Where To Start When Creating A Website

The very first thing you need when you're looking into creating a website is simple: web hosting. This will give to space to host it, enough bandwidth to make sure that people can actually visit it, and - perhaps most importantly of all - a domain name for people to visit it by. We've put together a quick list of some of the basics, to help you get started.

Get a Domain

There are hundreds of places to buy a domain online, and some of them go for as little as ten dollars a year. You do need to give good thought to what you'd like to call this domain, though; you're going to need a catchy name that's easy to remember and that uses the most distinctive parts of your company's name, as well as one that hasn't already been taken. If you can't get what you want as a .com, there's no need to worry; you can always go for it as a .net or .org instead, and you'll look just as professional. .com addresses are increasingly expensive and hard to get hold of, and so many have already been registered that you might have trouble getting what you want.

Get a little creative, concentrate on making sure your visitors and customers will be able to remember and understand it, and don't worry too much about 'squatted' domains - they're usually very easy to buy up if you know where to look. The most important thing is that you put some thought into what you'd like your URL to be and don't buy anything too quickly that you might regret later!

Get Hosting

There are, as we've said, many hundreds of ways to get hosting for your website - everything from free, ad-heavy basic little packages to huge individual servers with all the bells and whistles. For most intents and purposes, you won't want either of those things. Here's a handy checklist of the most important bits to consider while picking your web hosting service:

  • Will they let you register a domain name that is entirely unique to you rather than one they set for you, and can you take it with you if you decide to change web hosts in the future?
  • How much space are they offering for you to upload files, pages, images and resources? Do you think you're going to need more than that in the long run, or should it be about right?
  • Do you think they're offering enough bandwidth, and do you think it's likely that your bandwidth requirements will scale up in the near future - say if you go viral on social media?
  • How easy will it be to scale up these things when you decide it's time? Do they offer better packages, and will it be very simple for you to upgrade to them smoothly without hassle?
  • Are you going to have to put up with their own adverts, or can you pick your own - or, indeed, not have any at all should you so choose? Will you have much control over them?

Point Your Nameservers

The last thing you need to do once you've got your hosting is point your nameservers in the right direction - and there will be tutorials telling you how to do this within your hosting control panel. Be aware that it will probably take a little while for the site to 'propagate' and start showing up in search results - a couple of days is likely.