Create and Build Your Own Website

Now it's time to start building your website. But if you don't know HTML coding (the nuts and bolts of any website), how can you build it?

Relax - there's no need for you to learn HTML programming codes. There are many web hosting companies that can offer you a web-building helper or interface that is very easy to use. All you have to do is type in your text and upload your photos, and they do the rest for you!

But the first step in building a website is choosing a basic design or look for your site.

Use Templates to Create a Professional Look for your Website

Instead of trying to create a design for your website on your own, it's much easier to use a template that is already set up and looks extremely professional.

Both Site Build It and 1and1.com offer great templates to use for your website. In fact this website that you're reading was created using a 1and1.com template as well as the 1and1.com WebsiteBuilder PLUS interface!

Using a template also removes the need to hire a professional web designer to design your site. There's no use in paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars to a web designer when you have access to professional-looking templates that are either free or very inexpensive.

There are slight limitations, truth be told, when you use templates in terms of the design of your site. If you want to build a more complicated site, you may want to use web-authoring software, like Dreamweaver, instead.

Dreamweaver is a user-friendly program that automates web design so that you still do not need to know HTML coding. However, it requires more work on your part in getting the site to look the way you want it to. The program also costs several hundred dollars.

After using both Dreamweaver and free web templates to create websites from scratch, I recommend using templates like the ones offered through 1and1.com or Site Build It to create the initial design of your website. The design limitations are minor when compared to the expensive cost and added complication of designing your site with a web-authoring software like Dreamweaver.

Web maintenance and updates

Another good reason for using templates and building your site with the help of an easy-to-use web-building interface is the issue of making updates and maintaining your site.

The real work is not in creating your site, but in maintaining it! Every worthwhile website offering unique and fresh content must be updated. Even if you are not running a news site, there will always be a new development relating to your topic that you will have to update on your site. Even something simple as changing an address or a phone number may be needed.

Therefore, you want to have a quick and easy way to make those updates. If you've paid a professional web designer hundreds of dollars to create your site, you will still need to pay additional fees for constant updating and maintenance.

To avoid paying someone else, it makes much more sense for you to be able to update your site whenever necessary. Having a quick and easy web-building interface at your fingertips is much more practical.

If you use a software program like Dreamweaver, you will have to have access to your own computer that contains the software in order for you to make the updates. However, if you are using your web hosting company's interface, the software is on their website which is in effect, on the internet. All you have to do is log in to the internet wherever you are to make your updates. You could be vacationing in Hawaii, for example, and still be able to make updates to your site at an internet cafe!

No HTML programming experience necessary

1and1.com's WebsiteBuilder PLUS allows you to choose a template and then build your website with simple "point-and-click prompts and a built-in text editor". 1and1 currently charges around $10 a month for this service. Compared to the cost of purchasing the Dreamweaver software, the WebsiteBuilder PLUS is a great deal.

But here's an even BETTER deal: Once you have a web hosting package at 1and1.com and you also purchase the WebsiteBuilder PLUS on a monthly basis, you can host a total of 25 websites on your account at no additional charge. You still will have to pay around $9 per year for the domain name registration for each site, but the more websites you own, the cheaper the web hosting cost per website.

For example, you pay $3.99 per month for your first domain name and website hosting. You pay $9.99 per month for the WebsiteBuilder PLUS program which brings you to a total of $13.98 per month. For any additional website you want to host (up to 25), you only pay around $9 per year for the domain registration, but NOTHING MORE for the webhosting. If you had five websites, you'd technically be paying under $3 a month ($13.98 divided by 5) to host each website.

This is why I now host ALL of my websites (five and counting) through 1and1.com.

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