on the Internet. Go to WordTracker and start the trial. It works fine, but, unfortunately, it's fairly limited. For more advanced features you can buy a one-day or one-week subscription to full service for a small fee.
WordTracker will guide you through 4 steps:
Step 1. Type in your first keyword, and click on the "Proceed >>" button. WordTracker will display a list of keywords related to the word that you had typed in.
Step 2. Click on the first word which is applicable for your Web site concept and WordTracker will open another window and show a list of keywords which contain the word you had clicked on and the number of times they have been used by searchers (the figure present in the Count column).
Add related keywords to your basket by clicking on them, then click on the second related word in the first window. Again add related keywords to your basket. Repeat this process for each of the related words, then click the link to move to Step 3.
Step 3. This step gives you some choices that are only available in the full version, so just go to Step 4.
Step 4. You'll see keywords from your basket along with their attributes, the most important of which is the KEI Analysis (KEI - Keyword Effectiveness Index). The amount of competition is determined by searching for each phrase on the selected search engine and finding out how many sites come up in the results.
Write down the best keywords (KEI > 10) along with their attributes, click the link at the bottom of the page to try again, clear the basket (in the trial mode it can contain only 30 words) and type in your next keyword. You may repeat it as many times as you need to analyze all related keywords. Your goal is to find not less than 10-20 good relevant keywords (keyword phrases). The more keywords you find and the higher their KEI, the more promising your niche is.
Notes:
- WordTracker assigns high KEI to words with low Count and very low (or zero) Competing. Don't target these keywords. What good would it do for you to rank high for these words if no one ever searches for them? Select words with high Count (not less than 100).
- The free trial uses MSN to determine the amount of competition. In addition to this, I advise you to check the competitiveness of your best keywords on Google. Search for each of them using exact match search (i.e., you should wrap the search phrase in quotes, for example, "how to create a website") and write down the numbers of sites which Google finds. These numbers are usually much higher than those on MSN, and KEIs are correspondingly lower.
For example, if Google finds only 20-30 sites providing information about a particular keyword, there is a good chance that your page will be found if you include that keyword only once or twice into it. Otherwise, if you have 20000 competitors, you'll need to optimize all areas of the page for this keyword to get a high ranking.
Of course, the above process can take a lot of time. But if you want to get free traffic from search engines, this step is absolutely essential. It's the very thing that can make the difference between a successful website and one that fails to attract any visitors.
2) Building
Now that you know what you want to accomplish, it's time to start building your website. Depending on how many pages you're going to create and how serious you are about building a profitable Web business, I offer you the three most time-and-money efficient options I've been able to locate.They are online website builders which anyone can use to build professional looking websites and have them hosted instantly. No software to buy, no code to learn, all you need is to be a little Internet savvy and know how to click your mouse.
These tools are the current leaders in their fields and differ in their capabilities and prices...
1) FreeWebs
This is an extremely easy-to-use, full-featured online website builder. It's suitable for those who just want to make small professional looking websites very quickly, easily and inexpensively (the price is free) - affiliates, home and small businesses, families, hobbies, sports teams, etc.
FreeWebs.com is a free service that provides a vast amount of tools and services to anyone who wants to get on the web. |
|
| Up to 40 MegaBytes of Webspace | Members who need more than 40Mb can purchase as much additional space as is necessary. |
| Your Own FreeWebs OR Domain Address | http://www.freewebs.com/yoursitename OR* http://www.yourname.com * domain registration not included in free services |
| FreeWebs Builder | A simple yet powerful tool that allows you to create a professional website with no previous knowledge! |
| Real-time 'WYSIWYG' Web Page Editing and HTML editing |
Now you can edit a page in 'WYSIWYG' (What You See Is What You Get) format and watch the html change instantly! Edit the html and watch the preview change in real-time! Or use the HTML only editor, all available from a powerful online Site Manager. |
| Form Builder/Mailer | Get feedback through surveys and online forms. Now building forms is as easy as ever with our automated form builder. Simply add the fields and a submit button with the click of a mouse and your submissions will be be emailed directly to you! |
| Site Statistics | Track your traffic over time with My Stats. You will be provided with comprehensive statistics about the traffic to your website. MyStats! will allow you to know what sites are hot and what sites are not. |
| Site Promotion | Use our automated META-tag-generator and powerful site promotion toolkit including free search engine submissions, advice on internet advertising, and literature on how to increase site traffic. |
| Counters | Let others know how popular your website is by inserting a FreeWebs counter on your site. |
| Chatrooms | It doesn't take a web guru to know that chat rooms are hot! With WebsChat! you can add chat rooms to your site in a flash! |
| Guestbooks | With WebsBook , you can insert a guestbook on your site with the click of a mouse! |
| Photo Albums | Add stunning photos to your WebsAlbum to create a professional online photo album and slideshow! |
| E-Commerce | Accept online donations, payments, and subscriptions with PayBuild our automated Paypal button and store builder! |
| Web Polls | Poll your visitors with WebsPolls, our fully customizable poll generator. |
| Email Services, FTP, CGI, Password Protection, DNS and MUCH MUCH More! | For the more serious user, we offer a host of additional premium services! |
In fact, if you already have all the text you need for your pages on your computer, you can create a website in under 5 minutes - the builder has a simple user-friendly interface, runs fast even via a slow dial-up modem connection and provides the full owner's manual to show you step by step how to create a website.
Your website will be hosted by Freewebs - one of the best hosts for standard and small ecommerce sites.
Yahoo! GeoCities Free
Publish your resumé, share family photos, or connect with others who share your interests. Choose the point-and-click PageBuilder or step-by-step PageWizards for easy web pages. Upload files from your computer or customize your own HTML with File Manager. See what the Web is all about!
Easy to Use
| • | Our web design tools will have your web pages up in a matter of minutes |
| • | Cool add-ons will give your web pages that extra flare |
| • | You get your own GeoCities web address: www.geocities.com/your-Yahoo!-ID |
| • |
Did You Know?
The Yahoo! GeoCities Tour will show you how to create a web page, use our design tools, view your web page on the Web, and promote your web page to your friends!
The GeoCities Free comes with a free "geocities.com/your-Yahoo!-ID" web address. If you would like to get (or transfer) your own domain name, such as " your-name.com ," check out the GeoCities Pro web site package.
Yahoo! GeoCities offers web page design tools that don't require any knowledge of HTML.
Answer a few questions and Yahoo! PageWizards will create a professional-looking web page for you in a few minutes. Yahoo! PageBuilder is a drag-and-drop editor that allows you to create a more full-featured web site.
| Personalized Web Address | |
| GeoCities web address (www.geocities.com/your-Yahoo!-ID) |
Yes |
| For Your Visitors | |
| Data transfer (bandwidth) | 3 GB/month (metered hourly) |
| Ad-free site | No |
| Web Site Management | |
| Disk space for storing files | 15 MB |
| Free PageBuilder and PageWizard tools | Yes |
| Customer Support | |
| Online Help site | Yes |
| The GeoCities Free package comes with a "geocities.com/your-Yahoo!-ID" web adress. If you would like to get (or transfer) your own domain name, such as " your-name.com ," check out the GeoCities Pro web site package. |
3) Bravanet
Click here to see what they have to offer for the free services.
4) Wandoo
Site Builder
- Suitable for computer and Internet novices.
- Simple, step-by-step process automatically builds your website on Wanadoo.
- You choose the colours, layout, pictures and words.
- Your completed website can be up and running in minutes.
- Wanadoo membership is not required.
- Create and update up to five websites (inclusive of sites built with FTP My Site).
- 30MB of web space available per site .
FTP My Site
- Wanadoo membership required.
- Suitable for people with some experience of authoring web pages.
- Build your own web pages on your computer and transfer them to Wanadoo.
- Use our free, easy-to-use web interface or your own FTP client. (If you want to use an FTP client, we recommend Terrapin FTP).
- Create and update up to five websites (inclusive of sites built with Site Builder).
- 30MB of web space available per site .
Once you've decided which of the two is best for you, click on the register button to enter your details.
Search Engine Optimization
To optimize a page for a specific keyword (keyword phrase), you should include it in the following strategic places...- Title tag
The first and most important tag in search engine optimization. It should contain 5-10 words. The specific keyword should be used, preferably as the first word(s) of the title. The title appears as the link in search engine listings, so you need to make it attractive to humans as well. - Meta Description tag
The second important tag. It is used by many search engines as a short description of the page, so don't repeat the Title in this tag, and make sure it's attractive, without being misleading. It should not exceed 150-200 characters. The specific keyword should be used at least once. - The regular text of the page
Put not less than two hundred words on the page. Don't make the page too long. Use your keyword at the start, middle, and end of your content. Don't simply repeat it over and over. Use it more frequently in the opening two paragraphs, and also in the closing paragraph. The first sentence should contain the keyword. Headlines are more important than the regular body copy for both your human readers and for the search engines. Include your keywords in the heading tags, preferably as the first words of the heading. - Incoming links
If possible, include your keyword in the text of incoming links (links to your page from other pages). - Meta Keywords tag, Image ALT tags, Comment tags
These tags aren't very important - they hardly affects the rankings these days. However, just to be on the safe side, you can include your keyword in them. Meta Keywords tag can contain a list of keywords separated by a comma.
| <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <title>How to Create a Website (one-page guide for beginners)</title> <meta name="description" content="Learn how to create a website, promote it and earn money from it, in the most efficient way possible."> <meta name="keywords" content="how to create a website, one-page guide, website building"> </head> ... |
Domain name
You need to get a domain name if you're serious about making your business successful. Having your own domain instead of an extension of someone else's, gives your site better credibility, recognition, and visibility with the search engines and directories.Choosing a domain name is very important step in the entire process of building a website, and due to the recent "gold rush" for domain names, it can also be one of the most difficult. It may seem that nearly all "good" names have been registered. This doesn't mean, however, that there's nothing left, you just have to be a bit more creative.
Here are some tips for choosing a domain name...
- Keep the length between 5-20 characters if possible (the length can be up to 63 characters).
- Try to base it on one of your main keywords for higher relevancy. The engines will rank your site higher for your keyword if it's included in your domain name. You may use dashes if it helps readability. Generally, don't use dashes if your name has only two words in it.
- The generic Top Level Domain .com is by far the most marketable, and thus the most valuable domain.
Prepare to be disappointed. You'd be surprised at how many people share your idea. Type in your domain name in the search box and click on the "ALL" button. This service not only checks your name, but also generates a lot of available names based on yours. You can also register the available name(s) right there.
During registration, you'll be asked to enter your primary and secondary DNS servers. If you don't have a hosting provider yet, you can register a domain name, that will not be hosted anywhere. Later on, when you obtain the DNS information from your host, you'll log into your registrar and enter your host's primary and secondary DNS servers. BE CAREFULL WHILE EDITING THESE.
For example, if your site is hosted by iPowerWeb, enter...
Primary: NS1.IPOWERWEB.NET
Secondary: NS1.IPOWERDNS.COM
Name server updates usually take somewhere between 24 and 72 hours to fully propagate throughout the Internet.
For more information, see Building: Domain Names.
Advanced Options
If all the above doesn't suit you, here are a few tools and resources for traditional offline website building that I use myself. They require more knowledge and work or cost more money, but instead give you more power and flexibility... Macromedia Dreamweaver
This is the most powerful visual HTML editor for dynamic and static websites. It's rather expensive, but it enables nonspecialists to build rich dynamic pages that work across all the leading Web browsers.
Macromedia HomeSite
This is an excellent inexpensive text-based HTML editor. It gives you full and convenient control over your pages. Dreamweaver is good when designing a new website template, but all subsequent site building and maintaining will be easier and quicker with HomeSite. In fact, its built-in editor is the best multi-purpose editor I've ever seen.
Ulead's PhotoImpact
This Web graphics editor is the best balance between depth, ease of use and price. It offers features usually found only in programs costing 5-8 times as much.
iPowerWeb
One of the best hosts for standard and small ecommerce sites. It provides much more disk space and bandwidth than an average site needs, daily tape backups, iPage website builder, free domain name, free shopping cart and toll free telephone support.
For more detailed information on how to create a website, and then promote it and earn money from it, look through this site.
