If you want to make a business website and don’t know how, this lesson will show you the easiest way to create a small business website. It’s quite simple really. Web design is not a hard job. It’s more time consuming than anything. It takes a long time to learn the ends and outs of the trade. However, if you just want a small business site without all the complications, just use the following information to get you started.

You need a host. A host is a company that has massive computer that store your website information. This computer is called a server. The server provides your information to the internet by allowing access to your site to users. There are several thousand companies that have these servers but I would recommend either Godaddy.com or Crystaltech.com. These two companies have good reputations and have good customer services with cheap rates. Generally you will pay a small fee each month for your web site space. Consider it like a parking space for your information.

Now, you need a small bit of software to make the site. There are many different programs that you can buy but my favorite is Microsoft FrontPage. It is very easy to use and configure. I would recommend this software for a new designer as well as seasoned designers. 2000 and 2003 do have some issues with CSS files, but other than that, it is very good software. I use 2000 and 2003 both. Each has its advantages.

In order to use FrontPage, you will need to purchase a windows hosting plan with FrontPage Server Extensions. Just look on each plan and find the one with these extensions. Godaddy and Crystaltech have them available. You can also order the domain name at the same time as the hosting plan. They both take care of the legwork for you.

Now that you have the windows plan, you need to connect your FrontPage to it. It’s easy really. All you have to do is open FrontPage; go to file – Open Web. It may say open site. Select that option and type in the full URL of the domain that you ordered, I.E. http://www.vinegrovewebdesign.com. You will then be prompted for a username and password. Use the information provided by the host. That’s it. You’re in to your website and everything you do here, from this point, is live.

You will need to start a basic page. There are several pages that you can use as a home page. Some of the names are:

Index.html
Default.html

These two are considered the home page. You can use either one, it doesn’t matter. I use index. To make a new page, go to file – new. From the menu on the right you can select just a plain page or a pre-built FrontPage template. If you select a template, FrontPage will create all the pages for you and all you have to do is open each one and edit the information. When you save the files, they are automatically uploaded to the host and become live on your site. You can then go browse the internet, find you site, and see the changes that you made. Its really easy. I start with 5 basic pages. Home, about us, contact us, faq’s, and services. You can add as many as you want and link them all together. The next lesson is going to be on a structure of a website.