How do I setup my own homepage or website?
Ajith | Mar 2008 | How Do I?
In the last post, I talked about how easily you can create your own blog at one of the public blogging sites. But isn’t it more exciting to have a blog, homepage or website in ‘your name’ rather than the one with an unwanted last name such as ‘jacksmith.BLOGSPOT.com’? why can’t you own ‘jacksmith.com’ itself which is a matter of pride as well as convenience?
Three simple steps to have your own website
1. Register a domain: To own your own domain name such as ‘jacksmith.com’ you need to register the same with a registrar such as Register.com or NetworkSolutions. These days a number of hosting providers (see step 2) also provide domain registration services. This should ideally cost you less than $10 per year.
2. Find a hosting provider: A hosting provider can host your files, photos, or blogs under your registered domainname. They can also register or renew your domains so that step 1 & 2 are taken care of at one place. There are FREE hosting providers such as 50Webs that provide limited hosting space and email accounts for your website (Some FREE hosting services will display their ads on your domain if hosted with them!). Paid hosting services start as low as 50 cents per month but I recommend more professional hosting service such as HostGator.com. I am hosting this blog as well as couple of other domains on my hosting service and I am completely satisfied with their services for which I pay $5.95 per month.
3. Host your files: Once you finalize the hosting provider, you are ready to host your files or blogs there. The hosting provider provides various tools to manage your website content, email accounts etc.
Advanced Topics
Additional information on registering and hosting your own website can be found at your hosting provider’s website. Tips are also available at blogging sites if you want to display your blog contents when somebody types your domain name in the browser. These are topics beyond the scope of this site.
Congratulations on owning your own website!
(Visit HostGator shared hosting service for the best deals on hosting)