YOU... dot COM!

What could be cooler than having your name or business surrounded by a "www" and a ".com"? Lots of people hesitate to create a website, thinking that it's extremely technical and requires computer programming skills. Everyone has a friend with a Cousin Vinny who'd be happy to set you up for a small fee, but you really can do it yourself! Here are the simple steps:

Register Your Domain Name

For all practical purposes, a "domain name" is simply the part of a website address that follows the "www". To begin, think of several descriptive names for the website. They don't have to be short, but the shorter the name, the easier it will be for people to remember and type. Your first choice may be already taken, but a bit of creativity and persistence will help you find a great domain name that's descriptive and memorable. If you are registering a domain name for a business, it may help your search engine ranking if you include a relevant keyword in the name.

If your site is a personal or commercial site, .COM is the proper extension, although you can go with .NAME or .BIZ if you like. You can also select other domain extensions, such as .NET and .ORG, but generally those are intended for internet service providers and non-profit sites, respectively. You can check on availability and register your domain name by visiting the website of a domain registrar. Network Solutions was the first and only registrar in town for many years, but today there are dozens of registrars to choose from. You'll find that prices range from about $8 up to $35 per year for domain registrations.

Find a Website Host

Once you have purchased your domain name, the next step is to find a website hosting company. Your website host is where you'll upload the files (text, images, forms, etc.) that make up your website. The competition is heavy in this arena, and you can find numerous websites offering comparisons between hosting companies if you poke around with your favorite search engine. Expect to pay around $10 a month for a good quality hosting service. Some charge less, but you generally get what you pay for in terms of quality, availability and reliability.

Note that many website hosts offer domain name search and purchase options as well. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. If you choose to register AND host with the same company, make sure that you are listed as the domain administrator and billing contact, not the hosting company. They should only be listed as the technical contact on the domain. Otherwise, if you are unhappy with their service, you will have a hard time taking your domain to another hosting company.

Just Add Content!

Once you have chosen the domain and hosting company, you can start building the site, or move it over from another host if the site already exists. If you have never built a website before, there are many free resources on the Internet for learning HTML (the computer markup language most often used to build websites), and most large hosting companies offer free website design tools, as well. In addition, software like Microsoft FrontPage makes building a website almost as easy as using a word processor, though you have to make sure your web hosting company supports FrontPage extensions. Here are some links to get you started: