Each of the posts will be linked to from this page and posted when I’ve finished writing it. So, if you see the post title, but no link, check back soon as I’ve just not completed it yet.

All of the articles will take into consideration cost, time and technical ability.

1. The Basics – the minimum that you will need to start a website
2. Choosing a Host
3. Choosing a CMS and Theme
4. CSS, PHP & HTML
5. Customizing your theme
6. SEO and all things Google
7. Increasing your traffic
8. Monetizing your site
9. Protecting your site
10. Additional resources

Please see the Preface for the directory.

So you’ve made it unscathed through the previous summary of tools needed to build a website and you’re ready to look into hosting? Great!

As I mentioned before hosting your website yourself (and by this I mean using one of many paid hosting services) is an alternative to the kind of service offered by WordPress.com (not to be confused with WordPress.org), Blogger, Type Pad and others. The benefits include unlimited gain from ad revenue and maximum flexibility. Your host literally does just that: hosts your website on their server. Let’s get you set up in a few easy steps.

Choosing your host

I spent quite a while on this step when I was starting out. There are a tonne of hosts out there. If you ask 5 webmasters who they use you will most likely get 5 different answers. Massive websites either use dedicated servers or host themselves but you shouldn’t have to worry about that for a while.

In an attempt to be fair I’m going to outline some of the criteria that you should keep in mind, provide you with a list of hosts that I generally recommend and tell you who I use.

• By far the most important feature to me is free and toll free 24/7 customer service.  This is non-negotiable.
• A lot of hosts advertise that they host unlimited domains but cap your MySQL databases. Since you will most likely create a new database for each subsequent site and perhaps for each forum or gallery you add the amount of sites you host is essentially restricted by the number of MySQL databases you can create. They are right to say that you can host unlimited domains though – if all you are doing is hosting them.
• Make sure you have unlimited or very high gigs of site transfer. If someone Diggs you, you don’t want the whole thing to come crashing down!
• Some hosts throw in some amount (usually $50) of Google Adwords, or Yahoo Search cash. This can be a great way to promote your new site.
• Look for a number of add-on domains that is high or unlimited.
• Low domain registration fee. $10 is about right.

Keeping the above points in mind it’s time to shop around for a host. Here is a list of 5 hosts that are considered to be leaders in the industry.

BlueHost – I run 6 websites from a single BlueHost account. I think the yearly fee breaks down to a total of $6.99 a month if you commit to 36 months and slightly more if you commit to 24 or 12 months. You can see a full table of the pricing here. I’ve never had a problem with BlueHost and recommend it fully.

DreamHost – They claim to be a “green” host. They are very popular and offer essentially the same features and prices as BlueHost.

GoDaddy - Again, another one of the most recognized hosts.

This is the third part of a ten part series called; Building Your Own Website. This part will deal with CMS – Content Management Systems. As always the focus will be on simplicity and cost efficiency.

Please see the Preface for the directory.

The most important thing you need to keep in mind when choosing a CMS is that depending on your choice you may need to be self-hosted (see my tutorial on hosts). You will also want to have some idea of the size and scale of your planned website as certain CMS’s better suit larger sites.

I will focus only on free and self-hosted software.

Choosing a CMS

Let’s have a look at some of the better known CMS’s.

WordPress – Started as blogging software, WordPress has exploded into a full on CMS in recent years. I very happily use it for all of my sites. I the case of my art gallery site I use WordPress along with bbPress (forum software by the same folks as WordPress and ZenPhoto gallery software. WordPress has an extremely helpful support forum and well established community. Recently it has introduced an instant upgrade feature that has saved me a lot of headaches. More than anything, though, I get the sense that the folks behind it are very dedicated to it’s continual improvment.

Joomla!

No matter which of these you choose you will not go wrong. Most people who swear by their CMS have never tried another. The most important thing is to spend a little time getting a feel for each system and to go with the one that best suits your criteria.

A few hours of diligent Googling led me to an application that allows one to toggle the viewing of the hidden files from the dock or a Applications folder.

I wish everything in life were this simple!

Directions and download link at aetherworld.org