This guide will help you get on the right track to make your website available to the world. There are three main steps in setting up your website: choosing the right domain name, creating your website and finding a webhost that suits your needs.

Choosing the right domain name:

When choosing a domain name, you need to be aware of a few things. You must first of all, find a name that has not already been taken. You can check the availability of a domain by going to whois lookup websites like Better Whois. Once you’ve decided on the domain name, you need to make sure that the suffix “.com, .net, .org” etc. is appropriate for your domain name. “.com” is common for commercial companies, whereas “.org” is usually used for non-profit organizations and “.gov” is reserved for the government.

Creating your website:

When it comes to making a website, you have a few choices. You can make your website with programs like Macromedia Dreamweaver and Microsoft Frontpage. Depending on the level of functionality you need for your site, it shouldn’t be too difficult to make with online tutorials or books. Another choice is using pre-packaged website templates. Some webhosts provide packages that include a service offering turn-key site creation. This allows you to quickly create a good-looking professional website. The last choice would be to hire a professional web design firm to create a website for you. This is more expensive than the other options, but it could turn out to be the best choice for your business. The design firm will make a website designed specifically to meet your needs.

Finding a webhost:

First, you must decide what type of web hosting you will need, for most webmasters, shared hosting is adequate. If your website requires more resources to handle certain applications or the amount of traffic you receive, you can also consider using dedicated hosting and co-location to host your website. Next you should look for a web hosting package that meets your needs and falls into your price range. Your criteria could include storage and transfer limits, looking for an easy to use control panel, the location of the company, the type of software they support and also the type of content they’ll allow you to serve.