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Undress for Success

Starting a Website

When starting a website, the first thing you will want to do is get a domain name. A domain name is the name you will give to your website. Try to choose a domain name that is related to your product or service. Search the web for domain name providers and do a little comparison shopping, you don't want to pay too much for your domain name.

The next step in starting a website is to find a hosting company. A hosting company allows you to place your website files on their computers which can then be viewed by everybody in the world who can access the Internet. There are many issues to take into account when you are choosing a hosting company. Here is just a small sample of questions that you should ask a perspective hosting company:

How much web space is allowed

File types and size limitations

Reliability and speed of access

Technical support

When I was first starting a website, I researched different hosting company's and the features they offered and then made a small spreadsheet so I could review features provided and monthly costs for each hosting company. I currently use 1and1 and Host Gator for my hosting companies, each company provides a unique hosting feature for the different types of websites I have.

Your next step in starting a website is going to be designing it. Basic knowledge of html will definitely be a benefit to you even if you decide to have a third party web designer design your website for you. There are a ton of software that can be used to design a website, some are free and some aren't. If you are just starting out with very little programming knowledge, I would suggest choosing a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) web editor. During the design process, make sure you check things like:

test your links

how fast your website loads

is it compatible with different browsers

If you are going to be selling products or services on your website, you will need some way to collect credit card information. There are several different payment processors that you can add to your website. Do a little research and find out which processor will be best for you.

The last step in starting a website is to get your site noticed. There are a number of different methods to get your site indexed and noticed:

advertise on different search engines

join a social networking group

list your website with traffic exchanges or an ezine site

write articles and submit them to article directories

This is only a small list of the different types of promotions that are available. The important thing is to just get started.