Table of Contents
- Section 1: Introduction
- Section 2: Finding a Web Host
- Section 3: Thinking of a Concept
- Section 4: Website, Forum, or Blog
- Section 5a: Creating a Website
- Section 5b: Creating a Forum
- Section 5c: Creating a Blog
- Section 6: Final Words
Section 1: Introduction
In this Guide I will walk you through the steps to create a website fast, efficiently, and even free! A free website should last you until it starts making enough revenue to pay for itself! After it can afford to pay for itself I recommend you upgrade. The benefits of a paid site are numerous, and if you pick the correct host you could be almost without restriction!
Section 2: Finding a Web Host
Finding the best web host is not always the easiest task. There are many things you must consider before making the decision and although we are looking for a free host to get you started, you also want to look into the price and benefits of the paid hosting option. Why is this? Well, let us face it. Free web hosting is limited. In one way, shape, or form the free version is crippled in comparison to the paid version. If you choose the correct host you will be able to stand on your own two feet for a few months (Depending on how much time you put in, the sooner you need to upgrade the better!) at the very least until you would need to upgrade. If you pick the correct host you can upgrade on the fly without interrupting your service and immediately into the cheapest possible price! If are upgrading that means you should be generating revenue! (That is a good thing!)
So let us take a look at what you should be concerned with when deciding on a web host!
- Pricing. The aspects of pricing you should be looking at are, “Is there a free option?” (This is why you are here! Start for free!), “Is there a pay option? And if so, how much does it cost me and how often does it cost me?”
- Website Backup Tools. If they lack the tools to backup your website up just walk away. No one would like to spend months of hard work building up a website and generating incredible revenue only to have their hosting site’s computers crash or fry. Without the ability to backup your website this potential problem could result in all of your hard work being lost indefinitely. I know, I know. Some FTP programs allow you to back up your websites as well, but I recommend getting a host with tools prepackaged so you know everything will be backed up properly. Please, do yourself a favor and pick a host that supplies a method of backing up your hard work.
- Website Security. Prevent those sneaky attackers from easily gaining access to your precious work. This is another reason you should make sure your website supports backing up the website and databases!
- Up Time. You could have the most diverse and powerful features, the lowest price around, the best security, unlimited Data Transfer, unlimited Disk Space, but if your website is only up 5% of the time, what good is all of that to you?
- Data Transfer. “But why not Disk Space?”, you ask? Because! Revenue is generated by traffic, not how much space you are using up! The higher this number is, the more traffic you can handle on your website. In other words, the higher this number is, the longer you can wait before requiring an upgrade!
- PHP and SQL support. These two work hand in hand, and if your potential host uses both you should easily be able to do what you need to do. Make sure you check the versions of PHP and MySQL they support, because if you have something you wish to add that is intended for a version above what they support, you may be in for a shock when it does not work! Even if you do not have use for databases now (That is what MySQL is for), it is always a good idea to have it handy.
- Disk Space. Usually this is not a problem unless you are hosting large files, in which case you should put this in high priority. For everyone else, the more the merrier. It will just ensure that you do not run out of room to keep adding content.
- Forced Ads? Not a good idea at all. Not only does it make your site naturally look ugly, but they take up possible ad space that you could be collecting revenue off of!
- Miscellaneous Content. Check the extra features and see which one contains more of the things you think you would need later on. A free Domain Name? Nice! WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Editor? If you do not know how to code a website I would highly recommend this! Email Accounts?! Well, that is not very important. Google and Yahoo provide free email services anyway. There are too many possible miscellaneous features to list here, but make sure the host you choose follows these guidelines as closely as possible!
At the end of the day, the web host you choose is solely up to you. These are guidelines to help you make a better decision when choosing a host.
My recommendation? Easy! (Yes, I use this host currently!)
Why? Well here is why!
- Price: Free rich featured option with cheap, but fully featured, pay option ($4.84/month)
- Disk Space: 1500MB (Free), Unlimited (Pay)
- Data Transfer: 100GB/Month (Free), Unlimited (Pay)
- MySQL Databases: 2 (Free), Unlimited (Pay)
- Free Domain Name: Sub-domain (Free), Domain (.Com, .Org, .Net, .Info, .Co.Uk) (Pay)
- Control Panel: Very simple to use, fully featured (Free, Pay)
- PHP Support (Free, Pay)
- Up Time: 99% (Free), 99.9% (Pay) (They have real-time charts showing this in action)
- FTP Support (Free, Pay)
- Custom Error Pages (Free, Pay)
- Password Protected Directories (Free, Pay)
- Great Customer Support (Free, Pay)
- Website Backup Tools (Free, Pay)
- Downloadable Website Backup (Free, Pay)
Even the free option is rich with features, and the ability to backup your website on their site and download a copy of that backup to your hard drive is the most valuable feature offered. If you encounter a problem you cannot fix, revert to your last backup. If the web host goes down indefinitely, upload your local copy to another host! Still not convinced? Well here you go! Take a look at the competitors: http://www.free-webhosts.com/
Section 3: Thinking of a Concept
A concept behind your website might sound a bit daunting at first, but do not worry! It is actually a lot easier that one might think! What makes it so difficult is everyone thinks they need to come up with something completely new, never before heard of or utilized. Yes, that can lead to a great idea, but it is not the only way to find your idea! Here is a short list of methods to make this a lot easier than it sounds:
- The “Revision Method”: Think of a common concept. One that many have used before. Does this concept appeal to you? If not I recommend picking another one because this will be something you put a lot of hard work into and if you are not enjoying yourself with it then you will most likely stop working on it altogether. Think of the things you dislike most about this common concept. Chances are if there is something you legitimately dislike about their concept, other people dislike it too! Find ways to fix the things you dislike about what the others have already been doing with the concept. This puts a unique spin on your version, and that unique spin alone will draw people to your website instead of the others!
- The “New Method”: Think of a unique idea that has not been used before. This is a little more difficult than using the Revision Method because you are looking for something completely untapped. This is a difficult thing to do, but the benefits are plentiful. Think about it! You would be the only source of this, and therefore have no competition! Again, make sure it appeals to you. Once you figure something out, think of what it does for the customers or community. What does it make easier, cheaper, or more efficient? As long as you can answer one of those questions you should have a solid concept. Make sure it will work! I cannot stress this enough with brand new concepts. You are going to be the first to use the idea, so it is completely unrefined and untested! If you are dealing with cash transactions make sure you will not be losing money. I have known a few people who came up with these ideas that sounded amazing but when they applied the concept they actually started losing money! The problem was in the design! It was designed with a flaw, they never caught it or they did the math wrong!
Other things to note:
- Do not scam people or rip people off! If you promise a service, fulfill that promise! Scamming and ripping people off is unethical, illegal, and will ruin your reputation. If you wish to turn this into a legitimate and long lasting form of cash flow, heed this warning! Besides, would you not rather build a large community of friends rather than enemies?
- If you are dealing with cash transactions, thoroughly test the system! Nothing is worse than opening the doors to your website only to have the system fail such as products being shipped but no money being collected, money being collected but no products being shipped, or no products being shipped and no money being collected! The only time you should allow access for cash transaction is when everything is working flawlessly!
Section 4: Website, Forum, or Blog
Any concept can fit into any one of these categories, but which one is best for you? Let me first outline some of the ups and downs of all three:
- Website:
- Ups:
- Straight Forward.
- Very little moderation required.
- Organized.
- Easily run by a single person.
- Downs:
- Less community interaction.
- Harder to set up.
- Forum:
- Ups:
- Built on community interaction.
- Builds a large, dedicated community if run correctly.
- Easy to set up.
- Downs:
- Hard to run as a single person.
- Vigorous moderation required.
- Harder to keep organized.
- Blog:
- Ups:
- Combines the best of both worlds (Websites and Forums)
- Community interaction.
- Easy to run as a single person.
- Less moderation required than a forum.
- Better organized than a forum.
- Easy to set up.
- Downs:
- More moderation required than a normal website.
- Less organized than a normal website.
Now, which one should you choose? Well that is completely up to you! It depends on what you like most and what you intend to do with your website! If you wish to sell products you should look into a normal website or blog. If you wish to build a community based on teaching information, discussing information, or to share thoughts and/or beliefs with you should look into a forum or a blog. The fact is, any one of the three can be used to do anything you wish. You can fix some of the problems of normal websites and blogs by mixing them! Although you get the upsides of both, you must handle the downsides of both! You can mix and match these any way you see fit to get done what you need done.
Section 5a: Creating a Website
Creating a website is a difficult process as using a template would make it look too generic. There are places you can acquire templates, and they can be a great starting point but you should definitely look into personalizing it.
Things you should know before setting up a website:
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
- PHP
- MySQL
- Flash (Optional but beneficial)
Once you get a basic understanding of the above you should be well off enough to acquire a template and modify it to your liking (Fast route) or even create your own from the ground up (Slow route)!
The most important thing about a Website is keeping it organized while keeping the information centralized. Keep your website easy to navigate. Do not base the website about one thing, and talk about another. Do not make the more relevant portions of the website hidden or pushed out of the way by the less relevant information. Remember to use appropriate pictures! Do not talk about the stock market and accompany it with an image of a hamburger. Even if you can explain the image in words properly tying it into the meaning you are getting at, the first thing people would see is “Stock market” and a picture of a hamburger. That could turn people away no matter how good your intentions are.
Great locations to acquire free Website Templates:
Section 5b: Creating a Forum
Setting up a forum is rather straight forward, creating the community and moderating it is the hard part. The best part of setting up a forum is that you can get away with using templates. People are there for the information, not the looks, and the forum is comprised of a collection of users’ facts, opinions, guides, etc. Now, I am not saying presentation can be neglected. Pick an appearance that is fitting to your overall premise, and something that is easy on the eyes. Using a bright red background with a bright yellow text color will drive away a good portion of your possible community.
Moderation is where it becomes difficult. You will need to prevent people from harassing others (The internet is for the most part anonymous and the law is loosened by the cost and effort required in tracking someone down versus the offense magnitude), block spam (Which plagues forums to no end nowadays), keep everyone on topic (A lot of users will trail off topic), and sticky the correct topics (Which means scouring the forum for useful information that is deserving of the sticky).
So what can you do about all of this? Well, the first step is finding trustworthy moderators (Which is a difficult task of its own). The best place to look would be friends with a lot of free time. Eventually, when you get some trusted users, you might want to think about enlisting them as moderators. But do not trust just anyone, they could do some damage to your forum if they get upset with you.
To prevent people from harassing one another, set up some guidelines as to what will result in a ban in its own topic, sticky that topic, and enforce the rules! Do not show favoritism either, if someone violates a rule that would result in a ban on the first offense, ban them! Do not worry, there are plenty of people in the world to replace that one trouble maker. On the other hand, do not abuse your power. Remember, you are helping them, but they are also helping you. Every single person is an important individual until they make themselves a hindrance to the success of your forum.
The most sure way to block spam is to do it manually. In a forum this is important because people post to be heard, not deleted. Luckily this is made easy by the fact that newest posts are placed on top, so if moderation is done frequent enough this will not be too much of a hassle. As the forum grows, having moderators under you will make this job quicker and easier.
Keeping everyone on topic is a difficult task because where people tend to go off topic is within someone else’s post. Although they will be on top of the forum, they will be hidden inside of the post so you will need to manually search and inform the offenders yourself. Again, this is where moderators will benefit you greatly. But why does it matter if people stray off topic? Because the initial purpose of the post is lost and new visitors will look through a post for an answer only to find random useless conversation. This can easily drive people away and ruin your forum’s reputation.
When should you sticky posts? Usually guides are deserving of a sticky, but they must be useful! Anything with highly demanded information should be stickied. Keep stickied topics minimal as well. Noone wants to search through fifty stickied topics to find what they are looking for. The point behind stickying a post is to make it easier to locate even when noone responds to the post for a while (Forum rules are a great example of requiring a sticky).
Great locations to acquire a free Forum or free Forum Templates:
Section 5c: Creating a Blog
Setting up a blog is my personal favorite. It combines the best of both worlds. The positives of a blog outweigh the negatives by far. Not only is it simple to set up, but it is easy to moderate as well. The time consuming part is providing information worthy of a community.
I have far more experience setting up a blog than a website or a forum so I can provide a far more in-depth guide on how to establish a blog. I will be using 000webhost and WordPress for the guide as they are what I like to use.
Prerequisites:
- A domain with a web host. (Such as 000webhost)
- The proper PHP version. (Match your web host’s PHP version with Wordpress’ PHP version)
- The proper MySQL version. (Match your web host’s MySQL version with Wordpress’ MySQL version)
- An installed FTP client. (I recommend FileZilla as it is free and easy to use)
If you meet the prerequisites above then you are already prepared to have a blog! The best part is you can have it set up in no time! (It took me 20 minutes)
Setting up a WordPress powered Blog on 000webhost:
- Download WordPress from http://wordpress.org/download/.
- Go to 000webhost.com
- Click “member’s area” on the bottom of the navigation bar. (On the right hand side)
- Log in to your 000webhost account.
- Under “List of your domains” click “Go to CPanel” to the right of the domain you would like to use.
- Open FileZilla.
- Go to FileZilla’s Site Manager. (File->Site Manager or Ctrl+S)
- Open the General Tab (Open by default) on the right hand side.
- In the Host field enter the Domain from the Account Information section of your 000webhost account.
- Leave Port empty.
- For Server Type make sure it is set to “FTP – File Transfer Protocol”.
- For Logon Type make sure it is set to “Normal”.
- For the User field enter the Username from the Account Information section of your 000webhost account.
- For the Password field enter the FTP password for your 000webhost account. If you do not know the password (It is starred out in the Account Information section of your 000webhost account) do not worry. Being logged into 000webhost will allow you to set it by going under the Files header of the CPanel. Click “View FTP Details”, and then “Change account password”. Once a new password is set, go back to FileZilla and put that password into the Password field.
- Click “Connect” on the Site Manager in FileZilla and it should succeed (If not, make sure you entered the proper Username and Password).
- Now you should be presented with a file structure for your website on the bottom right. (The second white window below “Remote Site:”)
- Double click on “public_html” to open that folder.
- Extract WordPress and open the extracted folder.
- Highlight everything within that folder (There should be folders such as wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-includes) and drag them into the white space where you double clicked “public_html”.
- Allow it to copy all of the files to your website (It can take a little while).
- If any files were skipped (They will be displayed in the “Failed transfers” tab at the very bottom of FileZilla) just redrag the entire contents of the extracted WordPress folder back into the same window as before, and automatically skip the overriding of any files that already exist. (This will only add the skipped files to the folder when they are encountered) If some of the same files show up again in the “Failed transfers” tab, redo the process again until no files are skipped.
- Navigate to your website and create an admin name and password.
You are now set up to start blogging, but I recommend a few more extra steps before proceeding. These steps are as follows:
- Find a Theme to use to make your blog look more personalized than the default Theme (In the control panel of WordPress click the “Appearance” button on the navigation bar and then click “Themes” which will appear right below it (It should open by default to Themes)). There are thousands of Themes to choose from, so take your time in picking the one that works best for you.
- Enable Akismet in the Plugins section of the dashboard. This will make moderating your forum much easier as it learns from you and automatically removes spam (Which you can check the spam to allow it if it is not spam).
- Acquire the “All in One Webmaster” Plugin and the “Wordpress.com Stats” Plugin as they will give you automatically updated statistics about your site in a conveniently placed link under your Dashboard.
- Make sure your blog requires approval of comments before displaying them (This will hinder spam, harassment, and other unwanted responses from being posted)
Section 6: Final Words
Your blog is now completely set up and ready to use! Just personalize it to be your own and begin posting (Under “Posts” and then “Add New” in your Dashboard). Congratulations on successfully completing the first step in setting up a successful webpage!
Do not stop here though, there is a lot more required to making a successful webpage than just setting it up and posting. You must understand many aspects of Search Engine Optimization, Pingbacks and Trackbacks, RSS Feeds, etc. Make sure to get content up there as soon as possible though so you can start building up a community while working on the webpage as it is an endless process!