Contrary to popular belief, it’s not very difficult to build a website from scratch. The idea seems confusing and causes many to give up before even starting! But do not fret, building a website can be both fun and easy, and I’m going to prove it.

I have a few tips and tricks up my sleeves for the upcoming and interested web developers reading this, and you don’t even need to know how to code! Granted it does help A LOT if you understand some basic HTML and CSS, but it’s not needed to build a website. What you should have is a decent hosting company and domain name at the least, that way you can brand yourself.

The Blogger Delima: Steer Clear of Blogspot

I always tell bloggers if they’re serious about blogging, steer clear of a blogspot.com domain. This is not because it’s cheap, free, or any of those thoughts. It’s mostly because of the branding factor. You can only brand a Blogger blog so far, but ultimately it’s going to have a similar look and feel to how the post works, how the page loads, how the comments on the blog work, and your favicon will always be stuck with the infamous Blogger icon.

This is where the hosting company comes into play. There are actually many free hosting companies out there which you can host a decent website on, and you will still get some pretty high uptime and unless you hit the front page of Digg or something, you shouldn’t be expecting too much traffic.

Once you have a hosting company (for a free one, check out 000webhost), it’s time to pick a domain name. Now this is very important, so think this over carefully as you need to make sure it’s brand-able.

The Domain Name – It Has to Make Sense!

There are so many domains out there already, you may feel lost and hopeless that you’ll never get a good one for your site! Fear not, this is not true at all. You first need to consider what you want to build – this could be absolutely anything! I’m talking anything from a simple Wordpress blog, a Pligg social news site, vBulletin forum… literally anything.

Once you have an idea of what type of website you are running, it will be much easier to come up with a name and domain. Jake Rocheleau Blog wasn’t too hard, as I have owned JakeRocheleau.com for quite some time now and I figured a blog aspect to the site would help draw in traffic and attention. It’s not the easiest name to brand, but I’m getting out there.

Now if you consider the idea of Reddit, this is a fantastic domain as it has the idea of “Read It” implying that you’ve already read something, but bringing together a community of social news activists interested in only the best news. Try and think of a similar name which you can really brand and send out there to the internet community – but don’t wrack your brain to death over it!

The Finalization and Building

Once you’ve got you’re hosting and domain set up, the really fun part begins. This is, as many would say, where you’re journey of building a website stops and your entrance into being a webmaster beings. You will have to get all of your files uploaded to your hosting in some way, in which your domain will actually point to something when visitors come.

After that, just continue marketing and building up on your site. If you’re running a blog, be sure to constantly be adding new content and new posts, and if you’re making any money from the site I always recommend to re-invest. You can buy advertising, a new design, new content, almost anything!

If you’re not running a blog, I always suggest setting one up anyways. Everybody and their grandma is starting to get into blogging, so why not your website? It’s a great way to keep fans of your site up to date on the latest news, plus you can market your blog posts to news outlets to bring in more traffic.

It’s always a win-win situation, and it’s a huge step in the process of building a website and designing your website’s infrastructure.

Let me know what you think of some of the most basic tips needed to build a website. I am always open to discussion and questions in the comments, so don’t be shy about it!