Roadmap for Getting a Site off the Ground
Getting your website/blog off the ground may seem daunting, and it can be. But once you’ve done it, everything else is gravy. Here is roadmap to get you off the ground if you are trying to figure out where to start.
Decide on your topic: Pretty straightforward, but you have to make sure you know enough about it and can get enough content. It’s also pretty important it’s something you are interested in, but a lot of people forget this.
Decide on how it will be presented: It’s time efficient to use an open-source structure like Wordpress or Joomla. I will talk a little about using each in later posts. Content management and blog systems make it far easier, but coding your own is always an option. However, if you will have a lot of content, I would go with a content management system or blog.
Find hosting: Free hosting is an option, but you may want to spring for a shared hosting plan. It will not have the limitations on space and bandwidth, will be far more intuitive and offer you several features you don’t get from free hosts. Also, you can host several sites, so it’s worth the small investment. Plus, you get a domain, which is essential to take your site to the next level.
NOTE: I use BlueHost and couldn’t be happier. Their setup is very simple and friendly to novice web designers with one click installations of most of the content systems you would use. If you don’t know who to go with, try them out. If you decide to go with them, please use my link to help me out, as I am an affiliate : ) Plus, if you have problems with their interface, I could actually help you out since I am familiar with them.
Choose a Domain: Spring for the .com, and make sure you include something specific to your topic in the name (if your page is about knitting, please, out knitting in the domain.) Or, on the other hand, you could choose a non-sense name with a sound to prompt name recognition (swizzilewizzle.com?)
Start Building Links: Find other blogs with similar themes and start building a connection. Write about their posts and link back to them. Then comment on their blogs. After you have shown your rapport, maybe send a polite email and ask for links.
Track your hits: Once you can keep track of visitors you can begin deciding how to proceed. Don’t get discouraged if the hits don’t come soon. It takes time, but knowing where the visitors are coming from can help you build better marketing and links.
This is just a quick overview of the very specific steps you can use to get a website up and running. Check some of the other posts for more tips on the specifics (building traffic, using Wordpress and the such).