Websites Easier Than you May Think

Does building a website scare you half to death?

Computer challenged at the best of times, let alone think about working with html code?

Well you are not alone. Many people struggle with these concepts. So lets assume that you want to make some money online. The best solution is to have a website of your own. And a better solution is to know how to build it yourself so you can go in and tweak it when you have to.

The easiest way by far to create your own website is to create a blog like what you are reading at the moment. It is Free Yeh! I generally like free things (although in future posts I will tell some of the free things I don't like). To set up a blog just set up an account with google and go to their blogger section. You can have a blog up and running in 5 to 10 minutes. Very Very easy.

Blogs do have their limitations, but to start definitely the easiest. You will be able to add links to your favorite things (such as affiliate links to make money), pictures, comments, video etc. etc.

For a blog to work effectively for you, you should post to it everyday. Doesn't have to be long, but something new each day. This tells the search engines that it is an active blog and they will start to rank it better.

To get past the limitations of some blogs a website is the next step up. In short you will need to chose and buy a domain name related to what you are trying to sell. Eg. www.go-fish.com should not be about motorcycle maintenance. Be creative but recognizable. If you are stuck and don't know what you really want to sell you could register your name.com . Not as good but will work for a start. I buy my domain names from http://www.domainsatcost.com/ very affordable!

Next you will need a place on the web to host your website. This is the computer or server that links to the net and hold all your information. I use two http://www.azhosting.com/ and http://www.domainsatcost.com/ I prefer azhosting for the versatility but domains has given me a large storage space, but it is not as intuitive to use. If you require lots of space (think video storage etc.) then Omnis at $6.95 a month is you best value for the money. They have a lot of options with their accounts including multiple domain names.


At first you may not need a large storage area, but remember if you are selling your own ebook they can take up 5Mb to 50 Mb of storage. You also need to keep at least 5 Mb free on your host for the general operation of your site. You can always increase the amount of space that you have as you need it (extra cost)

Once you have these things in place you can start creating your website. I use Trellian or Nvu. both are free and work well (see my website http://www.e-webincome.com/ for more information on Trellian). I strongly recommend get a physical book on html code. The one I use and is incredibly easy and cheap HTML In An Instant . This book has helped me figure so much out.

By following the book you can build a simple website very quickly. One Tip though that I got caught on recently. When you insert a link use the full address. So the link to the page on my website that has some extras on it is http://www.e-webincome.com/Goodies/goodies1.htm don't shorten the code to /goodies1.htm . This will become more obvious as you work with it. It helps prevent future broken links. Your can still use Goodies but the code is hidden in the html editor.

Trellian and Nvu are both what you see is what you get editors (wysiwyg). This allows you to see the page as it will look on the website as you add your text and pictures. You can adjust the code in another screen if you need to. Handy.

You can buy premade website with hosting etc. Some of these are very good but shop around and see what works best for you. A very good product is SiteSell.com . They literally do most of the work for you and host as well. A nice neat package especially if you don't want to mess with html code.

Carefully consider how you want to market your products and choose the website type that suits you. You can market without a website (ebay is one option) but you will quickly want to expand beyond that. Your website really is the foundation of your business. It is one thing that you have control over in an ever changing online world.