how do I Cheaply create my own website?

Question

It would be for business and I would like to add or subtract from it often

Answer 1

Before I say anything else, I'd like to let you know that I'm a professional web developer. So, I should know what I'm talking about. :)

First, I'll discuss creating a website yourself, which you can do for free (not including hosting):

To start out, you'll need to learn HTML. HTMLSource (http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/starthere/ ) has a great free tutorial.

Once you know HTML, all you need is a plaintext editor capable of syntax highlighting (my favorite is Notepad++, available at http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/ ) and an image editing application (the GIMP is great and is available at http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html ). Downloading Firefox (which is available at http://getfirefox.com/ and should be your default browser anyway, as it is faster and more secure than Internet Explorer) and Opera (http://www.opera.com/ ) is also a good idea, as you should be testing your site in them to make sure that all your prospective customers can access the site (1 in 4 Internet users doesn't use Internet Explorer).

Last but not least, always remember to validate all your pages with the W3C's Markup Validation Service (http://validator.w3.org/ ).

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Your other option is to hire someone to create the website for you. I can't really give much advice in that area, except that whatever you do, make sure your contract states that the site must be “valid and semantic CSS and HTML 4.01 Strict or XHTML 1.1, compliant with WCAG 1.0”.

This will go a very long way towards ensuring that the site will work on mobile phones and other portable devices, and will be accessible to the visually impaired (you actually risk being sued if the site is not accessible to the disabled). If a developer cannot create a website that meets these requirements, it's a sign that he doesn't know what he's doing.

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Good luck,
Wulf

Answer 2

First you have to create documentation with a description of what your precise needs are. The more detail, the easier for the person/people who are going to build you web site.

You will need:
Graphic Design - for all the graphical properties of your web site (header, columns, boxes, text and image layout, etc)

Web Developer - basic if you plan a simple web site, the developer will code the site either with the help of a Content Management System such as Mambo, or they will code it in html and css
advanced developer - if you plant to implement databases, javascritp and more advanced web technology

My suggestion would be to look on the internet for teams from third world countries with strong IT communities (India, Russia, East Europe), find a reliable partner who can accept credit card payments and make all the arrangements

The web site in that case with complete domain registration, hosting, design and development will cost between 600 - 2000 US$

Answer 3

I just needed this information myself. Unless you are pretty computer literate (which I am not), it is quite time consuming, but can be done with very little investment. I went to my public library and checked out "web pages for dummies" and a couple of other books dealing with the same thing. I think another was called "web pages made easy." They teach you how to write code and give you the basics to get started. Good luck on your business.

Answer 4

Yes, there is a way to design a website cheaply, but you want to be able to update it often...which means you want a DYNAMIC website. NOT done cheaply. If its for a business, you need to ask yourself what you really want your customers to see...cheap or great?
If you want great then look into specialty software like Dreamweaver.

Answer 5

There's many free site hosts. Some have their own website / webpage builders, others you need your own page building software then you can upload. If you're looking to pay for hosting services, there's quite a few decent hosts. One I would check out is bravenet.

Answer 6

Your can create your website with www.visitorshosting.com with a very low price.
Visit : www.visitorshosting.com

Mail me for more details :
[e-mail]

Answer 7

Just find a webhost and pay them 8 bucks a month! done!

Answer 8

I use the following:
http://www.godaddy.com for the domain ($8.95/year)
http://www.pagewaiter.com for the hosting (from $20/year)

Very cheap and very reliable.

Answer 9

have you tried....
www.xanga.com
the yahoo 360 page?

Answer 10

i think go daddy is cheap and walks you through it.