KNOW ABOUT WEBSITES TODAY
What Is a Website?
At its most basic level, a website is a collection of HTML files assembled for a collective purpose -- a business web presence, personal blog, and so forth. HTML stands for hypertext markup language, and it provides a mechanism to stitch together text, images, and other media (video, music, and additional file types) into one file for web delivery to a viewer's browser. Additionally, an HTML file usually incorporates other files such as CSS files (for formatting) and JavaScript files, which are usually denoted with a .js extension, for interactivity and user interface functionality.Websites reside on servers provided by a web hosting provider and await requests from users. A request for a web page is made to the server whenever a user types the URL (e.g., http://www.mywebsite.com) into the browser. The server sends back the web page and any other resources -- images, videos, or Flash animations -- referenced in the HTML document. This basic request/response interaction forms the underlying framework that powers the World Wide Web.
Websites can be coded by hand using a text editor, created with desktop web development software such as Adobe Dreamweaver, built with an online website builder like Wix or Web.com, or created with a content management system (CMS) like WordPress or Drupal. Although CMS is a popular way to build websites quickly, it involves more technical steps and may require some skill in configuring servers. We'll discuss both these options in-depth in later sections of this website design tutorial.
Reasons Why You Need to Make Your Own Website
Simply put, a great website is indispensable if you have anything you need or want to share with the world. Possible sharing situations include providing a product and/or service, offering inspirational messages or organization visions, and even typing your daily rants and musings. Websites are the most cost-effective and engaging mechanisms for promotion and marketing, and they can improve visibility and recognition for your initiatives almost overnight. Modern businesses are ill-equipped in the absence of a web presence, and in such situations, they are at risk of losing market share opportunities to competitors. Small businesses can often bring their services and products into mainstream knowledge through the power of a well-developed website.After making the decision to build a website, your initial question is usually whether to hire a developer or to build it yourself. This decision narrows down to a handful of factors, including budget, your personal technical capabilities, time constraints/deadlines, and maintenance/update needs moving forward. For example, cash-strapped organizations may decide to build their website in-house if the necessary skill sets exist. A plethora of tools and offerings on the market can show you how to create a website, thus making your website development an easy, drag-and-drop affair.
Keep in mind the option of hiring an outside developer, should you need expertise in a particular area. Hiring a developer enables you to focus on the business aspects of the web presence, as opposed to the technical details of building the actual website. A seasoned web developer can also usually deliver a fully built website faster than the efforts of a grassroots group.
The 3 Simple Steps to Build a Website
Visions of a custom-built website can appear daunting at the start of the project, but it becomes straightforward with each progression. Building a website only involves three simple steps.- Choose a Website Building Platform: The first step is to choose the appropriate website building platform on which to develop your site. For most applications and use cases, this will involve either employing a website builder or a CMS platform.
- Select the Domain Name: The next step is to choose a unique, compelling, and memorable domain name to serve as your website's permanent address. You will also need to identify a relevant hosting option, but you should first check whether your domain provider works with particular web hosts or acts as a web host itself.
- Set up the Website: Finally, the last step of creating your own website involves the visual functionality of your website. In this stage, you set up the operational aspects of the site and customize it, as needed, for the specific look, feel, brand, identity, or message you desire.
Step 1: Choosing a Website Builder or CMS
As mentioned previously, you can utilize various approaches when learning how to make a website. The two most popular approaches are to use a website builder or a CMS platform -- both methods are accessible and easy to integrate by moderately savvy users. These tools and applications incorporate drag-and-drop capabilities and WYSIWIG editors, which can make building web pages as simple as creating a Word document. Both approaches have their unique benefits and drawbacks, however, and they should be considered in the context of your specific use case or scenario.In many cases a website builder is included or integrated as part of a comprehensive web development and hosting platform. In these instances, web development and publishing exists in one integrated workflow, and there is no requirement to manually copy files to the web hosting server. Standalone desktop website builders are also available that allow for easy, drag-and-drop visual web development, but they require you to manually copy the finished website to the server using FTP (file transfer protocol) tools.
CMS platforms offer all the benefits of a WYSIWIG-based website builder but require substantial initial set up efforts. Most popular options started out as blog publishing platforms, and despite evolving to allow for general web content management capabilities, they still follow the same web page publishing workflow: a page is edited, reviewed, and published from a central web-based authoring interface. Initial installation of a CMS entails server configuration and the additional configuration of a database -- which also requires some technical effort to have it up and running. CMS packages also require constant maintenance events and upgrades, which are vital for patching vulnerabilities and security gaps in the software. For these reason, website builders can be significantly easier to use than a CMS when you’re trying to learn how to get a website up and running.
It is advisable to consider the type of audience and viewership you anticipate for your website, since this will help guide you to selecting a website builder or CMS. A personal blog can be created with relative ease and fast turnaround -- out-of-the-box -- with a CMS solution, as the latter was initially designed specifically for this purpose. A business or ecommerce site, however, would benefit more from a website builder's breadth of features (e.g., credit card processing and shopping cart functionality) and hosting integration options.
Step 2: Choosing a Domain Name and Hosting Provider
The domain name is basically the address your visitors will type in the URL window of their browsers to access your site. In actuality, your website has a real numerical address -- the IP address -- that computers and servers use on the back end for serving web requests. The domain name hides this from users, allowing them to use a human-readable name to access the site instead of using an arcane set of numerical values.Your domain name should be unique, memorable, and chosen for long-term use. Since your first choice will likely be taken, you'll often find success with online tools that generate available domain names; these variations are available for purchase, as are free domains using other, non-standard extensions such as .io, .biz, and so forth. Additionally, various country-specific domains are also available, and some can be purchased by both domestic and foreign parties. For example, if you expect a broader audience in the Eurozone, purchasing a .eu domain name may resonate more strongly with your target viewers.
Once you choose your domain name, you should focus on selecting a web hosting provider. In many cases, web hosting procedures include choosing and purchasing a domain name as part of the account setup process. This is especially true for website building platforms with inclusive hosting; additionally, online website builder/hosting solutions offer on-site web authoring; no manual FTPing of files is required.
In general, you should pick a hosting provider according to your expected budget, anticipated traffic volumes, and technical support requirements. Consolidated website building/hosting solutions usually provide easy-to-understand pricing structures and packages.
Step 3: Creating Your Own Website
To build the site, it is helpful to start with a general information architecture diagram, detailing the individual sections of the site and the contents therein. For example, you may want to break your business website into the following sections: About Us, Products, Services, and Contact. Build out the relevant content from these individual sections or buckets to give your site better structure and make the daunting task of content generation more approachable.Suffice to say, your website's visual presentation will make the biggest impact upon users. Most considerations to design your own website will be accounted for if your company or organization already has a brand and/or style guide. You will want to adopt the same or similar font faces, color schemes, and branding elements (e.g., logos and tag lines) on your website. If you're building a website in the absence of any pre-existing guidelines or materials, keep in mind that current design trends favor simple, easy-to-view (e.g., flat) elements, ample use of white space, and muted/soothing color palettes. A plethora of website design tutorials can be found on the web to help in this regard.
Many first-time web builders make the mistake of trying to create a highly compelling, interactive experience out of an otherwise straightforward website initiative. Avoid fancy menus and widgets, unless they serve a specific purpose, since usability is the primary concern when developing websites. More often, an impactful logo, complementary color scheme, and well-written/structured content are all it takes to provide users with a compelling web experience. To make your own website, remember the idea of "less is more."
Website features and add-on options vary with your web hosting/publishing provider. Depending on your needs, you may want to check with your chosen provider if additional capabilities such as social media integration, newsletter generation, ecommerce, or video/music streaming are available. Also, automatic proper backup and restore capabilities can help tremendously in the event of accidental changes or deletions (or if any other significant data loss occurs). Web hosting providers usually make periodic backups of websites, but more extensive coverage may be necessary if you plan to update frequently.
A Note About SSL and Encryption
With cybercrime on the rise, web security should be a critical concern when planning and building your website. A cursory glance at the headlines of any given week's current events will illustrate that even the most sophisticated sites and largest enterprises have fallen victim to hackers. For this reason, it's important to familiarize yourself with website encryption and SSL for your website -- especially if you plan to incorporate some form of ecommerce into your web presence.SSL stands for secure sockets layer -- a method for encrypting web traffic to and from a destination. SSL-enabled sites are denoted by the extra "s" in the "https://" portion of the URL. When sites are encrypted with SSL, all transmitted information from your website to the viewer -- usernames, passwords, or credit card information -- are encrypted in transit. This way, any intercepted or hijacked data is unreadable and useless to hackers.
SSL must be purchased as a certificate from a third-party authority responsible for issuing unique SSL keys. These items must be installed on the server manually, and they are usually taken care of by the web hosting provider. More websites are moving toward an SSL-only mode -- that is, they can only be accessed via https://. In fact, Google has publicly announced its preference for SSL-enabled sites, and it's highly plausible that in the future, sites without SSL will be ranked lower in Google search results. You should therefore incorporate SSL on your site early on for security and search engine optimization (SEO) purposes.
Conclusion
In short, building and launching a great website can provide unprecedented exposure and reach for your project or organization. The process, which can seem daunting initially, is distilled into the following three steps: choosing a website builder/CMS, selecting a domain and hosting provider, and creating the website itself.Keep in mind that website builders can often be easier to set up than a CMS, especially if they're part of a combined solution that includes hosting. Choose a domain that's short and memorable, using the array of domain name generation tools widely available online. The same applies to your website's design elements -- "less is more" should be the mantra. Be sure to check that hosting provider plans match your needs and requirements, and ensure a workable upgrade path exists, in the event you need to scale up to a more integrated or advanced website.
Follow this easy guide when you’re ready to learn how to make a website, and avoid any pitfalls along the way
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