Web Site

[Piperflyer]

Has anyone started there own Web site. I looking into getting a web page where I can sell and pass information on to others. I really don't know where to start or what to look for. Sure would appreciate some help.

 

[EarPlug]

There are many ways to build your own web site Let me google that for you

The most important this is that you own your own Domain Name i.e. mycompany.com

Some web builders will buy the name for you but they actually own it. Then if you want to change hosting companies they will hold the name hostage.

For One Stop shopping you can try GoDaddy.com. Buy your name, build your site and then host it with them.

 

[LazySusanFarms]

A low cost way of creating your own web site can be found at wordpress.org. They are known for their blog but they also allow you to create a pretty nice web site for practically nothing. Very helpful community.

 

[beppington]

1) You need a web page file: This is usually a file called index.html ... HTML is Hyper Text Markup Language & is the common file type that web browsers recognize, understand & can convert into something you can see on your screen. (As you expand your website, you can add more .html pages to it, & put links to them in the original index.html file, so people can access the other pages, too). You can configure & customize .html files until the cows come home, & that's done similarly to the way you can edit a page in a word processing program like Microsoft Word. (When people go to say www.ibm.com, IBM's own "index.html" file is the default page file that is automatically displayed to visitors to their site. You can check this on many sites by going to your favorite site & adding /index.html to the end of the web address, like www.yahoo.com/index.html ... Your browser will probably automatically lop off the /index.html because it's the default & doesn't need to be seen or displayed)

2) You need an address for where that file will be located: As in, a web address where you can put it, such as piperflyer.com. You'll need to pay for the sole rights to that web address, aka domain name, (if it's available!) for a certain period of time. Websites like godaddy.com, networksolutions.com & others offer this service.

3) You need a place to put that file: Once you have reserved a domain name, you need a source to "host" your site. This will be the actual hard drive space where your index.html, and other .html pages, are stored & accessed by internet users. I think godaddy, networksolutions & many others offer this service, including usually your own Internet Service Provider.

If you really get into this, you can actually host your own website & not pay somebody for that. It takes an extra program or two running on your own computer & some reading & understanding - We host our own here at work.

 

[LazySusanFarms]

Very interesting post. Thanks

 

[twinjayhawks]

There are several programs out there for actually writing the HTML code required for the website. They are very user friendly and range in cost. If you are using a Mac you can use IWeb very inexpensively. If you are a PC user... I am sorry for you first off, but you can use Dreamweaver (kind of expensive). Do a web Google for them...

 

[beppington]

Microsoft's SharePoint Designer is free & works just fine as an HTML editor, as they're called (Microsoft SharePoint Designer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

I think this is the link to download it: SharePoint-Designer

I started with an older program called FrontPage, which also worked fine. Pretty basic, but fine.

 

[EddieWalker]

Has anyone started there own Web site. I looking into getting a web page where I can sell and pass information on to others. I really don't know where to start or what to look for. Sure would appreciate some help.

My website is through GoDaddy.com I put some time into doing myself and then asked for help from the members here. I got some great advice and made some changes, but hate doing it so much that I never finished or organized my pics.

I also became a lot more active on facebook and found that the more pics and comments I post on there about what I do for a living, the more calls I received from people looking to hire me.

Now I just use my website to link people to my facebook page. I doubt that I'll keep the website once my time is up to pay for my domain name, and I also now think it was a waste of money.

Eddie

 

[beppington]

There are several programs out there for actually writing the HTML code required for the website. They are very user friendly and range in cost. If you are using a Mac you can use IWeb very inexpensively. If you are a PC user... I am sorry for you first off, but you can use Dreamweaver (kind of expensive). Do a web Google for them...

Ah the ol' PC vs Mac debate :thumbsup: In my experience, PC users are more likely to know how their computer works & can repair it themselves if needed, i.e Do-It-Yourselfers. My BIL has a Mac, it broke, & he had to have a shop try to fix it. I have an iPod (also by Mac maker, Apple), & it's obvious they've done everything they can to try to idiot-proof their software, which is fine ... but the first thing the iPod's computer-resident software, iTunes, asked me when I installed it was, "Do you want iTunes to locate all the music on your computer?" WHAT?! WHY?! Good grief, I know where the music is on my computer! I ain't stupid! :laughing:

I guess that as long as your Mac works & you don't care too much about how computers work, or to be organized, then a Mac is for you.

So ... IOW, no need to feel sorry for me :thumbsup:

 

[twinjayhawks]

Ah the ol' PC vs Mac debate :thumbsup: In my experience, PC users are more likely to know how their computer works & can repair it themselves if needed, i.e Do-It-Yourselfers. My BIL has a Mac, it broke, & he had to have a shop try to fix it. I have an iPod (also by Mac maker, Apple), & it's obvious they've done everything they can to try to idiot-proof their software, which is fine ... but the first thing the iPod's computer-resident software, iTunes, asked me when I installed it was, "Do you want iTunes to locate all the music on your computer?" WHAT?! WHY?! Good grief, I know where the music is on my computer! I ain't stupid! :laughing:

I guess that as long as your Mac works & you don't care too much about how computers work, or to be organized, then a Mac is for you.

So ... IOW, no need to feel sorry for me :thumbsup:

I was just kidding... I am sorry, I don't want to start something. I love my Mac but that does not mean someone else has to.

 

[beppington]

I was just kidding... I am sorry, I don't want to start something. I love my Mac but that does not mean someone else has to.

:thumbsup: And I probably went overboard

 

[KennyG]

I don't spend much time on it but I have a website, a blog and I have set up websites for a boy scout troop, etc. You need a domain name first. I find GoDaddy is good also. Then you need server space with a web hosting company. Don't pay for too many bells and whistles with the web host. I've used several but now I'm with LiveHost.net - Professional Web Hosting and find you can get all the service you need for $50 to $100 per year.

It's nice to have a good web development software package, but I do simple stuff so I write most from scratch using a word processor. I think it's valuable to know how the html works.

A lot of people don't understand that you can "steal" any web page you like. If you use the "Save as..." command in your browser, you can save the underlying code to your computer. I'm not recommending you steal other people's work, but you can then look at the HTML and see how the page layout is done. In addition, there are many sites where you can download free web page templates and just edit, with a web development program or a text editor, to get what you want.

 

[twinjayhawks]

A lot of people don't understand that you can "steal" any web page you like. If you use the "Save as..." command in your browser, you can save the underlying code to your computer. I'm not recommending you steal other people's work, but you can then look at the HTML and see how the page layout is done.

Excellent point... I have done this a lot to try and learn how something is done in HTML. You don't want to steal content but there is no harm in learning how they did something you like.

 

[bearhawk]

If you want something simple, there are a few "free" web hosting places..

You don't usually have to have a domain name, you can just be [name].[hostingco].com

one is Webs - Make a free website, get free hosting

I have not used them, but they are free to try.. It might be a good way to get your feet wet.

If you want to go with a real commercial website I would look for a place that has some built in CMS, or Content Management System. A popular one is WordPress. Do a google search for wordpress themes and you can find a bunch of nicely designed web templates that you just have to add content to.

The host I use is Smarter web hosting - WebFaction and I have had very good luck with them.

 

[cropdusting]

Everyone else put in some good info so I will add to it. I just do the basic. I have a website for purely entertainment to host and promote my videos. It is 100% free right now (you can pay for more features and what not) and does what I want it to do but has room to expand should I want to buy my own domain and get all fancy. I use Weebly. Here is my site, FYI there are many templates to use and customize as well as you can do your own HTML if you choose to go that route.

The Junk man - Home

 

[Piperflyer]

That looks like just about all I would want to do with a web site cropduster. Do you just link all your video's, pictures, and other stuff to your site without having to pay for so many bytes for running your site? Like I said..... I new to this. Nice site by the way, I like the how to video's

Thanks

 

[cropdusting]

That looks like just about all I would want to do with a web site cropduster. Do you just link all your video's, pictures, and other stuff to your site without having to pay for so many bytes for running your site? Like I said..... I new to this. Nice site by the way, I like the how to video's

Thanks

Link, upload (I think unlimited space even on the free account) or basically do what ever you want. I like that it is all just drag and drop, no HTML knowlegde needed, but you can do your own custom HTML if you want. Its pretty intuitive. Everything is free form Heck you can even put adds up on the free accounts too. Weebly uses Adsense as its primary ad service but you can use anyone (I use Chitika more info here http://chitika.com/publishers?refid=thejunkman). There are tons of templates to use (or make your own) I chose something fairly basic as that is what I wanted. My videos are hosted at Blip.TV and embeded on my site, but you can embed Youtube, Vimeo or any other video hosting sight you like if your into the video thing.

If your interested go here Weebly - Create a free website and a free blog And sign up or just look around. Heck if you don't like it you can cancel and delete your account its pretty simple.

 

[zonta223]

Another service to try is Hostbig at HostBig - Reliable, Affordable Web Hosting
Cost well you can get a service for about $30 but the plan I prefer is the $59 for 2 years one.
They give you a domain name. You can add 4 other domain names (get your friends to join you and share the costs).. Just about unlimited email addresses, unlimited traffic, buckets full of hard disc space, 24/7 service department and it has web page building software for free use in Cpanel.
I am impressed with the service and speed and at $30 a year its cheap as well.

Bob