How to Build a Website for Beginners

For someone who has never created a website before, the task of actually building a website and then getting that website on the Internet and listed in the major search engines must seem like a daunting task.  In this article, how to build a website for beginners, we’ll look at the essential building blocks of any website and then discuss some of the options that new website developers have when constructing their very first website.

Every website that appears on the World Wide Web has three things in common.  Each website consists of a domain name, web hosting, and some type of web based language (or code) that allows different web browsers to display it correctly to the person who just happens to surf on by your site. Each of these essential elements must be understood by any beginning web developer so that they can construct their first website.

Domain Names

Domain names must be unique and are purchased or registered at a domain name registrar. These are sites like GoDaddy or Namecheap that allow people to register a domain name and provide services that help any webmaster turn their domain name into an actual website. One of the services provided by any domain name registrar is the ability to assign web hosting to a particular domain in the users account.  This brings us to the second essential building block of any website and that is web hosting.

Web Hosting

Web hosting is the process that allows any website developed on a domain to become a unique, viewable location on the World Wide Web.  Without hosting, visitors would never be able to see your website. Beginners need to perform two steps when it comes to web hosting.  Step one is to select a web hosting company and step two is to ‘tell’ your domain name which hosting company it is assigned to.  Some reputable website hosting companies are HostGator and BlueHost so just sticking with either of these is a good first step.  This second step may be the most confusing for the novice website builder. This second step is called assigning nameservers or setting your domain nameservers. The process itself is relatively simple. Once you have chosen your web hosting company and told them you would like web hosting for your domain, they provide you their nameserver information.  It is then necessary to go back to the domain name registrar (which does NOT have to be the same company as your web host) and set the nameservers by inputting the nameserver information provided by your web host.

Building the Website

This is probably the one are where beginners are most likely to become overwhelmed.  Websites may be built using any number of web based programming languages.  They may be hand coded in HTML or constructed by using a website building editor like FrontPage or Dreamweaver. While learning HTML and building websites from scratch is certainly a good way to learn exactly how HTML works, this is very time consuming for beginners and there is a large learning curve. For most beginners, using a tool such as FrontPage or Dreamweaver is the best way to go, although there is somewhat of a learning curve when learning either of these tools, as well. Another option beginners have now when building their own website is to use software that will actually walk them through the website creation process, such as Site-Build-It.  This software will assist with registering domain names, will provide the hosting, and comes equipped with point and click functionality that allows anyone to quickly create web pages without learning the intricacies of web based programming languages or even tolls, such as FrontPage or Dreamweaver.

That’s really all there is to it. Building a website is not difficult once you understand what each of the essential building blocks are and how they all work together.  To summarize, beginners need to 1) Register a Domain Name, 2) Purchase Web Hosting and 3) Choose which Tool they will use to Construct their Website.