Have you ever wished of having your own web site and showing it to the world..? If your answer is “yes” then now is the time to get going. You don’t have to a be a techie to create your personal web site. All you have to do is follow this beginner’s tutorial. We will be assisting with everything you need to have for developing a noticeable and successful web site. This guide is written in simple language to make it easy to understand. Let’s get started.
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Choose a Domain & Register your Domain Name
The first thing one must do before setting up the web site is to register a good domain name. Domain name must always be — short, simple, clear and meaningful like “advancedphotography.net”. It is required for the visitors to reach your web site . Thus a domain name you select should be easy and must not be confusing at all. Once you are done with the selection process of your domain name, next thing you do is check for its availability and register the domain name. There are several domain name providers available on internet like godaddy.com, Dotster domain names, yahoo.com and many more. You can go to any of these domain providers and search for an appropriate domain name for yourself, if available they shall provide you with the the option of registering it with the fees to be paid annually.
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Choose a Web Host & Sign-Up
Web host hosts the content (web pages) of your web site. You can select a free web host or a commercial one. A free web host costs nothing but makes his own money by placing their Ads on your web site. So buying a webhosting plan from a web host will definitely allow you more control, features and independence and also affect the creditability of your web site. You will need to sign up for an account with the chosen web host. Once you are done with this, web host will provide you with an account and the details you need to setup the website.
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Point Your Domain To The Web Host By Create your DNS Record
Next thing you need to do is to create a DNS record. The DNS record will map your domain name to your files on the webhost. To create the record, go to the Domain Control Panel of the domain provider. All DNS providers provide a DNS Management interface for creating a dns record where you need to put in the nameservers provided to you by the webhost.
The changes to DNS may take about 72hrs to sync and reflect.
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Set Up Your Domain On The Web Host
Now is the time to set up the location where you’ll upload all your files etc. which you want to display on the site. Log into your account with the webhost and follow the instructions to add a domain to the hosting account. Most of the webhost have this info in 2-3 steps and easily accessible. The steps vary from provider to provider. Once you’ve done this, you’ll have ability to transfer and upload files to the webserver using FTP.
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Set Up A Page To Test The Site
This step is done to check whether everything is working just fine. You’ll need an FTP client for this and a text editor at least. Anything like the windows notepad will do. Create a simple text file with the following:
<html> <head> <title>Hello World</title> </head> <body> This works. </body> </html>Change the name of this file to index.html. Be careful when using windows, it will be tricky to change the file extension since it is hidden by default. Now time to upload this file to the webserver. Configure the FTP client with the details of the ftp account (provided by the webhosting provider) to connect to the server. Upload index.html to the directory where public files are to be places. Verify the name of the uploaded file on the server — it should display “index.html”. The toughest part is over. Time to test the website. Open up your browser and type in the address of the domain name into the address bar; hit “Go”. If everything was done right it will display “Hello World” in thebrowser’s title bar and “This works” on the screen.
Congratulation you have successfully created your own web site. Watch this space as we install WordPress on this site tomorrow.
