What You Need to Create a Website
and Put It On The Internet

Before You Start

You will need all of the items mentioned below to build your website and put it on the internet.

What most people don't know is that the hardest part of owning a website is getting people to visit it.

What good is a website if no one ever sees it?

Don't put down a dime for web hosting, a site building tool or even a domain name until you understand how people find websites.

A Web Host

It doesn't matter why you create a website, what kind of web site you create or what tool you use to build it, in order to put it on the internet you'll require the services of a web host.

Your web host will store your web pages on their server, which is connected to the world wide web, and allow access by surfers, search engine spiders and other interested entities.

Your web host will also provide your email services, technical support, security, file management system and a dozen other services and resources required to run your site.

Customer Support

Many people choose the wrong web host because they look at the wrong features before they buy.

The quality of customer support is the most important factor that should be considered.

What good is a low price and tons of bandwidth and storage space if you are left dangling after the sale.
FAQs About Web Hosting

A Domain Name

A carefully chosen domain name (.COM name) is a must for a successful site. You can use your company name as your domain name, but many SEO specialists recommend a domain name that contains keywords that relate to the content of your site. For example, if you sell chocolate pancakes, you might want a domain name like chocolate-pancakes.com.

Most web hosts these days provide your domain name for free as long as you use their services. It is chosen at sign up. Be Sure you have the option of buying the domain name if you leave their service!!

We recommend buying your name from a third party like GoDaddy, and pointing it at your web host's servers. (A very simple process) That way if you ever change your host the problem of buying your name from your old web host isn't a part of the site transfer equation.

As prices for domain names continue to rise, our's remain at $9/US per year. And we give you a free one with any hosting account. Check out our web hosting at CaFW Hosting. It's what we Use!!

A Site Building Tool

Sitebuilders come in all shapes, sizes and price ranges. You can create a website with a pricy tool like Dreamweaver or learn to write code and build it from scratch with a simple text editor like NotePad. There are sitebuilders that require you to learn to code and those that work like a wordprocessor that don't require any knowledge of web page construction. You'll find information on this site for all types.

Many web hosts provide you with a site building tool when you buy their service. You can check out about a dozen that we recommend on this site.

If you are planning to build a website where you will require membership sign up and other interactive features, you should read our information about Content Management Systems (CMS).

A Publishing Tool

Publishing is the act of putting your web pages on the internet so that people can find them.

If you use an online builder provided by your web host, the process is as simple as clicking a button that says Publish Website.

If you build your site with a third party tool on your PC or Mac, your web host will usually provide an FTP tool and or file manager for uploading or publishing your files.

Many third party sitebuilders include a publishing function.

You can also purchase FTP software that will completely automate the process of publishing your pages on the internet. We list a couple of free ones on our site. Free FTP Tools.