How to Make Your Own Website

If you want to make your own website, then the first thing to consider is its purpose. It's worth spending some time to make sure you're really clear on this, because the best approach for you to take will vary depending on your answer to this question.

• Is the website a mechanism for airing your own thoughts and views on a particular topic (or range of topics)?
• Is the website intended to sell a product or service?
  • If so, what products or services will you sell?
  • How will you source and supply these?
  • What competition exists in your target market, and how will you differentiate your site from its competitors?
• Is the website intended to attract readers by offering interesting or useful content?
  • What specific content will you include?
  • How will you generate or source this content (remembering, of course, that other people's work is covered by copyright)?
  • What other sites contain similar content, and how will you differentiate your site from its competitors?

If your answer to the question was "to make money", then you need to think again. While it's possible to make money from a website (which we'll be covering in more detail in a later section), you need to make a good website first before you can begin making any money from it. So, you still need to decide what your website will be about and how it will differ from others that already exist.

If you want to build a website to air your own thoughts and views, then what you probably need is a Blog, which has the added advantage of being free. See the How to Create a Blog section.

If you want to create a website to sell products or services, or provide interesting and useful content, then you probably need something more formal. A good place to begin would be our section on How to Choose a Good Domain Name.