The best tips for beginners to create your own website.

Creating a website could be a simple or a daunting task too. It could be as simple as a WordPress-powered website, like this. Here a few people maintain many websites. And creating a website could also be as complicated as Facebook and Google. Those websites are using many servers, bots, and personnel for only one website. So let us get straight into it, and learn to create your own website.

So creating a website can vary from as easy as, nursery rhymes, to as complex as, poems by William Shakespeare. The complex way of doing it is to hire a team of developers to get it done. To make it more complex, you can develop the website yourself.

To develop a website yourself, you need to learn a few technologies like the following:

1. HTML and CSS.
2. Some client-side scripting languages like JavaScript/JQuery.
3. Some server-side scripting languages like PHP, Perl, Python, Java, C#, VB ASP.NET, or others.
4. You may need to learn some RDBMS also.

Each technology is a separate subject and has a load of things to learn, which is beyond the topic of this article.

But, if you are a non-programmer, just want to sell a product online, or want to start blogging, you should focus on your business. Learning “how to program” and then creating a website would be a waste of time. You may learn to program if you wish to be a programmer, not to run a business. So, in this article, we will discuss the easy way to create a website!

Complex website, or an easy website, the basic 3 steps are common. Search for a suitable domain and get it registered. Followed by the same, select a hosting package that suits your need and budget. Keep one thing in mind, you can increase capacity any day, anytime.

And finally, decide on how you want to launch your website. Another thing to keep in mind is, a website is not a one-day activity. You must nurture your website. You need to update and keep on refining your website. So let us discuss these steps in detail.

Step 1: Your website needs a name, Domain Name

A website needs a name, doesn’t it? This name is Domain Name and you have to register it with a domain name registrar.

Although, it is not mandatory to register a domain name and get hosting from the same provider. But I would suggest opting for the same provider, as it would make your life easy. If your domain and hosting are from different service providers, you have to add an extra step. In that case, you have to change the DNS settings in the domain registrar to connect it to your hosting provider.

The price of a domain name may be as low as ₹500 and could be as high as ₹50,000, or more. Some Premium Domains may hit Million of Rupees too!

Here we have registered our little website, with RACTOW an Indian company, for ₹580 only, for a year.

Step 2: Your website needs storage space, Hosting Space

Once you have a domain name, it must connect to a reliable physical computer. That physical computer has to be online, always. This is where you store your website-related files. This physical computer plays the role of providing many services. or This physical computer can also be a group of computers and networks. They provide services like the Web, EMail, and Databases. They also take care of Security, Redundancy. And since it is hosting all these services, we also call them Hosting Servers.

The cost of hosting varies as per your choice of Operating System and required storage space. The higher the need for space, the higher would be the price. Here are some quick facts. This, you may find useful, for selecting a package to create your first website.

1. A complete WordPress setup needs less than 31 MB of space.
2. eCommerce application like OpenCart needs around 100 MB of space.
3. 1 GB is equal to 1000 MB.

This website is again hosted with RACTOW, with 1GB for ₹175 only, for a year.

Step 3: Create your website content

Your website must have some content, right? This content is a collection of web pages, designed in a presentable manner. Read: How a Website Works?: Under the hood.

As discussed earlier, this could be complex if you wish to “custom develop” it. The easy way is to install a Content Management System (CMS), like WordPress. There are some other CMS also available like Typo3, Joomla, Drupal, and others. If you are looking for a ready-to-go, eCommerce application, you can do it using OpenCart, and PrestaShop. You can do that using WordPress too. I must mention here is, all these software are free of cost and the most used method to create a website.

Once you install your software, you can log in to your administration area. From there you can manage your content in no time. WordPress and OpenCart are very easy to use. So is PrestaShop. I have taught Grade 6 & 7 kids to manage a WordPress website (check out, tintiners.com). I will be posting another article soon, with detailed steps on “How to use WordPress“.

This website is also using WordPress. RACTOW charges a nominal fee to set it up for you, but we did our installation ourselves, and trust me it is very easy.

If you like this article, please share it with your friends. And, if you have some queries, do let me know through the comment section below. I will do my best to address your query and help you further to keep your website up and running.

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