How To Create, Publish, And Earn Income From A Web Site

Web Site Building Software

Here is what you'll need:

• An Idea.
• A domain name.
• WYSIWYG software - Web site editing software.
• A web hosting account.
• FTP Software.

An Idea

Before you create a web site, you should have an idea what it's going to be about, your target audience, and it's income potential.

For example, If you create a web site for displaying pictures of your kids, your audience (visitors) will likely be family and friends. If you want a larger audience, a better choice might be to create a web site that discusses child related issues faced by parents, and solutions that worked for you. That type of web site has the potential to be of interest to millions of parents around the world.

For pure enjoyment, one of the best types of web sites to create is one that discusses a hobby. No matter what your hobby, it's likely others in the world that share the same interest. If other web sites already cover your hobby don't let it stop you from creating your own web site. It's possible your site will offer a new perspective and fresh ideas.

There are three primary ways to earn income from your web site -

1. Sell a product
2. Place PPC (pay per-click) ads on your site, such as Google Adsense ads.
3. Display banners ads related to the content of your site in your web pages.

The four primary income producing affiliates I partner with are:

• LinkShare
• Commission Junction (CJ)
• Google Adsense
• Amazon

However, earning income from your web site should always come second. Building a quality web site with content people want to view should always be your primary goal.

Choosing A Domain Name

A domain name is like virtual business property. Good domain names offer easy access to your web site while poor domains make it difficult to find your site.

A good domain name should be reasonably short and easy to remember. If possible, it should also include descriptive words related to your web site. For example, if your creating a web site about scrapbooking, it is a good idea to include the word "scrapbook", "scrapbooks" or "scrapbooking" as part of the domain name you select.

Good quality domain names are hard to find, especially .COMs, but not impossible. A .com should always be your first choice for a domain name, but high-quality .net, .org, and other non-.com domain extensions (TLDs) are acceptable alternatives.

Popular web sites to search for and register domain names are GoDaddy.com, and our favorite NetworkRegister.com. Both GoDaddy and NetworkRegister provide a bulk check utility where you can type in as many domain names as you can think of, then check the whole bunch for availability. If the domain is available, you can begin the registration process - about $8 per year to register a .com domain name.

Many high-quality domain names have already been registered, and are now for sale. If you are willing to spend more for a domain name - sometimes a lot more, then check out the domain name brokerage web sites Sedo.com and Afternic.com.

WYSIWYG Software - Building Your Web Site

Software for creating web sites is often referred to as WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) software. Many of the old web site designers created their sites with NotePad, a plain text editor included with every version of Windows. As you have no visual reference while working with NotePad, you have to have a great enough understanding of HTML to be able to visualize the end result as you work.

I first started writing web pages using Microsoft FrontPage 98. It was easy software to learn and use, and I designed many web sites using the. However, back then, not all web hosts supported FrontPage created web sites, and not all browsers displayed FrontPage created web site accurately. As a result, I learned enough HTML to get by, and started writing my web pages using NotePad. For the most part I still write my pages with NotePad, including this site.

I own Macromedia Dreamweaver (popular WYSIWYG software), but have found the learning curve high, and my patience low, so I don't use it much. Many web desigers consider Dreamweaver the standard in WYSIWYG software, so I do recommend that you research it keep it on your list of possbilities.

Click Here To Price Adobe Dreamweaver CS4

Microsoft's FrontPage was such a joy to use, that I recently purchased Microsoft's next generation WYSIWYG software - Expression Web 2. I don't have it yet so I can't tell you how well I like it, but from the reviews I've read many say it's easy to use like the old FrontPage software. If you own MS Office or someother software titles may entitle you to pay the uprade price of about $80 at Amazon.com. I recommend that you give it a try.

Click Here To Price Microsoft's Expression Web 2 Software

Most WYSIWYG software programs come with pre-made web page templates you can use and adjust to make them your own. There are also many web sites online that offer free or fee based templates you can purchase, download, and edit in a WYSIWYG software program. That means you don't really need artistic skill or programming skills to have a great looking web site. With the right software and accessories, you can have a web site up and running online in no time.

Web Hosting Plans

Most web pages are stored on computers called "Servers". A server is basically a computer with a high-speed internet connection, although that is a very simplified explanation.

A web hosting service is a company that owns one or more servers. There are many web hosting services who offer a wide variety of web hosting plans, options, and monthly fees. In the 1990s it was common to pay $35 per month for a basic web hosting plan. Now, fully-featured web hosting plans are available for under $10 per month. A nice change!

• Disk space - The amount of space allocated on the server hard drive for all files associated with your web site.
• Bandwidth - The amount of data transfer allowed to take place on your web site per month.
• Script Support - The types of scripts you will be able to run on your web site.
• Databases - The amount and types of database support included with the plan.

Disk Space

As stated above, disk space is the amount of space allocated on the server's hard drive to the files that make-up your web site. Nowadays, even the basic hosting plans provide more disk space than all but the largest web sites require.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth = data transfer. Therefore, each time someones on the internet views your web pages, or downloads a file from your site, bandwidth is consumed and subtracted from your monthly allotment. If you exceed the total amount of bandwidth allowed by the terms of your hosting plan, your web site will be temporarily suspended until the next month, or until you purchase additional bandwidth.

The good news is that even basic web hosting plans typically include a good amount of monthly bandwidth. Unless you intend to run a video sharing web site, or anticipate millions of visitors each day, the hosting plans we have recommended below should be more than adequate for your needs.

Script Support

"What is it and why should I care?" you're probably asking. Below are a few popular scripts used on web sites:

• Online communities, web forums
• Blogs
• Database search
• Form submission

Scripts make your site more dynamic and interesting to the visitor, and easier for you to manage the site. For example, imagine a web site that displayed a web page dedicated to each and every song written since the 1950's. If you had to create and upload each web page required it would probably take a year (or years) to finish, and you would have to manage tens of thousands of web pages. However, with a script and a database, you just enter the song information into a database (which can be done reasonably quick) and have the script generate song related web pages on the fly as needed. Two files with the database and script compared to tens of thousands of files without.

Content is king on the internet. That is, web sites with quality content make people want to visit the web site. Unfortunately, writing brilliant content for your web site year after year can become tedious, especially if you are the only contributor. One key to a successful site then, might be to get others to contribute content that may have potential interest to others. One script that allows you to do this is online community software, or forum software such as vBulletin. Forum scripts allow your visitors to post messages and replies. This type of content will likely be of interest to your visitors, and perhaps just as important, to the search engines whose ranking of your web site is key to it's success.

Databases come in several flavors, with the most popular being MySql and Access. Many scripts require the use of a database. If you run two scripts you may then need two databases. Therefore, the web hosting plan you select should include both popular script support (PHP, Perl, CGI, ASP, to name a few) and at least one database, preferably two or more.

It is important to note that when you select a web hosting plan you will need to choose between Windows hosting, or UNIX/Linux hosting. A Windows hosting plan does not mean that it has an interface like your home computer and is therefore easier to use. You won't know the difference if you select a Windows or UNIX/Linux hosting plan. The greatest difference in the past was the types of scripts and databases the two types of hosting supported. Today many UNIX/Linux and Windows plans support the scripts and databases previously only supported by the other.

The best way to choose between UNIX/Linux or Windows hosting plan may be to decide what type of script and database you want to run (if any), then choose the hosting plan that supports it. If you need additional information, most web hosting services include FAQs and knowledge bases where you can learn more about hosting plans, scripts and databases.

Currently I use two different web hosting services -

• midPhase Web Hosting
• 1 And 1 Web Hosting

There are a couple of reasons why I use more than one web hosting service and these two services in particular. (This web site is hosted by 1 And 1)

1. Both midPhase and 1 And 1 hosting offer a variety of low cost, but fully-featured hosting plans. Many of their hosting plans also allow you to host more than one domain (web site) with one account, which is a great money saver.
2. The second reason is that there are times when servers experiece problems and your web site(s) will be unavailable. However, if you have two hosting accounts with different hosting services, it is unlikely both will have problems at the same time. As long as your web sites are available to the public, you are potentially earning money. Therefore, using two different web hosting services is one way to make sure at least some of your web sites are always available to the public.

If you are interested in starting an online web store, the best solution in my opinion is a Yahoo eCommerce store. Yahoo stores are the complete package designed to get you up and running as quickly as possible - and they're a trusted name as well.

Click Here to Compare Yahoo eCommerce Web Store Plans

Publishing Your Web Site - The Final Step

Now that you have your web site ready to be viewed by the world, you have to get your web pages uploaded to your web host's server. When you purchase a web hosting account you will be given an FTP (file transfer protocol) username and password. FTP is the method used to transfer files to the server.

If you use WYSIWYG software, such as MS Expression Web 2, an FTP utility is usually built into the software and complete usage instructions are included.

If you decide to use NotePad, or other plain text editor to write your web pages then you will have to purchase or find a free FTP utility to get your web page files online. My personal favorite FTP utility is WS-FTP Pro which I have used for many years.

That's about it. Once your web site files are uploaded to the server, your web sites online and open for viewing by internet surfers around the world.

If you are interested in learning how to build a web site using NotePad, click here.