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Creating and hosting your own web site can be a daunting task if you do not know what is required, so the following is a brief guide to all of the necessary
ingredients. This guide is intended for those that have used the Internet before, but do not have a lot of experience creating and hosting their own web site,
but experienced webmasters may also find useful information and resources here that they were previously unaware of.

The following is a list of the basic components that you will need, listed in the order in which you should acquire them for the smoothest process. However,
this order is not required, and you can acquire the components in any order that you prefer :

Domain name

Your own domain name is the address that visitors will type into their web browsers when they want to visit your web site. It is also the address that they
will see in search engine results, directories, and in the location bar of their web browsers. Examples of well known domain names are google.com,
ebay.com, and cnn.com. Your domain name can be any domain name that is not already registered to someone else, and can consist of any letters
(uppercase and lowercase are the same), any numbers, and the hyphen (-) character (e.g. abc-123.com). Choosing a domain name can be a lengthy task,
as the right domain name can significantly enhance your web site, and the wrong domain name can have the opposite effect. There are several useful
resources available on the Internet to help you choose a suitable and effective domain name, such as Research a domain name before you buy. Once you
have chosen your domain name, you will need to register it with a domain name registrar. There are so many domain name registrars that it can be a
difficult task trying to choose one, but there are some differences that make this slightly easier. For example, some domain name registrars will only register domain names as part of other services, and these should usually be avoided. Some registrars will only register your domain name if you are going to host
your web site with them (which restricts your hosting provider choices), and these should also be avoided. The best domain name registrars are those that
offer domain names without any catch, and provide an easy to use interface for registration and management, such as The Big Whois. Once your domain
name has been registered it will be yours for at least 1 year, and longer if you extended the registration timeframe.

Hosting provider

Your hosting provider will be responsible for providing the hardware, software, and Internet backbone connection that makes your web site accessible
via the web. Hosting providers have various sized networks of host machines running server software like Apache, and are usually connected to multiple
high speed backbone providers. Most web site hosting is based on a shared model where a single large server is divided into several smaller sections,
with each section being accessible independantly of the others (usually known as virtual hosting). Unfortunately, there are more hosting providers than
there are domain name registrars, so this task can be even more time consuming than registering a domain name. Fortunately, if this is your first web site,
there are very few additional services (e.g. databases, etc.) that you will need, so almost any basic hosting account will work. Some points to be aware
of when choosing a hosting provider are as follows :

Some hosting providers offer services ranging from basic through extremely advanced, and these are often the best choice as they allow for upgrading
when your web site becomes more advanced and needs more services. Once such hosting provider is Verio, who offers an account that should meet
your requirements regardless of your level of experience.

Web site editor

A web site editor is used to create your web site, by arranging your content (text, images, etc.) into the HTML format that is used on the web. Web
site editors come in various types, including text editors (where you type the actual HTML code), wizards (where you are asked a series of questions),
and WYSIWYG (where your web page is displayed in real time as it is created). For first time web site owners and experienced webmasters alike,
WYSIWYG is the easiest and quickest type of editor, while still allowing the full range of web site customization. Some web site editors only support
HTML (the primary format of web pages), while some editors support extensions like CSS and XML, and whch editor you choose should depend
upon the level of complexity that you require for your web site (very good web sites can be created using only HTML). A popular web site editor is the
Mozilla composer, which is part of the Mozilla web browser suite.

Web site monitoring

Once you have registered your domain name, found a hosting provider, and created and uploaded (published) your web site, you want it to be visible
to your visitors. Your hosting provider will tell you that your web site will be accessible 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, and while this is technically
true, there are many things that can affect the accessibility of your web site. For example, servers have downtime, hosting providers make mistakes,
networks become congested with traffic, and all of these things can prevent some or all of your visitors from viewing your web site. The best way to
ensure that your web site is accessible 100 % of the time, or to know what went wrong if not, is to have your web site monitored by a server monitoring
service. Server monitoring services watch your web site (and other services such as e-mail) and keep track of when they were accessible, and when
they were not, and some can send notifications to you via e-mail, cellular phone, or fax, etc. Having your web site monitored can provide much needed
peace of mind because you will have a continuous record of the status of your web site, and this can be used to help resolve problems (or help decide
to change hosting providers). Server monitoring varies in price from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars, and can vary as much in quality of service,
but not necessarily in line with the price (i.e. low cost monitoring can be high quality). One monitoring service that offers reliability and value, and provides
all of the features that are required for good monitoring is System Status.

Search engine and directory submission

Search engines and directories are the primary methods of locating web sites that we want to visit, and therefore it is important that your web site is
listed in these services. Search engine and directory optimization is one of the most complicated topics available, partially because it is guess work,
and a web site that is listed high on a search engine one day may be at the bottom the next (for no apparent reason). There are many services available
that claim to increase a web site's listing, and while some of these are successful, the majority are not. Various methods can be used to list your web
site in search engines and directories, but the most common are to visit the service in question and use their "Add URL" feature, and to make sure
that your web site is accessible via a link from another web site (perhaps your hosting provider, a friend, or web ring). Getting your web site listed in
some of the most popular search engines and directories can be time consuming and frustrating, but it is necessary if your web site is going to receive
large numbers of visitors (unless you are also marketing your web site offline).

Setting up your own web site can be a hobby, a part time job, or a full time endeavour, and whichever is your case, I hope that this page has given you
some valued assistance.