HOW TO CREATE AND HOST A WEBSITE

So you want to create and host a website.  There are a few things you need to do.  First, you will need to register a domain name and sign up for web hosting.  Most domain name registrars offer web hosting but you may not want to host your website with the domain name registrar.

To create and host a website, the first thing you need to do is to get a domain name. You will be getting it from a domain name registrar.  Select a doman name registrar that you want to use to register your name.  I use www.namecheap.com because their price is reasonable and privacy is included.  There is no need to pay $35 for a domain name when you can pay less than $10 for it. If you have a have a keyword in mind, select the name for your website.  Try to remember that a shorter domain name is better and that it is best if your domain name includes your keyword(s).

You will need a credit card to sign up for a domain name and hosting.  After you have decided on a domain name, go the domain name registrar and search for the domain name to see if it is available.  If it is available, you will pay for the domain name. If it is not available, they will suggest names that are available.  You can select one of those or search for another name that you have in mind until you register the name that you like. Most of the registrars offers other services, but all you need to do is sign up for the domain name.  This will take a few minutes.  You will receive an email from the domain name registrar confirming that you have registered the name.

After you have registered the name that you want, the next thing that you will want to do is to acquire hosting for the domain.  There are hundreds of hosting companies out there.  After you have signed up for hosting, the hosting company will email you all the details that you need to host your website.  You will then go back to the domain name registrar.  If it is www.namecheap.com, from the menu you will choose Domains/My Domain, then you will click on the checkbox next to the domain name, if you have more than one, and then you will click on Nameservers which is at the top of the list.  The next step is to click on Custom Nameservers and input the nameserver information that was provided to you by the hosting company. You will then click on the OK button to save the information.

The next thing you need to do is to create your website.  In order to do this, you will either need to learn HTML or you can use an HTML editor.  I use Xsitepro to build my websites.  Xsitepro is very easy to use and you will create your website in no time.  After you have created your site, you will upload your site. 

NOTE:

It will take a few days after you set up the name servers on the domain registrar for your site to go live.