Building a Cheap Website

This brief article doesn't cover everything that you will need to know, however; if you have questions, feel free to email me at the address provided.

These are things that you will need to consider for your website.

1) Outline the type of site you will need for your design:

• What size site you need. Will a five page program work or do you need the server space for hundreds or even thousands of pages?
• Are you selling products or services on your site?
• Do you need a merchant account and will you accept credit cards?
• Are taxes an issue?

2) Find a name for your site.

• Choose one that is easily remembered for return visitors.
   
• If you can, get a dot domain; that should be your first consideration. It is what the majority of people will automatically use to reach a website. I have actually watched people take my address directly off my business card and still type in a dot com rather than dot net!
   
• If there are no dot com domains available, get one with a matching URL under another top level domain, such as: dot net or dot org. Obviously, there are other TLD's available, but those seem to be the most popular right now.
   
• If you can afford it, get all the top level domains for your particular website name. Use dot com as your primary domain and have the others redirected from dot net and dot org to your primary dot com address. The redirect URL's are about $10 a year; cheaper still if you shop around.
   

3) Plan a General Layout:

• Plan a basic idea of both the page and total site layout you want. The typical basic page may have a header at the top, two columns in the middle--one for content and the left for
  a menu, and than a footer at the bottom of the page.
   
• If you will have many pages and they will have the same header, menu, footer, etc., and you plan to make changes on your site sometimes, you should consider an "includes" system.
  That system allows each area of a page to be a separate page in itself. If you make changes on one page,
  it will show on every page. It's slightly complicated; if you're interested, there are many free tutorials all over the net.
   
• You'll have to consider your method of navigation, specially
  if you have many pages; items such as main menus and submenus need to be included. You'll need to know if you're going to use buttons, java, CCS, flash, or just plain html links. If some of that sounds foreign and unfamiliar, don't worry, you'll learn the basics pretty quickly.
   
• If you are not quite sure what you are looking for, check around. There are many free or very cheap templates that you can use. That will really make a difference on the  professional look of your site. A simple search will produce tons of sites offering those templates.

4) Factors to consider to reach your audience:

• Will your customers use dial up or broadband, newer equipment with the latest operating systems or windows 98? These are important things to consider when you decide what graphics to use and the overall file size.
   
• The browser that your audience will be more likely to use.
   
• Do you have eye grabbing details for a broader spectrum of visitors, or will a specific and to the point website be better because your products/services are already targeted to a certain audience?

5) Find a server:

• Find the deal that best meets your needs. There is a huge price difference in the hosting services, and this is something that should be researched to a certain extent as far as what you want for what you're paying.
   
• Is there a set up fee?
   
• Will I have customer support with a contact #?
   
• Do I have the option to upgrade to more space, more email accounts or add a store front?
   
• What is the average up-time for their servers?

6) Software

• You'll need software to build, edit, and upload your site from your computer to the server. I have only used Microsoft FrontPage®. and I like it; but then, I have nothing else compare it to.
  
  I use it because it came free with my computer; but if you look around, there are sure to be free or relatively inexpensive programs that will work just as great.
   
• Now you have a layout for your site and a place to put it; but what content will fill it with? If you are concerned that you can't provide enough content for an entire site, don't worry!
  
  There is certainly not a shortage of free content; in fact, the choices can be overwhelming and distracting while searching for what you need. Not all articles and info are as clearly stated as in this article--LOL.
  
  You can find everything from complex calculators to one-line random quotes. Free maps to light bulbs to tooth picks---okay, I'm exaggerating, but it can be overwhelming.
  
  Many sites simply use their content to draw traffic and promote their products or services; there's definitely nothing wrong with that.
  
  It works like this: They provide you with free content that has a link back to their website.
  
  You can afford to be picky though, the price is the same; choose suitable material that will compliment your website design.
  
  (C) 2005 Brian Hawkins
  
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  About the Author:
  
  Brian Hawkins is a small business owner and administrator of several websites, including: Common Sense Communications and CheapAzz.net   Questions or comments?         admin@cheapazz.net