Friday, October 24, 2008

For Those Who'd Like to Make a Web Site and Think They Can't

By Phyllis Wheeler

Getting into the global marketplace is easier now than ever before. The Internet allows you to tap that marketplace from your living room. But what if you don't know how to make a Web site?

Access to the world's marketplace isn't the only big change. Traditional jobs are becoming scarcer. Maybe your job future doesn't look as assured as it once did. This is a good reason to look at income from a small business. In fact, there are entrepreneurs out there who have made a lot of money from the Internet.

But you are a novice, and you aren't moving on this idea. Plus, you think you can't afford a Web site.

Novices can get plenty of help creating a Web site. Many people are in business to help novices set up a Web site using a template. There's a problem with the result, though--you don't know enough HTML to add affiliate links, shopping carts, or clickable ads, the items that will earn your Web site money. What you really need to learn is a bit of HTML, just enough to get the job done.

Learn HTML? Isn't that like learning a programming language? Isn't it hard? The answer is, no it isn't really a programming language. It's a formatting language. And it's really not hard at all. The basic principles are very simple. Here's another bonus for you: you don't need to know very much HTML at all to do what you need to for a simple Web site.

To make your Web site, you will need special software that creates the Web site and the HTML code. Here are your alternatives: Macromedia Dreamweaver, the top of the line at several hundred dollars; Microsoft Front Page, at around $100; and Nvu. Nvu is open-source software, in other words free. Open-source software is maintained by programmers or companies who donate their time, and it's available to anyone at no cost. Why would programmers work for free? Many of them want to provide us with an alternative to Microsoft.

Another expense for you is Web hosting. When you buy Web hosting, you are actually renting space on a server. There are plenty of hosting companies out there, many offering fancy solutions that you as a novice don't need. There are hosting companies offering inexpensive solutions, too. For example, you can find a Web hosting company that will give you both hosting and domain registration for about $25 per year. Domain registration is something else you need--reserving your domain name, such as www.mywebsite.com. Usually it costs under $10 by itself. Try this: put "cheap domain hosting" into a search engine and look for user-friendly and simple solutions.

Internet users are buying plenty of e-books these days. E-books are books without the paper and cover. Sound odd? Basically, they're just the information. You can print them out on your printer, or read them on your computer. The best thing about them is that you can get your book immediately, a popular feature in our culture. So look around for an e-book on how to use Nvu.

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